Photo By John Hughel | The Oregon Army National Guard Marksmanship Team, comprised of (left to right) Sgt....... read more read more
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GUERNSEY, Wyo. – National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from eight western states mustered at Camp Guernsey, Wyoming, to compete in the Marksmanship Advisory Council Region VI Marksmanship Shooting Championships, from Aug. 8-10, 2025.
Four dedicated soldiers from the Oregon National Guard proudly represented their state in a competitive showdown against highly proficient rivals from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. The Marksmanship Advisory Council’s match aims to sharpen combat-focused marksmanship skills, validate essential rifle and pistol capabilities, and reinforce mobilization readiness.
“In many ways, combat is competitive,” said Oregon Army National Guard Staff Sgt. John Shown. “In matches like these, we're using competition as a tool to increase our overall combat skills and build competency.”
Shown began his military career eight years ago as a Combat Medic Specialist, also known as a ‘68 Whiskey’, before transitioning to become an Infantryman, now assigned to Hotel Company, 145th Brigade Support Battalion – where he is utilizing his background as a concealed carry instructor and civilian competition target shooter for the past 15 years.
“So I’m a big handgun guy, so I am looking forward to the pistol matches starting today and into tomorrow,” Shown said as competitors began the second day of the contest. “I am looking forward to the barricade pistol and the antibody armor pistol stages.”
During the three-day match, competitors shuttled between two ranges at Camp Guernsey, allowing the large entry field of nearly 60 participants to balance their time between the main range, where they focused on rifles, and the North Range, which hosted shorter distance rifle events and pistols, located approximately 20 miles away.
Competing in his first regional event, Shown commented on how the staff were particularly helpful with all the representatives from each state, and how geographically expansive and diverse the firing ranges are for this competition – a place where the North Platte River has carved an expansive landscape across the North American continent.
“This is my first time in Wyoming. It’s gorgeous and uncluttered, especially in this part of the state,” he said, overlooking a hilltop vantage point. “The cadre have been super helpful, especially as we have gone from range to range while managing the changing weather conditions thrown our way.”
This part of Eastern Wyoming is an important topographical region in U.S. history. Just over a mile southeast of the National Guard Camp is Register Cliff, a protected historic site along the Oregon Trail where westward-bound immigrants stopped to set up camp. They carved their family names and passage dates into the soft sandstone, many dating back to the 1840s. To the south of the long rifle range, nearly five-foot-deep tracks were made by travelers, leaving some of the most prominent ruts along the entire Oregon Trail route.
With high temperatures and building gusts of nearly 50 miles per hour late in the afternoon on day one at the North Range, some of the events were suspended and pushed to the second day. Undeterred, the competitors were eager to begin what would be a long second day of competition, using the extra time to make necessary adjustments.
“We were having some crazy wind yesterday, in some pretty big draws that were funneling winds at full value, 15 to 18 [miles per hour] winds sustained over time with gusts over 20, and that was definitely noticeable,” said Sgt. Chase Kaleta. “But…we persevered through it. All the guys got good shot groups and did well on the special zero.”
After an initial four-year stint of active duty service, Kaleta joined the Oregon Army National Guard in early 2021 and is currently an infantryman with 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry.
“I’ve been an ‘11 Bravo’ my entire career. In some ways, I get more range time in the Guard than when I was on active duty,” Kaleta said. “Since we participated in the Winston P. Wilson earlier this year in 2025, and then had our annual training right before heading to Regionals, we’ve had significantly more shooting time on the M-17 than before.”
The 54th Annual Winston P. Wilson (WPW) Small Arms Championship took place from March 31 to April 11, 2025, at the National Guard Marksmanship Training Center in North Little Rock, Arkansas. This event allowed service members from the Active Duty, National Guard, Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, and foreign allies to demonstrate their skills in rifle, pistol, machine gun, and combined arms disciplines in a combat-focused setting. A total of 45 teams battled for top honors as Michigan, North Dakota, and Arkansas finished in the top spots, respectively.
“At nationals, there were nearly 400 shooters from every part of the country, including many foreign competitors,” Katela said, assessing the competition now at regionals. “In this region, many of those same shooters are here, but they’re all the top ones. The Dakotas came heavily prepared – I think North Dakota brought four teams, and their program is very robust.”
Building a team and mentoring new members are key goals that the Oregon Team aims to promote. Many factors contribute to building a strong program, including training time, mentorship, funding, and a dedicated team approach.
