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42 South Dakota Army and 12 South Dakota Air National Guardsmen competed side-by-side in the State Enlisted Leader’s Indoor Marksmanship Competition at Joe Foss Field, South Dakota, Jan. 26-27, 2024.
The annual marksmanship match is an important event for the South Dakota National Guard, serving many purposes. One of the primary reasons is to help soldiers and airmen improve their marksmanship skills in ways that are not otherwise possible.
Additionally, the match provides a unique opportunity for the South Dakota Army and Air National Guardsmen to compete in a joint military exercise. This not only promotes the development of a shared skill set but also creates opportunities for service members to learn, grow, and connect with others in their field.
“This allows our service members to come together over a common skillset and meet members of another branch of service,” said U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jory Rogers. “It also allows members of the Small Arms Readiness and Training Section to interact with and teach shooters on different aspects of marksmanship providing more individualized instruction from subject matter experts that those individuals might not receive elsewhere.”
Competitors are generally selected by their interest in marksmanship as a whole and their availability.
“We see different types of shooters each year, mainly those who love to shoot and want to compete to win, and those who want to take the opportunity to improve their marksmanship abilities,” said Rogers.
Shooters competed for titles in four categories: Overall Aggregate Team, Overall Aggregate Individual, Overall Pistol Individual, and Overall Rifle Individual.
They were judged on 4 different courses of fire. The Rifle Elementary Excellence-in-Competition, CNGB Postal Rifle, CNGB Postal Pistol, and the Pistol Positional courses of fire.
Each course of fire tests the competitor's ability to utilize their respective weapons platform to engage a variety of different targets from different firing positions and with varying amounts of time per stage.
The competitions winners were:
Overall Aggregate Team: 114th Fighter Wing; Tech. Sgt. Trevor Dietrich, maintainer with the 114th Munitions Flight, Master Sgt. Derek Burkhart, munitions productions supervisor with the 114th Maintenance Squadron, Master Sgt. Daniel Malmberg, combat arms training and maintenance instructor with the 114th Security Forces Squadron, Staff Sgt. Lathen Norling, defender with the 114th Security Forces Squadron.
Overall Aggregate Individual: U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Thomas Carpenter, chaplain’s assistant with the 196th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, South Dakota National Guard.
Overall Piston Individual: U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Clint Sandness, first sergeant with the 730th Area Support Medical Company, South Dakota National Guard.
Overall Rifle Individual: U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Thomas Carpenter, chaplain’s assistant with the 196th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, South Dakota National Guard.
The next event on the docket is the 2024 South Dakota National Guard Adjutant General Outdoor Marksmanship Competition in Camp Rapid, Rapid City, South Dakota, which is slated 18-20 May. This event is open to all Army and Air National Guard members of any rank.
| Date Taken: | 01.26.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 02.10.2024 15:49 |
| Story ID: | 463644 |
| Location: | SOUTH DAKOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 76 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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