FORT BENNING, Ga. (Army News Service, March 23, 2004) -- While the All-Army Small Arms Championships is an M-16 rifle and M-9 pistol competition, this year it is also an advanced marksmanship workshop that will help competitors share combat skills with Soldiers at their home units.
More than 170 Soldiers, representing the active force, Army Reserve, National Guard and Cadet Command, are participating in the first Small Arms Championships since 1994, March 15-25 at Fort Benning, Ga.
Staff Sgt. Charles Blackwell, individual winner of the last Small Arms Championship in 1994, emerged again as this year’s overall champion at the end of individual competition March 19. Blackwell is a member of the Texas National Guard.
Maj. Timothy Kean, Texas National Guard, finished second overall; and Sgt. 1st Class David Kerin, Pennsylvania National Guard, placed third. Maj. Rhonda Bright, 81st Regional Readiness Command, Birmingham, Ala., was the top female shooter in the overall individual phase.
Attendees first competed in an individual competition consisting of three M-9 pistol matches and three M-16 matches. The competition then moved to team matches with both the M-16 and M-9. The championships finish March 25 with a long-range match with competitors using M-14 or M-24 rifles.
The All-Army marksman competition was revived because recent Army operations have demonstrated the need for Soldiers to feel confidence in the ability of their weapons to engage targets at ranges beyond what they experience on training ranges, according to Lt. Col. David Liwanag, commander of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. USAMU hosted the event.
“What better time to bring this championship back than now when we are at war?” Liwanag said. “We’ve got commanders saying they can see a lot farther in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan than the 300-meter ranges their Soldiers are used to shooting on. Here, they fire out to 500 yards and see they can hit the target at that distance -- that’s about 200 yards farther than most Soldiers are trained to shoot.”
Competitors were not expected to be expert long-distance marksmen with their weapons when they arrived. USAMU staff gave a two-day workshop at the beginning of the competition consisting of classroom training and familiarization shooting on the range. Two of the most important lessons shooters learned during that workshop were to be comfortable changing the windage on the sight when shooting at long distances and to anticipate the drop of the bullet over that distance, Liwanag said.
The workshop and subsequent competition matches also refreshed competitors’ knowledge of the standing, sitting and offhand shooting positions. Record M-16 fire requires just the supported prone and supported standing positions. Using the sling for a steady firing position was reinforced throughout the championships training.
Each participant received a service pistol and service rifle marksmanship book, and a data book to take notes for the basis of lesson plans. All who completed the training received an instructor certificate from USAMU. The intent of the training is for the competitors to go back to their units and make a difference by passing on advanced marksmanship skills to their fellow Soldiers, Liwanag said.
“Combat marksmanship is training our Soldiers need -- look at the Guard and Reserve, we’re mobilizing thousands of Soldiers each month for deployment,” said 1st Sgt. Michael Brown, team captain for the 81st Regional Readiness Command competitors and a member of the Army Reserve Combat Marksmanship Team. “Sharing what we learn here may save lives of some of those deploying Soldiers.”
Good marksmanship isn’t just for rifles and pistols, Liwanag said, as it crosses all shooting disciplines, including shooting a main tank gun or using a machinegun.
In next year’s competition, Liwanag said he plans to have shooters fire wearing full body armor as he does not see Soldiers going into battle in the future without it. Likewise, he plans to add night firing training if the resources are available to reflect the reality that the Army fights at night.
Bright said she has been shooting competitively since she was 9 years old -- first with a National Rifle Association club, on the U.S. Military Academy Rifle Team as a cadet in the mid 1980s and with USAMU while on active duty. She is double qualified for the Service Rifle Distinguished Badge and was the 1993, 1995 and 1998 air pistol national champion.
“After shooting for so many years, I still learned a lot during this competition – and I am definitely going to pass on what I learned to others in my unit,” Bright said. “I’ll be back for next year’s competition too.”
For full All-Army Small Arms Championships results or information on the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, visit the USAMU homepage, www.usarec.army.mil/hq/amu.
We followed similar paths in our youth ~ I was raised on a farm and started shooting at age 5, got my first rifle at age 9 and discovered girls at age 12 ~ it's been downhill ever since. :):)
Be Ever Vigilant!
Staff Sgt. Charles Blackwell, Texas National Guard, tackles a 500-yard target during the All-Army Small Arms Championships. Blackwell won the last event in 1994 and was announced March 22 as the 2004 individual champion. Photo by Joe Burlas
