Author Archives: John M. Buol Jr.

Army Reserve at Pistol National Matches

by John M. Buol Jr.

#RoadtoAwesome #KeepPounding #AmericasArmyReserve #USArmyReserve #WeaponsMastery

#NationalMatches #USARpistolTeam

Army Reserve Soldiers competed at the Pistol Nationals, winning a number of team and individual events and teaching at the Small Arms Firing School.

Army Reserve Soldiers competed at the Pistol Nationals held at Camp Perry July 7-14. These National Matches are required under U.S. federal law (Public Law Title 36, U.S. Code § 40727) and our Marksmanship Program represents the Army Reserve by coaching people during the Small Arms Firing School and competing in the National Matches.

As a team, USAR Black won the .45 Team Match in their class. The team consisted of Lt. Col. Patrick Sleem (85th Training Command, Team OIC), Sgt. Maj. George Greene (58th Trans BN, Team NCOIC), Maj. Thomas Bourne (80th TASS), Master Sgt. Kris Beerman (85th Training Command), Staff Sgt. Sandra Uptagrafft (108th Training Command), and Staff Sgt. Rich Willis (84th Training Command).

Staff Sgt. John Rosene (HRC-IRR) and Sgt. Nick Mower (200th MP Command) competed together for the Two Man Team matches, taking first place in the overall aggregate, first place in the .45 and Center Fire, and second place .22 for this event. Both Rosene and Mowrer represented our country by being selected for the U.S. Mayleigh Challenge Team. The Mayleigh Challenge is an international Postal Match open to all English-speaking countries around the world, held since 1947, and shot in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Jamaica, South Africa, and the United States of America, with the winning country awarded the Mayleigh Challenge Cup.

The Army Reserve team also had a number of individual wins. In the overall, Staff Sgt. John Rosene won the High Reserve among all service branches and Staff Sgt. Sandra Uptagrafft won Match 114 to become the .22 Only 2700 National Champion. This also made her the first place female and first place Metallic Sight. In the President’s Match, Staff Sgt. Rosene finished in the top ten while Sgt. Chris Liming earned the tab for the first time. In the NRA matches both Sgt. Liming and Maj. Bourne won the Service category for their respective skill Classifications.

“The Army Reserve Team had a great year at Perry and did an awesome job at the Pistol National Matches,” said Maj. Bourne. “Oh, and we are rocking the old school team black hats again, just as directed by Army Regulation!”

https://www.usar.army.mil/News/News-Display/Article/1912082/army-reserve-at-pistol-national-matches/

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Army Reserve Shotgun Champ Continues Win Streak

by John M. Buol Jr.

#RoadtoAwesome #KeepPounding #AmericasArmyReserve #USArmyReserve #WeaponsMastery

Sgt. 1st Class Brian Stoa serves as an Operations NCOIC for a Recruiting Battalion while also building a championship shooting record.

The Army Reserve recognizes numerous shooting disciplines and has Soldiers proficient in many of them. Sgt. 1st Class Brian Stoa champions in competitive shotgun events. As an aerial target shooter, he competes in Trap, Skeet, and Sporting Clays and has enjoyed a solid win streak in 2019.

“In July, I competed in Amarillo, Texas for the Texas State Trap Shoot with 208 shooters in the Championship Events,” Sgt. 1st Class Stoa says. “I tied for Class AA Champion in Friday’s Doubles event. Saturday held the Nostalgia Shoot, where shooters competed with shotguns that pre-dated 1964. I used a classic Ithaca M37T pump built in 1948 to win this event by two targets. In Sunday’s Handicap event against tough competition and close scores, I ended up in a six-way tie and eventually won the 27 Yard Championship.”

This month’s success is now three in a row for Stoa. “In May, I was selected to shoot on the Army Skeet Team again, competing at the Armed Services Skeet Championship. Our Team made a strong showing, winning several team events and I won in the individual sub-gauge events,” said Sgt. 1st Class Stoa. “In June, I competed in the Oklahoma State Trap Shoot with about 150 other competitors for the Championship events and finished as AA Class Champion in both Singles and Doubles target events. Both events were decided after shoot offs.”

Sgt. 1st Class Stoa maintains his championship record while continuing to serve and fulfill his Army Reserve duties, currently as the USAR Operations NCOIC for the Oklahoma City Recruiting Battalion. As with all Army Reserve shooters, competition shooting is an additional duty on top of the tasks and responsibilities of the assigned unit.

https://www.usar.army.mil/News/News-Display/Article/1903290/army-reserve-shotgun-champ-continues-win-streak/

Increasing Lethality – U.S. Army Reserve Small Arms Trainer Course Developed at Fort McCoy

by John M. Buol Jr.

