Photo By Sgt. 1st Class James Lally | German Federal Defense Force Pfc. Tobias Werning shows soldiers from Task Force Yankee...... read more read more
KABUL, Afghanistan — Massachusetts Army National Guardsmen earned the prestigious German Armed Forces Badge for Weapons Proficiency (German: Schützenschnur) at the Kabul Military Training Center here, Oct. 10.
The coveted German Schützenschnur is a badge that can be earned by officers and enlisted but only enlisted soldiers can wear the distinctive award on their service uniforms. Normally Guardsmen do not get the chance to qualify for the honor.
To earn the award soldiers fired pistols and machine guns under a strict timeline enforced by their hosts and counterparts from the German Federal Defence Force (Bundeswehr).
To let the soldiers know when to prepare to fire Bundeswehr 1st Sgt. Gero Riedling yelled, “Get ready for combat!”
Riedling and his soldiers must qualify for the Schützenschnur annually. “We do this once a year. We shoot the pistol, rifle and machine gun,” said Riedling. “Each person has three chances at each event.”
Before the soldiers could go onto the firing line German Federal Defence Force Pfc. Tobias Werning demonstrated how to use the Heckler & Koch P8, a 9mm pistol similar to the U.S. 9mm M9 – Beretta that U.S. soldiers use.
Similar to the American service pistol, the first time the trigger is squeezed there is a lot of tension but then it gets easier. “I liked it; it was easy after the first shot, kind of like the clutch on a rice rocket as opposed to a Harley,” said Master Sgt. Kimberly Alberico, G1 noncommissioned officer-in-charge for Task Force Yankee, 26th “Yankee” Brigade, Massachusetts Army National Guard.
Soldiers also had to shoot the MG3 machine gun accurately at some pretty small targets to qualify for the gold badge that signifies the highest proficiency. There are also silver and bronze versions of the award.
“This was the greatest day I’ve had since I’ve been in Afghanistan. It was really nice of them [German soldiers] to host us,” said Pfc. Shawn Merrill, a construction technician with Task Force Yankee’s General Engineering Department after qualifying for the silver badge.
| Date Taken: | 10.10.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 10.11.2011 10:06 |
| Story ID: | 78313 |
| Location: | KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: | 482 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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