On Combat Marksmanship: An Interview with Master Sergeant Joel Reilly

Professional Military Education

My guest today is an infantry Master Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. He has led Marine infantry units on multiple combat deployments. Since he was a young Marine, he has been working on marksmanship and striving for weapons proficiency. We talk about his career from Marine Corps Weapons Training Battalion in Quantico, Virginia to Infantry Unit Leader’s Course (IULC) in Camp Pendleton, CA. Throughout his time in the operational forces and Marine Corps schoolhouses, MSgt Reilly has provided thousands of hours of instruction on marksmanship and trained thousands of Marine leaders and infantrymen.

Topics we cover include:

• How MSgt Reilly became interested in Marine Corps marksmanship and his experience in the Marine Corps
• The fundamentals of marksmanship
• How the Marine Corps marksmanship program evolved over the last two decades
• Breaking institutional ways of thinking and training for combat effectiveness
• We discuss different weapons systems and their evolution
• Ballistics and the science behind how weapons function
• Ways to train on a “shoestring budget”
• Innovation and future changes to the marksmanship program

Go to the website: www.professionalmilitaryeducation.com to find several of the references in the podcast.

I consider MSgt Reilly a good friend and met him early in my career at Infantry Officer Course (IOC). He helped me a lot, and I continue to learn from his experience and infantry wisdom.

As he transitions into his civilian career, MSgt Reilly will be working for Battle Site Zero as a marksmanship instructor. Battle Site Zero offers a range of courses in firearms training from pistols to carbines and shotguns. Check them out at: https://battlesitezero.net/

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Check out the website: www.professionalmilitaryeducation.com