Kudos to Master Sgt. Howard Griffith for the success of this initial course and thanks to Lt. Christopher Hanson for the write-up!

“This course is a true train-the-trainers program,” said course manager Master Sgt. Howard Griffith. A native of Milwaukee, Griffith is also the Operations/Standardization Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge for the Task Force. “We take select Soldiers from around the entire Army Reserve and provide them with the knowledge and skills to return to their units and educate their fellow Soldiers.”

Instructors are hoping to have the course permanently located at Fort McCoy. With state-of-the-art ranges, the installation is centrally located within the country, easily accessed by vehicle, rail or air and offers a full four-season training environment.

“The Army Reserve Competitive Marksmanship Program is looking to create a unit identification code for the team to be stationed together, hopefully here at McCoy,” Griffith said. “This would allow us to become more cohesive as a team and, through this course, be able to teach individual and collective gunnery and range operations.”

https://www.usar.army.mil/News/News-Display/Article/1897840/increasing-lethality-us-army-reserve-small-arms-trainer-course-developed-at-for/

Army Reserve Marksmanship at the Best Warrior Competition

by John M. Buol Jr.

#usarcombatteam
#BestWarriorCompetition
#RoadtoAwesome #KeepPounding #AmericasArmyReserve #USArmyReserve #WeaponsMastery

The 2019 Army Reserve Best Warrior Competition (BWC) held at Fort Benning on 10-30 June was the selection event to determine the USAR NCO of the Year and Soldier of the Year. The winners were determined by their performance in over 25 scored events over a five-day period. Events included the Army Physical Fitness Test, marksmanship, medical, land navigation, boards, and 10-level Soldiering skills. They will represent the USAR in the Department of Army Best Warrior Competition.

Army Reserve Marksmanship Program personnel led by Master Sgt. Russell Moore (416th TEC), NCOIC of the Army Reserve Combat (Service Conditions) Team, took the role of Marksmanship/Live Fire and Scoring NCOICs for the BWC. Marksmanship Program personnel provided instruction on the conduct and scoring of national-level competitive military events as well as current and upcoming Army marksmanship doctrine.

“The objective of the Best Warrior Competition is to create relevant events via national and international level military competitions,” said Master Sgt. Moore. “We maintained the sanctity of the marksmanship events and conducted an Excellence In Competition match for the BWC cadre and competitors.”

Shooting Team members conducted a Train The Trainer event for 95th DIV Drill Instructors, introduced numerous drills and terms directed by the new Army small arms Training Circulars. This educated the competitors and other BWC cadre on the new Rifle Zero Target, Dual Beam Aiming Laser, PVS-14 NVD monocular, and the Excellence In Competition program. The Team also designed and conducted zero exercises, 3 Gun match, M4/M9 Stress Shoot, modified rifle ALT-C Zero validation, CCMCK (Close Combat Mission Capability Kit) Shoot House, night M4 stress shoot with NVDs and lasers, German Armed Forces Badge pistol match, and Law Enforcement Weapons Training and Qualification course of fire. Marksmanship Program members created a proprietary scoring procedure to more accurately assess the competitor’s actual placing within the group in a more precise manner than that used during routine qualification.

A total of 104 Soldiers had the opportunity to shoot the Pistol EIC match with the top ten percent earning “Leg” points among the 62 USAR BWC competitors and 100 Cadre. The USAR Marksmanship Team designed, validated, and officiated 10 live fire events, including the creation of three new events for the USARC BWC.

https://www.usar.army.mil/News/News-Display/Article/1896630/army-reserve-marksmanship-at-the-best-warrior-competition/

Army Reserve Soldiers Set Interservice Records

by John M. Buol Jr.

#usarrifleteam #interserviceriflechampionships2019
#RoadtoAwesome #KeepPounding #AmericasArmyReserve #USArmyReserve #WeaponsMastery

Army Reserve Soldiers competed at the 58th annual Interservice Rifle Championship hosted at Marine Corps Base Quantico by the USMC Weapons Training Battalion 23 June – 1 July 2019. This annual championship is a Service Rifle competition open to all members of the United States military and highlights some of the best shooters in the entire Department of Defense. Competitors engage targets from 200 to 1,000 yards and most events do not allow any sighting shots.

