FORT BENNING, Ga. - A Soldier who was a member of Task Force Ranger in Somalia in 1993 made famous in the movie Black Hawk Down, whose combat patch is a Combat Infantrymans Badge (second award) and who is a graduate of the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape school, said it best during the 2011 All Army Small Arms Championship awards ceremony March 27 here.
“No matter where you ended up, participation in this event makes the Army that much stronger,” said Army Command Sgt. Maj. Chris Hardy, Maneuver Center of Excellence. “For a competitive marksman, consistently applying the fundamentals and achieving success on the range translate to achieving success on anything that you do, whether on the battlefield or other walks of life.”
The National Guard contingent of more than 60 Guard members, among the record-breaking 337 active duty, Reserve and cadets from as far away as Guam and Alaska showed its marksmanship skills once again.
There were 48 teams competing, 12 of them Guard teams. Results from the 2010 Winston P. Wilson Matches located at the National Guard Marksmanship Training Center located at Camp Robinson, Ark., were used to select the teams to represent the Guard in the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit-hosted event.
Two Guard teams did very well. A team from Iowa won the U.S. Army Service Rifle Team Championship, and Illinois placed third overall in team competition.
Individual Guard award winners included Air Force Staff Sgt. Matthew Waechter of Iowa, Army Sgt. 1st Class David Perdew of Illinois and Army Pfc. Jason Parsons of Michigan. Airman Waechter won the Retired Col. Ralph Puckett Excellence in Marksmanship Award, Perdew became the first Soldier in the history of the event to win both the overall individual championship and the long range (sniper) championship and Parsons was named the High National Guardsman (E1-E4) in the novice class.
“I think the National Guard as a whole did very well this year,” said Army Capt. Adam H. Young, plans and training officer for the NGMTC. “The Guard didn't have the overall high shooter, or overall high team, but we did see National Guard shooters place in almost every event.
The NGMTC ensures that Guard teams who want to compete in this prestigious event are assisted. The funding for the teams to come to this competition was provided by NGMTC.
Young said he feels pride knowing that the NGMTC is assisting Guard members in having the ability to win at the competition and on the battlefield.
Perdew said he was impressed how the NGMTC was very supportive both in training and financially.
The Iowa team had only been together for a year. For one team member, Staff Sgt. Philip Kamm, it was his first competition above state level. For another, Staff Sgt. Jacob Hobbs, it was his third competition.
Waechter said one reason for the team’s success was teamwork, communication and helping each other with items like their rifle’s windage or elevation settings. “We made sure everyone had their correct dope on for their next stage,” he noted. Kamm, a band member, added that each team member told each other what to expect in their next match.
“We always seemed to be ready to go for the next thing coming,” he said. “It just helps mentally. You are not frantically trying to catch up mentally. You are already ready.”
Illinois coach, Sgt. Terry Pody, noted that all of his team members were novices. Pody and his four shooters placed in the top 20, 33 times in individual matches and the top 10 teams in all eight team matches.
Perdew, who first fired a M-24 sniper rifle three weeks before the competition, said the competition was a great training opportunity all around.
Pody was proud of his team. “When they do well, you feel like you’ve done your job,” he said. “Those four guys are the finest Soldiers I have ever served with ever.”
Waechter, an aircraft mechanic who has been shooting competitively for the last four years, was not ready to be named as the Puckett Award winner. “The Puckett was kind of overwhelming,” he said. “They did the big introduction to it and I was kind of floored.”
The big introduction was the reading of the biography of Puckett, a Korean War and Vietnam War hero. Puckett, who presented the award, is the recipient of two Distinguished Service Crosses, two Silver Stars and five Purple Hearts.
Waechter admitted that being one of the few Airmen in the field of Soldiers was unique. Qualifying as an Airman is a lot different than as a Soldier. Airmen qualify only on their “duty weapon” 90 days before they deploy. The simulated distance targets are 25 meters away.
When Waechter’s name was read off as the award winner, he said he started to sweat a little bit.
But being a minority in these competitions is nothing new to him. But he knows he can rely on his team at all times for support.
Parsons, a Guard welder and a competitive shooter for the last three years, said his strength is his experience. “I hold onto these experiences and marksmanship has always been up there with shooting and communicating,” he said.
