sure shots
Low down: Soldiers at Centsam now have to shoot from several different positions, including crouching
TACTICAL TARGETS
As well as modernising Centsam, the brains behind the event have changed the range furniture. In addition to the traditional Figure 11 – the charging soldier – and the head-and-shoulders Figure 12 (above right), the close-quarter marksmanship contest now includes two head-and-torso targets (above left). The targets are designed to improve accuracy by forcing troops to aim at a smaller area.
|
FIRE-POINT FLASHBACK
1874 – Organised competition shooting was welcomed to the Regular Army with the introduction of inter-regimental rifle matches.
1874 – Army VIII formed to select the Regular Army’s team to compete in the Inter-Services matches – the pre-cursor to Centsam – organised by the National Rifle Association.
1893 – The Army Rifle Association (ARA) was founded after the amalgamation of the inter-regimental matches and the Army VIII Club. The group’s objective was to “promote interest in small arms shooting for Service purposes”. Practices were designed to make soldiers more effective on the battlefield.
1908 – Figure targets were introduced into ARA matches.
AUGUST 1946
Army crack shots test their shooting skills on the ranges at Bisley in Surrey
1967 – Matches were fired on an electric target range for the first time. The ARA was registered as a charity.
AUGUST 1967
The country’s first electrical target system is introduced at Ash Ranges
1968 – The Army Target Rifle Club takes on its current name. The group, which is sponsored by the ARA, runs competitions for full-bore and small-bore target rifles and pistols, air rifles and pistols and shotguns.
1974 – A moving target match was introduced. The ARA was officially recognised by the Army Board and provided with public funding.
1981 – The Army Target Shooting Club was formed.
1982 – Two night shooting matches were introduced for the Infantry.
1986 – Firing in respirators was brought in for a number of Centsam matches, including a new march-and-shoot discipline.
NOVEMBER 1995
An automatic marking system is formally opened at Pirbright
2009 – The Army Operational Shooting Competition was introduced at Centsam. Casualty recovery and the wearing of 15kg of personal kit were also brought in.
JULY 2009
Casualty recovery serials are introduced for the first time
|
Report: Stephen Tyler
Pictures: Graeme Main
FOR sharp-eyed marksmen serving in Britain’s Armed Forces, there is no greater proving ground than the ranges at Bisley and neighbouring Pirbright.
The Surrey facilities have hosted generations of soldiers keen to show off their shooting prowess by dropping to their belt buckles and patiently delivering ultra-accurate shots into targets hundreds of metres away.
But while the sharp-shooting set’s actions retain a place in the centres’ folklore, their contemporaries need to display an increasingly-different set of skills to earn entry into the crack-shot elite.
Up-to-the-minute lessons being brought back from southern Afghanistan’s front lines are redefining Bisley’s outlook and the changes were brought into sharp focus during the 2010 Central Skill at Arms Meeting (Centsam).
The annual event for the best Service shooters is shunning its old-school static serials in favour of action-packed, quick-fire versions inspired by the battle-winning techniques being used on Op Herrick.
Maj Clem Clemson, an incoming member of the Operational Shooting Training Team based at the Army Rifle Association’s (ARA’s)headquarters at Bisley, is continuing a drive to use the latest feedback from theatre to make small arms tuition and competitions as relevant as possible.
“Operational experience is driving everything we do,” he explained. “I don’t think the standard of shooting in the Army has slipped, but where we struggle is in finding the time to do the live-firing training.
“It’s important that we do find the time because marksmanship will only get more essential in the future.
“To use a golfing analogy, Tiger Woods is the best player in the world because he practices, but he put his clubs down for a couple of months and was nowhere near that level when he came back.”
 Cpl Gary Coleman
“Centsam is quite useful as it makes you a more confident soldier. This is my third year here and it is now much more operationally-relevant, which it needs to be. We have to wear body armour when we are in Afghanistan so we should wear it here as well.” |
Examples of Centsam’s transition into the here and now were not hard to come by when Soldier attended the Army Operational Shooting Competition (AOSC) during the event’s opening week.
Where historically contestants would lie down in the prone position before taking their time to zero in on distant targets, the AOSC adopts a much more physical approach.
Several individual contests now require soldiers to fire from kneeling and standing positions to mimic the situations they will encounter in Helmand province.
The long-established Parachute Regiment Cup has been tweaked to make it operationally-relevant. Teams now have to complete a casevac with a 75kg dummy over 300 metres and carry ammunition tins along the range during the frantic move-and-fire shoot.
 Pte Callum Simpson
“I’m still in training and this is really good experience. It’s stressful because we are doing so much and have to learn a lot. Some people think it’s easy but it’s really not. This will give me good experience and I’m sure we have shot more rounds than anyone else in Phase Two.” |
The claustrophobic nature of the modern battlefield has also been taken into account with the introduction of a close-quarter marksmanship (CQM) match.
The discipline tasks personnel with advancing to combat along a 100-metre range, switching from rifle to pistol for the final sections to simulate what they would have to do if their weapon malfunctioned.
And new targets have been introduced to help train soldiers to improve their aim.
Maj Peter Cottrell (PWRR), chief instructor operational shooting and marksmanship, explained: “This is very intense – you have rushed magazine changes, the transition from rifle to pistol and so on. The methods we use are designed to give soldiers a real test.
“You can’t just lie down on the ground waiting for a target to pop up anymore because that is just not realistic.
“The idea with the new targets is to hit a central area of mass. They are smaller and so are the scoring areas, so we are putting a lot of pressure on people to hit them.”
After grappling with the new targets, personnel progressed on to the second half of the CQM match which challenged them to advance onto a series of moving objects and engage them from both standing and kneeling positions.
Range officer WO2 Jason Adewole (SASC) said that the updated set-up tests soldiers’ ability to adopt different stances and carry out their drills with minimal command.
He added: “The guys are honing their skills and working on their accuracy. Once they have that they can take it into theatre and the rest should fall into place.
“The targets move and the guys need to be able to bring on the skills they have already got and engage them using the methods they have been taught.
“We need them hitting those targets with the minimal amount of rounds.”
While Centsam is the jewel in the ARA’s crown, the Operational Shooting Training Team’s workload does not drop off outside the competition period.
Members of the team regularly travel to different units to provide train-the-trainer packages in the latest techniques.
WO1 Lee Jenkins (SASC) visits brigades to deliver expert coaching ahead of their deployment to theatre and the senior soldier hoped that his sessions, combined with refreshed contests like the AOSC at Centsam, are making the art of shooting enjoyable.
“The guys see the things like the transition between weapons and it rekindles the love for shooting,” he explained.
“Getting people’s interest back is important and I think we are making inroads into getting back to basics and really concentrating on making soldiers better at shooting.”
Competition to become a member of the Army 100 – the Service’s top shots each year – or even claim the Queen’s Medal for being the best of the best remains as high as ever at Centsam.
But long-distance accuracy is only half of the story. Those firing in anger in Afghanistan require physical robustness, mental agility and absolute mastery of their weapons and the dedicated members of the Operational Shooting Training Team are ensuring that those vital skills are honed to perfection.
|
