Should the Army be cutting costs by allowing soldiers to qualify on their weapon virtually?

That simulation is not the same as feeling the rifle firing when you shoot. It's ok for simulation, but you can't sight it in for yourself, like your 16 or M4.

Est 2000 individual weapons qualification is not authorized...reserve or not.....

No you will not be qualifying. You better pull the regs. They do not allow for qualifying on the EST.

The cost for 5.56 Ball FMJ ammo is so cheap that it is silly to take away the range experience and put a soldier in front of a simulator. Where are you going to get the wonderful smell of gun powder and Break Free burning off the barrel of a freshly cleaned rifle? The sounds of that recoil compensator spring in the stock rebound by your ear? The sound of that bolt locking open after you've emptied the magazine? These things are important in a soldiers development and eventual maturity into a full blooded American Soldier! Tell your NCO it's brass, powder and lead for me Sergeant! Hoorah!

The military needs to have a moratorium on virtual training. This stuff is garbage. We live in the physical world. We need to train to interface with the real world as well. The bullets are real, the IEDs are real and our enemies are real. So that'd be a no.

I remember years of cut back when we fired .22 subcaliber rounds. Not the same. No nothing takes the place of firing a live round.

sure if wars will be conducted virtually now. We all know that live fire in combat is the exact same as call of duty.

No. I've shot ISMT before and despite being a fun little distraction, there are things you can't replace with a simulation. The smell of a spent round. The sound of rounds going down range. How to perform corrections for a weapons malfunction. How to adjust your sights. The feeling of lying down in the dirt or in a puddle or freezing your ass off and trying to keep your weapon straight despite your shivering. These are real things you would have to experience in the field.

The EST's are definitely a good resource to ENHANCE and SUPPLIMENT live fire but I do not believe it is a substitute for using real ammo. The trigger press, recoil, sound, ballistics are all different from the real deal.

Nothing can replace real world experience, though I have appreciated it when doing night fire or CBRN exercises. The EST range allows for soldiers to operate in a night time setting by simply turning out the lights and the change of a screen.