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    Dropping targets, picking up knowledge: Reserve pistol team compete in shooting event to gain expertise

    Dropping targets, picking up knowledge:  Reserve pistol team compete in shooting event to gain expertise

    Photo By Sgt. Zaid Dannsa | Gunnery Sgt. William Kevin Walker, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Pistol...... read more read more

    PARK CITY, KY, UNITED STATES

    05.06.2011

    Story by Lance Cpl. Zaid Dannsa 

    Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES)

    PARK CITY, Ky. – Three members of the Marine Forces Reserve Marksmanship Training Unit participated in the Blue Ridge Mountain 3-Gun Championship here April 29.

    The annual event included shooting through several stages of fire with a pistol, shotgun and rifle.

    The Marines, all members of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Shooting Team, were here to compete, but more importantly, to observe and take mental notes as approximately 200 professional shooters and veterans maneuvered through the courses.

    “We learn and improve tactics, techniques and procedures by participating in these events,” explained 1st Sgt. Clark Rhiel, the staff non-commissioned officer in charge of the shooting team’s pistol section.

    The shooting team’s mission is to train MarForRes CMTs at a two-week course at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., every October. Attending events like this gives them more knowledge they can then return to their students.

    Their average student does not normally get a chance to shoot targets at varying distances while identifying no-shoot targets, reloading multiple times and changing weapons in muddy conditions under time constraints.

    Such shooting is not standard in Marine Corps training, however having the experience to adapt to these types of unique situations in a combat environment ought to be common among Marines, according to Chief Warrant Officer 3 Stephen G. Ryther, captain of the shooting team’s pistol section.

    One particular demonstration of non-standard competition marksmanship found the Marines captivated by one shooter firing at targets from under a wooden structure simulating a vehicle. Mud kicked up and covered the shooter’s scope with every shot he fired. The Marines discussed how shifting his body and positioning his rifle a little further back could avoid that problem.

    “Shooting under these circumstances can definitely be stressful which relates a lot to combat,” said Rhiel, a 24-year Marine veteran with multiple combat deployments.

    Insights like this will help the Reserve MTU prepare Marine marksmen for the uncertainty of combat shooting.

    After a weekend of shooting, observations, conversations with professional shooters, and learning about several weapons systems and how to employ them, the Marines now have more knowledge to pass on to their students.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 05.06.2011
    Date Posted: 05.06.2011 12:43
    Story ID: 69982
    Location: PARK CITY, KY, US

    Web Views: 206
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN