Foreign Weapons Symposium
We need to be able to meet the training requirement
by CWO4 Jeffrey L. Eby
Training and Education Command (TECom) hosted a foreign weapons symposium at Quantico from 27 February to 1 March in order to identify the answers to several questions concerning our training requirement on foreign weapons. Questions ranged from who needs the training and at what capability level to where the training is conducted and on what weapons systems. Participants at the symposium included representatives from Plans, Policies, and Operations; Marine Corps Combat Development Command; Marine Corps Systems Command; 1st, 2d, and 3d Marine Divisions (MarDivs); Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 2111 School in Aberdeen, MD; TECom G–3 (Operations); Small Arms Weapons Instructor School (SAWIS), Weapons Training Battalion (WTBn), TECom; Security Cooperation Education Training Center (SCETC); and the Foreign Military Training Unit (FMTU), Marine Special Operations Command.
Answering the “why” of the five Ws (why, when, who, where, and what) was tied to the fact that the Marine Corps has been conducting foreign weapons training with the Iraqi military, police, and border teams for over 3 years now. Additionally, SCETC and Marine expeditionary forces (MEFs) have been training transition teams of U.S. Marines for over 2 years. This training requirement was justified by the orders of combatant commanders to MEFs to provide transition teams to foreign militaries, police forces, and border patrol forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Personnel from FMTU are also involved with many other nations as well.
The question of “when” was easily answered, as Marines have been conducting foreign weapons training to domestic and foreign militaries for several years.
The “who” portion of the problem was quickly identified as all of the FMTU instructors, 6 men from SCETC, and up to 20 men from each deploying infantry and reconnaissance battalion, and artillery regiments that may be assigned the duties of provisional rifle battalions. With at least 20 certified foreign weapons trainers available per battalion, a cadre of forces could rapidly be developed to respond to future tasks in order to provide foreign weapons training to foreign militaries.
As a result of determining who should receive the training, the group was able to define “where” the required equipment should be allocated as follows:
- One weapons kit per infantry regiment.
- One weapons kit per artillery regiment.
- One weapons kit per division headquarters battalion.
- One weapons kit to FMTU.
- Two weapons kits to SCETC in Twentynine Palms.
The weapons kit identified above defined the “what” of the five Ws and consisted of:
- AK series weapons (Soviet assault rifles).
- RPD light machineguns (Soviet 7.62mm x 39 mm machineguns/squad automatic weapons).
- PKM medium machineguns (Soviet designed 7.62mm x 54r mm machineguns).
- RGG-7 rocket launchers (Russian manufactured rocket propelled grenade launchers used primarily in antiarmor role).
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| PKM general-purpose machinegun. (Photo courtesy of http://club.guns.ru//eng/pkm.html.) |
Additional nonlive fire items were added to SCETC and FMTU, including the DShk heavy machinegun and the Soviet 82mm mortar systems. In addition to these systems, the FMTU identified the requirement for many other weapons due to their wide mission range. Since these requirements are not common to the Marine Corps, Special Operations Command would be responsible for their procurement and fielding.
Next, the group focused on the capability level appropriate for various forces. The participants identified three primary elements within the Marine Corps that are currently teaching foreign weapons skills not only to other Marines but also to foreign nationals in Iraq and Afghanistan. These three elements are the ground combat element (GCE) within each MEF, SCETC, and FMTU.
Three capability levels were identified for future training requirements.
Level one. The ability to identify, unload, and render safe the randomly located foreign military weapons system. The symposium determined that all deploying Marines should receive this skill. Since we don’t provide every deploying Marine the equal capability on our own multiple small arms weapons systems, we did not believe we should provide every Marine the capability on all foreign weapons systems either.
Level two. The skills of level one plus the ability to load, disassemble, assemble, conduct immediate/remedial action, zero, and engage multiple targets during day and night. This level of personnel would be the students of SCETC training and a cadre of personnel within the GCE when the task of training foreign militaries is levied in the future.
Level three. The skills of level one and two but trained to become a certified instructor by the SAWIS. Prerequisite for this level would be certification as a combat marksmanship trainer (MOS 0931) and the rank of sergeant to gunnery sergeant. SCETC, FMTU, and the GCE identified their annual requirements for level three trained personnel. The instructors for the GCE and for SCETC will all be trained via SAWIS at WTBn. Since FMTU needs every man of the 360-man company trained to level three, the recommendation was to provide 24 instructors per year to FMTU and then allow FMTU to issue the potential MOS of foreign weapons instructor at their own site using the program of instruction provided by WTBn.
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| A Type 2 AK-47. (Photo courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-47.) |
Until a program similar to the above recommendations is established, the Marine Corps will continue to rely on ad hoc training. Currently, WTBn has developed a foreign weapons course with minimal weapons available. Ammunition for the 7.62mm X 39mm is available in extremely limited quantities, and ammunition for the PKM medium machinegun was purchased by the Program Manager, Ammunition for limited training as well. Additionally, SCETC is training at Twentynine Palms with weapons borrowed from WTBn and using the limited ammunition available. 3d MarDiv is borrowing both weapons and ammunition from U.S. Army forces in Okinawa while 1st and 2d MarDivs solve their problems one piece at a time in an effort to satisfy the requirement to teach deploying forces about foreign military weapons without any resources being providing by the Marine Corps.
The most common method of satisfying this operational requirement has been to hire civilian contractors to provide the necessary training at an exorbitant cost to the American taxpayer. Other than cost, the civilian approach is detrimental as they are not bound to Marine Corps terminology and techniques and easily conflict with our own weapons handling rules and terms. Additionally, our lessons learned are not immediately rolled into their training syllabi. Actions conducted at one civilian site will not mirror actions at another site. The foreign weapons training needs to be a Marine Corps trained evolution, with Marines training Marines as the long-term solution. Quality assurance could then be guaranteed, resources controlled, legitimate quota allocations managed, and taxpayer money spent wisely.
The challenges ahead are many as the rules governing acquisition of foreign weapons, procurement of nonstandard ammunition, storing of nonstandard ammunition, use of nonstandard ammunition on existing live fire ranges, training of range safety officers, and limited technical inspections prior to live fire--in addition to storage facilities and ammunition procurement--all need to be resolved before the Marine Corps can provide the required equipment and training to realize the necessary skills in foreign weapons training.
>CWO4 Eby is the Marine Gunner, WTBn, Quantico.
