Parris Island shooting team
On Friday, March 13th, I journey north to Camp Lejeune, NC for an opportunity to shoot competitively with the Parris Island Rifle/Pistol team.
The CIAP has traditionally provided the Marine Corps with the skilled and experienced marksmen necessary to support a productive marksmanship training program and success in battle. The primary objective of the program is to enhance marksmanship proficiency within the Marine Corps by refining precision marksmanship skills through advanced marksmanship training and competition. Participants will fulfill their annual rifle and pistol qualification training requirements. Marines who participate in the 2009 division matches will receive the following three-week training package:
Week one: Classroom instruction, dry firing, and practical application in precision rifle and pistol marksmanship.
Week two: Live fire training to develop shooting positions, establish zeroes, and enhance individual marksmanship proficiency.
Week three: Individual and team competition with rifle and pistol, and awards ceremony.
I’m taking an indefinite break from my normal duties as a drill instructor. But before I detail the choose-your-own-adventure style of the next year of my life, let’s review how I got here to begin with.
- 1991: A camping trip in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State produces an impressive number of chipmunk kills when I borrow a scope-equipped pellet rifle from a friend.
- 1992: As a founding father (#999) of the least famous, yet most historically significant gang in my suburban locale, I embark on a two week crime spree, making off with a shit-ton of home weaponry ranging from your typical .44 Magnum Ruger Redhawk 7.5″ barrel to assorted rifles to a genuine Ingram MAC M11 submachine gun. All weapons were quality tested at the L.T. Murray Wildlife Area near Selah, WA, where I may or may not have blasted the hell out of more than a few junked appliances.
- 1993: Dad and I take turns firing his .38 Special at a skunk hiding in a culvert in our yard. A year later, forensics conducted on bone fragments flushed out by heavy rain reveal the skunk could have died of starvation, old age, or suicide, but definitely not gunshot wounds. My dreams of a future in competitive shooting are dashed.
- 1998: Despite qualifying Sharpshooter on the rifle range in boot camp the year prior, I qualify Expert as a fleet Marine and continue the trend for four more years.
- 2000: Fresh off a Battalion Marine of the Year win and meritorious promotion to Sergeant, I’m promised a seat at Army Airborne School (a.k.a. Jump School), Ft. Benning, GA. Due to a delay in blood work, I miss the submission deadline and dropped from the course. As a consolation, my Company Gunnery Sergeant submits me for the next pistol range detail. In the week prior to qualifying, he takes me to a civilian indoor pistol range, teaches me disassembly, assembly, and weapons conditions of the Beretta M9 service pistol. I end up qualifying with a 386 of a possible 400 points, setting a Battalion pistol record.
- 2001: I receive the Top Gun Award in MSG School with 199 of a possible 200 points, narrowly beating my nemesis-in-arms, John Klimas.
- 2005: I return triumphantly to the Marine Corps rifle and pistol ranges after four years overseas, qualifying high Expert in both.
- March 2008: In the middle of my first cycle as a drill instructor, a standard five day pistol range detail is shortened to three. As a compromise, shooters are issued extra ammunition to make up for lost days. I proceed to shoot the black out of the target, and people take notice. I’m “the Gunny from MSG” and an ammo tech Marine asks if I had ever thought of trying out for the Parris Island shooting team. My interest is piqued.
- May 2008: Still on my first cycle as a drill instructor, my platoon of recruits is qualifying on the rifle range. On four targets at the end, members of the Parris Island shooting team are practicing. I strike up a conversation with the OIC and he informs me of tryouts coming in the fall. We exchange emails.
- September 2008: Eight men show up for a two day rifle and pistol tryout. I take “#1 gun” for both.
- October 2008: I compete in a pistol and rifle CMP competition and blow both out my ass. Fortunately, a member of the Marine Corps Pistol Team takes notice of my potential skillz and talks of my future eligibility to go to the “Big Team” ensue.
- January 2009: Official Intramural competition tryouts for the Parris Island shooting team are held, producing over eighty competitors from Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, and the Naval Hospital. A life-altering event prevents me from finishing the competition, but my already impressive record generates a direct request to my command for TAD orders to the team.
- February 2009: Orders are finally approved through much red tape. I begin a rigorous five week shooting program to prepare for Eastern Division Matches in Camp Lejeune, NC in late March. Nine hour shooting days are not uncommon.
Present day.
Following Eastern Division Matches are the Marine Corps Championships in late April. My TAD officially expires on May 4th, but there’s been a lot of talk about the possibility of me going to the Big Team through the summer. If that’s the case, I won’t be pushing recruits again until the fall. That’s fine by me. There will always be recruits to train, but this is a rare opportunity I don’t plan on passing up.
A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity.
- Sigmund Freud
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19 Responses to “Parris Island shooting team”
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Born in the year of the Dragon, the author grudgingly accepts the fact he has too many interests and not enough time. A cyclist as long as he can remember, an avid yet inconsistent writer since age eleven, and a U.S. Marine since age twenty-one, the author also adds computers, snowboarding, and motorcycles to his list of interests. Incidentally, he is aware of his inability to make a living from any but the Corps. The author accepts this as fact and remains optimistic. Feel free to drop him a line.
Viva la Thunder Lake (a.k.a. Camp Go-Fer-Beer) camping association!
Also, S.L.H.A.N.A.
Holy bullets batman! I shot competitively in college…it was texas,targets mostly roachs..but,WOW,you have blown the curve…I never realized you had had an interest in competitve shooting or jump school.You have mad and many skills. Russ has his silver wings for 125 + jumps from perfectly good airplanes,he says there is no such thing as a perfectly good airplane. We will watch this space for the notification of you having once again raised the bar up there out of sight.take care of yourself…have fun ..love s
It was your destiny to launch torpedo’s into a 3 meter wide gap without targeting computers because you used to shoot womp rats back home, and they weren’t much bigger than that. Hopefully you got that reference or I am going to look really crazy. Regardless, the fact is that you are a hillbilly and shooting a gun isn’t a skill, it is a genetic trait. That being said, I congratulate you on using the “skillz (genetic trait) to pay the billz (shoot competitively)”.
