Dragoon - I‘ll give you that about the kid and the camera. I know I‘m not much of a public speaker and he probably came across better than I would have.
As for the show itself. I noticed people thumbing the hammer from time to time. I figured something along those lines as they were usually appearing as though they were preparing to deploy. However, one female was supposed to be behind cover firing upon a combatant (she was using the red dummy gun) and as she was calling "bang, bang" her thumb was clearly behind the hammer as she was doing so. This suggested to me that live fire hadn‘t occured at this phase of the training. That‘s a habit that will be broken quickly with live ammunition (literally).
I also had to admit that while watching some of what was shown was easy to criticize from the couch. I agreed with the comment that for many, this was their first weapons handling since BMQ. In addition, most are not combat arms trained from the outset, so for technicians and support pers, they did well. It‘s the Infantry in me to speak out. Besides, we never were able to play w/ MP5‘s or P225‘s.
What I‘d like to know is, was that a basic course or the full course? Is there a more intensive course that provides a mock up with simulated fire training? Either blanks, MILES, or simunitions? Something to get the pers used to actual fire in close quarters so that their first experience with that isn‘t in the field (or on a ship to be more precise)? As for the rounds back at you comment, difference is the training that the Infantry specializes in. Some may not like it, but by the time they deploy abroad, they should have enough simulated training to prep them for the real thing. Therein lies the difference. Then again, you can only train so much and hope for the rest. Sometimes courage comes from where it‘s least expected.
