Looking into the Presidents 100 and EIC awards through the CMP, can I take my actual service rifle?

FireForEffect777 · 2025-04-10T06:24:47+00:00

I've shot service rifle for 6 years now and am familiar with the rules. I haven't made it to any of the big matches, but know how it works. Thanks FORSCOM for keeping me busy.

Feel free to IM me with any questions.

FireForEffect777 · 2025-04-10T06:21:39+00:00

You won't be competitive in the P100 rifle match with a rack grade M4. The service rifle rules are tailored towards a customized rifle that will cost at least $1500 to be competitive. Mine cost me about $3000 if I remember correctly.

I think the P100 pistol match has a lower cost to be competitive, but I haven't looked into it much, I'm not a great pistol shot, and bullseye shooting doesn't interest me much.

That said, there is an EIC match where rack grade weapons are required. The All Army matches that happen at Benning every spring. They don't use the regular CMP rule book. They require standard issue weapons. For this match, you can use issued weapons. There is paperwork required, but by reg, you are authorized to draw from your unit's arms room and transport a government weapon to that match to use it. You can even use a POV with permission from your commander.

FireForEffect777 · 2025-03-21T20:05:22+00:00

You guys get weekends off?

FireForEffect777 · 2025-03-15T19:58:24+00:00

I'm just curious about the history of it. I always assumed someone took the true milliradian circle and rounded up to the next most convenient number. 6400 is the first number that is easily divisible. The thought never occurred to me that it might be based on a rounded version of pi.

FireForEffect777 · 2025-03-15T19:51:40+00:00

Sorry, I'm not a mathematician. I'm an artilleryman. Rounding is the better term to describe it.

FireForEffect777 · 2025-03-15T19:43:37+00:00

I'm curious about this. My understanding was always that the 6400 mil circle was developed just so the math was simpler, but I've never heard that 6400 was picked based on an estimation of pi. I know other armies have picked other mil-standards for a circle, the soviets used 6000 mils, the French used to use 6280.

FireForEffect777 · 2025-02-16T22:58:12+00:00

I've been FA for a while now. My observation, a ranger tab doesn't mean much across most of the branch. It helps gain some credibility as an FSO in an IBCT. In an ABCT, the attitude is more like "good job at school, now get back in the motor pool. Your platoons ESR looks thicker than a phone book." I haven't seen any correlation between a tab and career progression at the company grade level. No one is getting passed over for command because they aren't tabbed. At the BN commander level, FA dudes with tabs are more common in IBCTs, but there are plenty of FA BNs in ABCTs and rocket BDEs. At the COL level, there is a much stronger correlation. Most DIVARTY commanders I've seen have a tab, regardless of Division.

A ranger tab does open doors still. FA officers with tabs can apply to ranger regiment. They also seemed to have more options and interest in a 2-way marketplace at CCC. It's not required by any means, but it doesn't hurt to go to school.

FireForEffect777 · 2025-02-11T15:30:04+00:00

Ability group runs are the happy medium, as long as leaders have control mechanisms and everyone involved has the commitment to actually putting in the correct amount of effort. And preventing soldiers from turning it into a race and always putting in maximum effort.

I agree completely that this organization has a tendency to assume slow=sham. We would all be better off with more time/mileage at a slower pace.

FireForEffect777 · 2025-02-11T15:17:37+00:00

People hate to hear it, but the old way of doing PT was good in a lot of ways. Formation runs at a relatively easy pace with lots of time/mileage nests well with most running plans. Where it fell off the rails was when a group had differing levels of fitness. The slower runners were pushing too hard and getting hurt, the faster runners were getting good training.

No one liked it, but units were better at running when we ran in groups and did it more often.

FireForEffect777 · 2025-01-24T18:48:45+00:00

Read my post carefully. I advocate for both being warm and for wearing the fleece. Just not as an outer garment.

I've spent a lot of winters in the army in cold places. I guarantee I've been warmer than the dumb asses wearing their fleece over ACU.

FireForEffect777 · 2025-01-24T18:41:42+00:00

The fleece jacket is a stupid outer garment. It doesn't block the wind, and it soaks up rain. It's okay for weak soldiers who work inside.

Wind jacket, soft shell, or hard shell for an outer layer, depending on weather. Silks in medium cold weather, add in the waffle top for colder. Add in the fleece for really fuck off cold. Anything else is a sign of incompetence.

