MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. -- In the past, wars were often fought with two groups standing stationary shooting at one another until one side gave up or suffered excessive casualties.
As years progressed and weapons evolved, more indirect tactics began coming into play on the battlefield with the use of trenches, cover and concealment.
Now, battlefield tactics have accelerated at such a pace that standing still is no longer an option to staying alive. Marines train constantly to prevent that small mistake of hesitation or error in judgment that could be their last.
Although the Marine Corps has several marksmanship programs to train Marines to use their weapons, the Enhanced Marksmanship Program is a course that teaches Marines how to use their weapons in a fluid, chaotic combat environment.
"The Enhanced Marksmanship Program is a weapons firing program that takes basic marksmanship skills and enhances them into combat skills," said Lt. Col. Robert Y. Park, training officer, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. "Basically, it teaches how to address targets, how to react in a firefight and how to return fire."
According to Lt. Col. Freddie J. Blish, commanding officer, Marine Wing Support Squadron 373, Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd MAW, the EMP focuses on the fact that it is a fighting course.
"It improves their combat mindset," said Blish, a Springfield, Vt., native. "It improves their basic marksmanship to a small degree, but its biggest impact is teaching Marines how to manipulate or handle their firearm with great proficiency."
It teaches Marines to not only shoot one handed but also to reload and function with just one hand, in the case they were wounded.
"That can happen, and most likely, if you are wounded, it's likely to be a limb," Blish added. "The Marine has to stay in the fight. They need to be able to still fight and know that they can win."
However, unlike the known distance course, the Enhanced Marksmanship Program takes a different turn at training Marines with their firearms.
"In the KD course, you are stationary," said Park, a San Francisco native. "You sit down and concentrate on your basic skills of marksmanship, much like a pistol or rifle competition type mode. The targets aren't shooting back at you.
"The EMP is totally different," he added. "It assumes you know how to pull the trigger of the weapon and from there it teaches you how to constantly move, reload and engage targets while on the move with your strong or weak hand. It takes into account everything that a combat situation would take into account."
Although the course focuses a lot on what could happen in a combat situation, it also has built in stressors to increase the sensation of real combat.
"It includes stressors that are not on the KD course, which doesn't have many stressors besides time," said Park. "You have to think on the move. When someone yells out a target, they aren't just yelling out that there is a target, they are yelling out what the target has, whether it is a gun, knife or a bomb. You don't have to think about that on the KD course. All you are thinking about is getting the rounds in the black."
The EMP course was first conceived in 1984, directly after the bombing in Beirut, Lebanon.
"We started a school in Norfolk, Va., during the late 1980s," said Robert Young, a retired colonel who developed the program for the Marine Corps Security Force Battalion. "The original name of the course was, Improved Marksmanship Training, which later turned into the combat pistol, combat shotgun and combat submachine gun courses. It was basically what it is called now, an Enhanced Marksmanship Program."
According to Young, the course was tested by several different Marines across the Corps.
"We took Marines from all different (Military Occupational Specialties) and put them through the pistol and shotgun training courses," said Young. "It was just amazing to see the results. It was what they had joined the Marines Corps to do and they were doing it."
However, the course still hasn't spread Corpswide, as some believe it should be.
"This is something every Marine should have to do," said Park. "We advertise to the rest of the world that every Marine is a rifleman. Well, does that mean to shoot in a competition or shoot in a combat situation?
"This course was probably one of the best training evolutions I've done in my 17 years in the Marine Corps," he concluded. "It has been proven to be a tremendous motivator and reenlistment tool for first term Marines. When devil dogs go in to do this training, they see why they are in the Marine Corps. They see that their training is not for naught. They are skilled and confident with their weapon if and when they have to go into a combat situation."