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KABUL – In order to raise the standards of marksmanship throughout the Army, President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the United States Army Marksmanship Unit in 1956.
Now, over 50 years later, USAMU Soldiers find themselves in Afghanistan supporting President Barrack Obama's intent to increase the ability to train competent Afghan security forces.
Since its founding, Soldiers from USAMU deployed to Vietnam to serve as sniper instructors and to Iraq to teach marksmanship fundamentals. For the first time in the history of the prestigious unit, this sought after training is being given a foreign force in a combat environment.
The six-man team currently based out of Camp Alamo in the Kabul Military Training Center is focused on instructing Afghan National Army leadership.
"We are here working with the ANA to standardize their training," said Sgt. Lee Dimaculangan, an instructor from the action shooting team. "We focus on the trainer groups like the instructors and drill sergeants."
This train-the-trainer format is commonly used by USAMU to disseminate the information more effectively.
"The ANA is still in its infancy, so working with the instructor group will help spread the information better," Dimaculangan said.
Everyday tools used for basic marksmanship training in the U.S. such as shadow boxes or reflective sights were non-existent in ANA marksmanship training prior to the USAMU Soldiers arriving.
"Right now they are relying on the basics" said Sgt. Daniel Horner, an instructor from the action shooting team. "They lack the training aid resources. We are here to give them to tools to improve."
In addition to training the ANA, the Soldiers find time to work with U.S. forces.
"We also work with the U.S. mentors" Dimaculangan said. "We work with the ANA female Officer Candidate School cadre. We want to train anyone who can pass the information on."
The USAMU Soldiers know how to have some fun once in a while too. The team set up a monthly "fun shoot" to get the coalition forces around Alamo out to the training areas and send some rounds down range into targets.
With their four-month tour nearing the end, Dimaculangan, Horner and the rest of their team hope to have made a difference and raised standard for the marksmanship in the ANA. The next group of expert marksmen will arrive at the end of June with new, innovative ideas to improve training and fresh eyes with different points of view.
| Date Taken: | 06.05.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 06.05.2010 04:18 |
| Story ID: | 50902 |
| Location: | KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: | 399 |
| Downloads: | 338 |
This work, Army Marksmanship Unit trains ANA, by SGT Blair Neelands, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
