Champions live and work right on Fort Benning.

At the Army Marksmanship Unit, which calls itself "Home of Champions," it's not unusual for a Soldier to hold multiple Olympic, national and world titles. In fact, as one of the unit's three missions - to win competitions; to provide research, development and training; and to assist with recruiting and public relations - winning is part of an AMU Soldier's job description.

Since its creation in 1956, AMU members of have won hundreds of individual and team national titles, more than 40 world championships and 23 Olympic medals.

That level of excellence doesn't happen by accident, said Bob Aylward, AMU's executive officer.

"To make it into AMU, you need to train for several hours a day, about five days a week for about 10 years in order to get up to that level of competition," he said. "Most people here are three- or four-time All-American college athletes. For every 100 people who want to join AMU, there's maybe one spot."

AMU is made up of six teams that specialize in a different event - international rifle, international pistol, service rifle, service pistol, shotgun and action shooting - as well as a staff of Soldiers and Department of the Army Civilians who work in AMU's gun shop and provide administrative support.

Many AMU shooters, like SFC Charles Coffey, NCOIC for the shotgun team, have been practicing the sport for as long as they can remember.

"I started shooting with my father when I was eight years old," he said. "I've been shooting with AMU since 1995. I started out doing service rifle, then moved to service pistol, the gun shop and now shotgun. It's been a great experience and I've learned something new in every discipline I've gotten involved in."

Coffey's work has paid off in the form of numerous awards, including a President's Hundred tab, an honor given to no more than 100 Soldiers and civilians each year who place in the top 10 percent at the President's Rifle and Pistol Match..

"It's really been a privilege and an honor to be a part of Army marksmanship," Coffey said.

Even though competitive shooting is an individual event, AMU members work together as a team, said SFC Theresa Dewitt, member of the shotgun team. Her credentials include four national records,10 world championship teams, a spot on the 1996 Olympic shotgun team and a gold medal at the 2008 World Cup in Kerrville, Texas.

"We shoot our individual scores, but at the same time because we train as a team, we help each other out and try to make each other better," she said. "A lot of us have trained together for so long that we can say to someone 'Hey you look like you're leaning pretty far forward, what's up''"

For Dewitt, challenging herself to improve is a constant motivating factor.

"I think the hardest thing about shooting with AMU is just always trying to do better than last time," she said. "It's never enough to win the last match, because you want to win the next one and you want to shoot better than you did before, and here you have the opportunity to perfect your game."

AMU shooters spend an average three to four hours training each day. The rest of their time is devoted to equipment maintenance, physical training, administrative duties, traveling to and from competitions and training other Soldiers.

"We travel to other installations for training dozens of times each year," Aylward said. "We feel that what we can add to the Army is to provide instruction through world-class teachers, and hopefully leave our Soldiers a little better at marksmanship."

In addition to training champions, AMU also provides the Army with a gun shop staff who is constantly working to anticipate and meet the Army's future weapons needs.

"We want try to think of the answers before the Army even thinks of the question," Aylward said. "When they come to us asking us to develop something, we'll already have it and have tested it."

The opportunity to use top-of-the line equipment and shoot against some of the best marksmen in the world is what drew Dewitt to AMU, she said.

"I wanted to make the Olympic team and the Army was the best way for me to do that," she said.

Although AMU shooters are devoted to their training, their duties to the Army and to their fellow Soldiers remain their first priority, Coffey said.

"We're Soldiers first," he said. "We're ambassadors not only of the sport, but of the Army as well."