What would you do if your Sergeant didn't know how to load a magazine?

CPT Russell Pitre
I would find out who her Drill Sgts were and kick their asses!

I would take them aside after the drill and show them how to do it successfully THEN, give them tips on how to convey the instructions in the best possible manner. This is MOST important but it is NOT Rocket Science. Well, little bitty, sorta' rockets.... :-)

Wow! I really loved the "I am a Reservist" excuse. I would light her up just for that comment alone.

"What would you do if your Sergeant didn't know how to load a magazine?"

Get Secretary Mabus to show her how. TOTALLY facetious, but Geez.

Walt

That soldier is an E6, and the commentator is also an E6

Maybe they were always given bandoleers of already loaded mags. Been there and done that.

Stripper clip loading of a magazine might be something she hadn't done...now if she had said, does the pointy end go toward the back or front? All kidding aside, 10 minutes hands on demo, Sarge is now squared away.....now, can she hit anything with the weapon....I know lots of folks that can load magazines, very few marksmen...even with optics....which I find really difficult to understand, the red dot on the spot and squeeze.....

What would I do?
As with most things, if I knew something was amiss, I'd correct it. If the other soldier out-ranked me, I would pull them aside, and with all due respect, explain their mistake to them out of sight from other soldiers. I would do this out of respect for their rank, position and so as not to undermine their leadership.

What I damn sure wouldn't do is video the incident and, out of respect for the uniform which I myself am wearing, post it online for the world to see. It's not that we can't laugh at ourselves sometimes, but this is an image and competency problem prying eyes need not see.

But that's me.

Being a Reservist is irrelevant, I've ran ranges with active duty Officers, NCOs and Soldiers who do the same thing or worse.

I've seen a round somehow be loaded backwards in an M4. When the individual tried to load a round it actually got into the chamber (the best it could have) and he proceeded to try and fire the weapon.

The safety walked up as they were hopelessly trying to do sports. The armor had to work on that for 40 mins.

You sometimes see it on a line unit but usually it's someone who has been in a staff position forever. Granted I was on special assignment for 6 years and didn't have the same problems but these skills aren't exactly natural.

No PMI or BRM training is being done for these Soldiers goto th range. A unit will run a range for the whole battalion or even brigade and have to rely on the company's to do the training. They then rely on the folks running the range to do remedial training for 3 hours on range day.

That's a great question.

I would have asked the Sgt to clear the weaon, and leave the range. Then I would have assigned another NCO to teach the sgt the bsics of the weapon, how to maintain., and how to check and load the magazine. Then I would have sent the Sgt back to the range to qualify!

Oh well, RP has resurrected this post as a "Recent Discussion" but of course can't resurrect the long dead facebook video. I'm pretty sure I saw that video years ago when it (and this post) weren't mummified remains.

The RSO's job is to keep everyone safe on the range. An untrained shooter isn't safe - the answer for the RSO is simple: tell the shooter to leave the firing line, get training, and return when trained. There isn't any need for any discussion beyond that.

Run

Some soldiers hardly get a chance to use there weapons, because of these specialities...I was infantry and notice that when I took a Logistic Support Battalion, they where really good at supporting the war, but they wasn’t good at shooting at all...

Cannot see the video so cannot comment on what I would do.

I kicked my FB account to the curb, deleted all my data, about 2 years ago now.

Wouldn't happen in USMC because everyone has to qualify to graduate Boot Camp. They may not be familiar with crew served weapons, but somebody would train them before sending to the range. The firing line is not the place to train on the basics, only marksmanship.

As a safety, I experienced that a few times with some NCO'S and lower enlisted on the range. I understand some Soldiers are not as proficient in certain areas like others........... But as NCO/safety, my job isn't to belittle, scream or kick the soldier off the range. My job is to instruct the Soldier no matter rank on how to properly load the weapon, zero and qualify..........

Teach the SGT

NCO's have the responsibility to self-train. I don't know if this "Pretty-In-Pink" Army still has them, but I used to go to the MOS library , check-out study materials for other MOS's I was associated with. As a Platoon Sergeant I insisted my men [it was a Man's Army then] be well versed in the duties of the man below and above them so they could immediately respond in a crisis. Someone in the Chain-Of-Command did not do their job, did not train this Sergeant, and this Sergeant did not exercise initiative, nor show leadership potential. Reduction in rank, and extra hours of cross-training.

Call a "Cease Fire" if they were firing. Get the Range Safety Officer to the firing point and carefully explain to the Sergeant who was supposed to be loading the magazine how to do it. Make the Sergeant did it a few times to make certain they knew how it was done, then give the command "Ready on the firing line."
"Commence firing."
A very old, old E-3