TangoTwoBravo
Army.ca Veteran
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Smirnoff123 said:Hey guys,
I was wondering if anyone could tell me if gunners are officers as well.
If your question is related to an interest in AFV gunnery and whether you will be able to pursue that interest as an Armoured Officer then yes, as an armoured officer you will learn and practice AFV gunnery. The Crewmen (non-commissioned members of the Armoured Corps) are the experts in AFV gunnery and will have much more experience, but as an armoured officer you will typically be a crew commander of some sort and will learn gunnery in your training at the School and practice it at your Regiment.
If you were to go through right now you would learn both sides of the 25mm turret (commander and gunner) and possibly Leopard C2 and Leopard 2A6. During these gunnery courses you will learn how to be a gunner on the applicable system in addition to how to be a crew commander for gunnery. Once you are in a Troop you will not normally be the one pulling the trigger as you should have an experienced gunner who will do that and as others have said you would only step in directly in an emergency or a special case. Indeed, gunners are getting more and more responsibilities today with regards to shoots compared to the rather prescriptive days of yore. As a crew commander, however, you are still very much involved in AFV gunnery/shooting.
Gunnery is, however, only one part of being a crew commander and that in turn is only one part of being a Troop Leader.
Cheers
p.s. Hales was kidding (I believe), but I would never have said to my gunner (or anybody for that matter) "You there, enlisted man!"