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Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. (August 2, 2024): It is ironic that military recruits with previous firearms experience are often at a disadvantage to those who have never held a gun in their life. In this photo by Sergeant First Class Shane Smith, Specialist Jamie Zenker, center, engages targets to “zero in” or adjust her weapon’s sights. The advantage novice shooters have is not having any bad habits to unlearn. Youngsters who grew up hunting with firearms develop tendencies that pose a genuine problem when firing today’s precision rifles.
Those experienced with shotguns or high-powered civilian rifles anticipate the “kick” or recoil of these weapons, for example, which interferes with accurately firing weapons like the M-16 or M-4. But this isn’t the only issue. Self-trained marksmen tend to violate one of the four key components of proper marksmanship: steady position, aiming, breath control, and trigger squeeze.
Steady position refers to adopting a stance and grip that creates a stable firing platform.
The body position and hold should give the shooter a relaxed grip yet be firm enough to support the weapon. Aiming involves pointing the weapon to develop a “sight picture” of the target using the front and rear sights. It is important to place one’s cheek on the rifle stock in the same location every time to obtain a reliable “picture” in your sights.
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Limón, Costa Rica. (July 28, 2044): Costa Rica is a beautiful country that, like many nations in the southern hemisphere, suffers from national disasters and often finds itself in need of humanitarian help. In this photo by Chief Petty Officer Mark Logico, Petty Officer 3rd Class Jefferson Arpi Ordóñez assesses a patient’s vision in a temporary medical facility set up by the U.S. Navy. Sailors are participating in Continuing Promise 25, an exercise hosted by the Southern Command to foster goodwill and strengthen partnerships with Jamaica, Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, and Panama. The exercise seeks to improve medical readiness to respond to public health disasters and humanitarian crises.
Since 2007, American medical personnel treated more than 600,000 people including approximately 7,300 surgeries to citizens of host nations free of cost. This year’s event featured subject matter expert exchanges, engineering projects, community relations events, and even band performances. For the next few months, medical teams will be working alongside partner nation medical personnel to provide direct patient care and technical expertise through community clinics. The Navy dispatched thirty medical professionals including general practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, radiologists, dentists, optometrists, and biomedical technicians to collaborate with local experts. The teams will focus on disaster preparedness topics like medical evaluation and treatment, preventive medicine, and pharmacy services.
Each visit concludes with a concert by the Fleet Forces Navy Band, “Uncharted Waters,” which also conducted classes at community schools. The U.S. Navy says Continuing Promise has positively impacted more people in partner nations than any other deployment series in its history.
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Camp Pendleton, California. (August 1, 2024): No matter how many bombs you drop on something, at some point you have to go in and take the place. That is the harsh reality facing Marines in urban combat and is the subject of the Marine Raid Leaders Course. In this photo by Corporal Brian Knowles, Private First-Class Ardeth Maldonado, left, and Lance Corporal Brecken Wilcoxen set up a machine gun while clearing a building.
The Marines are no strangers to urban combat going back to the Battle for Hue City in the Vietnam War. Marines have fought bloody battles door-to-door in places like Falluja and Ramadi during Operation Iraqi Freedom making them experts at urban warfare. During the three-week course, Marines learn how to conduct raids in urban environments including setting up a perimeter, clearing rooms, and planning for extrication if necessary. The course refines combat marksmanship skills, teaches advanced Military Operations on Urban Terrain, and ensures every Marine understands their role in close quarter combat.
Fighting in-close and personal is the Marine’s way.
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Okinawa, Japan. (July 31, 2024): Bell Helicopter’s “Cobra” gunship has saved countless American lives while terrorizing the enemy for nearly sixty years. In this photo by Corporal Christopher Lape, a Marine Corps AH-1Z variant of the Cobra fires an AGM-179 joint air-to-ground munition during an expeditionary strike. Pilots with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit fired the missile at fast moving targets in the Indo-Pacific for the first time. Throughout its long history, the Cobra gunship has proven to be a reliable weapons platform for numerous combat roles.
During Vietnam, unarmed troop helicopters were extremely vulnerable to enemy ground fire, especially during landings. Bell Helicopter, which also manufactures the famous UH-1H “Huey”, created the AH-1 Cobra as an all-purpose, two-blade, single-engine attack helicopter to escort these air mobile troops. The Cobra’s job was to pacify the area surrounding landing zones and then loiter above while the battle progressed. They also provided vital fire support for ground forces using both rockets and mini guns at the precise moment they needed them.
On other missions, Cobra pilots teamed up with OH-6A Scout helicopters to form hunter-killer teams to flush the enemy out of the jungle. The OH-6 Scouts risked their lives by deliberately exposing themselves to enemy fire while the killer Cobras would pounce once the enemy revealed themselves. AH-1 Cobras were in use by the Army during the Tet offensive in 1968 and through to the end of the Vietnam War.
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Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. (July 21, 2024): The Air Force has established a unique training program to teach lifesaving and combat skills to Airmen in all career fields. In this photo by Airman Liberty Matthews, Airmen carry a mannequin on a stretcher during the field phase of Tactics and Leadership Nexus training. For many of these Airmen, this is the first time they’ve held a weapon or been exposed to other combat skills since basic training. The course is both a refresher and a reminder that all Airmen are expected to be combat ready, regardless of their occupation.
The Air Force chose Dover for the first Tactics and Leadership Nexus training facility at a cost of $400,000 in 2020. The program includes group leadership challenges, first aid, chemical defense, weapons familiarization, and realistic combat simulations.
This two-day program includes shoot-move-communicate drills, coping with unexploded ordnance, land navigation, and active shooter scenarios. The course begins with classroom sessions covering self-aid and buddy care, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear training, weapons familiarization, and critical thinking.
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Pacific Ocean. (July 25, 2024): In this photo by MC2 Hannah Kantner, a Sailor appears casually indifferent to the F/A-18F Super Hornet streaking to a landing behind him on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. He is justly confident that the ship’s “arrested” landing system will capture the incoming aircraft for a safe, yet jarring, end of the flight.
Crewed by five thousand Sailors and Marines, these “cities at sea” use a launching and recovery system that has evolved dramatically since World War II. America’s first aircraft carrier was the USS Langley, a plodding flattop commissioned in 1922. This ship moved aircraft around using two onboard cranes to hoist seaplanes onto its deck for launch. These planes were launched using a compressed-air catapult installed on the bow.
This launch method is where the concept of “arrested” landings originated. The Navy decided to use a series of five arresting wires strung across the aft part of the flight deck to capture the airplanes’ trailing hook. Once the aircraft captures a wire, the planes’ momentum is abruptly stopped using weights in a block-and-tackle mechanism. Carriers later developed steam driven systems with pistons to generate the force to launch modern airplanes.
Today’s launching and recovering systems are futuristic by comparison.
The Navy has installed two new flight deck systems, the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) and the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launching System, or EMALS on the USS Gerald R. Ford, America’s most advanced carrier. Developed by General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, these systems use a surge of electromagnetic energy to power the catapult and landing systems.
The main advantage of this innovative technology is smoother acceleration for launch which puts less stress on aircraft air frames. The system can launch heavier planes than steam catapults and its arresting wires can take on aircraft weighing up to fifty thousand pounds.
Always thrilling, carrier landings will continue to be routine for Airmen using these innovative technologies.