Photo By Staff Sgt. Michael Davis | U.S. Army Spc. Carlos Zambrano, a Soldier assigned to the 145th Maintenance Company,...... read more read more
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CAMP SMITH, N.Y.--After three days of shooting at Camp Smith Training Site, May 30-June 2, at the New York National Guard’s annual Adjutant General’s Match, Pvt. Briana Tillotson was the winner in two individual rifle marksmanship events.
Tillotson, a member of Headquarters and Support Company of the 204th Engineer Battalion, took first place in the Sgt. Henry Johnson Individual Combat Rifle Match Award. Named after the World War I hero, the event tests marksmanship with the M-16A2/A4 or M-4 rifle.
Beating Sgt. Sean Cassidy of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, and 69th Infantry for that win meant that Tillotson also had to win The Sgt. Timothy Murphy “Bullseye” Award. The award named after a Revolutionary War militia marksman, is the tie breaker when competitors have the same final score.
Finishing in third place in the rifle match was Cpl. Daniel Suarez, assigned to the 107th Military Police Company.
Known as the “TAG MATCH,” the annual competition encourages shooting excellence among New York Guardsmen on rifle and pistol skills and move on to national-level marksmanship competitions.
This year’s event featured 89 competitors: 69 from New York Army National Guard, 4 from the New York Air National Guard and 16 New York Guard members. There are individual competitions in rifle and pistol marksmanship, along with team competitions in rifle and pistol shooting.
Tillotson said she got into the competition to have fun and was surprised to have won.
“I did not know that I had won until other soldiers told me,” Tillotson said. “I immediately checked the live tracker updates on my phone and confirmed it. It felt great to win.”
Tillotson is one of the first women to win in one of the shooting competitions in many years, according to match officials.
Tillotson competed for the first time in 2018.
Her only preparation was her annual individual weapon qualification with her unit, Tillotson said.
But Tillotson, a native of Whitney Point, N.Y., said she grew up shooting with her father.
Also, her civilian job involves working with adults with disabilities which teaches patience.
Learning to be patient and controlling her breathing helped hone the same skills which are important in shooting: self-control and relaxation.
Next year she hopes to recruit more Soldiers from the 205th Engineers to participate as a team.
“My advice for them would be not to take it too seriously, but to have fun and make new friends,” she said.
New at the 2019 match was the use of a live tracker application for smart phones which provided hourly score updates.
The initiators of the new digital trend in this year’s TAG Match were Capt. Paul Ramirez and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michel Di Geso, who said they wanted to make it easier for shooters to track their scores.
“This is our first time using a digital footprint for the combat scores and it was successful,” CW3 Di Geso said. “Our goal for next year is to introduce the live tracking on a digital screen at the range.
Competitors were track their performance on the spot instead of getting it through the score cards and verbal updates.
Like Tillotson, many TAG Match competitors were back for the second or third time.
One of those was Sgt. Nick Austin, a small arms artillery repairer assigned to the 145th Support Maintenance Company. Austin has competed in the last four years.
He won the award for the Novice Division in 2016 for the Rifle match. He took second place in the Sgt. Henry Johnson Individual Combat Rifle Match award in 2017. In 2018, he took first place for The Sgt. Reidar Waaler Team Combat Rifle Match.
Born in Russia, Austin said he learned rifle shooting at the age of six.
“My father introduced me to marksmanship because it was a cultural thing in Russia to teach their son,” Austin said.
Austin practices on a private pistol range with his team months before the competition.
“Absolutely anybody, from the Army National Guard, Air National Guard from New York and New York Guard can participate in the TAG Match,” he said. “This is irrespective of their military occupational specialty.”
He had hoped to win The Sgt. Thomas Baker Individual Combat Pistol Match award this year, but it did not happen for him.
Instead Staff Sgt. Blake Alexander, assigned to the 1108th Ordinance Company, took first place while the second-place winner was Cpt. Steven Dubin, assigned to the New York Guard. The third-place winner went to Cpl. Daniel Suarez, assigned to the 107th Military Police Company.
However, the team he assembled won the second place for Overall Combined Combat Champion match and the first place for The Sgt. Reidar Waaler Team Combat Rifle Match.
Baker, the namesake of the pistol competition’s, was a posthumous World War II Medal of Honor winner assigned to the 27th Infantry Division who held off a Japanese attack with his pistol at close range to give his fellow Soldiers time to retreat.
In the Novice Division—for first time competitors, the winner of the Rifle match was Spc. Stephen Chiarizia, assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion Infantry. The winner for the Pistol match was Pfc. Caleb Louard, assigned to the New York Guard.
For Overall Combined Combat Champion, the first-place team winners were the 107th Military Police Company. In second place, were Soldiers of the 145th Support Maintenance Company and the third-place winners were the 107th Attack Wing.
For the Sgt. Reidar Waaler Team Combat Rifle Match, the first-place team winners were the 145th Support Maintenance Company, the second-place winners were the 107th Military Police Company and the third-place winners were the 69th Infantry and 4th Finance.
Waaler was a World War I Medal of Honor winner from the New York National Guard’s 27th Division.
For the Lt. Col. William Donovan Combat Team Pistol Match, the first-place team winners were the 107th Military Police Company, the second-place winners were the 107th Attack Wing and the third-place winners were the New York Guard.
The competition takes its name from “Wild Bill” Donovan the legendary commander of a 69th Infantry Battalion in World War I.
| Date Taken: | 06.07.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 06.07.2019 10:59 |
| Story ID: | 325970 |
| Location: | CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE , NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 262 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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