DEVENS, Mass. – Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Massachusetts Army National Guard, and the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, New York Army National Guard, participated in the annual Logan-Duffy Shooting Match on Aug. 21.
The team from the 1st Bn., 182nd Inf. Regt. of the Massachusetts Army National Guard brought home the Logan-Duffy Trophy this year, led by top-shot Sgt. Tristan Manchester of A Company.
The history of the Logan-Duffy Match dates back more than 150 years, when Col. Michael Corcoran of the 69th Infantry, New York State Militia, rode out of Fort Corcoran in Arlington, Virginia, to visit neighboring Fort Cass. While there, he paid his respects to Col. Thomas Cass of the 9th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. That day, a regimental friendship was born between "The Fighting 69th" of New York and "The Fighting Irish of Boston."
"The Logan-Duffy is a great tradition where two units that draw their lineage from Irish units from the Civil War come together for camaraderie and a little competition," said Lt. Col. Adam Bojarski, commander of the 1st Bn., 69th Inf. Regt.
In 1936, Col. Francis V. Logan, commander of the 101st, and Col. Alexander E. Anderson, commander of the 165th Infantry, 69th Inf., Regt., decided that each battalion should assemble rifle teams and compete in an annual rifle competition. That decision was made during the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the 101st Infantry, which is now the present-day 182nd and which traces its lineage to the 9th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
Now, more than a century and a half after the initial meeting, the two battalions find themselves aligned under the 27th Infantry Brigade, making the bonds built during the last 150 years even stronger.
Every year, the two units alternate hosting the event, allowing Soldiers to experience each other's home states.
"It's kind of a really special relationship between two battalions, two infantry battalions now under the same brigade with a shared camaraderie between infantrymen, sharing their craft and doing some competitive marksmanship as a way to advance it," said Lt. Col. Landon Mavrelis, commander of the 1-182nd.
The course of fire for the Logan-Duffy is the same as it was in 1936. Shooters compete with iron sights in three courses of fire, all with 10 rounds, from 200 yards.
To start the competition, the two battalion commanders fired the ceremonial opening shots. From there, Soldiers took to the firing line to see which battalion would take home the cup.
The first course of fire was 10 rounds shot from the prone position, with a 66-minute time limit. The next course of fire was from a standing position within the same time frame, and the last was a “rapid-fire” seated shoot where Soldiers had 10 minutes to shoot their 10 rounds.
Spc. Christian Mora, an infantryman from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Bn., 69th Inf. Regt, found the extra time to shoot a benefit.
"What kept going through my head was just the fundamentals, what I learned at my unit when I got there, actually taking my time. It was cool," Mora said.
"It was smooth. Just reiterate what you already know, and it shows in your performance," he added.
This rate of fire is a throwback to the days before high-capacity magazines, special optics and semi-automatic rifles.
"Nowadays, we have a lot of neat optics and whatnot to use. It's honestly really cool using the iron sights and seeing how much you know the basics of shooting and fundamentals," said Spc. Christopher O'Brien, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Bn., 182nd Inf. Regt.
Throughout the last 89 years, the two battalions have met as close to annually as possible, despite pauses in the competition because of events such as World War II, multiple deployments to conflicts worldwide and a global pandemic.
"The Logan-Duffy is a marksmanship match that was started about 90 years ago between the 169 Infantry and what would eventually become the 182 Infantry. So it stems back further than that historically. The modern shoot has been going on for about 90 years, off and on, depending on deployments and things like that," Mavrelis said.
The trophy for the Logan-Duffy dates back to the first match in 1936. It was donated by Gen. Francis Logan of the 101st, and Col. Alexander Anderson of the 165th joined in donating a silver bowl. The trophy is a silver bowl of five-gallon capacity in vintage design, made by Reed and Barton Silversmiths of Taunton, Massachusetts. It has a matching silver tray. The trophy was named the Logan-Duffy Trophy in honor of the commanders of the two battalions during the Spanish-American War: Gen. Lawrence J. Logan of the 9th Massachusetts and Gen. Edward Duffy of the 69th New York.
Both battalions own the trophy, but the winner of each year's competition retains possession until the next Logan-Duffy. This year, it will reside in the 1-182nd headquarters until the two units meet again.
While the competition is what brings the battalions together, the goal extends beyond who is the best shot.
"The Logan-Duffy, the match itself, is this one day, a few hours that we come out here on the range, but the event has grown into a three-day event. We did a practice shoot the day before, and the first night we took these guys out to a Red Sox game. So it is really about that,” Mavrelis said.
"When we went to New York, it was a new experience for me because I never go there. They showed me around. They come here, we show them around," Manchester said.
That sense of camaraderie and friendship is felt by the Soldiers.
"It's not just a shoot," Manchester said. "When we got on the line, everything got really quiet, and we talked to each other early. But outside of it, it's really just good fun.”