Weapon Handling and Safety

FLD 210 · Fieldcraft, Tactics, and Soldiering · Level 200 (Phase Two)

A Royal Army College course in the safe, disciplined, and lawful handling of arms.

Course length: 10 hours, studied online and asynchronously at the student's own pace, together with any in-person practical instruction and assessment the course requires.

Foreword

The weapon is the most dangerous thing a soldier ever handles, and a soldier handles it constantly. A weapon does not know whose side a person is on; mishandled, it kills the careless soldier, the comrade beside them, or a member of the public, as readily as any enemy, and it does so in an instant and without recall. For this reason the first and last word in all weapon training is safety, and the soldier who learns nothing else from this course must learn that. Safety is not a stage a soldier passes through on the way to learning to shoot. It is the discipline that governs every moment a weapon is in their hands, for the whole of their service.

To bear arms is also a trust. The Army alone is entrusted to carry weapons on behalf of the State, and that trust is kept only by soldiers who handle their arms safely, control them absolutely, account for them and every round, and use them only lawfully and with the minimum force the situation demands. This course is therefore as much about discipline and responsibility as about mechanism. It teaches the safe and disciplined handling of a personal weapon, the theory of how an accurate shot is made, the care of the weapon, and the lawful, accountable ethos of the soldier who bears it.

Who this course is for

Every member of the Royal Kaharagian Army who may be entrusted with a weapon, which in time is every member. It expands the Basic Training Manual's modules on weapons discipline and safety and on marksmanship, and it pairs closely with the Law of Armed Conflict course (which governs what may lawfully be engaged) and the Aid to the Civil Power course and the Rules for the Use of Force (which govern the use of force at home, with minimum force always).

What this course is, and is not

This is a course in safety, handling, and discipline, and in the theory that underlies accurate shooting. It is not a course in lethality or in tactics, and it teaches no shortcut to either. Above all, it is the knowledge layer only. Every drill in it, loading and unloading, the safety precautions, handling, and all live firing, is taught and certified in person, under qualified supervision, on a range or in a training area, and nothing in it is ever to be practised on a live weapon on the strength of this reading. The Army's service weapon and its exact drills are set in regulation and taught by qualified instructors; this course teaches the universal principles every soldier must understand, in general terms that apply to any personal weapon.

What you will be able to do

By the end you will be able to:

• state the cardinal safety rules and explain why safety is paramount at all times;
• describe in general terms the main parts of a personal weapon and how it works;
• explain the safety precautions for proving, loading, and unloading a weapon;
• describe sound handling discipline and how a negligent discharge is prevented;
• explain the theory of marksmanship and how an accurate shot is made;
• describe the framework of range and training safety and the authority of "stop";
• explain the care, cleaning, and secure storage a weapon requires; and
• explain the lawful, disciplined, and accountable ethos of the soldier who bears arms.

How the course works

The course is self-paced and studied online, lesson by lesson, with a reflection at the end of each. But weapon handling is a physical discipline with no room for error, and it is mastered only on the ground, with a weapon in the hand, under the eye of a qualified instructor, and certified in person. This course gives the understanding those drills rest on: the cardinal rules, the principles of safe handling, the theory of the shot, and the discipline and responsibility of bearing arms. Learn the why here; never handle a live weapon on the strength of it.

The principle beneath it all

One principle governs everything in this course: safety is paramount, always. No task, no exercise, no hurry, and no order ever justifies an unsafe act with a weapon. From it flow the cardinal safety rules, the discipline that a weapon is at every moment either proven safe or under the positive control of someone who knows its state, the soldier's full accountability for their weapon and every round, and the rule that arms are used only lawfully and with the minimum force required. A soldier who holds these has the heart of the course.

Structure

A note on the lawful, disciplined bearer of arms

The right to bear arms in the service of the State carries a corresponding weight of responsibility. The soldier keeps that trust by handling arms safely, controlling them absolutely, accounting for them faithfully, and using them only within the law and the Rules for the Use of Force, with the minimum force the situation demands. Safety, discipline, accountability, and lawful use are the marks of the professional bearer of arms, and they are what separate a soldier from a danger.

A note on sources

This is the College's own course. It is built on the Army's own Basic Training Manual (the modules on weapons discipline and safety and on marksmanship), on the Law of Armed Conflict course and the Rules for the Use of Force, and on the British and Commonwealth skill-at-arms tradition, written fresh in Kaharagian terms and in general principles rather than tied to any one weapon.

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