rd Troop Command Photos by Iain Jaramillo, NMNG Public Affairs Raton, N.M. – The New Mexico National Guard held The Adjutant General’s Match for 2019 at the NRA Whittington Center here July 22-24. The match was the sixth annual iteration of a statewide shooting competition for the Guard’s competitive shooters. This year’s match drew 34 participants from across the state, representing a variety of units and individual military occupational specialties. The three-day match saw competitors participate in 12 separate shooting events intended to test and train each competitor on advanced rifle, pistol, and shotgun marksmanship. “Our focus is training, then shooting,” said Sgt. Maj. Gerald Burkhart, the Match Director. “[The match] gives Soldiers an opportunity to think on their feet,” added Burkhart, referring to the challenging and unique courses of fire offered. While standard military marksmanship requires annual or semi-annual qualification on well-defined courses of fire, the match trained and tested a variety of skills not ordinarily required with standard marksmanship training. These included shooting from behind barricades, rapidly changing shooting positions, engaging multiple targets at a variety of distances, moving while shooting, and shooting out to distances of 500 yards with rifles, compared with the maximum distance of 300 yards on a normal qualification course. All competitors used normal service arms, including the M-16 rifle, M-9 pistol, and the M-500 shotgun. “It was definitely fun, definitely an experience that I’ve never, never had,” said Spc. Colton Esquivel, a military police Soldier assigned to the 126th Military Police Company. “This stuff is really advanced and it puts you beyond the standard by far,” said Staff Sgt. Ivan Varela, another military policeman assigned to the 126th. “It has made me a better shooter.” Regardless of where the individual competitors placed at the end of the match, each had the opportunity to participate in an advanced marksmanship training event and learn valuable skills that each will carry back to his or her respective unit. “They’ll teach, train, and mentor their peers,” said Burkhart, commenting on how the skills learned at the match will improve the shooting skills of the New Mexico National Guard as a whole.]]>
