Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Monette Wike | Master Sgt. Scott Erickson of the 161st Air Refueling Wing and Command Sgt. Maj. John...... read more read more
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FLORENCE, Ariz. – The Arizona Army National Guard’s Small Arms Training Branch hosted the Adjutant General’s shooting competition at the Florence Military Reservation, Apr. 7-10.
This four day, eight event shooting competition featured 67 Guardsmen from the Arizona Army and Air National Guard. The top 12 shooters were awarded the Governor’s Dozen tab and have the opportunity to compete at the regional and national levels. The top teams in each stage were also awarded team trophies.
“The TAG Match is a 4-day event that is designed to bring service members of all shooting skill levels to develop their weapon prophecy and marksmanship,” said 1st Lt. Victor Bartels, match director. “Although this is a competitive match, it promotes cohesion and pushes the competitors to perform at their very best.”
The shooting competition is designed to give participants the opportunity to experience battle-focused training and gain advanced skills that can be applied in real-world situations. The stages have been designed to test a shooter's skills in different shooting situations using the M9 pistol, the M249 machine gun, and the M16/M4 rifles.
Although this event is focused on weapons and shooting, competitors in this event come from a wide range of military career positions, not just combat focused roles.
“In a competition like today, you have members from all across the Arizona National Guard,” said Lt. Col. William Waddington, commander or the Arizona Army National Guard’s recruiting and retention battalion. “We have cooks, band members, recruiters, infantrymen, military policemen, and equipment maintainers all coming together and representing their units. A person who is going to do well in this event, regardless of military background, needs to have patience, self-confidence, and just be willing to come out a try your best.”
Of the 17 teams competing, the Arizona Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Battalion were the overall team winners for the second year in a row. The top individual winner, also for the second year in a row, was Master Sgt. Scott Erickson of the 161st Air Refueling Wing.
“Although this is a competition, at the end of the day it is all in good fun,” Bartels said. “Shooters who participate in this event are not just shooting at targets down range, they are demonstrating the fundamentals needed to hit the target, and understanding how to make the adjustments to hit the target. This makes our service members not only successful here, but on the battlefield as well.”
The top finishers of this event will represent the Arizona National Guard in the Winston P. Wilson National Competition at the Marksmanship Training Center in Arkansas later this month.
2016 Governor’s Dozen:
Top Honors: Command Sgt. Major John Salazar, Recruiting and Retention Battalion
1. Master Sgt. Scott Erickson, 161st Air Refueling Wing
2. Sgt. Andrew Garcia, 860th Military Police Company
3. Staff Sgt. John Milhoan, 161st Air Refueling Wing
4. Staff Sgt. Nathan Sokol, Recruiting and Retention Battalion
5. Sgt. Gino Zappia, Headquarters Headquarters Company1/158th Infantry
6. Staff Sgt. Dennis Caviness, 856th Military Police Company
7. Spc. Nicholas Gonzales, 1404th Transportation Company
8. Master Sgt. Travis Buchmann, Recruiting and Retention Battalion
9. Sgt. 1st Class Lawrence Wegeman, Regional Training Institute
10. Lt. Col. William Waddington, Recruiting and Retention Battalion
11. Staff Sgt. Benjamin Mason, 860th Military Police Company
12. Sgt. Pedro Careaga, C-Company 1/158th Infantry
| Date Taken: | 04.14.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 04.14.2016 16:43 |
| Story ID: | 195428 |
| Location: | FLORENCE, AZ, US |
| Web Views: | 725 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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