The problem is only aggravated by a shortage of facilities or ammunition. In 2005 at Fort Sill, Okla., a deploying helicopter company was unable to qualify with most arms. Said former Warrant Officer Dave Long, “We didn’t have enough pistol ammunition, so we ran around with our Berettas, going ‘bang-bang.’ Although we’re an aviation unit, we had to train for convoy escort but there was no training ammo for the .50 calibers or Mark 19 grenade launchers. So we did like Sgt. Rock, going ‘budda-budda.’ It was laughable and pointless.”

Since the armed forces seldom do an adequate job of teaching people to fight with rifles, the civilian sector becomes more important. After all, that’s why NRA was founded in 1871, and after World War II the association received thanks for its training contributions from President Truman, Gen. Eisenhower and members of the Joint Chiefs. Today, elite forces such as airborne, rangers, SEALs and Marine recon make good use of civilian training schools and instructors, and we need to recall that most advancements in firearm training (and often in design) come from the private sector.

Military personnel sometimes attend club events just so they can shoot military-type arms. In 2005 an Arizona police instructor provided three days of pro-bono small-arms training to a Marine helicopter pilot bound for combat. The aviator had not fired a hand-held small arm in two years.

Seth Nadel is an NRA Patron member, retired federal agent and competitive shooter. He recalled, “At one of our club’s machine gun events, two Army guys showed up to shoot a privately owned M60. Seems they could not get enough time to shoot on duty. They got more trigger time in that one day than they had in the previous few years.”

Despite the problems, the Army does take note, albeit slowly. In 2008 a pilot program began at Fort Benning, Ga., to improve basic knowledge and skills. One colonel said, “Twenty-three hits out of 40 isn’t too good. People train for the test but we need to train them to shoot.”

Instead of issuing one round for each possible target, trainers want to issue more rounds than targets. Some pop-up targets are programmed to fall only after two or three hits, like people. Troops should be taught to stay on the sights until the threat is defeated: “Shoot until the world looks flat.” Other aspects of the program include firing from unusual positions, behind cover, and changing magazines as needed rather than when the range officer says to. Additionally, planned malfunctions occur by placing dummy rounds in each magazine.

Whatever it’s called, the current war with radical Islam will not end anytime soon. From the beginning, the war on terror has been a rifle fight writ large, and that fact is not about to change.

Currently the main combat arena is Afghanistan, with two constants: it’s high and it’s steep. The median elevation in central Afghanistan is 6,000 feet, and anyone who’s been there knows that it’s uphill in every direction. But few training facilities permit troops to shoot long range at severe angles.

Derrick Martin, an Iraq veteran, noted that in combat there’s no such thing as a perfect rifle-range position. “You’re loaded down with a helmet, vest and web gear; you’re hot and tired and scared. You’re not going to make very many perfect squeezes. So you need to know what looks and feels good and what doesn’t. We can teach you that, but we need to do it a lot more than once or twice a year.”

The Designated Marksman (DM) program is generally judged a success, assigning a specially trained rifleman to each infantry squad (for more on the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s DM training, go to www.americanrifleman.org/usamu). The DM carries a modified M16/M4 with optical sight or perhaps an M14. (“We have 20-year-old soldiers shooting 50-year-old rifles.”) The DM fills the ballistic/tactical gap from 300 to 600 meters, where snipers take over. However, the potential trouble is in numbers: three DMs in a platoon might not offset 10 or 20 mujaheddin with belt-fed weapons and mortars on the high ground. It would be much better if more ordinary riflemen knew how to hit at 500 meters.

Obviously it’s high time to prepare the troops for the next rifle fight. But what’s the solution? First, acknowledge that very few people enlist to shoot. Far more are attracted by career prospects and benefits—the Army website says almost nothing about war fighting. (The pull-down menu emphasizes jobs and benefits, while “Being a Soldier” cites musicians and health care providers.)

Secondly, recognize that raising tens of thousands of soldiers to an NRA standard of civilian marksmanship is impossible. Even assuming the institutional willingness—a huge assumption—the Big Army lacks the resources.

Therefore, thirdly: let the shooters shoot. Allow unit commanders to devote extra range time to soldiers with the desire to become as proficient as possible. In combat, they can take the time to hold, aim and squeeze while their friends lay down area fire or at least make noise. The two concepts are not necessarily contradictory.

To summarize: The overall standard of Army marksmanship can be raised by quality, not quantity. The army recruits about 80,000 people a year, so let a few hundred with the interest and ability do most of the shooting. In some remote, desolate battlefield, a few good riflemen can mean the difference between life and death.