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5 day army course,starts at 10,break at 11,dinner at 13 till 2 ,break at 3 then finished at 4,that's why it takes 5 days.....

Not far off. I did what was then called a RMQ (Range Management Qualfication) in NI in the late 80's. At the end it entitled me to conduct live firing on military ranges up to and including conducting the soldier's Annual Personal Weapons Test (APWT).

The military RCO can be supervising an entire detail of recruits who have never handled a firearm in their lives. Teaching and coaching skills are a large part of the RMQ course and this includes interpreting group sizes, marksmanship principles, sight adjustment and zeroing up to various distances. Also, not forgetting action required on misfires, negligent discharges, blinds/dud ammunition and telephone/radio comms and butt supervision. Conducting an APWT could be like recruit training again as some soldiers might not have live fired since their last APWT. Everything had to be coordinated as a drill within the detail and there was a lot of shouting usually. It was a pretty full-on 5 days to show you how to do all this.

The civilan RCO is dealing mainly with shooters with some or a lot of experience in smaller groups. I'm down to attend a NRA RCA course in the next couple of months so I will be interested to see the difference.

Although there is a concession available for U25s there are a number of Uni clubs that shoot on MOD ranges & so require RCO to do so.

Uni clubs will not be able to fund even at concession rate 2 weekends every 1-2 years for a number of members to provide coverage to operate. This could kill off Uni shooting on MOD ranges in the regions. The cost of courses, travel, accom & time is too much for them. Fopr e.g. 4 students pa, per club who are in post for 18m over their uni education is more funds than most Uni clubs get from the SU in support grant. Some will revert to small-bore on civilian ranges only.

If this is driven by MOD comparing civilian RCO to military then i absolutely agree having done both the MOD course was padded out with breaks, short days, weapon strip drills, shouting, forms & non added value. The NRA course also contained much on MOD admin & at 1.75 days was quite sufficient.

Charging a profit rate on such courses is wrong. Be that direct excess, or via charges for range fees that are income to NSC or use of NRA guns when most have their own or access to a club gun & expensive GGG ammo when mil-surp would do, they all combine to unnecessarily put the cost of the course beyond reach of many that need it to continue operating.

How is that good for the future sport?

I have asked this already in the thread but no one has been able to reply.

What is the extra content that the MoD require that isn't currently in the existing course that needs another two days to cover?

If it is just duplication of content across the two courses then it is just a money making NRA scam.

Any sensible "national" governing body would surely be asking the MoD for some clarity on what elements the current RCO course is lacking on and add that onto the current course.

Creating an extra course just because the MoD have said that the NRA course is shorter than theirs is totally meaningless unless the content in relation to the needs is compared.

If there is no more to this than that then the NRA need their @rses kicked (again).

Exactly my point Dromia. The military course as I knew it is for a totally different client group with specific needs that cannot be compared to civilian shooting. My club secretary has spent some time negotiating a regional RCO course for about 10 members in the next couple of months. I'm pretty sure not one of has done the RSO course beforehand so I'm waiting to see if it goes ahead or not.

I'm pleased to say that I qualified as an RCO on Sunday.....

Drinks on you then