I was too busy crossing the ‘I’s and dotting ‘T’s on the By Ourselves post yesterday to remember to post these up, hyuk-hyuk.
FIrst, the quote:
Rifle marksmanship is a civilian attribute which is alien to the military environment. It must be introduced into the military by force and can be kept in the military only by ongoing active measures, else it will be eradicated and replaced by equipment familiarity.
14th Iron Law of Marksmanship – Darryl Davis
All that I know about Mr. Davis is that he is a writer. His book “Rifle Marksmanship: 130 Years of Malignant Neglect” is currently so far out of print that I have had to opt to write him directly to try and find a copy. So far, I have not had any luck with that line either.
You can find other literature from Mr. Davis via Amazon.Com in the form of “E-Books” , which are downloadable. The majority of these articles are reprinted with permission from the Marine Corps Gazette, though some are from Military Magazine. All are on the same subject of marksmanship in the United States Armed Services.
Unfortunately, as you can tell by hitting that link, there is more than one Darryl Davis, and you will have to forage through some useless pap to get all of his articles. Money is a bit tight right now, but when I am able, I will begin downloading these. For now, I have three quotes pulled from Boston’s Gun Bible that I will be posting today, tomorrow and Thursday.
After a fruitless search for more than the three Boston’s quotes, I finally stumbled upon a link to Mr. Davis via this page on World War I Medal of Honor Awardee, Captain Sam Woodfill.
When I wrote asking the author of the page, Mr. Hanlon, about Mr. Davis, his return email had a link to something I think at least a few of you all might be interested in: Over the Top: A Magazine of the First World War.
Again, I’m still short of funds, but I am thinking about subscribing to this monthly PDF file. You should go take a looksee as well.
else it will be eradicated and replaced by equipment familiarity.
I can vouch for that. We have marksmanship quals in the Navy but they have nothing to do with becoming qualified to carry a firearm in the line of duty. They are only for “bragging rights” and a ribbon or medal.
To qualify to use a weapon on duty, one only needs to complete “fam fire” or familiarization training with the weapon. Basically, if you can describe the purpose and use of the safety features, load it, operate the controls and make it go “bang”, you are qualified. No need to be able to put steel on target.
Most of our “fam fire” qualification shoots consisted of seeing if you could hit the water from the deck of the ship.
Your United States Navy marksman: trained to “Minute of Ocean” accuracy.
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