The Plattsburg Manual Part 21

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF TARGET PRACTICE

The most thrilling experience you will have at a training camp will probably come when you step up to the firing line on the target range to fire your first shot. The great majority of new men grow pale, become nervous, lose their calm and poise, while they are on the firing line.

This is a fact, not a theory. And this loss of nerve is not confined to the new man. Any shot, however old and experienced, will tell you that he fully understands what we have just described.

To become a good shot, we must solve a mental condition that corresponds in a way to that of beginners in golf. And we must master some details in technique.

We should know something about the machine (rifle) we are to operate. We must know what the sights are and how to use them. We should know how those men most successful in the science and art of shooting hold the rifle under different conditions, how they adjust their slings, how they prepare (blacken) their sights and care for their rifles, what practice and preparation they take, and what bits of advice they have to offer.

The primitive man had no means of accurately aiming his crude devices to throw stones. But in this day and age we have. The modern rifle is one of the most perfect pieces of scientific machinery in the world. Very shortly after you arrive in camp your captain will explain to you its sights and how they are adjusted. lie has a sighting bar for that purpose. It will take you only a few minutes to grasp the subject when you have a rifle in your hands, and your instructor is pointing out and explaining just what you should know. On paper it seems to be hard.

Now you will want to learn how to load your piece (rifle), work your bolt, and squeeze the trigger. Simple as these points may seem, you will have something to learn after you have been at it ten years. Practise!

practise! practise! Sit on your bunk and work your bolt ten thousand times before you go on the range. Get in the habit of doing it quickly.

Learn to keep your piece at your shoulder while you pull the bolt back and push it home. Learn to make the fewest possible motions of your body in working it. To pull a bolt back and push it forward seems to be a simple thing to do. It is simple. But when you are actually firing at the target, experience tells you that you will have more trouble and a greater collection of hard luck stories to amuse your friends with than you ever imagined possible, unless you have had plenty of practice.

To squeeze a trigger seems to be a simple thing to do. It is simple. But after you have been squeezing triggers for twenty years you will have something more to learn about it. Ninety-five per cent. of the failures on the target range in the training camps come from not squeezing the trigger properly. You can't learn how to squeeze it on paper. You have got to practise. Every time you work your bolt, squeeze your trigger.

Get in some extra "squeezes." You will find that your whole muscular and nervous system will need to be coordinated and harmonized. After you have been long about it you will find an extreme delicacy in its operation. You will find that it requires a great deal more than a finger. All the muscles of your hand and arm will be required. We cannot overemphasize the importance of squeezing your trigger. When you learn to do this without jumping (flinching), without moving an eyelash, you are making progress and are prepared for more advanced work.

Why do you suppose we have "gallery practice," i.e., practice with a greatly reduced charge of powder? Simply to determine and correct your errors. We a.s.sume that you have normal sight and that you are in fair physical condition. Suppose that you make a perfect score. What conditions must you fulfil? 1st, You must aim in exactly the same way every time. 2d, At the instant of firing your body must be in perfect repose. 3d, You must squeeze your trigger properly (without a jerk).

You could not aim exactly the same way every time unless you understood your sights and unless you could see them plainly. You will be told to blacken them. Many forget and fail to do this. They do not fully realize that the sights are much easier to see when blackened, and that therefore the chances of hitting the bull's-eye are much greater.

There`s no more luck in shooting than there is in solving a problem in geometry, or in a game of billiards. It`s all practice, nerve, and science.

Your body cannot be in repose at the instant you fire unless you have your sling properly adjusted, unless you are reasonably comfortable (not constrained), and unless you, temporarily, stop breathing. Your body must be, for an instant, a vise. Any trivial thing such as a puff of wind, a jerk of the trigger, or a noise near you, will ordinarily change your hold and throw you off the bull's-eye.

Suppose you are making a poor score. What is the trouble? In the first place don't blame it on the rifle or the ammunition. a.s.sume full responsibility yourself. You are the responsible party. Practise a great deal and see if you can locate the fault. If you cannot, your captain will a.s.sist you.

When we go from gallery practice to the target range, where we fire the service rifle with the service charge, we find a great difference in the recoil of the rifle and in the sound. The good Lord has made our muscles and nervous system to react automatically at danger or anything connected with it. That is probably why we shudder and close our eyes when a door is slammed very near to us. But sound, unless we get too close, does not hurt any one, and we should steel our nerves to remember that fact when we are firing. We also know that there is going to be a certain amount of recoil of the rifle. But if you will hold your sling as you have been instructed, if you will provide yourself with proper elbow and shoulder padding, the authors of this text a.s.sure you that you will experience no pain or harm from the recoil. It is their judgment that if you are healthy and can see and will go on the range with your jaws set to fire with anything like your gallery practice coolness, and calmness, you will qualify. Your greatest stumbling block will be your rapid fire. This is where you fire a definite number of shots in a limited time. And this is where you will experience the extreme amount of nervousness.

