Two U.S. Army Soldiers Will Compete in Trap Shooting at 2024 Olympic Games

Staff Sergeants Rachel Tozier and Will Hinton of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit qualified in Olympic Trap for the 2024 Paris Games during USA Shooting’s Shotgun Olympic Trials - Part 2 in Tucson, Arizona March 11-17.

Both Fort Moore, Georgia Soldiers competed side by side in ten 25-target qualification rounds with top trap shooters from across the United States, including past Olympic medalists.

In the Women’s Trap category, Tozier, a Pattonsburg, Missouri native, beat 49 other competitors for her Olympic berth, after winning the Olympic Trials Final. To see Tozier’s Army bio go to https://recruiting.army.mil/About-USAREC/USAREC-Command-Bios/Bio-Display/Article/3277077/us-army-marksmanship-unit-shotgun-team/. Photographs of Tozier can be found at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWc9vXz.

In the Men’s Trap category, Hinton, a Dacula, Georgia native, beat 121 other shooters for his Olympic berth. Both Soldiers are instructors/competitive shooters for the USAMU Shotgun Team. To see Hinton’s Army bio go to https://recruiting.army.mil/About-USAREC/USAREC-Command-Bios/Bio-Display/Article/3276092/us-army-marksmanship-unit-shotgun-team/. Photographs of Hinton can be found at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWh1XHF.

Earning a spot on Team USA is a goal for all Soldiers on the USAMU Shotgun Team, so it’s an exciting accomplishment, said Hinton.

“It really hasn’t set in right now, but it’s pretty awesome.”

And at this level of competition, every single target and point matters. So making the team after a challenging start let’s me know my training is working, said Hinton.

“I came in quite a few targets back, so it’s been a grind this entire time, so I am still kind of processing the work I put in and where I am now. Everything I’ve been doing, you know all my training, has put me in where I am at so I have to trust in that, and I am just happy to be on the team.”

Making the Olympic Team has been a goal of mine for several years and the fact that I made it just feels fantastic and shocking all at the same time, said Tozier.

“There are not really words and I don’t think it has really hit me yet, but when I was a senior in high school, I wrote that I wanted to make the Olympic Team on my board of things to do, so it’s nice to be able to cross that off.”