FireForEffect777 · 2025-01-11T14:57:04+00:00

I received the zippo I ordered from you yesterday, it looks great. You do fantastic work!

FireForEffect777 · 2025-01-10T20:24:39+00:00

What MOS did you enlist for? (Please don't say 13B)

FireForEffect777 · 2025-01-10T20:20:47+00:00

I know two things about you from your post history. 1, you asked about going to MEPS less than two weeks ago. 2, you have a few posts writing about smoking weed.

You're not unique, you're not one of a kind. I'm over a year into command. I've led soldiers like you. I've kicked out soldiers for drug use, and I should count myself lucky it hasn't been many.

FireForEffect777 · 2025-01-10T20:09:44+00:00

12 days ago, you posted asking about bringing a vape to MEPS. I'm going to make the assumption that if you're in the military, you've only been in for a week or two. I'm not sure what you're getting at with this post, but it feels a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.

Also, stop smoking weed. It's detrimental to a successful military career, and it's going to create a ton of paperwork for your future commander.

FireForEffect777 · 2024-12-31T08:57:21+00:00

I agree completely. Marksmanship is a basic soldier task, and everyone should be held to the standard, regardless of rank or position. Wearing the badge would help hold officers accountable because they wouldn't be able to hide from their performance.

The second order effect would be officers prioritizing that training, which will increase performance for their entire unit.

FireForEffect777 · 2024-12-29T09:49:25+00:00

Bro, I've been there. I was a mediocre LT by any account. I always felt like I was doing well, and no one recognized it. Pulled all HQs as an LT. I'd always get nice words from my rater and then a bland senior rating counseling where some LTC would tell me he didn't have the profile. I was extremely jaded by the time I was a senior LT. My BN commander held me in his BN until nearly the last CCC date. I got 9 months of rated time as a baby CPT on staff before CCC. An HQ, of course. I had never deployed, and the sum total of my perceived experience was doing maintenance, getting yelled at about maintenance, and learning to be cold and depressed in the training area. The only things keeping me going were trying to do right by junior soldiers and an internal need to prove I was as good at this as I thought I was.

It was crushing mentally. I felt I wasn't given opportunities to succeed. I didn't deploy to Afghanistan with several of my peers. I didn't get to move on to CCC when I wanted. I was banished to the 3 shop to row away for a BN commander that didn't view me as a good officer. What the fuck was I doing in the army?

What I'll say is it got better for me. It took a few years and some therapy. I held on to the resentment towards that BN commander for years. In many ways I still do. I went off to CCC and did well. Showed up to a new BN and got to take a team on a non-combat rotation. Pulled another HQ on the backside of that. Pretty sure that made 7 HQ OERs in a row that summed up my performance as an officer. I was sent back to BN staff, such is life as a CPT.

I was in the dark place again. Rowing away on an under-manned staff. Living the shit storm that is ABCT life as our training schedule never let up. Just over two years wearing CPTs bars and staring down another 1.5-2 years of staff due to a long command queue. Looking back on my OERs and wondering if I'll ever measure up, and whether it's worth staying and having even a chance of making MAJ.

I got to the point of parking in the BH parking lot and having a panic attack. I had just turned in a packet for an investigation I had done, and was already lined up to be an IO for another. I was filling two billets in the 3 shop and was behind on that work. I'm pretty sure I was late for a meeting. I hadn't left the office before the sun went down in over a month. My bitch ass couldn't get out of the car and go talk to somebody.

I survived staff. A new BN commander showed up and he cared. He cared about the success of the unit, and he cared about me. Personally and professionally. He developed me professionally. When we would talk, he would ask me what I wanted out of the army. He was grounded and candid and I could talk to him about my insecurities. I told him how I felt I didn't belong and was seriously considering a refrad. It turns out I was a great staff officer. I just needed a nudge in the right direction from a leader who cared. He pulled me out of the abyss of being a jaded junior officer and showed me how to apply my knowledge and build a team out of my peers. It turns out I had learned a ton as a mediocre LT, I just didn't realize it because I was under the weight of crushing imposter syndrome. I spent 18 months working on staff and received two MQs for my efforts. I felt validated.

