Photo By Alexander Rector | U.S. Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment,...... read more read more
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PEEKSKILL, N.Y. — Army National Guard Soldiers from New York’s 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment squared off against the 1st Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, their Massachusetts-based sister unit, in the annual Logan-Duffy Marksmanship Competition on Mar. 13.
The 182nd came out on top, winning the match by a single point. The final tally was 280 to 279.
“I’ve been with the 69th since 2016 and I have never seen the Logan-Duffy Competition this close,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Jason Zeller, the 69th’s senior enlisted leader.
This year’s match took six top shooters from each battalion and tested their rifle marksmanship in standing, prone, and seated positions. Using only the iron sights of the U.S. Army’s M4 carbine to aim and fire at paper targets, the Soldiers’ skills, speed, and accuracy were put to the test.
Setting the teams apart was the 182nd’s top shooter, Sgt. Tristan Manchester, an infantryman and team leader from the battalion’s Alpha Company.
“The real victory here is the relationship between our two battalions, " said Lt. Col. Landon Mavrelis, 1st Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment commander. “The most important part of this is the camaraderie and esprit de corps that we’re building.”
The competition, named for Brig. Gen. Lawrence Logan of Massachusetts and Brig. Gen. Edward Duffy of New York who commanded the regiments during the Spanish-American War, started with the aim of encouraging competitive marksmanship with the rifle, the principal weapon of the infantry. It also aimed to enhance the friendship between two units with similar backgrounds and heritage.
The 69th and 182nd are two of the U.S. Army’s oldest units, with the 69th tracing its lineage back to the Civil War when the unit was mainly composed of Irish immigrants, and the 182nd tracing its lineage back to the Massachusetts Colonial Militia.
Today, the units serve in different states, but under the same brigade – New York’s 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 42nd Infantry Division.
With a few exceptions, the Logan-Duffy match has been held annually since 1936. The 182nd won in the inaugural year, only for the 69th to win the next.
The units alternate who hosts the competition, with the 69th hosting this year at Camp Smith in New York. The 182nd will host the 2025 competition at Camp Devens in Massachusetts.
The match’s trophy – a large, silver gilded cup – is owned jointly by the regiments, with the stipulation that the latest winner keep it until the next competition.
When both units served overseas in World War II in 1940, the competition was put on hold. In 1958, the match resumed, and the battalions competed every year until 2023 when both were deployed overseas – the 69th to the Horn of Africa and the 182nd to the Middle East.
“It’s great to have this tradition that we carry on every year,” said Lt. Col. Adam Bojarski, commander of the 69th.
“As we’ve moved into the digital age, we’ve lost some of our traditions. Keeping those traditions alive is important.”
| Date Taken: | 03.13.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.18.2024 11:27 |
| Story ID: | 466427 |
| Location: | PEEKSKILL, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 194 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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