Week 8: Firing Week

"The deadliest weapon in the world is a MARINE and his rifle!"
-GEN. PERSHING, US.ARMY

Field week is when Recruit gets to stop so much dry firing of his weapon and fire it for real.
Marines from Field Training Company teach recruits the fundamentals of living in the field and surviving and winning on the modern battlefield, to include chemical, nuclear, radiological, and biological defense.  These duty experts have honed their skills through a unique blend of classroom instruction and hands on experience leading Marines in the Operating Forces. 
During the second week of marksmanship training, recruits actually fire a known-distance course with ranges of 200, 300 and 500 yards.  Recruits prepare for rifle qualification on Friday of that week.

They learn everything there is to know about the Field Firing Range (FFR)

During marksmanship training, recruits learn how to fire at a single target while in a stationary position. During FFR recruits learn how to fire at moving and multiple targets, while under low-light conditions and wearing their field protective (gas) mask.

I almost think they made em younger back then.

Of course at the time it was easier to lie about your age.

Qualification Day (Qual Day) is the last day of Firing Week during recruit training.

During Firing Week, or the second week of marksmanship training, recruits start before sunrise preparing their rifle, the range and themselves to shoot the known-distance course of fire.
Recruits prepare for rifle qualification day by firing rounds of both slow fire (one shot at a time) and rapid fire (10 shots in a row). 
As recruits practice shooting, they are assisted and evaluated by their Combat Marksmanship Instructor, their Coach, and their drill instructors. All are working to assist the recruit to ensure that the fundamentals have been learned, and that each recruit shoots the best that he or she can.
On Qual Day all recruits are trying to shoot their best and are striving for the coveted “Crossed Rifles” of the Rife Expert badge. Recruits can also earn the Rifle Sharpshooter and Rifle Marksman badges.

qualification

I can totally see my Recruit teaching these guys. Maybe he'll take an interest in becoming a Combat Marksmanship Instructor.

“One of the first things we tell recruits or Marines to remember when shooting is to relax,” said Sgt. Matthew J. Maruster, primary marksmanship instructor. “Once you relax, you can apply what you learned a lot better than if you were stressed out.”
“We give advice on our own experiences,” said Maruster. “Show them some tricks of the trade.”
Maruster said kneeling is the best position to learn because it is used most frequently on the range and in combat.
“Most of the time when you engage your enemy, you don’t have enough time to get down on the deck, so you just go to the kneeling or sitting position,” said Maruster.
“Safety is important, obviously,” said Maruster. “You never want to lose or injure a recruit when it could have been prevented. Most of the time, it is easy enough. The safety is already in their head. It is engrained through boot camp.”
“Marksmanship in general should be taken very seriously,” said Maruster. “Whether you are an (administrative Marine) or an (intelligence Marine), no matter what military occupational specialty, you should have the ability to put rounds down range in a particular direction and be able to hit a target. The past few years have shown that you don’t necessarily have to be an (infantryman) to be a rifle man.”

 Marksmanship training