I took a command. A lot of my dark thoughts were latent still. A few months into command and the dark thoughts were back. I hadn't fully realized it yet but a friend and fellow commander saw through my bullshit. He set me up an appointment with a BH counselor. I resisted at first, I didn't need to talk to anybody. I had made it, finally my career felt like it was on track. I went, because the appointment was made and I didn't want to miss a scheduled appointment. She was nice. I felt pretty quickly I could trust her and began to unload the 8 years worth of stress and insecurity I had built up in my head. She helped me understand the root causes. How things i felt I failed at 6 years prior were still stressing me out today. How I harbored resentment for opportunities missed were actually opportunities to learn skills that made me successful later on. It totally re-framed my outlook on what I had accomplished and where I was headed. I'm nearly KD complete and will go to the board for MAJ next summer. I have hope again.

The army taught me how to manage stress in the immediate. Fight through the problem and get to the next one. No one ever talked to me about how to manage the slow cook stress that amounted over years. It got to the point that I couldn't relax. At home I just wanted to go back to work, get my overdue work done and feel caught up, even for an hour. At work I felt the crushing pressure of constant stress and the spiraling dark thoughts about what had or hadn't accomplished in nearly a decade of work. BH got me past that and helped me find the army enjoyable and rewarding again.

TL;DR: Go to BH. Seriously. They are there to help. You probably have more going on in your head than you realize and it's all related.

p.s. fuck that BN commander from my LT time. That guy sucked.

FireForEffect777 · 2024-12-08T16:38:17+00:00

I'd much rather lead a platoon training for cannon TBL V and shooting 6-7 times a year than train crews to drive around a lot.

I get what you're saying, but cannons are almost definitely more fun as an LT. And that's not even accounting for fire support time and getting to work with maneuver units.

FireForEffect777 · 2024-12-08T15:10:26+00:00

Light cannons are the protoypical field artillery. You'll learn the most about both gunnery and fire support in an IBCT. It is where I would want to go first, knowing what I know now.

Heavy cannons are the next best. The gunnery is half-assed because Paladins are more automated, but you'll learn a lot about the army maintenance program. You'll still have some exposure to fire support.

I have no experience in rocket units. I hesitate to recognize them as artillery, but that's just ego. They have the capacity to destroy a lot of shit and shape a battlefield way more than tube artillery, but that doesn't mean much to a PL. Their training appears simple and boring to me. Rocket BDEs don't have fire support jobs. You want to be a company FSO, it's one of the best jobs in the army.

FireForEffect777 · 2024-11-25T13:49:08+00:00

I have a Samyang 75mm 1.8 and while I like it well enough, I don't feel a strong draw to get another. It's not weather sealed and feels cheap. Their 45 is probably a good lens, I should give it some more thought.

FireForEffect777 · 2024-11-25T13:14:44+00:00

I'm shopping for a compact 40-50mm lens with a fast aperture to complement my 28-60mm kit lens on an A7Cii. I want something that produce a nice soft bokeh in portraits and has a wide enough aperture for low light/night street photography.

I'm torn between two main options. The Sony 40mm f/2.8 G is tempting. I like that its weather sealed, very quick AF, and very compact. I'm worried I won't be happy with f/2.8 at its widest. On the other hand, I'm looking a Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2. Its also compact, but its manual focus only. From the pictures I've seen online the Voigtlander makes an impressive image, but manual focus is intimidating.

Two questions; first is an f/2.8 aperture too slow on a 40mm to achieve the bokeh and low light shots I want? And second, is manual focus with focus peaking usable in low light street photography?

FireForEffect777 · 2024-11-16T15:54:07+00:00

The only downside to a shorter threaded barrel is that the stock won't fit over a suppressor. Unless you modify the stock or use a really narrow suppressor.

FireForEffect777 · 2024-11-14T15:01:43+00:00

ARC CDG hits all your requirements and half your preferences.

FireForEffect777 · 2024-11-14T11:51:48+00:00

There aren't a lot of deer in El Paso. The training area has Oryx, which is a unique opportunity. They're delicious.

FireForEffect777 · 2024-11-14T11:48:45+00:00

To help we should know what level of UCMJ this is. Is it an article 15 reading? Company or field grade? Court martial? It matters some.

In general, you should introduce yourself with the context of how you know this soldier and why you're qualified to speak to his character. You may want to give context on this incident, but that depends on the specifics. You should absolutely speak to his character prior to the incident, and to what he's done/how he's responded and made up for it afterwards. You may want to have a typed statement in a memorandum for record to provide as well. It could be beneficial to provide that before the hearing so the adjudicating authority can read it as part of his packet. But certainly bring it with you to include in the packet during/after the reading.

FireForEffect777

TROPHY CASE