There is a picture making the rounds that is getting a lot of comments.  It is more sad than funny and it is past time for the Army to get its act together as the new M-17 comes online.  Compare the picture below…

With this video…

The Army has plenty of guys who can shoot pistols.  They just don’t have a system to get those guys to teach all the other guys. The Army has a world class marksmanship unit and the special operations Soldiers get some pretty good training but the Big Army needs help.  I have heard many times how the pistol is an ancillary weapons and the Army is to busy to teach good  pistol marksmanship.  I say, if we are going to bother giving Soldiers pistols, they need to get good training.  If Major General Williams needs to shoot somebody he needs to do it effectively and with a little style.

The General is a product of a failed system.  Even though he has been training for 20 years, and probably had a pistol assigned as his primary weapon for the last ten years, looking at his grip, I can say with certainty he has never received competent pistol training. Sadly this is typical of most soldiers who are issued handguns.  He is the Commander of  U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command, which is ironically part of  Training and Doctrine Command.  The Army Marksmanship Unit is assigned to the U.S. Army Accessions Support Brigade in Recruiting Command.

If any of you have a friend at Fort Lee, please ask them to send me an email.  I can help them out.  I would consider it an honor to show the General proper grip and stance to effectively fire a pistol.  At the very least I could send him some links to the excellent training videos produced by the Army Marksmanship Unit.

Photos and video courtesy of the U.S. Army