1st USMC / NRA Rifle Fundamentals Camp
held in cooperation with Stone Bank Sportsmen's Club and Heritage Shooting.
In 2004, the U.S. Marine Corps, Stone Bank Sportsmen's Club, and Heritage Shooting joined together to conduct an event to instruct
"Poolees" in the basics of rifle shooting.
The NRA and Wisconsin Friends of NRA State Committee also got behind the program this year,
and thus the 1st USMC / NRA Rifle Fundamentals Camp was born. In early August 2005 over a period of three days, 173 "Poolees" received training in Rifle Fundamentals at Heritage Shooting Educational Facility and on the Stone Bank Sportsmen's Club Rifle Range.
A "Poolee" is a person who has signed up to be a United States Marine and is waiting to be in the "Pool" of the next batch to go to one of only two U.S. Marine Corps boot camps.
Unlike the other branches; One is not considered a Marine until AFTER they have successfully completed the 13 weeks of boot camp, qualified with the M16A2 at 200, 300 and 500 yards (NO "simulated" distances like the others), and the 54 hour "Crucible" (a simulated combat environments over a 50+ mile course in full combat gear with little if any sleep or food). 1 in 3 Poolees will NOT become a Marine.
The "Poolees" received classroom instruction on the firearms nomenclature and basic operation, the opportunity
to receive hands on training and actually shoot the M16A2 rifle on our rifle range.
Due to today's environment; More than 75% of high school graduates have never fired a rifle. Those
that have most likely have not had any proper marksmanship training. The Stone Bank Sportsmen's Club
membership and the Heritage Shooting volunteers feel that the least we can do for these brave young
people is to give then an opportunity to at least learn the basics of rifle marksmanship.
We are doing our part to help the young men and women who have made the choice to serve our great
nation by letting the Marines use our facilities. This training will benefit every "Poolee" by
introducing them to the firearms they will be using in basic training and throughout their military
career. This "advance training" is so important to the success of the "Poolees" that almost all of
the Marine Recruit Sergeants and officers present at this training volunteered to do this. Most of
the officers had to take time off from work to help.
We look forward to working with the U.S. Marine Corpss annually to help future groups of Poolees receive
this valuable opportunity and training.
This program was so successful that the U.S. Marine Corps and the NRA are planning on expanding this in 2006 to include Minnesota and Illinois and eventually nationwide. If you know of a club or facility that would be interested in hosting a USMC/NRA Rifle Fundamentals Camp with a minimum 50 yard range and a classroom type facility, please let us know.
Photos from the 1st USMC / NRA Rifle Fundamentals Camp
In order to preserve the picture quality for those participants who want to print out copies for
personal use, photo sizes can be as large
as 230kb and may take longer to download via a dial-up connection.
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