FORT POLK, La. –– Soldiers of the 52nd Translator/Interpreter Company, 1st Battalion, 353rd Infantry Regiment, 162nd Infantry Brigade, conducted “sergeants’ time” training on the Engagement Skills Trainer July 15.
The Engagement Skills Trainer provides initial and sustainment marksmanship training, static unit collective gunnery and tactical training, and shoot/don’t shoot training.
The focus for this training was rifle marksmanship, squad/fire team collective and judgmental use of force. The range allowed Soldiers to fine-tune their rifle marksmanship skills for the upcoming M16 qualification range on Aug. 3 and 4, and also provided basic familiarization with the M203 and M249.
The Soldiers focused on the five fundamentals of basic rifle marksmanship: Steady position, aiming (correct sight picture), breath control, trigger squeeze and recoil management.
The EST helped the Soldiers identify problems in those five areas, which provided valuable insight on how to fix those deficiencies. As the Soldiers began to show improvement in their techniques, they progressed to various scenarios with moving targets, which simulated an enemy attack.
“The training was very helpful; after I shot a couple of times, I could see how my breathing was affecting my sight picture and how important the fundamentals are for shooting well. It was fun, too,” a Soldier remarked. In addition to the range, the Soldiers will continue to train on their rifle fundamentals prior to the actual zero/qualification range to develop muscle memory, which will hopefully lead to a company of steely-eyed shooters.