The Army Reserve team set new Interservice Reserve record in The Commanding General, MCCDC (Marine Corps Combat Development Command) Team Match. Captained by Sgt. 1st Class Paul Fleischer and Coached by Sgt. 1st Class John Arcularius, firing members included Sgt. 1st Class John Bonjour, Staff Sgt. Kristoffer Friend, Sgt. Joseph Hall, Sgt. Keith Stephens, Spc. Daniel Lowe, and Spc. Samuel Henderson.

While the main team competed in the 6-Man Infantry Trophy Team Match, four shooters currently assigned to the Army Reserve Careers Division competed in the 4-Man Infantry Trophy Team Match against other eligible Post or Station/unit teams. Not only did the ARCD members win the Post or Station category, but they also beat an 11-year-old Interservice record previously held by the Marine Corps. Firing members included Chief Warrant Officer Joseph Hayes and Sgts. 1st Class Daniel Dorosheff, John Hawes, and Matthew Anderson.

Sgt. Keith Stephens broke the record on the first 600-yard match that was set back in 1993 shooting an 8T Shilen Rifles 8T Ratchet barrel that he chambered and installed himself. His 600-yard score of 200-16X is numerically perfect with 16 of the 20 shots for record inside the one minute of angle (six inches at 600 yards) tie-breaking X ring, which is six times greater accuracy than that needed to hit a 300-meter target during qualification every time. In addition to serving in the 980th Engineer Battalion and the Army Reserve Marksmanship Program as an additional duty, Sgt. Stephens is a police officer in East Texas.

Photo Album (thanks to CW3 Hayes)
https://joha.smugmug.com/Shooting/2019-Interservice/n-JFwKMQ/

https://www.usar.army.mil/News/News-Display/Article/1896162/army-reserve-soldiers-set-interservice-records/

Army Reserve Soldiers at Interservice Pistol Championship 2019

by John M. Buol Jr.

#usarpistolteam #interservicepistolchampionships2019 #interservicepistolchampionships2019
#RoadtoAwesome #KeepPounding #AmericasArmyReserve #USArmyReserve #WeaponsMastery

Army Reserve Soldiers compete with the best shooters in all branches and components of our military at the 60th Annual Interservice Pistol Championship.

Soldiers represented the Army Reserve competed at the 60th Annual Interservice Pistol Championship. Hosted and conducted by the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) June 16-21 on Phillips Range, Fort Benning, the Interservice Pistol Championship is a Precision Pistol open to all United States military personnel with teams representing the Active and Reserve components of all the services.

Precision Pistol is a conventional competition discipline requiring shooters to engage targets at 50 yards with individual shots and at 25 yards in Timed and Rapid fire engagements. At 50 yards, the black circular aim point (bullseye) is about the size of the head area on an E-type silhouette with several interior scoring rings, the ten-ring spanning about six minutes of angle which is the same width as a 300-meter silhouette target engaged during qualification. All shooting in Precision Pistol is unsupported and with one hand.

The U.S. Army Reserve Competitive Marksmanship Program had two teams at the event. USAR Black was led by Team OIC Lt. Col. Patrick Sleem (85th Training Command) and Team NCOIC Sgt. Maj. George Greene (58th Trans BN) with Maj. Thomas Bourne (80th TASS), Staff Sgt. John Rosene (HRC-IRR), Staff Sgt. Rich Willis (84th Training Command, and Sgt. Nick Mower (200th MP Command). The USAR Gold Team consisted of Master Sgt. MSG Kris Beerman (85th Training Command), Sgt. 1st Class Brenn Combs (108th Training Command), Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Rosendorn (ARCD), Staff Sgt. Sandra Uptagrafft (108th Training Command), and Sgt. Chris Liming (85th Training Command).

As a team, USAR Black was first place among the Reserve component teams and second place overall behind the AMU. USAR Black took second place in the .22 and Service Pistol team matches and third in the .45.

Individually, Staff Sgt. Rosene was the top team performer, winning the National Match Course .22 stage, numerous top three finishes, and finishing fifth place overall. Sgt. Mowrer also posted a number of top three finishes and Sgt. Liming took third in the Excellence In Competition event, securing “leg” points toward a Distinguished rating.

Maj. Michelle Lunato, AMU Public Affairs, has a photo album of the event:

Interservice Pistol Championships

https://www.usar.army.mil/News/News-Display/Article/1884452/army-reserve-soldiers-at-interservice-pistol-championship/