Rumored have happened just this way....

I have a friend who just got back from the Infantry Symposium sponsored Rheinmetal Defense Industries in Germany. According to this friend the lethality of the SS109 cartridge was under discussion when the commander of Germany's special forces stood up and said (paraphrasing) " The SS109 round was perfectly lethal up to 400 meters if the soldiers would hit what they were shooting at. 'I love the American soldier but they are not being taught marksmanship'. The best rifle marksmanship training in America is from a private group called 'Johnny Appleseed' or some such thing." At this point a member of the American special forces community jumped up, corrected the name and said he had taken the course and qualified because he came with some basic knowledge but the weekend was a real "ball buster"."

Of course he could have said it in German - the Europeans and long stationed in Germany would have understood it. But he might have said it in English, too. What is neat is being thought of as being the best rifle marksmanship training in America - and all we have done is borrow from the United States Army and Marine training of pre-World War I. There are so many things that America has lost on its way to the iPod and ring tones and apps.