Marine scores first combined win in Marine competition since 1959
Marine Staff Sgt. Payton Garcia (a fuel specialist!) matched a 66-year-old Marine Corps marksmanship record by taking the overall first prize in the Marine Corps Championships – in Pistol, Rifle, and Multi-Gun events with the highest overall score..
“We were curious about that during the actual conduct of the match, and we dug through all of our history books and records,” said Capt. John Bodzoich, the shooting team commander. “And what we found is, in the 124 years the team’s been around, and since the establishment of all these matches, Sgt. Garcia is the second Marine in history to do a clean sweep of the championships. So of the thousands of Marines that have come through, he’s the second one ever to win both high rifle, high pistol, and high overall [score].”
The annual Marine Corps Championships, held in Quantico, is a culminating event among shooters who advance through qualification competitions at major bases like Camp Pendleton in California and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Across 30 events, shooters face scenarios that the shooting team has dreamed up based on their experience in civilian practical shooting competitions. This year’s stations included shooting lanes from boats, from a balance beam, and even with a mandatory bench press set before shooting.
One of the things Garcia had to do was learn how to train. The Lawrence, KS native said he had almost no exposure to firearms or ranges prior to entering the service.
Garcia’s path to the top marksmanship awards in the Marine Corps, he said, traces directly back to getting smoked by a senior citizen and a grade schooler.
“One of the biggest things that went into my improvement was actually learning how to train,” Garcia said. “Actually sitting down and deep-diving into the fundamentals of shooting.”
Shooting against civilians and absorbing non-military training techniques, he said, was different than traditional Marine marksmanship training.
“Just like any other sport, there are build-ups to each one of those fundamentals that you need to do,” he said. “Structuralizing training and isolating skills that I’ve learned from those local matches, and realizing that it’s not all just about shooting. There’s a lot of mental aspects that go into shooting, where you’re competing at any level, realizing that you need to be in the right headspace.”
Senior citizen and a kid, you say?
“I did my first [Marine Corps marksmanship] match in 2021, and I did relatively well. I got a silver pistol badge on my first time,” Garcia told Task & Purpose. “Then I went to a match on the civilian side, thinking that I was, like, ‘The Shooter.’ The best ever.”
He was not.
“I got beat by a 68-year-old man and a 12-year-old little boy,” Garcia remembers. “And that’s when it lit a fire, like, realizing that there’s so much more to marksmanship. I was a Marine who thought that he was a really good marksman, and then getting humbled up in town made me realize how much we don’t know about marksmanship.” Task & Purpose
It’s worth noting that the multi-gun match was added since 1959, so his accomplishment is not just historic, but unique. Well worth reading the article, if for nothing else the descriptions of the various events.
As the top shooter, Garcia was awarded a historic trophy: his own M-1 Garand rifle, the same kind used by Marines in World War II.
He didn’t keep it and instead gave the rifle to Sgt. Kai Byrom, the highest-scoring first-year competitor, a mortarman and marksmanship coach with Weapons and Field Training Battalion, Parris Island.
“I thought it was more important to isolate and kind of award the next generation of Marines,” Garcia said. “So I thought it was important to spread marksmanship knowledge and to light a fire under some of the newer guys by awarding or deferring the M1 to that Marine. It’s more important for the next generation, and not about us.”
Sounds like this young staff sergeant has his head screwed on straight.
Category: Marines
“Marine Staff Sgt. Payton Garcia (a fuel specialist!)…”
Once again, our fundamental Marine Corps ethos of “Every Marine a Rifleman” is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Well done SSgt Garcia!
“Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman. All other conditions are secondary.”
— General Alfred M. Gray USMC —
29th Commandant of the Marine Corps
BZ SSgt Garcia. Any prize worth having is worth training for. Nice gesture to pass the M1 prize on to the next generation. Betcha SSgt Garcia won’t have to buy his own beer @ the NCO Club for a long time.
I hope that SSgt Garcia tells the next generation to keep the side of his hand hard on the operating rod while using his thumb to push down on the Eclip follower to let the slide ride home… Being a member of the M-1 Thumb Brotherhood I smiled when I read your comment. Anythind to add Rgr 769
Back in the early 70’s I used to compete in what was then the combat pistol league (like IDPA now), high and low power silhouette. Then life and career got in the way taking away all my weekends.
Now more than 50 years later I picked up pistol shooting again. I am doing it for fun and to improve my marksmanship. I had a brief thought that I’d do OK being I never stopped shooting. I got my ass handed to me. By everyone there, including a couple guys in their 80’s.
I learned that without my computer glasses, there was no more front sight. Not good for hitting small targets. I learned my iron sight days are well past. Now I use a red dot, leave my trusty revolver at home and just try to not be last. Damn things got much more intense than before.
Same here, I started in 1970 working for Brink’s and after I received my open carry NYC permit I joined the companies pistol team. Some of the members used S&W K .38 Target wheel guns/4inch barrels for comp and working. I stayed with the work issued S&W Mod 10 .38 4 in. bull barrel for work and bought the S&W .38 Mod 14 masterpiece with the 6 inch barrel and had a gunsmith in New Jersey add a Bomar rib and bomar target sights to the gun to give the barrel some weight for using in police L/X bullseye target shooting and for combat matches, I used the work issued S&W Mod 10 bull Barrel and used those leather on the belt ammo carriers that you wore upside down so the 6 rounds dropped into your hand. Shot in a NJ combat match and all the LEOS had autos and and asked us what we were doing with wheel guns. We were issued S&W .40 ,, mod 4046’s right after 9/11. The company went to a different model after I retired in 2007.
Good job, Marine!
Now I’m a bit anxious. I just found a nearby range that holds USPSA matches at a time I can attend. I’m liable to get my eye wiped.
Shoot for “smooth”. Shoot for “clean”. Speed will come from eliminating wasted motions around smooth and clean.
Wyatt Earp is reported to have said
I need to dig my copy of Earp’s biography out to try to get that correct, but something to that effect.
I think that retired Sheriff Jim Wilson has said something similar.
When target shooting my goal is to get the first rounds in the “A” box as quickly as I can – but definitely in the “A” box!
Related – believe it was Bill Jordan who said ” you can’t miss fast enough to win.”
I kinda thought the Corps of yester-century looked pretty damn cool when all of them wore the campaign cover in the field— like the old pics of them chasing guerillas during the 1920s and 1930s.
Always think about that when I see these covers.
That was great he deferred his SECNAV trophy rifle to the top new shooter.
The Navy also still awards them as well.
Way to go Devildog!!!