RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
Members of the 902nd Security Forces Squadron honed their skills with small arms training at Camp Bullis, Texas.
Tech. Sgt. Duane P. Collins, 902nd Security Forces Squadron Combat Arms Training and Maintenance NCO in charge, said "The goal of heavy weapons training here at Randolph is to ensure that only the most highly trained, skilled members are sent over to support the various missions overseas."
Sergeant Collins said the security forces Airmen had to qualify with a few different weapons, the M249 and M240B automatic rifles as well as the M203 grenade launcher which is a single-shot 40 mm grenade launcher meant to be attached to a rifle.
He said part of the qualification process involved up to three days of classroom training, followed by hands-on field operations of training and live fire.
"Each gunner must demonstrate a high level of proficiency with the weapons they are assigned to carry," he said. "Each Security Forces member, as a minimum, is required qualification on two weapons for deployment: the M9 pistol and the M4 Carbine."
Each individual tasking will dictate the number of qualifications needed and on which weapons.
Sergeant Collins said Randolph doesn't do heavy weapons training and all the weapons we train are considered small arms by textbook, which is generally .50 caliber and below.
Heavy weapons are generally defined as large but transportable armaments or artillery, whereas small arms may be what are commonly defined as assault rifles or semi-automatic weapons.
Sergeant Collins said if Randolph Airmen deploying to an overseas contingency area need training or to qualify in heavy weapons, it will be done at Lackland heavy weapons school or a regional training center.
"Examples of additional qualifications include but are not limited to, the MK19 automatic grenade launcher and the M2 machine gun," he said.