Foreign Weapons Training
A class focused on safety
With five Department of Defense deployments, and one for the Department of State, we would conduct pre mobilization training. This included things such as collecting enemy weapons from deceased combatants, weapons found in caches, and legally owned weapons brought to an entry control point or a hasty traffic control point. This was also covered annually during the Warrior Task and Battle Drills, but the closest thing I ever witnessed to foreign weapons training, was a rubber training aid in the prolific AK-47 format.
Through working with NATO countries, I was able to see how diverse our allied forces were with weapons systems, but also, I was able to see many things that were collected, and it became quite apparent that a rubber rifle did not replace the training value that was required to make a non DOD, non NATO, weapon safe for not only the Soldier, but potentially the civillians of the host nation.
The concept of this class is a two day, non firing, preliminary block of instruction on the operation of many firearms commonly found around the globe and in conflict areas. The fundamental lesson of how to make the weapons safe to prevent mishaps and prevent the loss of life. Unit leaders would provide the training space, and we would provide the instruction, visual aids, and training aids.
Pistols
Many formats of pistols from single shot, revolver, or semi automatic are being found across the globe. These are commonly concealed, and due to size, post a great risk to harm from mishandling.
Rifles
Rifles that pre date World War 1 were commonly found in Afghanistan. Many surplus bolt action rifles were employed by enemy forces and found in caches. Even now, in Gaza and Syria, bolt actions are being located and pictured in use.
Shotguns
In Haiti I saw Mossberg pump action guns, in Iraq there were single shot break open actions, and lately a large number of Turkish auto shotguns are in conflict zones.
Submachine Guns
As imagined, since World War 2 to present, submachine guns were cost efective and made in large numbers. Some with feeding very different than one considers standard. Also quality control from country of origin complicates safety.
Assault Rifles
With the onset of the Russia & Ukraine conflict, we are seeing the most diverse caliber and platform selection in modern history of rifles employed in the region. Items dating back to World War 2, to new rifles within the past ten years.
Belt Fed Guns
I was very lucky to be able to train with German Soldiers and fire thier updated MG42. This was totally different in feed rate and how to work in a fire team, but general feeding was the same. Privately I was able to train on the Russian PKM, and the feed system was different, feed rate, and ejection pattern. With each system, there were mental notes taken just in case we came upon a reason to handle them later.
To optimize student to instructor ratio, we will limit the class size to ten total students per class. This will enable the class to break out into smaller teams and utilize dummy rounds to safely clear the weapons.
The end goal is to also take these learning points with them and teach other Soldiers
1) Ensuring weapons are in a safe direction and handling while not flagging a combatant, civilian, or Soldiers
2) Removing the feed source from the weapon system, regardless of size or feeding style
3) Checking the chamber of the weapon to ensure no live rounds are inside, and leaving the system safe
Our best goal is to not only train on these systems, providing safety mitigation, but also instilling basics that cross over to primary weapons systems, thereby producing my compotent, confident, and capable Soldiers and leaders.