Basic Rifle Marksmanship Training with the Laser Marksmanship Training System

摘要

This research compared the relative impact of two approaches for training Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM). One hundred and eighty four One-Station Unit Training (OSUT) infantry trainees (i.e., the experimental group) trained under a U.S. Army Reserve (USAR)-developed, device-based (i.e., the Beamhit Laser Marksmanship Training System LMTS) approach, and 202 infantry trainees (i. e., the control group) trained under the standard U.S. Army Infantry School BRM program of instruction. Results revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on shot grouping, weapon zeroing, and known- distance firing. No between-group differences were found, however, for record fire qualification scores or for performance during pop-up target engagement practice periods leading up to qualification. The implications of these findings for initial marksmanship training are discussed along with plans for follow-up USAR-sponsored research to assess (a) the impact of LMTS-based training on sustainment performance, and (b) the feasibility of using LMTS-based performance to predict live-fire qualification scores.