New weapons qualification course begins at Kadena

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jarvie Z. Wallace
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  With the Air Force producing more combat-ready Airmen, its members will notice a change in the rifle qualification course beginning Dec. 1.

Selected Airmen at Kadena participated in the revamped qualification course Nov. 8 as part of a weekly introduction process.

"People who traditionally stay inside the wire are going outside the wire, so we have to [ensure all contingencies are covered]," said Tech. Sgt. Andy Pape, 18th Security Forces Squadron NCO in charge of combat arms.

Airmen will still be expected to be proficient in marksmanship; however there are added procedures including short-range combat skills, firing while moving and immediate action, which allows participants to get their weapons functional when jammed.

Immediate action rapid deployment, or IARD, is used to confront aggressive enemies who pose an immediate and life-threatening danger to allied forces. Confronting these enemies, armed with personal weapons or in possession of bombs, is especially important when a crisis occurs in venues with large populations.

"What do you do if it's not just a still target sitting down there waiting for you? You have to have a quick reaction and pull your rifle in a hurry," Pape said. "We've built on what we've been teaching in marksmanship but now we are going to give you another skill set as well."

Airmen will also notice the rigorous time constraints involved in the new course. The entire course is about three hours, on average, longer than the previous edition.

One of major reasons for the expansion of the course is the number of rounds being fired.

"We fired 100 rounds before, but now we are going to increase it to 196," said Pape.

The classroom portion of the course is still required prior to firing on the range.

"The new course is much more in-depth and we get more experience firing the weapon," said Staff Sgt. Michael Usher, 390th Intelligence Squadron linguist and a student participating in the course. "We have to make sure we take the classroom portion seriously, because we don't know when we might have to use these techniques in the real world."