Participants from the Georgia Army National Guard, Georgia Air National Guard and Georgia State Defense Force competed in the annual Andrew Sullens Marksmanship Competition at Fort Stewart, Ga, between March 11-15, 2019.
“It’s about soldiers’ readiness,” said Sullens. “It’s about war-fighting readiness.”
The event is named after Georgia Army National Guard veteran, Andrew Sullens, who was wounded in Afghanistan in 2009. Sullens is an advocate for many things that include joint readiness, building strong leadership and rehabilitation of soldiers, to name a few.
“The marksmanship community is small, “said Sgt. 1st Class Jacob Raven, noncommissioned officer in charge, Georgia National Guard Marksmanship Unit, “The marksmanship unit started about seven years ago. Once we saw the value of the training that we got from competing, what we did was ask to train.”
The participants tested diverse combat and marksmanship scenarios that tested their skills with weapons such as the M4 rifle and the M9 pistol. The diverse training scenarios offered participants the opportunity to train on weapons systems that they might not typically get to train on.
For the first time in the annual competition, the GSDF had competitors. Staff Sgt. Jon Van Holm, representing the GSDF, was awarded the Governors Twenty Tab during the award ceremony. He was recognized as the first GSDF participant to be tabbed during the Andrew Sullens Marksmanship Competition. Van Holm was one of eight participants to be awarded the Governors Twenty Tab.
After the competition, the top overall team was the Marietta-based 202nd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Detachment. Other awards included the top individual pistol marksman, which was awarded Staff Sgt. Ryan Machan, representing the Fort Stewart-based 3rd Infantry Division Main Command Post Operational Detachment, and the top individual rifle marksman, which was awarded to Sgt. Sean Trammel, representing the Marietta-based 202nd EOD.
“Iron sharpens iron,” said Sullens. “It’s about soldiers sharpening each other, honing each other and training together.”