When you return from firing your first score at rapid fire, and have had time to think calmly over your actions, you will probably realize that your nerves were pitched up in G and that you did a number of foolish things. You should realize that you are not an exceptional man.

Ninety-nine out of every hundred normal, virile men are more or less nervous when they first step up for rapid fire. Practice and will power are the correctives.

Let us suppose that you have ten shots to fire in two minutes. If you fire your ten shots in one minute it is plain that you return unused one minute given to you. This minute may have been of great use to you in getting closer to the bull's-eye. If you fire at the rate of ten shots in three minutes, it is plain that when your two minutes shall have expired you have missed the opportunity of firing four times at the bull's-eye.

Get one of your bunkies to go back of your tent and time you. Then swap about and you hold the watch for him. Try to make of yourself a machine that finishes the ten shots just before the time expires.

And here is a little rule of thumb we want you to bear constantly in mind while you are having rapid fire: Load your piece quickly, but aim and squeeze your trigger deliberately. Keep cool.

The best shot in the company is the man who practises the most.

CHAPTER X

PRACTICE MARCH OR "HIKE"

The manuver practice march will be the most instructive, the most pleasant, and one of the hardest periods of your service. You will return from it proud of the hardships you have undergone and capable of speaking with authority on many practical matters pertaining to soldiering. You will be able to amuse yourself and your friends with reminiscences of the many incidents which you will never forget. It is during the practice march that you will put into practical use the tactical principles and battle formations of which, up to that time, you will have heard at lectures, or which you will have executed in a mechanical manner at drill. You will return from each march with a knowledge of many practical points on camp sanitation, of the pleasures and hardships incident to manuver warfare, and of the manner in which a soldier adapts himself to changing conditions, all of which cannot be learned from books or lectures.

The practice march demands a large expenditure of physical and mental energy; however, the hardships are greatly exaggerated by the old soldiers. To make up a set of equipment, to a.s.sist in cleaning up camp and loading trucks, to march and fight for a distance of ten or twelve miles while carrying a heavy pack on the back and a nine-pound gun on the shoulder, and upon reaching camp to pitch your tent, make up your bed, do some fatigue work, and probably some guard duty in addition, all in one day, is a hard physical strain on the average man. By obeying implicitly the advice of your company commander, you will greatly lessen the hardships incident to a practice march, and by disobeying it you may possibly undergo the mortification of having to drop out of ranks and be jeered at by the pa.s.sing column. The following suggestions, if followed implicitly, will lessen the hardship of the "hike."

MARCHING RULES

1. Adjust your equipment, if necessary, at the first halt.

2. Do not leave the column without the express permission of your company company commander.

3. Keep in your proper place in the column.

4. keep forty inches from the man in front of you.

HALTS

Halts are made for the purpose of resting. Take advantage of the opportunity by sitting down at once along the side of the road near the place where your squad will form when the march is resumed. Remain seated until the command to fall in is given.

Sit down in such a way that you do not support the weight of the pack on your shoulders while resting. Don't go wandering off into people's yards or orchards. Relax as completely as possible. Get into place immediately when the signal is given.

CAMPING

Two men tent together--the front rank man and his rear rank file. Alter pitching your tent, get inside and level off the ground. Cut a drain around the tent to carry the water off; this should be done even in pleasant weather. In case you do not trench your tent and a sudden rain comes, your blankets may get wet and you will probably lose some much-needed rest and sleep. If the tent pins will not stay in the ground, cut some small sticks to a length of about twelve inches and use them as tent pins.

PREPARING YOUR BED

After you have pitched your tent, get some hay, gra.s.s, straw, or leaves and cover the floor. Place one poncho on this, then one or two blankets on top of the poncho to sleep on, and use the remaining blankets as cover. Spread the other poncho over the tent. Many men are careless about making a comfortable bed. You will be rewarded with large dividends if you are zealous in making yourself comfortable. Arrange your equipment at the rear just under the small triangle. Get your meat can, knife, fork, spoon, and tin cup out where they will be handy.

MAKING UP YOUR PACK

Immediately after reveille, take down your tent and make up your pack.

Place your extra blankets on the pile with those of the other members of your squad. Make up your surplus kit bundle and put it in the surplus kit bag.