Infantry: Chinese Scout Snipers
3rd October 2018
For over a decade the Chinese army has been stressing accurate shooting in general. That means more time in basic training is devoted to shooting and rifle use in general. That is one reason China recently increased army basic training from three months to six. The three month course proved inadequate for many recruits. By doubling the basic training a lot of problems are solved. For one thing, no one graduates from the six month course without being physically fit and competent in basic military skills (including how to “act and look like a soldier.”) That last item has been an issue in China and the West were too many volunteers show up overweight and out of shape.
Don’t know how long basic training for infantry is in the U.S. these days but when I went through Navy boot camp in 1968 it was eight weeks. We got to fire a .22 rifle a few times and watched an instructor fire a .45.
UPDATE: Why do snipers open their mouth when about to shoot?
October 3rd, 2018 at 09:53
Curiosity made me look it up. Basic Combat Training:
Army – 9 weeks
Air Force – 8 weeks (recently upgraded from 6 weeks)
Navy – 7 weeks
Marines – 12 weeks
Coast Guard – 7 1/2 weeks
The army is considering increasing training by 2 months: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/06/25/army-may-extend-length-basic-training-sergeant-major-says.html