Actually, it looks like I was wrong. Officers can earn them after all. I guess they don't out of embarassment...It would look silly for an infantry officer to fail to qualify expert with an M16 or sidearm if he was leading troops. And the potential for it is certainly there.
Section IV Marksmanship Badges and Tabs 8–47. U.S. Army Basic Marksmanship Qualification Badges a. A basic marksmanship qualification badge is awarded to indicate the degree in which an individual, military or civilian, has qualified in a prescribed record course and an appropriate bar is furnished to denote each weapon with which he or she qualified. Each bar will be attached to the basic badge that indicates the qualification last attained with the respective weapon. Basic qualification badges are of three classes. Expert, Sharpshooter, and Marksman. The only weapons for which component bars are authorized are in table 8–2 at the end of this chapter. Basic marksmanship qualification badges are awarded to U.S. military and civilian personnel, and to foreign military personnel who qualify as prescribed. b. See AR 670–1 for instructions concerning the wear of marksmanship badges and component bar tabs. c. Approval authority is as follows: (1) Any commander in the rank or position of lieutenant colonel or higher may make awards to members of the Armed Forces of the United States; Camp/Post Commanders, Professors of Military Science, Directors of Army Instruction/Senior Army Instructors (DAI/SAI) or ROTC/JROTC units may make awards to members of the ROTC/ JROTC. (2) Except to uniformed civilian guards (AR 670–10), awards to civilians will be made by the Civilian Marksmanship Program. The CMP is administered by the Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle Practice and Firearms Safety, Inc. The address for the headquarters is P.O. Box 576, Port Clinton, Ohio, 43452. The authorization for civilian guards to wear marksmanship badges may be made by installation commanders. Civilian guards will procure badges at their own expense.
_________________ "I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."
|