Devil Dogs hit the range

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jennifer Romig
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  So there I was... in a field, surrounded by Marines, not knowing that I would soon feel like I was in Air Force basic training all over again. 

Once a year the Abilene Marine reserve unit travels to Mineral Wells rifle range, to complete their M-16 qualifications. During their stay the Marines must live in barracks similar to the Air Force's basic -training barracks. Just like basic training every morning and night they have formations either to get briefed or to receive awards for being stellar Devil Dogs, so I knew I was going to be in for quite a weekend when I was told, "That's Staff Sergeant to you Airman!" 

The Marines start their weekend out by having a class on the M-16's, then it was the shower, and lights out! Everything was going smooth and I reassured myself it was not going to be that tough to keep up with these Devil Dogs. The next morning consisted of waking up at 5:30 am and marching in formation two miles to the rifle range. The temperature was rapidly approaching 96 degrees, and sweat began beading on everyone's foreheads. 

Once there they lined up to shoot on the battle sight zero range first, to align their front sights and the windage knobs to assure the best possible shot. Each Marine was given 150 bullets and told to go to the 200 meter line. Shooting 200 meters away may not sound hard, but to some it's impossible to get a shot in the black target, especially when you have sweat dripping off your face. After shooting rapid and slow fire the Marines had to move further away, to the 300 and then the 500 meter line. Watching the Marines shoot I thought "there is no way they can shoot a target that far away," was I ever wrong. 

"I do the best on the 500 meters, it's a breeze," says LCpl Randall Thomas. 

Convinced it was impossible to shoot what seemed to be a tiny target from the 500 line, I moved to the pits or as the Marines call it the "BUTS". 

The BUTS is where the sweat and tears come out on the range. The Marines had to post the targets on huge wooden frames that operated by pulley systems, every time a shot was fired they had to pull the target down and score it. Dead center hits got 5 points and outside the black the points decreased. This was quit a tedious task, the targets weigh about 20 pounds and the pulley's were old and would get stuck, so the BUTS Marines were working extremely hard under the Texas sun. 

After shooting, working in the BUTS and baking in the sun, the Marines had to march back to the barracks only to stand in formation and be briefed some more. I had listened to numerous Marines get "motivated" all day. No matter how often the NCO's "motivated" their Marines, they pushed through and still love their Corps. Little did I know it would soon be my turn to be "motivated." 

"Airman pick up your feet!" "All I could think was are you serious I'm about to go up steps," but I replied with a "yes staff sergeant!" 

Lets just say by the end of the night I knew who had it out for me. Feeling kind of down, I went to dinner with the NCO's, and they asked me if I was having a good time, so I told them the truth. 

That's when First Sergeant Sly told me "If you're getting yelled at, that means we like you." 

So I took it as they looked at me just like any E-3, and pushed on. 

The next day it was time for the Marines who wanted to try for a higher score to shoot again, and myself. Myself and Staff Sergeant Benjamin Hill were the only Air Force people on the trip, we got into the sitting position at the 200 meter line and fired. 
Sergeant Hill was better than any of the Marines. We moved back and as we moved back Sergeant Hill kept showing how good he was, then came the 500 meter line. I knew rapid fire was my strength on the range so this was it I had to finish strong, and that tiny little target I thought was impossible I did better than some NCO's, especially Sergeant Tommy Tillman. Lets just say he got picked on the rest of the day for letting an Airman out shoot him. Everyone was so proud of me and congratulated me for doing so well on the range. 

At that point I realized it wasn't Air Force against Marines it was just one military, the uniforms didn't matter they looked at me as their equal. 

That night was the barbeque; this was where everyone could relax a little for working so hard all weekend. The chief warren officer sat down with myself and Sergeant Hill and explained the battle of Belleau Woods. This battle was during World War I in France, just when the Army said that it looked like no hope a captain from the Marine Corps said "Retreat Hell!" "We just got here!" As the battle continued the most valuable Marines were the sharpshooter and snipers, who picked hundreds of German troops off. Even though the Germans were tough, the Marines were made of steal and pushed on until they took out four German divisions. In the end they conquered all and General Pershing said, "The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle!" This was the battle the Marines got their nick name from after a German reporter said they were "Teufel Hunden", Hounds of Hell or as we know them Devil Dogs. 

That story alone made me realize how much respect I have for the Marine Corps and how important it was they actually looked at me as an equal that weekend. There was no difference in uniforms or chevrons. There may be four different branches of the military, but we all protect the same country and the same American people. When it comes down to it we are all American soldiers, United we stand.