Schriever Firing Range Opens

Officials at Schriever AFB, Colo., held the grand opening ceremony for the base’s new combat arms training and maintenance range. SSgt Julius Delos Reyes, spokesman for Schriever’s 50th Space Wing, told the Daily Report that the ribbon cutting occurred on May 23. The new range is 25 meters long, holds six shooting lanes, and includes concrete walls and floors, baffles on its ceiling, and a reinforced steel and granulated rubber backstop designed to stop bullet fragmentation, according to a Schriever release. “Weapons training and qualification standards have expanded and increased throughout the Air Force and during the last 10 years as we’ve learned from combat operations,” said TSgt. Ryan James, 50th Security Forces Squadron noncommissioned officer in charge of combat arms. “Not only must security forces members fire more rounds down range, but a lot of new aspects have been incorporated into qualifying. So, this facility is really going to ease the training and qualifying process for the squadron,” he said. (Schriever report by Scott Prater)