Friday, July 15, 2005

The Few, The Sharp

Corporal Michael Ball is assigned to the Marine Corps Security Forces Battalion Shooting Team that won this year's Wirgman small Unite Rifle Team Trophy at the Eastern Division Matches help at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in April. You can see a photo of some of his teammates and the trophy here.

For two days, nine four-man team competed individually. The final day was a series of teams matches.

To prepare:
The team trained for 19 days at Dam Neck, Va., prior to the matches. Members underwent instruction in marksmanship fundamentals, shooting positions, data book procedures, competition shooting and courses of fire, as well as match range procedures. They were also issued weapons and match equipment, and were given instruction in the proper use of each during competition firing. Finally, the team underwent live-fire training in preparation for the division match course of fire.
According to the team captain, Chief Warrant Officer 2 James B. Woodfin, "What is unique about this situation is that we had the most junior Marines in the matches, but they did not get intimidated by the competition."

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