CAMP BAHARIA, Iraq -- 'One shot, one kill' is the motto by which every Marine rifleman, like Pfc. Joseph H. Sysol, lives. This18-year-old and his fellow Marines train long hours firing many ranges and familiarizing themselves with various weapons systems, from rifles to automatic grenade launchers, to refine the art of placing rounds on target with speed and deadly precision.
While on deployment, the story is no different.
Sysol and the Marines and sailors of 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment continued to refine their marksmanship skills by conducting a battle sight zero range here March 18-19, approximately one week after arriving in Iraq.
"We fired this range to adjust the sights on our weapons," said the infantryman with 81 mm mortar's Platoon, Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. "This is the first real exercise we've done since arriving here."
According to the Springhill, Fla. native, Marines battle sight zeroed, or 'BZOed', their weapons to ensure their rounds hit where they aimed. Differences in breathing patterns and eyesight affect how each person sees a target through their sights, so troops fired three shot groups and observed where the rounds impacted after each string of fire.
Following each volley of rounds, the 2004 Land O' Lakes High School graduate and fellow Marines approached their targets, marked the impacts and made adjustments to their weapon's front sight tip (to control the round's up and down direction) and windage knob (left and right direction). If properly done, the last group should strike the target dead center.
"We also 'BZOed' the optics on our weapons," Sysol added. "Some of us were issued ACOGs (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsights, rifle-mounted scopes that help shooters aim more accurately even in low light situations), and we needed to calibrate them too."
To accomplish this, Marines looked through the scopes and fired their groups. Instead of making elevation and windage adjustments on the weapon, troops use the knobs on the optics themselves.
Along with firing the BZO range, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment personnel also conducted function checks on their hand-carried and vehicle-mounted automatic weapons.
"They get pretty beat up riding around on top of vehicles in convoys here, so it's good to check to see that they're working too," Sysol explained.
He also said the weapons had to be checked and adjusted as quickly as possible, because his unit is replacing the California-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment in conducting security and stability operations in and around Fallujah.
"We need to make sure everything works before we really head out," Sysol continued.
With properly calibrated rifles and automatic weapons, Sysol and the rest of 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment is expecting seven months of patrolling city streets alongside Iraqi Security Forces to flush out insurgents.
Despite any challenges the mission ahead presents them, Marines like Sysol remain motivated.
"This is going to be my first deployment, but it's one hell of a first one," he stated. "I'm excited about accomplishing the missions ahead."