Army Marksmanship Unit News
The folks at the Army Marksmanship Unit PAO sent us the following press release;
RELEASE No. 20140423-01 April 23, 2014
Army Marksmanship Unit Action Shooting team doubles down in Vegas
By Michael Molinaro
USAMU PAO
LAS VEGAS – Soldiers from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) Action Shooting team won two titles at the 2014 U.S. Practical Shooting Association Multi-gun National Championships, April 18-20.
Staff Sgt. Daniel Horner won the overall title and first place in the Tactical Ops Division for an unprecedented sixth time, while Sgt. Matthew Sweeney won in the Heavy Metal Tactical Division.
“This is a huge match and being crowned a national champion is very prestigious,” said Sweeney, a Pinckneyville, Ill native. “We train up year-round just to get the title so it’s a great achievement for me.
“We have a great team behind us. We have unlimited support from the chain of command, great gunsmiths and a great unit behind us.”
It has been an impressive April for Horner. The Suffolk, Va.,native started off the month winning the U.S. Special Operations Command International Sniper Competition with teammate Sgt. Tyler Payne. After that, he won his second straight 3-Gun Nation Pro Series Tour win before securing this latest national championship in Las Vegas. The win marks his sixth national title in the Tactical Ops Division, the first shooter to ever accomplish the feat in the sports largest division.
“2014 has been good,” Horner said. “No one guy is great but together we can accomplish some pretty good things. We all support each other to make good decisions and come up with a good plan. You are still on your own when the clock goes off, but we keep each other focused on the goal at hand.”
All five USAMU shooters who competed this year finished in the top five in their respective divisions.
Unlike other competitions that focus on short-range shooting and shooting on the move, the Practical Shooting Association Multi-gun National Championships test shooters using odd-positions, barricades, stage planning, and long-range rifle targets in addition to moving quickly through stages.
“This year the shooting was difficult, but the speed at which you had to make the shots was so high that you couldn’t make any mistakes,” Horner said. “You would run out of shotgun ammo at some point if you missed one shot and (that’s a ten point penalty.)”
Highlighting the difference between AMU shooters and their civilian counterparts, after the awards ceremony, Horner and Sweeny jumped on a plane to train Soldiers preparing for deployment. Besides showcasing the very best of Army skills in competition, the unit applies lessons learned from marksmanship competitions to training Soldiers for combat and raising the Army’s Marksmanship proficiency.
Even after six national titles and a ranking as one of the best sniper teams currently in the world, Horner said he’ll never get to a point where he thinks he knows it all.
“I learn something every day,” Horner concluded. “I can learn something from every single person shooting and use it to help someone else or help me.”
Category: Army News
I watch 3 Gun Nation regularly on TV. SSG Horner Tore.It.UP. this year. Points-wise, he was so far ahead of the rest of the field that he didn’t even show up for the final regular season event in Tulsa and was still the number one seed in the Vegas championship.
Kudos and a hearty RLTW to Horner and the rest of shooters in the AMU.
LebbenB…I’d love to see that. What channel did you see it on?
By the way good for those guys.
To the right…showing what good military training does and what a weapon in the hands of a professional can do.
To the left…more deadly, crazed, vet gun owners to keep them awake at night. Good, I hope they get no sleep, except the sleep knowing they are FREE for the sake of men like these. TURDS.
It comes on the Sportsman’s Channel. Usually it’s a half hour show, but the Vegas final was an hour long. I usually learn something new every time I watch it; it gives me new techniques to practice when I go to the range.
For the upcoming season, all the matches are going to be held at the US Shooting Academy in Tulsa, OK. That’s only a couple of hours away and the wife and I are planning to go to a some of the matches.
Here’s a link to the 3GN website:
http://3gunnation.com/
Thanks LebbenB.
Awesome – Awesome – and oh ya – FREAKIN Awesome!!
WTG gentlemen!!
I shot few of the standard military rifle and pistol matches while I was in.
I was among the best shots in my battalion but when I threw in with the guys that were on the competetive teams I was like a little leaguer in the World Series. The top guys would put 57 out of 60 rounds in the black at 200, 300 and 500 yards.