ROTC members get experience on range

Marshall University ROTC cadets and cadre suffered poor weather conditions Thursday during semester rifle qualifications at the Huntington Rifle and Pistol Club range located near the Esquire Golf Club in Huntington.

Range time for rifle qualifications was provided as a community service by the Huntington Rifle and Pistol Club.

"A lot of our members are veterans," said Roger Weir, life member and club president during the years of 1988-89. "We do this in show of support of the ROTC program at Marshall University and as a public service to our community."

"We're glad to accommodate," said Bill Lake, secretary of the Huntington Rifle and Pistol Club. "This is what we can do for our country."

Supervised by Master Sgt. Kavin Godwin, cadets qualified in two rotations, one at 10 a.m. and the other at noon.

Each cadet received two 18-round magazines to sight their M16A2 rifle and two 20-round magazines for actual qualification. Participants fired four rounds at each of 10 different sized paper targets at a distance of 25 meters.

Twenty-three successful hits was the minimum score re-quired for qualification. How-ever, those cadets participating averaged a score of 36 or above qualifying as experts.

There are four reasons for rifle training and qualification, Godwin said.

"The purpose for this exercise is to introduce cadets to the M16A2 and get them interested in firing a weapon," Godwin said. "It also qualifies MS3 cadets for advanced camp at Ft. Lewis, Washington and prepares our Ranger team for the Ranger Challenge scheduled in October."

Most importantly, Godwin said, "It teaches them to follow directions."

"This is something we do every semester," Allen Ladriere, MS3 cadet said. "We just want to make sure everyone is familiar with the rifle."

Cadets with prior military service experience have little difficulty with qualifications, however, M16A2 qualifications are good remedial training and familiarizes those cadets who have had no prior experience, he said.