Marksmanship during Simulated Sustained Operations

Abstract

The individual warfighter is often required to work for long periods of time with little or no rest until the objective is reached. This study evaluated M16 rifle marksmanship performance during a simulated 3-day (72 hours) sustained operations scenario. Soldiers were kept busy with military tasks for 21-22 hours per day, and were administered standardized tests of M16 rifle marksmanship performance before, during, and at the end of the sustained operation. Results indicated that as sustained operations proceed from 0 to 3 days (0 to 72 hours), the task of firing an M16 rifle becomes more physically demanding and the shooter has to exert more effort in order to perform the task proficiently. Accompanying this increase in subjective workload is the finding that participants are able to maintain rifle marksmanship for rapidly appearing pop-up targets (some of which are moving) but that rifle marksmanship is impaired for stationary targets.