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Airman 1st Class Ryan McCarthy, 821st Contingency Response
Squadron defender, recently graduated from the Close Precision
Engagement Course at Fort Bliss, Texas on November 4, 2016.
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November 16, 2016 - Airman 1st Class Ryan McCarthy, 821st Contingency Response
Squadron defender at Travis Air Force Base, California ... recently
graduated from the Close Precision Engagement Course at Fort Bliss,
Texas. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Robert Hicks)
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The 19-day course teaches advanced marksmanship and
military scouting skills to Air Force security forces
members, whose career field specializes in the protection of
Air Force personnel and resources. They are charged with
protecting flight lines and other sensitive places and are
trained to remove the threat of snipers that could damage or
destroy aircraft.
Usually to be selected for the
course, Airmen in the squadron compete during the Advanced
Designated Marksman course, 11-days of training that
familiarizes them with the M-24 weapon system. But due to
on-going contingencies in the squadron, McCarthy was one of
the few defenders remaining.
A week before the course
started, McCarthy traveled to Beale AFB, California, to get
familiar with the weapon system.
“When I traveled to
Beale to get familiar with the M-24, it was my first time
ever firing a long rifle,” he said. “It took me until the
second day to get comfortable and confident with the weapon
system.”
McCarthy went on to say not firing the
weapon before helped him because he didn't have any bad
habits to break during the training.
All Air Force
counter snipers use the M-24 weapons system. It is composed
of the M-24 rifle with an M-3A telescopic sight. It fires
the standard 175 grain NATO 7.62 round.
On the first
day he arrived, students were curious and asked the
instructors what the course dropout rates were. He explained
the instructors looked at them and said ‘we've had classes
where everyone passed and we've had classes where everyone
has failed.'
From that point on McCarthy knew he
couldn't let himself return to the CRW without completing
the course.
“Every day during every smoke session or
anything else challenging we went through, I just told
myself this is the last thing I have to do for the day,
fight through it,” he said. “I always knew there was
something else I had to do, but that's what I told myself to
get through it.”
Smoke sessions are work outs to
include push-ups, weapon raises, lunges and a number of
other exercises to cause an individual to experience muscle
failure.
During smoke sessions or other exercises,
instructors conducted a drill known as Kim's Game to test
students' ability to focus under pressure and while
fatigued. During the game, students would be shown ten
random objects in a variety of settings, for a short period
of time and the students would be tested on them later.
“The course is not only physically challenging, but
mentally challenging as well,” McCarthy said. “Throughout
the day the instructors would continuously put us through
memorization challenges while we were getting smoked or
performing other exercises. Days later the instructors would
pull out a piece of paper and have us draw what we saw and
it had to be the exact color and dimensions.”
Throughout the course, instructors taught the class the
skills required of a sniper. This included an immersive
course on the M-24, the military's primary sniper rifle.
Other skills included target detection, range estimation,
and camouflage and concealment.
“Known distance
shooting was definitely the hardest part of the course for
me,” he said. “During this portion of the course, the
targets started to move and full body targets became side
profiles. Unfortunately, three of my classmates failed
during this period.”
McCarthy class started with 10
Airmen, but only graduated three.
By U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Robert Hicks
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2016
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