I still think you owe me lunch for the pistol range. I am trying to get a competitive 3 position air rifle team off the ground at the HS where I work. I had one chance to go and shoot Western Div matches and I passed it up. I really regret not going. By the way I am still waiting for the Drill Manual?
GRAB, LOOK, PUSH, PULL!!!!!!!Good luck, now the Wii will not be getting the attention she needs.
Finally man! You wrote something, I recently got a blackberry and have read I think just about everything on the site.This is Jodi ‘n Dale’s sister in law. Hope all is well and hope we get to see you this summer but I won’t hold my breath.
hay, Here I was google-in attempting find match results from Pac Div or Parris Island Inter mural matches and hit this webpage or “blog”. I believe I met you last October at N.C. State match (the Asian guy). Glad to hear everything is working out for ya. Good luck at Stone Bay and don’t sweat those egotistical “big” team Marines, especially guy name Footer from the Pistol Team. I’ve seen what you can do, don’t force bad shots and above all HAVE FUN. I’ll be at P.I. in July heading up one of those known distance ranges so feel free to stop by after the summer season. Oh, by the way, I know everyone on the big team so if you need assistance w/ anything let me know. Again, good job making it this far and shooter center.
you are a hard man to get ahold of. i’ll be near your sand pit in a couple months. maybe i’ll stop by for a visit.
i’d smoke you with the M9 and the M16 by the way.
top gun MSG 4-01
You’ll notice I left many details out from those formidable years. I don’t want to go back to the klink.
All R.B.S. records are presently secured. Rest easy. When I look back on the documentation it’s like seeing the Declaration of Independence for the first time. Makes me tear up.
You obviously didn’t attend BSC. All I did in college was work full time and try not to get evicted.
I’d still go to jump school given the chance. People say it pales in comparison to civilian instruction, but hell, it’s free.
I have vague recollections of the reference. Refresh my memory before I have you committed.
By “hillbilly,” you’re confused with anyone from the east coast mountain ranges. As an example, “Q: How do you circumcise a hillbilly? A: Kick his sister in the chin.” In the Midwest, we limit our inbreeding to cousins.
Yup, missed the reference completely.
As for the shooting, you remember we plunked away at pop cans when you lived at your first house? Were we any good? I remember seeing a lot of sparks from the concrete. That’s about it for destruction.
Luke Skywalker destroying the Deathstar… the exhaust port was 3 meters wide and all of the pilots gasped in shock… Luke, the only hillbilly (I stand by my comparison) in attendance basically said what I referenced above. He then did it without targeting computers further proving he had a natural ability to shoot small stuff.
As for your correction (and admittance) to doing the nasty with your family members, albeit remote ones; you did not dispute my claim that your ability to shoot guns comes from genetics and not years of honed ability. I am positive you are a better marksman due to diligent training, but when you are delineating the reasons why you are a good shot you may want to pay homage to your gene pool. Just for future reference.
Emails to you are being “rejected by the recipient domain,” so, in it’s entirety, is my email to you (sans drill manual)…
When the “unit” is formed online, the guide counts as 1. The unit leader will fall in evenly on the middle man, i.e. the 10th man if there’s 20 or the 11th man if there’s 21. Not between ranks.
Seriously, I apologize for the delay. Thanks for keeping up with me even though I’ve shunned you for so long. Truth be told, I’ve been in a funk since hooking up with the dirty bitch a year ago. I’ve neglected those who mean the most to me.
And yes, I owe you lunch for the pistol range. But the pistol range is just a blip on the radar of my military career. Despite being surrounded by turd NCOs, I am the Marine I am today because I always felt the need to impress you/prove you wrong. You chewed my ass the day I got to the fleet, and you never let up. Prior to joining forces in the company office summer of ’99, I regarded you as my nemesis. Hell, I took the job at the company office just to show you up (you punked me out, and it worked). I didn’t want to name names in the post, but I’m glad you identified yourself.
If I can influence Marines/recruits even a fraction of the extent you did, I’ll be successful in my career. Believe it or not, your stories live STRONG in my world as a fleet Marine and drill instructor. There are lessons to be learned from them, and I jump at every chance I have to continue the legacy you left behind.
And yes, you left a legacy.
Semper fi!
Alas, the Wii hasn’t been played since you left. I have no excuses why, but I really want a Wii Zapper.
In related news, I got the new USB NES controller (only one for now) and it’s tested working with the HTPC. I’ll have the extension cable and everything set up so you can rock Castlevania while I’m gone.
What were you aiming for? I was aiming for the concrete. A few things to keep in mind; we were shooting air powered guns with round projectiles down a non rifled barrel in the middle of the night at pop cans 50 feet away using nothing but iron sights… could a stray shot really be blamed on a lack of skill?
Every week I promise I’ll write… every week. Then a get to doing something else and “that great post” turns into a draft that stales in days. I’m working on my frequency
As always, my leave this summer is up in the air. This shooting team gig might run me until September. Maybe only until May. Regardless, I’ve got plenty of days on the books and still have a Mississippi River kayak trip to take care of.
We shall see…
Kramp! I heard you had gone over to the dark side and will be rolling to PI soon. It’s a pretty small turnout, maybe 80 or so. Even those couple matches last year helped considerably. We’ll see if my 270 averages will pull any medals out of this one.
The debate rages on! When are your dates?