Photo By Dereca Sims | Marines compete in the Western Division Matches that are being held at Wilcox Range in...... read more read more
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Two Marines with the 8th Marine Corps District competed with Marine marksmen from across the western United States during the 2014 Western Division Match, Feb. 20 to March 7, 2014, at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Major Bradford Botanes, the district’s Assistant for Enlisted Recruiting, and Sgt. Evan Tuley, a canvassing recruiter with Recruiting Substation Chandler, Recruiting Station Phoenix, teamed up with Marines from Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, to shoot against more than 300 contenders for distinguished marksmanship.
The Western Division Match is part of the Marine Corps-wide Competition-in-Arms Program (CIAP), which includes four regional and one national shooting matches across the United States. This program aims to provide the Marine Corps with more disciplined and proficient marksmen.
“Shooting is a very perishable skill,” Botanes said. “If you don’t practice more than that annual rifle or pistol qualification, you’re not going to get any better at it. The goal of the Competition-in-Arms Program is to build a pool of better pool of marksmen and these Marines could go on to be coaches or even become a sniper in the Marine Corps if they distinguish themselves with these competitions.”
Participation in competitions such as these is especially important for Marine recruiters, who are exempt from the Marine Corps’ annual rifle qualification requirement due to their demanding schedules and wide geographic dispersal.
“At first I didn’t really want to (attend the competition) because, being a canvassing recruiter, it’s really hard to take time away from your job,” Tuley said. “There were guys that have been doing these competitions their whole life. They had all this gear, and I’m on recruiting duty and I show up with a pen and a business card. I saw it as an opportunity to pick these guys’ brains. I ended up learning a lot, not just about shooting, but about myself, and the Marine Corps.”
Botanes and Tuley encouraged recruiters to take advantage of any opportunity to go to the shooting range in order to maintain their skills during their three years of recruiting duty, so when they return to deployable units they will be combat ready and able to pass the knowledge on to their junior Marines.
“Does (the CIAP) help with our proficiency? It absolutely does,” Tuley said. “We’ve got Marines out there in every Military Occupational Specialty you can possibly imagine and it really gives that opportunity to provide additional range time to Marines who aren’t necessarily infantry or machine gunners. With ‘every Marine being a rifleman’, it’s definitely important for us to take advantage of every opportunity to develop that skill because it’s something that we’re going to need one day; that we’re going to use.”
“Imagine the confidence level out on a patrol where every Marine there is a rifle expert,” Botanes said. “As a platoon commander, I would know that if we received small arms fire, we would quickly be able to neutralize that threat.”
The MCRD San Diego team took home 3 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals in the individual rifle and pistol events. For the team events, they placed second in pistol and third in rifle.
While at the match, Tuley met with Marines from his next duty station and is already making plans to shoot with them at next year’s competition.
Botanes said he looks forward to bringing more district Marines to shoot with the MCRD team in the future. In the meantime, he plans to wear the medals he won on his uniform in hopes of educating his fellow recruiters about the great opportunities out there for them.
“Marines usually see these ‘strange medals’ on my uniform and ask me if they’re really authorized to wear; it’s a great conversation starter,” Botanes said smiling.
| Date Taken: | 03.31.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.31.2014 16:26 |
| Story ID: | 123361 |
| Location: | TX, US |
| Web Views: | 232 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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