FORT BENNING, Ga., (June 8, 2016) -- Armor and Infantry Soldiers assigned to Fort Benning competed under the blazing Georgia sun for a chance to claim the squad Hatchet Trophy in a three gun rifle squad competition.
Capt. Shawn Cummings, 198th Infantry Brigade, organized the event. He invited all units on Fort Benning to participate in the event.
Teams from the 194th Armored Brigade and the 198th Infantry Brigade answered the call and sent their best marksmen to compete.
"We want to emphasize the importance of Infantry rifle marksmanship and weapons within the Infantry squad," said Cummings on the purpose of the event.
Competitors were challenged to compete in nine man squads and qualify using a variety of different weapons: the M4, the M249 and the M320.
Each squad was tasked with using these weapons to shoot stationary and moving targets while being scored based on their speed and accuracy.
"The stationary targets coincide with qualification of the M249. This is called Table 1. The exercise gives squads time to adjust their weapons. When they shoot at pop-up targets, they're using aerial weapons that go out to 800 meters. That is called Table 2," explained Cummings.
Teams checked in for weapons issue and a safety brief at 6 a.m. Once this was done the first team started at 8 a.m. and qualified on the M249.
Other qualification points were set up throughout the range complex in order to build espirit de corps.
Despite the temperature being 94 degrees Fahrenheit, Soldier morale was still high.
"We want to take what we've learned here back to teach our new Soldiers how to be able to shoot, move, and communicate into their combat related stresses," said Staff Sgt. Chad Meeks of F Company, 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry Regiment.
The total score for each team was tallied at the end from the qualification of the M249, M4, and M320 for a max score of 266.
2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, won the competition with 1,611 points. Staff Sgt. Travis Maynard, from the 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, earned the highest individual score with 98 points.
Social Sharing