75 - Driver Qualification Badge. Instituted by M.O. No.2 of 25 April Cancelled by M.O. No of 20 February Worn by Drivers. Do I still wear my marksmanship and/or.
A few points on officers and marksmanship badges. Authority to wear. No reg that I am aware of that prohibits officers from wearing marksmanship badges. Officer culture is not to wear markmanship badges.
NCO domain is individual while officer domain is collective generally speaking. One reason why officers are armed with pistols rather than rifles is because our primary weapon is a radio and our primary purpose is to integrate and synchronize a fight (lead it) rather than to be an individual Soldier in the fight. This logic might be the driver on the culture that I note above. Tied to above but what good is officer who is an expert shooter but who can not provide purpose, motivation, and direction to his/her formation? Can/should officers be experts on the weapons and systems within their formations? Yes but their focus should be on integrating and synchronizing these weapons and systems. Enlisted and NCOs should be the experts on the individual weapon or systems employment.
AR 600-8-22; Section IV Marksmanship Badges and Tabs 8–47. Army Basic Marksmanship Qualification Badges a. A basic Marksmanship Qualification Badge is awarded to indicate the degree in which an individual, military, or civilian has qualified in a prescribed record course and an appropriate bar is furnished to denote each weapon with which he or she qualified. Each bar will be attached to the basic badge that indicates the qualification last attained with the respective weapon. Basic qualification badges are of three classes: Expert, Sharpshooter, and Marksman.
The only weapons for which component bars are authorized are in table 8–2. Basic Marksmanship Qualification Badges are awarded to U.S.
Military and civilian personnel, and to foreign military personnel who qualify as prescribed. See AR 670–1 for instructions concerning the wear of basic Marksmanship Qualification Badges and component bar tabs. Approval authority is as follows: (1) Any commander in the rank or position of LTC/O–5 or above may award to Servicemembers of the Armed Forces of the United States; camp and/or post commanders, Professors of Military Science, and Directors of Army Instruction and/or Senior Army Instructors. AR 670-1; Chapter 1 Introduction 1–1. Purpose The Army is a profession. A Soldier’s appearance measures part of his or her professionalism. Proper wear of the Army uniform is a matter of personal pride for all Soldiers.
It is indicative of esprit de corps and morale within a unit. Soldiers have an individual responsibility for ensuring their appearance reflects the highest level of professionalism. Leaders, at all levels, have a responsibility for implementing and applying the standards contained in this regulation to ensure the best interests of the Army, including our shared traditions and customs. This regulation prescribes the authorization for wear, composition, and classification of uniforms, and the occasions for wearing all personal (clothing bag issue), optional, and commonly worn organizational clothing and individual equipment uniforms. It prescribes the uniforms, awards, insignia, and accouterments authorized for wear. It also provides general information on the authorized material and design of uniforms and the uniform quality control system. Before my enlistment in the Army, I served in the Marine Corps.
The Corps has a principle that every Marine, regardless of rank or MOS, is first and foremost an infantry rifleman. That principle of universality of primary duty extends all the way to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, who shows the way by firing for qualification with all the other Marines under his command. After my appointment as a Warrant Officer in the Army, I continued the tradition of the Corps, and wore my rifle and pistol badges proudly. I could not help but think that my fellow officers were either non-qualifiers, or ashamed of their low level of skill with the primary tools of our Military. Sir I am old Army, 10th Mountain reactivation 1986. In a light unit job 1 is rifleman from PV1 thru O3. Our officers were tabbed along with many NCOs, they did not lead with their rank, they led through inspiration, the entire company qualified on the same day on the same range.
This practice took 'respect the rank' out of the equation, we truly respected the man wearing it, he was a brother like any other. He did the work to earn the position and we respected that as well. We cross trained from top to bottom and bottom to top. I was 1st Sqd 60 gunner, which meant on platoon patrols I was the PL's 6, and he was mine. He was almost as good with the pig as me and the AG. This atmosphere bred confidence in both directions, an officer in his men and men in their officers. It also made room for the officers to make a mistake without losing the respect of his men, after all, he was just a leg engineer, same as us, nobody is perfect.
That mindset, to me, makes for an unstoppable force.