MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii -- Another Coaches Course graduated Friday at the MCB Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Range Training Facility, but these 18 Marines learned more than how to qualify shooters and keep the ranges safe - they learned how to work with the Location Of Miss And Hit system.
This was the first course to receive the additional training on the new system, which is intended to shorten the amount of time Marines spend at the range during their qualification, said Gunnery Sgt. Anthony Troche, the chief primary marksmanship instructor at K-Bay.
In previous classes, coaches learned not only to correct a shooter's position and keep the range safe, but how to adjust weapons for wind speed. The LOMAH system may not be able to tell if a weapon is on safe, but it can tell the shooter how to adjust their weapons in order to get a round in the black.
All the coaches saw how the target lifters work and had classes on how to properly hook up the Visual Display Unit, which shows the shooter where a shot hit.
"If this thing fills with 15 rounds, it is gonna get ugly," joked Sgt. Justin Obernuefemann, a maintenance administration clerk for Marine Helicopter Training Squadron 301, while looking at the screen during a slow stage of fire, where 15 rounds were fired and LOMAH plotted every shot.
Before firing, Troche told all the shooters they had to make sure that the muzzle of their M-16A2 service rifle was over the muzzle blast sensor.
This sensor tells the sensors near the target that a round is coming down range.
One of the coach's jobs during a string of fire will be to make sure shooters have the weapons over the sensor and that the Visual Display Unit is hooked up and on the correct program.
Like many computers, there are kinks, and sometimes the system needs to be restarted.
The new coaches experienced some problems when the system needed to be restarted, but many of them still look forward to firing on the first LOMAH system in the Marine Corps.
"Once it is up and running perfectly, it's going to be a good piece of machinery," said Lance Cpl. Joshua Beebe, a combat motion media Marine with the Combat Visual Information Center.
Working with the LOMAH system was a change in the normal routine for both shooters and coaches. Instead of using binoculars to see a shot spotter, the shooter and coach can see on the display screen where a shot impact.
Currently there is no LOMAH class scheduled for Marines who are already coaches, according to Troche, but they will receive a brief on the system before the first day of firing when they are assigned to be a coach.
Monday, the coaches began training the first detail of Marines to fire with the LOMAH system.