Photo By Rick Emert | FORT CARSON, Colo. — El Paso County Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez Jr. practices at...... read more read more
By Scott Prater
Mountaineer staff
FORT CARSON, Colo. — The Cheyenne Mountain Shooting Complex, just east of Fort Carson, will receive an upgrade during the next few months.
Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (DFMWR) officials announced that work crews will upgrade one of the complex’s largest ranges to accommodate their partners’ increased usage.
At the same time, public users should benefit from the upgrades as well, said Pedro Viorato, CMSC business manager.
Work on the project is slated to begin on Range 2 in April and is expected to last roughly 150 days.
Fort Carson’s DFMWR partners with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (EPSO), among other law enforcement-agencies, in a shared-use agreement. The EPSO uses the complex’s Range 1 to train and qualify its deputies.
As pandemic restrictions have forced the department to downsize its classes, more classes were needed to accommodate its needs.
“Range 1 includes 22 lanes, features lights (for night time usage), pneumatic targets and a knee wall to protect those targets,” said Dave Beach, CMSC senior safety manager. “Among various enhancements, this project will add the lights, pneumatic targets and the protective knee wall to Range 2, a 15-lane range in close proximity to Range 1.”
The 400-acre public shooting complex opened in 2013 as Fort Carson partnered with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the U.S. Forest Service, El Paso County and local construction companies to complete the initial project. With the addition of two trap-and-skeet ranges completed in 2018 and a 3D archery range finished in 2021, the complex includes eight separate ranges for pistol, rifle and archery.
The site sits on Army land near Interstate 25 just outside Gate 20 and is open to the public. Shooters using the range do not have to enter Fort Carson. It is one of the only shooting complexes in the Army that is partnered with the DFMWR and a county, and all profits generated through operations go back to Fort Carson.
Fort Carson partners with several local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, who use different ranges at the complex.
“This upgrade will not only increase our capacity, but improve the complex’s flexibility as well,” Viorato said. “Potentially, we could have more than a few agencies training at the same time on different ranges. There’s a benefit to all of our users, because we have access to those specific ranges when they’re not being used by the law enforcement agencies.”
Army leaders recognized CMSC in 2018, with the Department of the Army Community Partnership Award for its efforts. Fort Carson leaders and county administrators then traveled to the Pentagon to accept the award.
For more information about CMSC and for hours of operation, visit https://carson.armymwr.com/cheyenne-mountain-shooting-complex.
| Date Taken: | 02.18.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.04.2022 12:22 |
| Story ID: | 415774 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 19 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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