Story and photo by Sgt. 1st Class Michel Sauret

DARIEN, Ill. – The Army Reserve will host its first ever Small Arms Championship at Camp Robinson, Arkansas, from September 21-26.

The championship is open to all Army Reserve Soldiers and will consist of 11 matches covering pistol, small rifle and light machine gun marksmanship.

The event is designed to promote marksmanship skills across the Reserve force and award the top shooters who come to compete. Combat matches empower Soldiers to concentrate solely on marksmanship training under competitive conditions.

Soldiers will fire the M16 and M4 rifles at distances from 25 yards to 500 yards using iron sights. They will fire the M9 pistols at distances from 10 to 35 yards. They will finish the competition with firing the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and the M240B Light Machine Gun.

Some of the competition events will require running and physical endurance.

A maximum of 160 Soldiers will be allowed to compete, forming teams of four firing members each.

The competition is hosted and organized by the Army Reserve Marksmanship Program (ARMP), which consists of marksmen who have earned medals in nation-wide and international competitions, with two Soldiers eligible to compete in the 2016 Olympics.

ARMP represents the forefront of small arms skills in the Reserve. The program is officially approved to provide subject matter experts on the weapons all Soldier use.

Soldiers who are interested in registering for the championship can do so here:
https://ct.thecmp.org/app/v1/index.php?do=matchRegistrationLogin

For more information visit the 416th TEC