“I am interested in competitive shooting. How can I get slot in a military marksmanship program?”
When first learning about military-sponsored shooting teams many troops will ask how they can get a slot. Right now, sign up for email updates to this site and visit us on Facebook (facebook.com/USARShootingTeam)
Step One: Go shoot!
Your first step in earning a slot on a shooting team is to start in competitive shooting. The best way to start in competitive shooting is to go find events, be it military or civilian, on your own and start attending. Consider a player vying for a position on a pro sports team. If he doesn’t already have years of solid background with high school and/or college teams, forget it! A couch potato who was never competed in that type of event is not going to be offered a tryout. Why bother?
Yet, you’d be amazed how many troops with zero competition shooting experience complain that they can’t get started because no team will give them equipment or fund their travel to a match. For every 100+ troops with no previous competition experience, maybe one of them is worth a look. Even if/when you earn a slot you’ll still have to shoot and train on your own so already having places and venues to do so will help long term as well.
Find out what ranges are in your area and look into attending organized civilian events. Where To Shoot, http://wheretoshoot.org/ is a great resource. Nearly every team shooter has a civilian shooting background and the best way to get started is to simply jump in. If you approach a team having already participated in matches and earning higher level classifications on your own, any coach will want you to try out.
For military sponsored events, find a National Guard sponsored event in your state. Even if you’re not the Guard, you can shoot the EIC (Excellence In Competition) events. The Arkansas Guard, at Camp Robinson, is the national headquarters for this.
http://www.arguard.org/mtu/index.html
AFSAM
All Army is hosted by the Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning every year in the spring and is open to all Active, Reserve and Guard Army personnel. Even if you’re not on a team you can register in advance on your own and be able to borrow guns and get a free place to stay on post. The event is HIGHLY recommended!
http://usamu.com/
Step Two: Train your Discipline
The USAR shooting team focuses on three disciplines. Two of them, Service Rifle and Service Pistol, are shot as civilian competitions recognized by the National Rifle Association and Civilian Marksmanship Program. Shooting Sports USA a free, on-line magazine, lists events.
CMP Competitions
http://www.odcmp.com/Competitions.htm
Shooting Sports USA
http://www.nrapublications.org/ssusa/index.html
http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/ShootingSportsUSA/
You need these rulebooks:
NRA Competitive Shooting Division: http://compete.nra.org/
CMP Rulebook: http://www.odcmp.com/competitions/rulebook.pdf
The third discipline, Combat, is a NATO event that doesn’t have a civilian equivalent, however practical competition such as PPC (Police Pistol Combat/Precision Pistol Competition), NRA Action Pistol (Bianchi Cup), IDPA and USPSA Multigun is close. This is also the style event you’ll find at AFSAM (Armed Forces Skill at Arms Meeting), All Army and National Guard hosted events.
All Army 2012 info, application and rules from 2012.
All Army 2013 info, application and rules from 2013.
- NRA Action Pistol http://www.nrahq.org/compete/dept-action.asp
- WA1500 PPC (World Association Precision Pistol Competition) http://wa1500.org/index1.htm
- NRA PPC http://www.nrahq.org/law/competitions/ppc/info_and_rules.asp
- USPSA http://www.uspsa.org/rules/
- IDPA http://idpa.com/
The bottom line is, if you want to be on a military sponsored shooting team you need to be a competition shooter. You become a competition shooter by being a competition shooter. Shoot events on your own whenever and wherever you can, attend events like All Army and earn classifications in the formal shooting events listed above first. Stay in contact with the USAR Marksmanship Program through this site and you’ll eventually be able to earn a slot.
John,
Spot on as usual!
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The last paragraph is as spot on as it can be. It’s hard to tell Soldiers that the shooting team is not the place to learn HOW, mainly because the Army, in their vast wisdom, rid us all of the “farm team” programs that we had in the past. No longer do we have a venue to grow, mentor, and educate competent marksmanship within the Army Reserve as a whole.
The result of that action can be compared to golf. Get rid of most the golf courses, hold no golf tournaments at local, regional, or state levels, get rid of the golf instructors and let the duffers teach.
Answering the question, “How do I get a slot on the team?” We need shooters who can produce a score, period. The Team mission statement and goals are basically to win at “PGA” levels. How does a duffer with no supported training preform at a level to allow the team to win at that level? He/she DOESNT!
The only way it can be done is to first understand the competitive discipline, then get the gear needed to accomplish that task and start shooting. Attend matches and clinics held around the country. Learn the how-tos and then produce the scores that will draw the attention of the teams.
The service teams are very aware of the people who are shooting at the National Matches held at Camp Perry and look at the scores fired by Reservists there. We have made contact those Soldiers firing good scores there and have offered slots to them. We are also open to be visited while we are at any event as our new team trailer is our rally point at the events we attend. Simply put, we need to see a true commitment to shooting and the USAR.
J. F. Arcularius
USAR Marksmanship Program
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