There were 12 individual events and eight team matches. There were four main categories novice, open, pro and cadet. Issued weapons fired were the M16 rifle, M9 pistol and the M-24 for the 54 snipers competing in the long range competition.
For those of you who are not familiar with this premier marksmanship competition, it is not your normal rifle or pistol qualification course. It is geared to increase a shooter’s stress level with combat live-fire scenarios and make them more proficient in their issued weapons by teaching them new positions to shoot from and to use different techniques.
First Lt. James Crump, a city carrier for the U.S. Postal Service from Michigan and another novice Guard shooter, said he was impressed to learn ways to use his rifle not taught at other ranges.
This training included the art of running with both the rifle and pistol. The Audie Murphy run saw the competitors wearing their helmets and load bearing vests fire 10 rounds from their M16 rifles from the prone position at 500 yards. Then they had to run to the 400-yard line, get in a firing position and fire 10 rounds in 90 seconds. This continued up to the 100-yard line.
Crump, who recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan, said this event really pressured him and was the most challenging.
“Your heart was racing as you were trying to get those targets and score well,” he said.
When it came to running and pistol shooting, the competitors ran two miles before firing several rounds with their M9 pistols at the 25-meter line.
Crump said both of these matches taught him that being physically fit is very important. Regarding pistol shooting, he said he learned how important a good grip and form is in pistol marksmanship.
These two matches were nothing new for 10 of the Guard teams. They trained up in similar matches during a two-day train up at Volunteer Training Site in Tullahoma, Tenn., March 16 to 17.
Crump said this train-up was very important to him, especially when it came to finding his 100-yard zero on his M16 rifle. He noted the competitors would not have had time to find this at Benning.
Parsons noted that this train up allowed Guard members to shoot their rifles from 400 and 500 yards. He commented that this a rarity when it comes to most Guard rifle ranges.
“The fact that they are able to do it before coming here is an invaluable experience,” he said.
Pody said this train-up also was beneficial to his long range shooters. The farthest range in Illinois only reaches out to 600 yards. At Tullahoma, they were able to fire from 1,000 yards.
A great example of what Hardy said this competition is designed for – “the ultimate train your trainer event for marksmanship.”
An emphasis echoed by the commander of the USAMU, Lt. Col. Daniel Hodne.
“My challenge to all of you is to take those lessons learned back to your units and raise the Army’s overall combat readiness,” Hodne told the competitors during the awards ceremony.
Staff Sgt. Dave Keenom, team captain for the Tennessee Guard team which competed in the competition for the first time in several years, had another angle.
“This competition gives soldiers a better chance to survive in combat,” he noted.
The following National Guard individuals and teams were honored at the awards ceremony:
INDIVIDUALS
- Service Rifle Overall: 2-Staff Sgt. Benjamin Turgeon, Penn., 3-Waechter, Iowa, 5-Perdew.
- Pistol Excellence in Competition Overall: 3-Staff Sgt. Eric Lawrence, S.C., 4-Sgt. Joseph Sellers, S.C, 5-Waechter.
- Pistol Championship: 3-Lawrence, 4-Staff Sgt, Brian Bullock, Calif., 5-Spc. Eric Morris, S.C.
- Rifle Excellence in Competition Overall: 2-Spc. Wesley Sudbeck, S.C., 4-Staff Sgt. Jacob Hobbs, Iowa.
- Combined Arms Champion Overall: 5-Sgt. 1st Class Geoffrey Applegate, Calif.
- Overall Individual Champion: 4-Perdew
- Overall Individual Champion (National Guard): 1-Perdew, 2- Sellers, 3-Waechter, 4- Applegate, 5-Lawrence.
- Long Range Overall: 1-Perdew, 2-1st Sgt. David Weaver, Penn, 3-Sgt. Daniel McDade, S.C., 5-Sgt 1st Class Jon Gibbon, Penn.
TEAMS:
- Rifle Team Overall: 1-Iowa, 5-Michigan, 6-Illinois, 8-South Dakota, 10-California.
- Pistol Team Overall: 2-South Carolina, 3-Illinois, 5-California.
- Combined Arms Team Championship: 3-Illinois, 4-South Carolina, 5-Michigan, 9-Iowa
- Combined Arms Team Match Championship: 3-Michigan, 6-South Carolina, 8-Illinois, 9-California.