It looks easy in the movies but shooting at a man-sized target from 300m away while a strong wind howls over your right shoulder and heat and dust obscure your vision is not that simple in reality.
But it was all part of the day for 72 soldiers from Bravo Company (Dunedin) 2/4 Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment as they undertook their annual weapons qualifications test on the New Zealand Army’s range at West Melton at the weekend.
The soldiers, from Dunedin, Invercargill, Wanaka, Queenstown, Nelson, Cromwell and Omarama, spent the weekend improving their individual marksmanship on static and moving targets.
Acting officer commanding for Bravo Company, company sergeant major Warrant Officer Class Two Dion Beker said the shooting test was held every year to make sure the soldiers maintained their competency on the various weapons systems they used.
"We are trying to put as much growth and development into our soldiers and our young officers as we can with marksmanship training and weapon handling skills." he said.
The Reserve Force soldiers were a diverse group coming from a wide variety of jobs and skills, WO2 Beker said.
"We have students, lawyers, engineers, tradies, all sorts of people here — a real diverse cross-section of society."
He said he enjoyed watching the young soldiers coming into the unit develop both personally and professionally.
"We try and challenge them, push them to better themselves and add value to whatever they are doing.
"Many don’t often get the opportunity to shoot live rounds on the range so we maximise their time here so that they get the most out of the experience.
"We pair them up with our experienced soldiers and help bring them along.
"The key thing is to help them improve themselves so that they grow and give back to the unit."
He praised the soldiers’ families and employers for supporting them to go on training weekends once a month.
Private Martin Page (19), a psychology student at the University of Otago, said only his family and closest friends knew he was in the reserves, but the training was a good chance to develop his shooting skills in his second year involved.
"It’s a great place to develop your skills to be a better person generally, and you get to do a lot of cool things that are hard to access in the civvy world."
— Star Media
