Marine Corps Base Quantico -- The Marine Corps shooting team has been busy lately, and there’s no break until July. Last week they participated in the civilian-run MGM Ironman shooting match in Parma, Idaho, and two weeks prior to that, they participated in the three-week Australian Army Skill at Arms Meeting at the Puckapunyal Military Area in Victoria, Australia, said Capt. Jared Dalton, officer-in-charge of the combat shooting team.
In the last two weeks of June the team is helping run the Western Combat Match at Marine Corps Base 29 Palms, California, and the 54th Interservice Rifle Championship and the large-bore rifle event for the World Police and Fire Games aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico.
Dalton said the team made a good showing at the AASAM: “We came in third overall in the team competition.” According to the unofficial results table, the team won four gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. Dalton said the team members participated in 9-10 matches and had several top-five finishes. Two of the gold medals were earned by members of the team in individual competition.
There were 16 international teams, and the Indonesian team won the overall competition in an apparent landslide: 28 gold medals, 16 silver, and 10 bronze. “They’ve won for many years,” Dalton said. The Australian team came in second, with four golds, seven silvers, and five bronzes.
Gunnery Sgt. Aaron Farmer, a member of the shooting team, said he participated in the AASAM for the second time this year and he, “enjoyed getting to shoot and had a better idea of what to expect this time.” Farmer said there were opportunities to try out the weapons systems from other countries and that they learned a few things from the other teams, such as different shooting positions. According to Farmer, one of the teams demonstrated shooting sniper rifles and machine guns from standing and kneeling positions, which is not something Marines typically do.
At the Ironman match, the members of the team got to engage in a wide variety of shooting styles and events. Farmer described one stage of the match where participants “got to shoot from the top of a large slide, slide down and shoot again from the bottom.”
Out of 128 competitors at the match, Staff Sgt. Byron England placed the highest from the team, coming in 23rd. Military, civilian and police officer teams all participated in the match, and Dalton praised the team’s performance, saying, “The Marines did a tremendous job of building relationships with the civilian competitors and professionally representing the Corps.”
— Writer: ebaker@quanticosentryonline.com