A U.S. Army entomologist took third place in the Excellence in Competition (EIC) match at the 64th Annual Inter-service Rifle Championship at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and earned the U.S. Army Silver EIC Rifle badge. Maj. Paul A. Lenhart, an entomologist with the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory and chief of Vector Control and Countermeasures at the Walter Reed Institute of Research, competed against 49 participants from the Army, Navy and Marine rifle teams. Lenhart also competed in the 2025 Atlantic Fleet and All Navy East Rifle Match as an ‘other service’ competitor and earned silver in the rifle aggregate.

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – A U.S. Army entomologist took third place in the Excellence in Competition (EIC) match at the 64th Annual Inter-service Rifle Championship at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, June 6 – 10, and earned the U.S. Army Silver EIC Rifle badge.

Maj. Paul A. Lenhart, an entomologist with the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory and the chief of Vector Control and Countermeasures at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, competed against 49 participants from the Army, Navy and Marine rifle teams.

Shooters from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Service Rifle Team, U.S. Marine Corps Shooting Team, U.S. Navy Marksmanship team and individual shooters from the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Air Force participated in the competition.

A U.S. Army entomologist took third place in the Excellence in Competition (EIC) match at the 64th Annual Inter-service Rifle Championship at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and earned the U.S. Army Silver EIC Rifle badge. Maj. Paul A. Lenhart, an entomologist with the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory and chief of Vector Control and Countermeasures at the Walter Reed Institute of Research, competed against 49 participants from the Army, Navy and Marine rifle teams. Lenhart also competed in the 2025 Atlantic Fleet and All Navy East Rifle Match as an ‘other service’ competitor and earned silver in the rifle aggregate.

“I prepared for this match through a regular schedule of training that includes dry-fire position practice at home, live-fire practice at a public range and local club rifle matches. I also recently competed in the 2025 Atlantic Fleet and All Navy East Rifle Match as an ‘other service’ competitor and earned silver in the rifle aggregate,” said Lenhart.

“High-power service rifle competitions do not require qualifications to attend a match,” he said. “What is unique about these matches, including the national matches, is you have Olympic-level shooting athletes next to shooters brand new to the sport.”

Lenhart began shooting rifles competitively in 2017 with the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) and became a more serious high-power rifle competitor with his first attendance at the National Trophy Rifle Matches in 2021.

A U.S. Army entomologist took third place in the Excellence in Competition (EIC) match at the 64th Annual Inter-service Rifle Championship at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and earned the U.S. Army Silver EIC Rifle badge. Maj. Paul A. Lenhart, an entomologist with the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory and chief of Vector Control and Countermeasures at the Walter Reed Institute of Research, competed against 49 participants from the Army, Navy and Marine rifle teams. Lenhart also competed in the 2025 Atlantic Fleet and All Navy East Rifle Match as an ‘other service’ competitor and earned silver in the rifle aggregate.

“I like competing in service rifle because it limits the 'gear race' but I do make sure my rifle is in top performing condition, and I reload my own match grade ammunition,” he said. “You must have confidence in your equipment so that you as the shooter are the limiting factor.”

From his performance at the Interservice Rifle Match and All Navy Match, Lenhart was awarded the U.S. Army Excellence in Competition Rifle Badge (Silver) by the Civilian Marksmanship Program and U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit.

He is currently training for the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s 2025 National Trophy Rifle Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio, in July.

A U.S. Army entomologist took third place in the Excellence in Competition (EIC) match at the 64th Annual Inter-service Rifle Championship at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and earned the U.S. Army Silver EIC Rifle badge. Maj. Paul A. Lenhart, an entomologist with the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory and chief of Vector Control and Countermeasures at the Walter Reed Institute of Research, competed against 49 participants from the Army, Navy and Marine rifle teams. Lenhart also competed in the 2025 Atlantic Fleet and All Navy East Rifle Match as an ‘other service’ competitor and earned silver in the rifle aggregate.

