Marine Corps Base Hawaii -- Service members and their families, law enforcement officials, Department of Defense civilians and contractors working aboard Marine Corps Base Hawaii were invited to a recreational marksmanship shoot at the Kaneohe Bay Range Training Facility, Sept. 26, 2014.
The recreational fire, hosted by Kaneohe Bay RTF, takes place on the second and fourth Friday of every month. Personal pistols and revolvers for the recreational shoot are restricted to a maximum of .45 caliber and rifle calibers can be no bigger that .50 caliber. The range requires attendants to be at least 14-years old and anyone between the ages of 14 and 18 who are not active duty service members require adult supervision.
The event allows eligible participants the opportunity to get some shooting time in outside of military training.
“I like this kind of shooting because it isn’t as structured,” said Sgt. Justin Kirkland, part of the Remain Behind Element of 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
Kirkland said it’s always interesting to see what outside shooters bring on base, which allows participants to see various other types of weapons systems.
He said participating in the recreational fire exposed him to different shooters and their weapons he normally wouldn’t have experienced outside the Marine Corps standard issue weapons, like the M16A4 and M4A1 service rifles.
Kaneohe Bay RTF provided M4A1 service rifles and M9 Beretta pistols for those in attendance who did not bring their own weapons.
Also taking advantage of the recreational shoot were Marine spouses of 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
The battalion is currently in Yuma, Ariz., conducting Talon Exercise, a six-week training event centered on helicopter-borne operations.
While the battalion trains, the family readiness officer of 3rd Bn., 3rd Marines invited some of the Marine’s spouses to attend the recreational shoot to bring them together.
“We’re going to be doing kind of a big ‘Jane Wayne Day’ in November, and this is sort of preemptive to that,” said Cheryl Chiu, the FRO for 3rd Bn., 3rd Marines. “We’re getting the ladies excited about coming out and doing a big shoot.”
She said the unit likes to keep the spouses busy while the “Trinity” Marines are deployed.
“This is a fun and educational thing for (the spouses) to do,” Chiu said. “They’ve been asking us to do it.”
Chiu said she’s grateful the base hosts events like this, citing that not many of the spouses have had an opportunity to fire their Marine’s weapons systems. The unit brought out some of its RBE Marines to act as personnel safety officers for the spouses on the range.
As the day went on, participants came and went, brandishing a wide variety of personal firearms from AK-47s, to a .50-caliber rifle.
They talked guns and swapped weapons.
“The primary purpose for hosting the (recreational) fire is to promote weapons safety and marksmanship proficiency,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Raymond Browne, Marine gunner and officer in charge of K-Bay RTF. “The rec fire differs from mandated marksmanship training in that you can bring your own weapons to fire or you can fire service weapons at your own pace under the safety and guidance of range control personnel.”