Who We Are
We are an organization of Marines, sailors, and civilians dedicated to improving Marines’ marksmanship skills with their issued small arms. We have a cadre of instructor-trainers and facilitators that combine fundamental, unchanging marksmanship principles with modern techniques, technology, and feedback mechanisms to build more lethal individuals and units.
Our center of gravity is our people; the instructors that make the difference training Marines every day. Our critical advantage is our focus: small arms marksmanship is our only job - not one of the many tasks that competes for time and resources across the fleet. WTBN has the facilities, equipment, and time to ensure we are producing top-notch shooters across the FMF. We use data-driven training programs, technologies, and techniques derived from competitive shooting to ensure Marines will return to the fleet capable of developing, supervising, and assessing small arms marksmanship programs in their units.
WTBN makes a fundamental difference in our service’s warfighting capability by making the individual Marine more lethal and capable. Our job is to impart skills that will directly translate to victories on the battlefield.
Weapons Training Battalion, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune was activated on 1 January 1943 as the Rifle Range Detachment, Training Center, Camp Lejeune-New River, North Carolina for the purpose of providing marksmanship training to Marines preparing for combat during World War II. The first range to be constructed was “Bravo" Range, followed in order by “Alpha” Range, “Charlie” Range. The berm and butts were established over mounds of expended 1903 Springfield and M1 Garand brass casings.
When it opened in 1943, the Rifle Range at Camp Lejeune was considered the most modern in the history of the Marine Corps. The range area, laid out near the western shore of Stones Bay and southeast of Stones Creek, was accessed via Range Road which connected with State Route 210. Three 50-target rifle ranges with 200-, 300-, 400-, and 500-yard firing points were the center of the complex. A long-distance machine gun range with 24 targets was sandwiched between the three ranges and the bay. A pistol range, the only one built during World War II, was located just west of the Rifle Range. The pistol range had 30 targets, all electrically operated. Each of the rifle ranges and the pistol range had its own range house, target houses, and magazines for storing ammunition. Permanent housing, subsistence, and administration area for the rifle range lay southwest of the pistol range. This complex consisted of four barracks, a mess hall, administration building, post exchange, bachelor officers' quarters (BOQ), theater/gymnasium, storehouses, and central heating plant.
After successful service during World War II, the Rifle Range was temporarily deactivated until 1 April 1950, when it was activated as the Rifle Range Detachment, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. The Rifle Range Detachment was re-designated as Weapons Training Battalion, Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina on 20 February 1996.
Today, the Marines of the Weapons Training Battalion train over 25,000 Marines annually on rifle and pistol marksmanship. Weapons Training Battalion is home for the Eastern Region Marine Corps Marksmanship Matches, as well as numerous installations and local-level rifle and pistol competitions.