“My goal is to earn enough Excellence in Competition points to be awarded the Distinguished Rifleman Badge and hopefully attain the highly coveted President’s Hundred Tab from the President’s Match,” said Lenhart. “The second goal is exceptionally difficult because you compete against all shooters to be in the top 100. That includes shooters who have previously earned the tab: highly skilled civilians, veterans, professional military competition shooters and everything in between.”

Lenhart said the highlight of the Interservice Rifle Match was spending time with other top military service rifle shooters in the country, especially members from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Service Rifle Team.

“They train for competition full-time, and their abilities are next level,” said Lenhart. “I shot beside multiple national championship winners. Despite being star shooters, they are happy to provide advice and tips for developing shooters like me to improve.”

A U.S. Army entomologist took third place in the Excellence in Competition (EIC) match at the 64th Annual Inter-service Rifle Championship at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and earned the U.S. Army Silver EIC Rifle badge. Maj. Paul A. Lenhart, an entomologist with the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory and chief of Vector Control and Countermeasures at the Walter Reed Institute of Research, competed against 49 participants from the Army, Navy and Marine rifle teams. Lenhart also competed in the 2025 Atlantic Fleet and All Navy East Rifle Match as an ‘other service’ competitor and earned silver (pictured above) in the rifle aggregate.

Lenhart learned to shoot rifles while growing up in El Paso.

“The key to my success in the competition was my passion for marksmanship that my father instilled in me. Growing up, he would take me rifle shooting in desert canyons and trained me on the fundamentals,” said Lenhart. “The second key thing has been developing my resilience. This sport takes a lot of grit and mental toughness. In slow fire stages, you fight a constant battle in your mind and only recently have I improved my mental game.”

Lenhart said high-power service rifle shooting is a great sport for service members. He recommended that prospective Army shooters review AR 350-66 and the CMP Competition Rulebooks.

A U.S. Army entomologist took third place in the Excellence in Competition (EIC) match at the 64th Annual Inter-service Rifle Championship at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and earned the U.S. Army Silver EIC Rifle badge. Maj. Paul A. Lenhart, an entomologist with the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory and chief of Vector Control and Countermeasures at the Walter Reed Institute of Research, competed against 49 participants from the Army, Navy and Marine rifle teams. Lenhart also competed in the 2025 Atlantic Fleet and All Navy East Rifle Match as an ‘other service’ competitor and earned silver in the rifle aggregate.

“While this sport is based on traditional military service rifle shooting, dating back to 1903 and President Theodore Roosevelt, the fundamentals you learn can be applied to all kinds of shooting, even modern combat shooting,” said Lenhart. “For anyone looking to join I would either attend an introductory match like the CMP’s Small Arms Firing Schools or contact a local civilian club. The high-power community is very helpful, and they often have loaner equipment to get you started.”

Like all Soldiers, Medical Service Officers have to be able to shoot, move and communicate with the maneuver units they support on the battlefield.

“Medical Service Corps officers are valued for our unique medical subject matter expertise, but we need to be competent Soldiers to stay in the fight and conserve the fighting strength. We maintain proficiency with our assigned weapons – so we are ready to defend our unit when in harm’s way,” said Lenhart. “I relish how the Army constantly pushes us to improve our skills and be well rounded leaders.”

A U.S. Army entomologist took third place in the Excellence in Competition (EIC) match at the 64th Annual Inter-service Rifle Championship at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and earned the U.S. Army Silver EIC Rifle badge. Maj. Paul A. Lenhart, an entomologist with the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory and chief of Vector Control and Countermeasures at the Walter Reed Institute of Research, competed against 49 participants from the Army, Navy and Marine rifle teams. Lenhart also competed in the 2025 Atlantic Fleet and All Navy East Rifle Match as an ‘other service’ competitor and earned silver in the rifle aggregate.

One of around 60 active-duty entomologists in the Army, Lenhart serves as the entomologist in the Occupational and Environmental Health Section of the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory and the chief of Vector Control and Countermeasures in the Entomology Branch at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

The Army Reserve has a sizeable number of entomologists.

The Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland-headquartered 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory performs surveillance, laboratory testing and health hazard assessments of environmental, occupational, endemic disease and CBRNE threats to support force protection and counter Weapons of Mass Destruction missions.