Taking part in his first regional event, Sgt. Devon Chesbrough, assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry, qualified for this advanced stage in 2023 but didn’t compete due to last-minute paperwork issues. Earlier this year, he participated in the Winston P. Wilson match and won at the Oregon State level, so he valued the chance to compete in Wyoming.
“Better late than never,” he said, smiling at the opportunity now to challenge the best of Region VI. “This has been a good run for our unit lately…we had a member just win Best Warrior this spring, and when our command saw that four of us went home with ‘Governor Twenty’s’ and two of us brought home first-place trophies (at the state match), he was ecstatic.”
As weapons team leaders in their unit, Kaleta and Chesbrough are taking leadership roles in training and mentorship. They also spend off-duty time perfecting their skills.
“Two of us are in the weapons squad – specifically, Sergeant Kaleta runs first platoon weapons. I lead the second platoon's weapons as team leader,” Chesbrough said. “If we’re not teaching others about weapons, we practice in our own time with personal pistols and rifles because it’s become part of our lives over the last six months.”
With seven years of service in the Oregon Army National Guard, Chesbrough serves as the lead instructor for Threat Dynamics in Sherwood, Oregon, when not in uniform. Many training principles overlap between his military and civilian work.
“It’s about mastering grip, stance, and practicing different positions – kneeling, standing, offhand, and so on – but nothing beats shooting at these kinds of targets here at Camp Guernsey,” he said. “We shot about 500 extra rounds during annual training, but that’s at silhouettes, not bull’s-eyes.”
Chesbrough explained that at regionals, scoring is based on bull’s-eye targets. “So you work your way in from 5 out to 2 points, sometimes even smaller, and sometimes you get the bonus of V or X, which is just a tiebreaker but still counts as a 5.”
As the 4th member of the Oregon Quartet at Regionals, Sgt. Cade Butterworth has been a member of the Oregon Army National Guard for going on five years. He’s a full-time student, attending Oregon State University in Corvallis, and he’s also a member of the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry with Kaleta and Chesbrough.
“In terms of shooting at long-range targets, I improved from the first day to the second. The short stuff that I’ve shot before…this is my first time shooting over 300 meters. You know, it’s challenging, and there is a learning curve with these targets and changing conditions,” Butterworth said, describing his approach to the event. “Overall, I am pretty happy with my shooting.”
He’s applied the same approach of steady improvement and focusing on the details to his academic life, too. He’s set to graduate in December with a degree in finance and has set his sights on becoming a financial advisor.
“I got a 20,000 dollar signing bonus, I got the G.I. Bill, and a kicker. So it’s like 800-850 dollars a month while I am in school…and tuition is fully paid for.” Butterworth said, describing the education benefits as an Oregon National Guard member. “So in January, I have a job already lined up. Being a member of the National Guard has just given me so many opportunities, like being able to be part of this marksmanship team.”
As the competition moved into the third and final day, he continued to apply the lessons learned from the first two days, taking 3rd place Novice Division, Reflective Fire competition.
“The shorter range at 200 to 300 meters has been my best. My shots on the second day were more accurate, and I had better groupings, whereas two days ago, I was not even hitting the box,” he said, but was quick to also congratulate his teammate, Sergeant Kaleta, who had won the Open Division, Reflective Fire Open competition. “He had an incredible round. Getting a win here, in any event, and with this competition is a really big deal,” Butterworth said.
With a score of 175 out of a possible 180, Kaleta described how pacing his firing cadence, along with speed shooting on shorter ranges, was part of his success.
“The reflective fire with rifle, I do a lot of speed shooting, like the three gun and two gun, as well as a lot of where I live, there are many shorter ranges in rifle marksmanship, I am good at, and so at a closer range I can stack rounds,” he said. “In some events, it all comes together.”
With the competition concluded, it was time for the team to head home after nearly a month of training, travel, competitions, and refining their marksmanship skills. Fortunately, they wouldn’t need a covered wagon to retrace the adjacent ‘Oregon Trail’ – all that was needed was enough space in a rented minivan for themselves and their gear for a three-hour trip to Denver, followed by a flight back to Portland.
And with an upbeat attitude, they were discussing the next competition, inspired by their experience at the Region VI championships, and hoping that their efforts would serve as a foundation for other Oregon Guardsmen to follow.
| Date Taken: | 08.15.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.22.2025 12:36 |
| Story ID: | 546260 |
| Location: | GUERNSEY, WYOMING, US |
| Web Views: | 54 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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