LINCOLN, Neb. –Two-hundred sixteen airmen and soldiers from the Nebraska National Guard gathered at Greenlief Training Site, Hastings, Neb., for The Adjutant General Shoot (TAG Shoot) August 10-12, an annual event used for proficiency training in firing weapons and friendly competition.
The TAG Shoot is a state-level marksmanship competition put on by the adjutant general, used to help guardsmen improve their weapon handling skills, and to recognize and advance those with exceptional skills to regional and even national competitions.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Todd Wagner, a property book officer with the 734th Transportation Battalion, Kearney, Neb., is the state marksmanship coordinator and the match director for the TAG Shoot. Having participated in the TAG Shoot since 1986, Wagner said he is fairly experienced with this program.
Wagner said the Nebraska National Guard TAG Shoot consists primarily of soldiers. However, he said as far as he can recall, the Air Force has always been present at this event.
Wagner described the process the soldiers go through during the weekend competition.
“The soldiers begin their time at Greenlief by entering a Small Arms Firing School [SAFS] and familiarize them with the courses of firing they are going to shoot and preliminary marksmanship instruction so they are comfortable with what they are going to do,” said Wagner. “Once they are comfortable, they are taken to the range to practice.”
“Two courses of fire are approved alternate qualification courses of fire for their annual weapons qualification,” Wagner continues. “If a soldier came to this event and has not yet qualified on a weapon, they can take that score card and turn it into their unit to be used as a weapons qualification as well. There are challenging events as well.”
The goal of this event, Wagner said, is to train the soldiers and airmen to properly operate their weapons, and benefit from the experience of competition.
“This entire training is driven from a weapons training event,” said Wagner. “Our mission here is to train soldiers to be more proficient with the fire arms that they use day-to-day. Be it an airman or a soldier, they need to be comfortable with the weapons they are going to defend themselves with. The more hands-on they have with it, the better off they will be.”
The matches held for individuals and teams are entry-level, said Wagner. The environment is competitive, but is designed as a training exercise.
“We focus really hard on training soldiers constantly,” said Wagner. “From that, we will pick a select few, both teams and individuals, and try to push them onto further events to try to get them more expertise with marksmanship. Then, they can come back to their units and keep that training.”
The competition begins at the TAG Shoot as a state-level championship. The state-level champions will move on to the regional championship, the Marksmanship Advisory Council, which is held in one of the nine participating Midwestern states. Then, the regional champions are qualified to participate in the national championship, the Winston P. Wilson Matches, Camp Robinson, Ark. There, they compete against the other 49 states and four territories, potentially 54 teams in all.
This year’s competition drew out the maximum capacity for the Greenlief shooting range, 216 competitors, or 50 four-man teams. The competition ranges from guardsmen who have never participated, to those who have participated for years.
“The one thing I know from my years of experience in the marksmanship world is, once you start talking to the other shooters they are just there to help you,” said Wagner. “They are another service member that is willing to work with you and give you guidance and how you are building your training program.”
Wagner gave credit to the state of Nebraska for the continued success of the TAG Shoot program and the quality of the training site.
“We can run this whole match with quality training because we have good facilities,” said Wagner. “They have good quarters to stay in and excellent dining facilities to eat out of. The state of Nebraska has done an excellent job building this particular facility.”
| Date Taken: |
08.10.2012 |
| Date Posted: |
06.03.2013 15:45 |
| Story ID: |
107984 |
| Location: |
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, US |
| Web Views: |
239 |
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0 |
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This work, Nebraska National Guardsmen compete, train for weapons proficiency, by SSgt Mary Thach, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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