It will get tougher for U.S. Marines to get their rifle qualifications is the Marine Corps announced that they are adopting a new Annual Rifle Qualification (ARQ) which will fully replace the previous Table 1 and Table 2 qualification or Annual Rifle Training (ART) course of fire by 1 October 2021.

The new qualification will emphasize more on the “train like you fight” that instead of shooting at usual fixed targets at different distances the new course will require them to hit lethal zones marked on the head and chest of stationary and moving targets. This will be more realistic and that they will be wearing combat gear such as helmet and body armour whilst undergoing qualifications.

“Dating back to the early 1900’s with only minor changes from its original form, the current annual rifle training qualification has been unchanged,” said CWO4 Anthony L. Viggiani, Marine Gunner, Training and Education Command as reported at the news section of the official Marines website. “This has been the same qualification that every Marine shoots throughout their entire career, until now. The ARQ enhances proficiency, confidence, and lethality in a dynamic environment using multiple targets, limited exposure targets, moving targets and shooting on the move.”

For new officer candidates or recruits, the traditional initial marksmanship training remains and this consists of two weeks of snapping in drills, shooting slick and standing, kneeling, sitting and prone positions.

The course of fire that the Marines will encounter during ARQ has 50 destroy targets with the lethal zones marked at the chest and face areas. They will have to go through three types of drills which the Marine Corp Times explains:

First is a “failure to stop.” That requires the Marine to fire two shots to the chest then one to the brain box at a 25 yard distance. If the Marine doesn’t do the drill correctly, he is unqualified for that portion. They’ll do this four times.

Then the Marine does a 25 yard box drill. That’s similar to a failure to stop but involves two targets. The Marine fires two chest shots in the first target, two chest shots into the second then one head shot into the second followed by a final head shot into the first. They’ll do this four times.

The third drill is beginning at the 25 yard line the Marine is told to “advance” and walks toward the target, firing the failure to stop drill while moving. They’ll do this twice.

The “destroys” are as follows:

25 yard line headshot, standing position. The Marine shoots this six times.

100 yard line moving targets that are exposed for eight seconds. The Marine fires two rounds on each of seven exposures standing or kneeling positions and may use barricades.

100 yard line controlled pair. Again, two rounds for eight seconds on stationary target seven times. The Marine can do standing or kneeling positions and may use barricades.

200 yard line movers, same scenario, exposure, rounds, position and iterations as 100-yard line.

200 yard line controlled pair. Same scenario, rounds, iterations and positions as 100-yard line pair, but 10 seconds exposure.

300 yard line controlled pair, Marine can choose standing, kneeling or prone positions and must run eight iterations, two rounds each for a 15-second exposure.

500 yard line allows the Marine to shoot standing or supported prone position for five rounds of eight iterations at 45 seconds.

In order to qualify as a marksman, Marines must score 15 to 30 destroys and also one successful completion in any drill type. For Sharpshooter, the requirement is 31 to 42 destroys and one successful completion of any two types of drills. For Expert they are required to have 43 to 50 destroys and one successful completion in each type of drill.

Apart from the use of combat gear, the Marines are allowed to shoot with bipods, resting on the magazines or assault packs as long as they meet the time constraints imposed by the new rules and scoring are given accordingly.

Viggiani added that, “This enables the individual Marine the opportunity to engage their weapon system from multiple firing positions and find the most efficient way to utilize alternate shooting positions throughout the course of fire. Our operating environment has changed over the years, so we had to make changes to our qualifications on marksmanship.”

Thus, the Marines will be expected to train to shoot in more realistic scenario to develop their lethality as well as for rifle qualifications. They will shoot with their assigned weapon, whether it is the M27 IAR, M4, or M16 rifle. If they are issued an optic, they can use the optic as well and the Marines are starting to use their new Squad Common Optic (SCO) Trijicon VCOG 1-8x28.

Will there be a decrease in the qualification rate with the new ARQ as compared to ART that it will replace? The Marine Corps will find out when the ARQ commences in October.

Top photo:  Marines with Weapons Training Battalion conduct the Annual Rifle Qualification train-the-trainer course on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., Feb. 17, 2021. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Rachael)