R 131507Z DEC 11
UNCLASSIFIED//
MARADMIN 716/11
MSGID/GENADMIN/CG MCCDC QUANTICO VA//
SUBJ/2011 COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP SYMPOSIUM POST SYMPOSIUM MESSAGE//
REF/A/MCO 3574.2K/01AUG2007//
REF/B/MCRP 3-01A RIFLE MARKSMANSHIP//
REF/C/MCRP 3-01B PISTOL MARKSMANSHIP//
REF/D/COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP SYMPOSIUM CHARTER/MARCH 2011//
REF/E/RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS (ROP) FISCAL YEAR 2012 (FY12) COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP SYMPOSIUM//
NARR/REF A IS THE MARINE CORPS ORDER FOR MARINE CORPS COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP PROGRAMS. REF B IS THE MARINE CORPS REFERENCE PUB FOR RIFLE MARKSMANSHIP.  REF C IS THE MARINE CORPS REFERENCE PUB FOR PISTOL MARKSMANSHIP.  REF D IS THE COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP SYMPOSIUM CHARTER WHICH CAN BE VIEWED AT HTTP: WWW.TECOM.USMC.MIL/WTBN/ MAINPAGEBASE/DEFAULT.ASP.  REF E IS THE RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE FY12 COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP SYMPOSIUM AND CONTAINS DETAILS OF VOTING, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND DECISIONS BROUGHT FORWARD TO THE ADVOCATE WHICH CAN BE VIEWED AT HTTP: WWW.TECOM.USMC.MIL/WTBN/MAINPAGEBASE/DEFAULT.ASP//
POC/M. W. DANKANICH/CWO4/UNIT: WEAPONS TRAINING BATTALION (WTBN) QUANTICO, MARKSMANSHIP PROGRAM MANAGEMENT SECTION (MPMS)/TEL: 703-784-5520//
GENTEXT/REMARKS/1.  WTBN QUANTICO, HOSTED THE FY 2012 COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP SYMPOSIUM FROM 24 TO 28 OCTOBER 2011.  THE COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP SYMPOSIUM WAS CONDUCTED TO PROVIDE A FORUM WHERE AUTHORIZED DECISION MAKERS, REPRESENTING THE ENTIRE SPECTRUM OF COMMANDS WITHIN THE CORPS, MET TO IDENTIFY AND DISCUSS ISSUES AND PROVIDED RECOMMENDED SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP.  THIS SYMPOSIUM PROVIDED A SINGLE POINT TO CONSOLIDATE COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP ISSUES AND IS CONTINUING TO PROVIDE SENIOR LEADERSHIP A TRUE PICTURE OF OUR CURRENT STATE OF MARKSMANSHIP.
2.  FOR FY12 THE FOLLOWING WORKING GROUPS (WG) CONVENED: WG1 WEAPONS (ENDURING), WG2 FACILITIES (ENDURING), WG3 COMBAT PISTOL PROGRAM (CPP), WG4 RIFLE TABLES, WG5 DOCTRINE, AND WG6 RCO AT ENTRY LEVEL TRAINING (ELT).
3.  THE EXECUTIVE STEERING COMMITTEE (ESC) BROUGHT FORWARD THE FOLLOWING ITEMS THAT WERE APPROVED BY THE ADVOCATE:
3.A.  REVISE CURRENT DOCTRINE TO REFLECT THAT MARINES ARE NOW AUTHORIZED TO CONDUCT ANNUAL RIFLE TRAINING (ART) AND ANNUAL PISTOL TRAINING (APT) WITH THE PERSONAL RIFLE AND PISTOL ISSUED THEM BASED ON THEIR RESPECTIVE UNIT TABLE OF ORGANIZATION (T/O); INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE M27 INFANTRY AUTOMATIC RIFLE (IAR), M4A1 CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE WEAPON (CQBW), AND M45 CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE PISTOL (CQBP).  THE INTENT IS TO ENSURE MARINES CONDUCT THE FULL RANGE OF THE COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP TRAINING CONTINUUM AS PRESCRIBED IN REF A, REF B, AND REF C WHILE MAINTAINING FOCUS ON THE FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKSMANSHIP WITH THE WEAPON THEY WILL CARRY INTO COMBAT.
3.B.  MOVE FORWARD WITH PROCUREMENT OF IMPROVED RIFLE COMBAT OPTIC (RCO) MOUNT TO REPLACE TA51.
3.C.  ADOPT THE COMMON WEAPON SLING (VCAS) AND COMPLETE TRANSITION FOR ELT AND ART BY FY13.
3.D.  CREATE THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR A RANGE FACILITY REQUIRED TO EXECUTE THE COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP PROGRAM TO STANDARD.
3.E.  COMBAT PISTOL PROGRAM (CPP) IMPLEMENTATION IS REMANDED FOR FURTHER REFINEMENT OF TRAINING AMMUNITION AND TIME REQUIREMENTS.
3.F.  PRESENT CPP TO THE VARIOUS ADVOCATES TO DETERMINE DEMAND SIGNAL.
3.G.  CONDUCT A VALIDATION STUDY AND ADOPT THE MPMS-1 TARGET DEVELOPED UNDER CPP FOR IMPLEMENTATION INTO THE MARINE CORPS COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP PROGRAM RIFLE TABLES 2-4.
3.H.  DEVELOP CPP TABLES 2 THROUGH 4 TO SUPPORT A COMMANDER'S TRAINING PLAN.
