Ohio National Guard News
| Ohio shooters post strong showing at All-Army Small Arms Championships |
By Capt. Bret Gould FORT BENNING, Ga.—A team of six Ohio Army National Guardmembers competed at this year’s All-Army Small Arms Championships Feb. 21-28, participating in 23 challenging rifle and pistol matches during the week. With a focus on realistic combat scenarios, the matches required Soldiers to engage targets under stressful conditions from a variety of firing positions. Timed two-mile runs to the firing line, rapid magazine changes and quick drawing pistols from holsters provided combat-focused training few Soldiers see anywhere else. The daunting intensity of these matches provides Soldiers with advanced weapons skills that they can pass on to other members in their units. Competing Soldiers were: Sgt. Ben Layton and Staff Sgt. Frank Miller of the 811th Engineer Company (Sapper); Master Sgt. Alan Whittaker and Sgt. 1st Class Tim Glover of the Ohio National Guard Master Weapons Training Team; and Staff Sgts. John Cockrell and Chris Burlingame of Ohio’s Pre-mobilization Training Assistance Element (PTAE). Ohio Guardmembers made their presence known. Burlingame was awarded a custom AR-15 rifle, valued at $2,900, for his top finish in the Audie Murphy match. Whittaker was awarded the Distinguished Rifleman Badge, a cumulative award for excellence in marksmanship over several years. Building on the successes at the All-Army competition, Ohio’s shooters now will hone their skills at this year’s regional combat matches in preparation for the 2009 Winston P. Wilson Nationals this fall at Camp Robinson, Ark. |
