Army ROTC Makes Top Six in National Markmanship Event

Traveling across the country to compete against all ranks of army personnel, the BYU Army ROTC Marksmanship Team shined at the U.S. Army Small Arms Championship.

The six-man team traveled to Fort Benning, Ga. in late February to compete in a week of individual and team pistol and rifle shooting competitions. This was the first year BYU has sent a team to the competition.

The main objective of the competition is to learn marksmanship skills to bring back and teach other cadets, said Cadet Garrett Hyde, a senior from San Antonio majoring in computer science.

The BYU team placed sixth overall out of 24 teams. BYU was one of the few teams of ROTC cadets, with most competitors having more army experience.

Cadet Chris Rogers, a senior from Springville, majoring in Middle Eastern studies and Arabic, placed first in two individual competitions, fourth among cadets and 21st overall.

The first two days of competition focused on pistol shooting. Teams ran two miles, then stopped to shoot from a variety of positions. The BYU team was the fastest running team. After adding together the individual shooting scores, the team placed sixth in the event. The next two days focused on rifle shooting from as far as 1,000 yards out, or the length of 10 football fields. Competitors were timed as they ran to different distances and shot. All competition matches were timed to add a stress element and simulate combat marksmanship.

The last two days consisted of combined armed matches to imitate closed combat scenarios. Competitors ran through a series of obstacles and shot both pistols and rifles. The competition focused on problem solving in a stressful situation. One of the targets was a terrorist holding a hostage, forcing competitors to stay level-headed and not shoot the wrong person, said JJ Weidner, a junior from Columbus, Ohio, majoring in Japanese.

The team has been practicing for six to 10 hours a week all semester — including time during physical training and at the shooting range.

ROTC cadets plan on starting a marksmanship club on campus to teach the skills they learned at the competition.

“Competitive marksmanship requires responsibility, maturity and level-headedness,” Rogers said. He said attending the championship gave him a greater sense of firearm responsibility to share with others.

Cadets shot more rounds in a week of competition than most soldiers shoot in a year of active duty, said Captain Phillip Williams.

The competition was a great opportunity for cadets to interact with all levels of army officials. Veterans and other army officials gave the cadets new techniques to think about, Hyde said. He said putting those things into action improved his marksmanship.

Originally published in The Daily Universe