Can you contest an Army popup range qualification score?

CPL(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 20:07:26 -0400

My unit attended a rifle qualification range, and the popup targets weren't registering hits properly. I was not the only Soldier affected by it. I train a lot in my off-time, participate in shooting competitions, and train with others thousands of rounds on the AR platform every year. I would consider myself to be quite proficient at everything the M4/AR platform.

In my previous 5 years of the Army, I have never qualified with anything but a 39 or 40/40. This last time I went, I grouped and zeroed just fine, same as every other time. We went to do the qualification, which I shot 4 iterations of, never qualifying higher than a 27/40. One time I qualified 17/40!

My training room just updated my range score from a 39/40 to a 27/40.
I just dropped from 511 points to 421, basically blowing my chance of getting promoted to SGT out of the water in my particular MOS (25S, which is quite competitive).

So this stands to question, how do I go about contesting the range score? They can look at empirical data (my, and others previous range qualification cards) to see that we have never shot this poorly before, but what other way can I further enhance my argument?

I was told by one of the Sergeants in my unit that the range control told our acting 1SG that the range was messed up, but we shot and used the scores anyways. Not sure if that would help at all since I did not hear the conversation take place, but stands to reason it did if everyone shot so poorly.

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Aug 16 at 2021 8:51 PM

SGM Bill Frazer — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 20:51:30 -0400

If you were going to contest it, should have 1st been done on the Range to the OIC/NCOIC- after the fact, its going to be hard.

Response by SPC Paul Valnes made Aug 16 at 2021 9:17 PM

SPC Paul Valnes — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 21:17:19 -0400

not really

Response by LTC John Mohor made Aug 16 at 2021 9:40 PM

LTC John Mohor — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 21:40:13 -0400

With all due respect at all avenues I’d bring it up to the chain of command thru your immediate supervisor as well as the chain of concern. There’s open door policies for various issues too. Informally you could try to volunteer in the training room with your training NCO/ Officer and while there request to review unit marksmanship qualification scores and make a comparison of last years score vs this years. It might show a major drop across the command ?? Of course do it professionally and respectfully. The time to really fix it was at the range but now that’s past. For your immediate needs how much college and correspondence courses do you have completed? Max your points in every area you can. If it’s a temporary setback remember time passes weather changes and stuff happens. No one was killed right? No one suffered an injury on the range right? I failed stuff in my life I dusted myself off and took it over again until I passed it. It’s aggravating grow from it Soldier! Best of luck to you and thanks for serving CPL Rolhof!

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 16 at 2021 10:00 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 22:00:16 -0400

The bigger concern I’m betting is the overall unit qualification ratio tanked.

So your best chance is commanders are motivated to run a costly and giant time suck qual event again.

Response by CPT Lawrence Cable made Aug 17 at 2021 7:53 AM

CPT Lawrence Cable — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 07:53:33 -0400

I have been on Ranges where we shut down a lane because it it became obvious that it wasn't scoring correctly, and we re shot the soldiers that were on it. Never tried or heard of contesting the entire range.
Was it just the lane you were shooting? If that is the case, it should be obvious from the score cards that there was a screw up.

Response by CSM William Everroad made Aug 17 at 2021 1:05 PM

CSM William Everroad — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 13:05:31 -0400

CPL(P) Private RallyPoint Member The time to "contest" the score was at the range with the range NCOIC/OIC as suggested by SGM Bill Frazer. After the fact, there is almost no way to fix the issue [change the score] other than for the Commander to invalidate the qualification. Talk to your 1SG for that one, but my guess is they won't be swayed by your arguments if the drop in scores was intermittent regardless of how many E4 mafia you get to sign on.

If you are that concerned with your sequence number, boost your points as LTC John Mohor suggested. Retake the PT test, find another unit to go qualify with, max your education.

It is not the situation in which we find ourselves that dictates character, its what we do to move forward. I am not suggesting doing nothing about the bad qualification, but dedicating all of your resources to fighting a bad qualification score seems like you have all your eggs in one basket.

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Aug 18 at 2021 7:09 AM

CSM Darieus ZaGara — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 07:09:58 -0400

If your entire unit qualified poorly it would be simple to bring your argument to the next level, the Battalion CSM. On the other hand, range control and the range misters shut down ranges that are not working properly. Also, why would a Company COC knowingly qualify on a range that is not working properly, as they are rated on things like unit qualification.

Before you accuse a unit COC of knowingly discounting a non functioning range have your information together. If the entire units scored dropped as significantly as yours it should be easy to prove. If it was just you and your buddy, that is a different story.