Courtesy Photo | Capt. Eric Rueth (left), an air battle manager assigned to the Wisconsin Air National...... read more read more
Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Cobosco, Staff Sgt. Joshua Hanrahan and Capt. Eric Rueth, who are all members of the All-Guard service rifle team, earned the President’s 100 distinction for the second time, while Hanrahan earned the honor for the first time this year.
The All-Guard team is currently comprised of approximately 20 Soldiers and Airmen from across the 54 states and territories. Wisconsin and Pennsylvania lead the way with the most representatives on the team with three each on the All-Guard team from their respective states.
Cobosco, who serves as the senior supply sergeant for the 724th Engineer Battalion, attributed Wisconsin’s shooting prowess to a number of factors.
“I think there are a lot of things around that aggregate to have a lot of skilled marksmen in the state, and it’s not just one thing,” he said.
A combination of the Badger State’s strong outdoor sports and hunting cultures, the presence of top-notch rifle barrel manufacturers in the state, and its heritage dating back to early European fur trappers, hunters, and settlers are all factors, he said.
The results speak for themselves, as Wisconsin not only has a high proportion of All-Guard team members, but a strong juniors program in the Civilian Marksmanship Program. Those are exactly the sorts of people Cobosco and others would like to see matriculate into the National Guard and eventually join the marksmanship program.
One such example is Staff Sgt. Joshua Hanrahan. A distinguished rifleman as a civilian who had made several previous trips to nationals as a junior shooter, Hanrahan joined the Wisconsin Army National Guard with the intent of competing on the All-Guard team in a military capacity. In his first year as a military competitor, he had the high score for the National Guard.
And while he initially joined the Guard to compete on the marksmanship team, he decided to stay and make the Guard a career, because he believes in the organization.
“It’s been really cool to watch him grow, because I knew him as a junior, and then all of a sudden he was in, so it’s been really neat to see him develop not just as a shooter, but as a noncommissioned officer,” Cobosco said.
Hanrahan, a newly minted member of the President’s 100 and a vertical construction site supervisor in the 829th Engineer Company out of Ashland, Wisconsin said he loves the challenge of competing at the highest level.
“It's a very demanding sport – not physically, but mentally,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’re purely responsible for your successes or your failures. People will guide you or mentor you, but no one is holding your hand through all of it.”
But perhaps more important than the individual accolades and accomplishments are the lessons and skills these Guardsmen bring back to their respective units.
As global conflict and the 21st century battlefield has evolved, Wisconsin National Guard leadership has repeatedly emphasized the importance of brilliance at the basics as a means of remaining prepared for the unknown. Superior marksmanship is the epitome of brilliance at the basics, according to these marksmen, and it helps drive readiness.
“Marksmanship increases lethality, and lethality increases survivability,” Cobosco said. “So in a conflict, in a large-scale combat operations environment, how do we make sure our Soldiers survive? We increase lethality. And how can we do that at a base level, which is the basics. How can we do that? Well you can make sure that with their individual weapons systems, they’re a master at it.”
Hanrahan, who spends a large amount of time mentoring other Soldiers in the 829th Engineer Company on proper shooting fundamentals, agreed.
“When it comes to that Soldier lethality mindset and training to execute the mission, especially when it comes to range quals and rifle and pistol quals, that’s my element,” he said. “That’s where I, as an NCO, really get to take the reigns and go wild with it.”
As a result, his unit has seen a drastic surge in its weapons qualification rate and far exceeded the average unit performance.
Capt. Eric Rueth, an air battle manager in the 128th Air Control Squadron at Volk Field Combat Readiness Training Center, shared a similar sentiment and said he tries to impart his marksmanship experiences on his fellow Airmen in the 128th.
“Bringing back that warrior ethos,” Rueth said. “I know we got hung up in some of our day-to-day jobs, but that brings it back home where you’re taking a rifle, and you’re performing out to 600 yards-plus in a competitive environment. That stress in that environment, short of actually going to combat, that’s a good step to help you perform under pressure. You still remember those fundamentals and still perform.”
And while Cobosco, Hanrahan and Rueth all compete for individual scores and collectively as part of the All-Guard team, they also build each other up and continue to mentor one another.
One such Soldier is Staff Sgt. Matthew Schoff, a supply sergeant with Company D, 1st Battalion, 128th Infantry, who is working towards his distinguished rifleman badge and has hopes of joining the ranks of the President’s 100 soon.
“It’s awesome,” he said of learning from his fellow teammates. “Wisconsin is a great place to start shooting. Those three have helped me immensely. They told me my improvement has been huge over the past two or three years. A lot of it is thanks to them.”
Likewise, he continues to pass his knowledge on to the Soldiers in Company D, whose rear detachment achieved a 95 percent qualification rate this year.
Wisconsin’s marksmanship team is always seeking new competitors and hopes to grow the team, but it’s not for everyone. According to Cobosco, approximately 90 percent of those who express interest don’t have the dedication necessary to succeed. It takes years of commitment and dedication, thousands of practice rounds, monetary investment, and hours upon hours on the range.
Those who make the All-Guard team get some support in the form of match grade ammunition, rifle barrels, shooting mats, spotting scopes, and other equipment they can use in matches and practice, but it still comes down to time, dedication, and hard work.
The top 100 shooters in the nation can call themselves President’s 100, and that includes civilian competitors. According to Cobosco, the top 250 shooters are the very best in the United States, and they are separated by the slimmest of margins – generally 10 points or less out of 300 total possible. The top 100 essentially made no mistakes over their 30-round match.
| Date Taken: | 09.24.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.24.2025 17:20 |
| Story ID: | 549218 |
| Location: | WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 24 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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