Recruits need real rifles at boot camp, top enlisted airman says

Recruits need real rifles at boot camp, top enlisted airman says

MY SAY: Why does the Air Force have to reinvent the wheel? Basic Rifle Marksmanship or BRM for short, is a foundational course of instruction in the Army, but we don't issue toy guns to recruits. Real weapons are controlled items and issued as per SOP when BRM training takes place. If the weapon becomes part of the recruit's Advanced Individual Training, then they receive more intense training rather than just basic rifleman skills. Most recruits will not carry a weapon during the normal course of their assigned advanced duties, unless of course those duties take place in a war zone. Adding the unnecessary task of schlepping a weapon, toy or real, around basic training all day adds unnecessary stress to an already stressful environment, and also desensitizes the recruit to the special attention needed when real weapons are necessary. There should be a difference between peacetime cantonment and war time Forward Operating Base.