3.I.  ADJUST THE MAXIMUM RANGE IN TABLE 4D (UNKNOWN DISTANCE NIGHT) TO 200 METERS/YARDS TO ACCOMMODATE THE MAXIMUM CAPABILITIES OF THE EQUIPMENT.
3.J.  DEVELOP MORE ROBUST TRAINING TO PROGRESS THE MOVING TARGET SKILL SET FOR RIFLE IN EITHER THE EXISTING TABLES (3 AND 4) OR AS A STAND ALONE TABLE USING AMMUNITION ALLOCATION ALREADY RESIDENT IN THE TRAINING PORTIONS OF TABLES 3A AND 4A.
3.K.  INCORPORATE CHANGES TO TERMS AND DEFINITIONS FOR THE RCO AND BACK UP IRON SIGHT (BUIS) TO THE DRAFT MARINE CORPS REFERENCE PUBLICATION (MCRP) 3-01A RIFLE MARKSMANSHIP.
3.L.  REF A, REF B, AND REF C WILL BE UPDATED WITH APPROVED CHANGES RECOMMENDED BY THE WGS AS NOTED IN REF E.
3.M.  PUBLISH AUTHORIZED WEAPONS, OPTICS, MODULAR ATTACHMENTS, AND AUTHORIZED MODIFICATIONS IN MARINE CORPS ORDER (MCO) 3574.2L AND VIA SEPARATE CORRESPONDENCE (SEPCOR) PUBLISHED BY MPMS ANNUALLY.
3.N.  ADJUST EXEMPTIONS AND WAIVERS IN REF A FOLLOWING THROUGHPUT ANALYSIS OF ART RANGES IN ORDER TO DETERMINE FEASIBILITY AND MORE ACCURATELY DEFINE ANNUAL QUALIFICATION EXEMPTIONS.
3.O.  APPROVAL AUTHORITY FOR WAIVERS WILL REMAIN AT THE MARINE FORCES (MARFOR) LEVEL PER REF A.
3.P.  INCORPORATE RELEVANT IMPROVEMENTS TO THE COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP PROGRAM LEARNED DURING THE RCO AT ELT PROOF OF CONCEPT (I.E. ZEROING PROCESS FOR RCO).
3.Q.  IMPLEMENT BUIS TRAINING AT SCHOOL OF INFANTRY (SOI) (EAST/WEST) AND HAVE COMBAT INSTRUCTORS TRAINED BY THE MARINE COMBAT TRAINING (MCT)/INFANTRY TRAINING BATTALION (ITB) GUNNERS ON THE BUIS.
3.R.  THE PROOF OF CONCEPT FOR RCO AT ELT WILL CONTINUE UNTIL FURTHER GUIDANCE IS RECEIVED.  DETAILS ARE CONTAINED IN SEPCOR ALREADY SENT VIA NAVAL MESSAGE TO THE INVOLVED COMMANDS.
3.S.  DATA COLLECTION WILL CONTINUE AS PLANNED WITH MARINE CORPS OPERATIONAL TEST AND EVALUATION ACTIVITY (MCOTEA) PROVIDING THEIR FINDINGS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
4.  ACTION ITEMS: WTBN QUANTICO (MPMS) WILL TAKE ACTION ON THE ITEMS IN SECTION 3 OF THIS MESSAGE.  WHERE NECESSARY AND APPROPRIATE, MPMS WILL MAKE LIAISON WITH THE FOLLOWING COMMANDS:
4.A.  WEAPONS AND FIELD TRAINING BATTALION (WFTBN) MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT (MCRD) PARRIS ISLAND, WFTBN EDSON RANGE, AND SOI (EAST/WEST) ON MATTERS PERTAINING TO ELT.
4.B.  KEY SITES TO INCLUDE STONE BAY RANGES, WILCOX RANGE, KANEOHE BAY RANGES,  CAMP HANSEN RANGE DETACHMENT, AND OTHER MARKSMANSHIP TRAINING UNIT (MTU)'S ON MATTERS PERTAINING TO ART AND APT.
4.C.  HIGHER HEADQUARTERS (HQ) (DEPUTY COMMANDANT (DC)-PLANS POLICIES AND OPERATIONS, DC-INSTALLATIONS AND LOGISTICS, TECOM, TRAINING COMMAND, SYSTEMS COMMAND) ON MATTERS PERTAINING TO RANGE FACILITIES, WEAPONS, AND RCO AT ELT IMPLEMENTATION.
5.  SYMPOSIUM WAY AHEAD.  THE COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP SYMPOSIUM MET IT'S INTENT TO GAIN A CLEAR PICTURE OF THE CURRENT STATE OF MARKSMANSHIP IN THE MARINE CORPS AND THE STEPS WHICH NEED TO BE TAKEN IN ORDER TO IMPROVE AN ALREADY ROBUST PROGRAM.  NEXT ITERATION TO BE HELD IN OCTOBER OF 2012 FOR FY13.  WTBN, QUANTICO WILL DRAFT A CALL OUT MESSAGE FOR TOPICS AT THE 2013 COMBAT MARKSMANSHIP SYMPOSIUM IN JULY 2012 IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN RELEVANT DISCUSSION.
6.  CONTACT THE POINT OF CONTACT FOR ANY QUESTIONS OR TO OBTAIN COPIES OF THE REFERENCES IF UNABLE TO VIEW ON THE WTBN QUANTICO WEBSITE LISTED ABOVE.
7.  RELEASE AUTHORIZED BY LIEUTENANT GENERAL RICHARD P. MILLS, DEPUTY COMMANDANT FOR COMBAT DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRATION.//