A U.S. Army entomologist took third place in the Excellence in Competition (EIC) match at the 64th Annual Inter-service Rifle Championship at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and earned the U.S. Army Silver EIC Rifle badge. Maj. Paul A. Lenhart, an entomologist with the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory and chief of Vector Control and Countermeasures at the Walter Reed Institute of Research, competed against 49 participants from the Army, Navy and Marine rifle teams. Lenhart also competed in the 2025 Atlantic Fleet and All Navy East Rifle Match as an ‘other service’ competitor and earned silver in the rifle aggregate.

The 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory is part of the 44th Medical Brigade and 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE) Command, the U.S. military’s premier multifunctional and deployable CBRNE formation. Soldiers and Army civilians from the 20th CBRNE Command deploy from 19 bases in 16 states to confront and defeat the world’s most dangerous hazards in support of joint, interagency and multinational operations.

The Walter Reid Army Institute of Research is the largest biomedical research facility in the U.S. Department of Defense.

Lenhart graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a bachelor’s degree in biology and from Texas A & M University with a Ph.D. in entomology. He has served in the U.S. Army for 7 years.

A U.S. Army entomologist took third place in the Excellence in Competition (EIC) match at the 64th Annual Inter-service Rifle Championship at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and earned the U.S. Army Silver EIC Rifle badge. Maj. Paul A. Lenhart, an entomologist with the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory and chief of Vector Control and Countermeasures at the Walter Reed Institute of Research, competed against 49 participants from the Army, Navy and Marine rifle teams. Lenhart also competed in the 2025 Atlantic Fleet and All Navy East Rifle Match as an ‘other service’ competitor and earned silver in the rifle aggregate.

“As an entomologist, it is my responsibility to defend our Soldiers from environmental threats, chiefly vector-borne diseases,” said Lenhart. “This includes everything from mosquitos transmitting malaria parasites or dengue virus to filth flies transmitting diarrheal pathogens.”

Lenhart said that vector-borne diseases have repeatedly taken more combatants out of the fight than battle injuries in armed conflict.

During his most memorable assignment, he was involved in a rapid response mission to a cluster of flea-borne spotted cases on an Army post where he led a team of medical providers, pest managers and public health officials to help a military family and prevent further cases.

“While I was excited to collect and identify the vectors, this mission put the human suffering caused by vector-borne disease right in front of my eyes.”

His team recently published a case report for this public health response in the journal Military Medicine (Stidham et al. 2025).

At the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Lenhart studies and develops new techniques and countermeasures for controlling vectors during military operations.

A U.S. Army entomologist took third place in the Excellence in Competition (EIC) match at the 64th Annual Inter-service Rifle Championship at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and earned the U.S. Army Silver EIC Rifle badge. Maj. Paul A. Lenhart, an entomologist with the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory and chief of Vector Control and Countermeasures at the Walter Reed Institute of Research, competed against 49 participants from the Army, Navy and Marine rifle teams. Lenhart also competed in the 2025 Atlantic Fleet and All Navy East Rifle Match as an ‘other service’ competitor and earned silver in the rifle aggregate.

“My work at WRAIR allows me to maintain high subject matter expertise, so when I train or deploy with the 1st GFML, I can provide exceptional entomological support in a theater of operations anywhere in the world,” said Lenhart. “I can then safeguard the force by advising commanders on the medical threats their Soldiers will face, conducting bio-surveillance to better characterize medical threats and spearheading pest management strategies and other countermeasures to fight back against disease vectors.”

Lenhart has always been interested in shooting rifles and collecting bugs. Today, as a warfighter and entomologist, he uses his knowledge about guns and bugs to protect the force.

“I was always a bug nerd, and my first memories are collecting insects. I think most kids are interested in insects, but someone tells them they are gross, and they stop. I was lucky my parents fostered my love for insects and science,” said Lenhart. “I have maintained a large personal insect collection my whole life that continues to grow and survive PCS moves. Last time I estimated it was over 30,000 specimens preserved on pins or in vials. I regularly use it for research and outreach.”