Recruits need real rifles at boot camp, top enlisted airman says

The U.S. Air Force eventually wants its aspiring recruits to carry real rifles during basic military training, the service’s top enlisted airman said Tuesday.

Enlisted trainees for the Air Force and Space Force are now issued nonfunctional replicas of M4 rifles during boot camp at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. The program, which began in July, aims to better prepare aspiring airmen and guardians for real-world situations in which they carry weapons, reviving a practice phased out in 2012.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Dave Flosi said during a roundtable with reporters at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber conference that recruits carrying live weapons is his “desired end state.”

Flosi praised Air Education and Training Command’s decision to start giving recruits inert rifles. He said the command “is working on taking the next steps down the road” towards giving them actual rifles, though he could not say when that might happen.

Increasing recruits’ familiarity with weapons is necessary to make them as effective as possible, he said, and be ready to operate outside of secure bases.

“The threats are real,” Flosi said. “The environment is dangerous. … Understanding lethal means and understanding the responsibility that comes along with it, that’s time well spent. It’s a little bit of individual responsibility and accountability, and it also is another reminder that you’re in the profession of arms.”

Enlisted trainees for the Air Force and Space Force now receive their nonfunctional replicas of M4 rifles after their initial weapons familiarization course, which takes place during their first week of training. Those replicas can be distinguished from actual weapons by their red flash suppressors.

They then carry the rifles at all times during basic training, except when they have medical or processing appointments, wearing any combination of the service uniform or are on a detail preventing them from carrying the weapon.

Recruits store their weapons in assigned wall lockers while at their dorms, the Air Force said.