By Cobra Commander

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii — After hours of troubleshooting, the soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry finally realized why they were having issues qualifying on the M4 range.

“Turns out we were aiming our rifles backward,” said Sgt. Nate Freeman. “Boy, are our faces red!”

For much of the day, soldiers were baffled by the fact that their rounds kept going the opposite way from the targets and, in fact, backward from their firing positions.

“I’ve never had this much trouble qualifying. I just assumed that the range was messed up,” said Capt. Kelly Wheatridge.

The problem, as an Army spokesman explained, was that soldiers were aiming down their buttstocks and had the muzzles tucked into their shoulders.

“This is actually a relatively common occurrence, even among combat arms units,” the spokesman said.

Range operators, squad leaders, and battalion leadership were equally puzzled for much of the day. Calls were placed as high as the Pentagon to understand why everyone …