C9 Light Machine Gun Live-Fire Training

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY CORPORAL RAZAVI

Westmount, Quebec – 07 December 2022: The C9 light machine gun (LMG) is a weapon of great importance for the infantry soldier, usually two per section; it generates most of the fire-power at the section level and about half at the platoon level. Therefore it is important for each infanteer to qualify in said weapon and refresh/build upon their skills as much as possible. On the 22nd of October, officers LT Faiz and 2LT Ray brought the troops to the range assisted by Sgt Cowling, MCpl Pellow and Cpl Wooden to accomplish this objective.

First, the soldiers of the RMR got evaluated on the C9 rundown (PWT3), once the targets are up, the soldier must run with his machine gun 100m to the marked point in 35 seconds and shoot the targets in bursts of 5 rounds and repeat the process until the last point. It is a great exercise as it trains the gunner to control his breathing and heart rate to be able to shoot the enemy. But it is also essential for a good gunner to have the capacity to close in the distance with the foe quickly to provide suppressing and covering fire for his fellow riflemen.

Furthermore, the troops were trained on their ability to rapidly react to enemy contact in short range when handling the LMG. The weapon is normally handled while the user is in the prone position. However, sometimes the situation does not permit the luxury of time to set up. Which is why there was a lot of emphasis on how quickly the infanteer could get his shots down the range from the standing and kneeling positions to be at a maximum effectiveness at any time.

After a good day of shooting and learning new skills, the soldiers of the RMR returned home and patiently await GPE 3 which will happen on October 28th on St-Hélène Island where their skills will be heavily relied upon.