Photo By Staff Sgt. Matthew Gunther | New York National Guard Soldiers, from left: Sgt. 1st Class Robert Lamorte, Staff Sgt....... read more read more
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CAMP JOSEPH T. ROBINSON, ARKANSAS – Four New York National Guard Soldiers took a shot at winning the 53rd annual Winston P. Wilson Championship, at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas, from 27 April to 3 May.
Sgt. 1st Class Robert Lamorte, a Mount Vernon resident; Staff Sgt. Adam Crist, of Buffalo; Staff Sgt. Warren Solomon, of Lewiston; and Sgt. Craig Rowell, who lives in Alden; competed against 47 other four-man teams during the competition.
They didn’t win, but they had a good time competing, the four men said.
The teams travelled to Arkansas from across the U.S. and its territories, and from Europe: including Ireland, the UK, France, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
Named after a former Chief of the National Guard Bureau, the annual competition is the National Guard’s premier shooting event.
The competition consisted of a variety of events. These included firing at moving targets, using night vision sights, a reflexive fire course, a close quarter battle simulator, and the Bianchi battle. This last event challenges the shooters to use three different weapons: the M-4 rifle, the M-17 pistol, and the M-500shotgun to engage target while running 100 yards between each engagement.
There was also a mystery event, called the “Xiphos”, pronounces “Z-phos”.
This year that event consisted of individual shooters using an M-4 rifle, an M-17 pistol and an M-500 shotgun. The M-4 shooter engaged steel targets, the M-17 marksman shot the paper targets, while the shotgun shooter downed the clay pigeons.
The fourth team member had to run the right amount of ammunition for each weapon forward to firing line.
As captain of the New York team, Lamorte said he “couldn’t be more proud” of his team members.
“They are some of the finest Soldiers and marksmen that I’ve ever had the honor of serving with,” Lamorte said.
“They all showed a huge level of commitment to the team this year, and we excelled at working together, particularly during the Xiphos battle, which requires planning and rationing of ammo, and gives each member a chance to shine with a different weapon system,” Lamorte added.
Many of the events are designed to test marksmanship skills while adding in additional stressors, whether physical or mental.
For example, during the “Hoplite match”, competitors are expected to run long distances, and then stop and aim at targets that are hundreds of yards away.
According to Solomon, a sniper squad leader from 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry, this is a practical event that echoes stressors that exist on a battlefield.
“It forces you to calm down before taking your shots,” Solomon said. “This translates to everyday tasks that we deal with: controlling our breathing and heart rate during physically stressful situations in order to shoot accurately.”
Despite the competitive nature of the event, at its heart it is a collaboration and exchange of information between some of the best marksmen in the world, according to Crist, a reconnaissance team leader from the 101st Cavalry.
“Everything you learn at these competitions can be brought back to your unit, and sharing that knowledge makes you an asset,” Crist said. “The whole formation benefits at the end of the day.”
Lamorte said he was impressed with his team’s performance, despite having less time to prepare for the event than many of the other teams present.
While they didn’t win, they placed in the middle, above teams that spend more time training for the competition, Lamorte said.
“We didn’t win this year, but all of the scores were incredibly close, and it proved how one bad shot out of hundreds can be the difference between winning and losing,” Lamorte said.
“Hopefully, representing New York as well as we did will show our leadership how important it is to put more emphasis on the state’s marksmanship program. I hope that in the coming year we can put more time into training and getting behind our weapon systems so that we can bring home a national victory for New York state next year,” Lamorte added.
Rowell, an engineer assigned to the 152nd Engineer Support Company, said his favorite event was the night fire.
“It’s awesome how all the training and technology converge and allow us to accurately put rounds on a target in the dead of night just as if it were during the day with ideal lighting,” said Rowell.
Rowell also said it was a humbling experience to be in the presence of all the other competitors.
“When we all sat down at the initial briefing, and the OIC stated ‘you are here because you are one of the best shooters in the world,’ it was a feeling like no other,” Rowell said.
“I believe that marksmanship and soldier lethality are the most important things that can be trained, and there is no better place to test those skills than the Winston,” Rowell added.
| Date Taken: | 05.13.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.13.2024 15:09 |
| Story ID: | 471152 |
| Location: | CAMP ROBINSON, ARKANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 96 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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