Ken Nelson

Here is an idea…. take 50 junior practical shooters, put them with six of the best practical shooters in the world,  mix in the man who has dominated practical pistol shooting for the last 30 years, give their parents something interesting to do, and and then teach them.  What do you get?   Something awesome called the “US Army Marksmanship Unit Junior Shooters Camp”.

This year’s ended today and my son, Brian – age 12, and I certainly learned a lot and also had a great time.

The Army Marksmanship Unit, formed in 1956, has this mission:

The USAMU enhances the Army’s recruiting effort, raises the standard of the Army’s Marksmanship proficiency, and supports the Army’s small arms research and development initiatives in order to raise the Army’s overall combat readiness.

The soldiers that trained the junior shooters this weekend ranged from Private E2 to Sergeant First Class.   Or put another way… they ranged from the World IPSC Champion to the only 2 time winner of the International Sniper Championship to the 2009 United States Multi-Gun champion.   In other words, they ranged from excellent to excellent.

Their usual mission involves representing the Army at matches through out the world, enhancing recruiting, training Army units in advanced marksmanship and tactics, and in the near future deploying to train Afghanistan and Iraqi shooting instructors to improve the marksmanship of the indigenous forces our counter insurgency efforts are building there.

Three junior shooters shoot the breeze with Sgt Daniel Horner, current US Multi-Gun Campion.  Imagine playing 1 on 1 with Lebron James as a rough analogy (minus shoe endorsements)

But last year, this year, we certainly hope next year they took 3 days out and trained 50 kids from all over the United States, ranging in age from 9 to 19,   practical pistol and rifle shooting.

The kids divided up in to squads roughly organized by age and ability. And went through 2 days of stages training them on:

• • How to reload a pistol really fast
  • Accuracy (and how to get it while shooting fast)
  • Transitions (shooting multiple targets fast)
  • Position to Position movement
  • Introduction to the AR-15 rifle

SSG Robbie Johnson, 2 Time winner International Sniper Competition
trains students on the AR-15 rifle.

On Saturday, Rob Leatham, the dominant winning force in our sport for the last 30 years (and still very competitive) came in to teach the parents that shot the sport for a day and to give the kids a class on mental preparation.

I will write a separate post about Rob’s class, but the short version would be “I’ve done the sport mostly wrong but now my way is righted”.  And I had a TON of fun.  Rob knows his stuff and somehow gave 40 parents individual attention.  He is a natural trainer and his love for the sport, shooting in general, and people shined through what must have been a long day for him.

Rob Leatham builds a grip with an AMU Junior Shooter Camp Parent

That evening Rob sat down with the kids for a bull session. It was supposed to be kids only, but hey – I’m blogging about this, so I snuck in, hunkered low and listened in.   The kids had a zillion questions, ranging from “How many guns do you have” (answer – no idea, but a LOT) to “What is your pre-stage routine”.  Rob answered all with good cheer and gave practical, useful and funny advice (even admitting to dry firing at his cat sometimes – who hasn’t done that??).

The worlds greatest action shooter and my son Brian (age 12)

Friday and Saturday were training… Sunday was about putting it into practice in the 2nd Annual USAMU/MGM Targets Junior Camp match.  I had the pleasure of RO’ing Stage 1, an all steel stage centered around a 20 yard plate rack that was dominated by some of the advanced juniors, and that pointed out areas of weakness in the less advanced and younger shooters.

The Army cadre shot the match as well and the top junior shooter beat them.  In addition to being very talented he was also one of the most polite and earnest young men you could hope to meet.

So the real joy, for me, was seeing awesome kids, brought together by caring parents and the good folks at MGM Targets, and hanging with soldiers that represent all you could want in a soldier and American.  Only good can come from such a terrific combination!

I’ll end this post with a paraphrase of the SFC Hampton, NCOIC of the camp, speaking in his kickoff to the camp – “Don’t just tell your friends about our sport, bring them along, take them shooting”.  Good advice!

Many thanks to Mike and Rhonda Gibson of MGM Targets
for organizing this camp.

Many thanks to the Army Marksmanship Unit staff for running this camp with such obvious excellence and cheer.   This goes not just to the coaches but also to other members of the unit, who were not on the Action Pistol Squad, that volunteered their time and energies.  Thanks!

Special thanks also go to MGM Targets as the primary sponsor of the camp.  Remington also provided ammo for the camp – and that made the difference in some shooters being able to attend. Numerous other sponsors contributed as well including Glock, Rob Leatham, DPMS, Danner Boots, Tapco, Leatherman, and Warne Tactical Mounts.  I will be posting thank you letters to each in coming days.

Picture Galleries:

My gallery (all my pictures are copyright released, do as you wish with them)
From Eric Anderson
From Dan Fitzpatrick