~Missouri National Guard sweeps the Winston P. Wilson overall team awards
by Maj. Theresa Austin, National Guard Marksmanship Training Center
ROBINSON MANEUVER TRAINING CENTER, Ark. – The Missouri Army National Guard Team and Spc. Thomas Carpenter with the South Dakota Army National Guard swept during the 2018 Winston P. Wilson Small Arms Championship Award Ceremony hosted by the National Guard Marksmanship Training Center in Sherwood, Ark. May 3, 2018.
Missouri took home all three overall team awards and two overall individual awards, as well as a plethora of individual and team match awards. The overall team champion awards were for Overall Aggregate, Pistol and Rifle. The overall individual awards were Overall Aggregate and Pistol.
Missouri wasn’t the only one sweeping. There is a new competitive shooter working his way up, Spc. Thomas Carpenter with the South Dakota Army National Guard. He took all three Overall Individual Novice awards, the Overall Aggregate, Pistol and Rifle, as well as earned his Chief’s 50 Badge. There were 14 other new recipients of the Chief’s 50 Badge and the other 35 are multiple recipients of the Chief’s 50 Badge.
The Chief’s 50 Badge far surpasses the Basic Marksmanship Qualification Badges, and is a difficult award to earn since previous recipients are included in top 50. It is awarded on behalf of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, and is a permanent National Guard Marksmanship Badge that can be worn on the duty and dress service uniforms. The Chief’s 50 is modeled after the President’s 100 Marksmanship Tab award and the Governor’s Twenty is modeled after the Chief’s 50.
For nearly half of a century, the WPW matches have shown that the National Guard is a formidable force when it comes to deadly accurate marksmanship. Most of the top competitors have attended at least one of the courses offered at NGMTC, and some of those marksmen are members of the prestigious President’s 100, which is made up of the top 100 shooters in the country and is open to military personnel and civilians.
“As competitive as they are, the matches aren’t solely about defining who is the best,” said Lt. Col. Todd C. Stuff, NGMTC Administrative Officer. “Ultimately, the focus is on training.”
The training offers shooters a chance to exercise one of the most important Army skills, marksmanship. Competitors were required to engage targets from multiple positions, including sitting, standing, and prone while moving from multiple firing lines during courses of fire. Some drills required the competitors to shoot from great distances and run to their next firing line with no time to rest before targets presented themselves.
For many soldiers, this one of the few times they get to fire their weapons each year. “This is the most range time we get all year,” said Sgt. Dustin Fox, a 214th MP with the Alabama National Guard.
Honing marksmanship skills to this level doesn’t come easy and often requires hours of practice and patience. Most of theses Soldiers find time throughout the year to get together and practice their marksmanship skills on their own time. These Soldiers then take their skills learned through these competitions back to their units and pass it along to improve the overall lethality and effectiveness of the unit.
WPW Small Arms Championship Team Results
Overall State Team Champion
1 Missouri (Alpha) National Guard
2 Texas (Alpha) National Guard
3 Illinois (Alpha) National Guard
Overall Rifle Team Champion
1 Missouri (Alpha) National Guard, scoring 2455
2 Illinois (Alpha) National Guard, scoring 2363
3 Missouri (Bravo) National Guard, scoring 2269
Overall Pistol Team Champion
1 Missouri (Alpha) National Guard, scoring 3134
2 Texas (Alpha) National Guard, scoring 2775
3 South Carolina (Alpha) National Guard, scoring 2723
WPW Small Arms Championship Individual Results
Overall Individual Champion-Open
1 Staff Sgt. Michael Richey, Missouri Army National Guard, scoring 1761 with 20 Xs & 27 Vs
2 1st Sgt. James Phelps, Missouri Army National Guard, scoring 1753 with 22 Xs & 21 Vs
3 Sgt. Brandon Swanson, Wisconsin Army National Guard, scoring 1752 with 19 Xs & 19 Vs
Overall Individual Champion-Novice
1 Spc. Thomas Carpenter, South Dakota Army National Guard, scoring 1575 with 18 Xs & 18 Vs
2 Sgt. Dwight Bushong, Kentucky Army National Guard, scoring 1447 with 15 Xs & 9 Vs
3 Sgt. David Anderson, California Army National Guard, scoring 1440 with 16 Xs & 6 Vs
Overall Rifle Individual Champion-Open
1 Sgt. Brandon Swanson, Wisconsin Army National Guard, scoring 960 with 9 Xs & 19 Vs
2 Master Sgt. Nathan Watters, Arkansas Air National Guard, scoring 959 with 12 Xs & 21 Vs
3 1st Sgt. James Phelps, Missouri Army National Guard, scoring 955 with 12 Xs & 21 Vs
Overall Rifle Individual Champion-Novice
1 Spc. Thomas Carpenter, South Dakota Army National Guard, scoring 854 with 7 Xs & 18 Vs
2 Staff Sgt. Morgan Davidson, Utah Army National Guard, scoring 817 with 5 Xs & 12 Vs
3 Sgt. Zachary Walker, Missouri Army National Guard, scoring 803 with 10 Xs & 11 Vs
Overall Pistol Individual Champion-Open
1 Staff Sgt. Michael Richey, Missouri Army National Guard, scoring 810 with 12 Xs
2 Sgt. 1st Class Paul Deugan, Iowa Army National Guard, scoring 798 with 13 Xs
3 1st Sgt. James Phelps, Missouri Army National Guard, scoring 798 with 10 Xs
Overall Pistol Individual Champion-Rifle
1 Spc. Thomas Carpenter, South Dakota Army National Guard, scoring 721 with 11 Xs
2 Maj. Aaron Combs, Ohio Army National Guard, scoring 692 with 13 Xs
3 Spc. John Jordan, South Carolina Army National Guard, scoring 684 with 8 Xs
WPW Small Arms Championship Chief’s 50 Badge Recipients
Sgt. 1st Class John Paul Cholak, Texas Army National Guard, Badge # CR-325
Sgt. Alexandra Wilson, Virginia Army National Guard, Badge # CP-222
Staff Sgt. David Ball, Missouri Army National Guard, Badge # CP-223
Staff Sgt. Justin Oddy, Vermont Air National Guard, Badge # CP-224
Staff Sgt. Patrick Stuckey, South Carolina Army National Guard, Badge # CP-225
Master Sgt. Kirk Holmer, Utah Army National Guard, Badge # CP-226
Staff Sgt. Jerry Dement, Missouri Army National Guard, Badge # CP-227
Sgt. 1st Class David Paquette, Virginia Army National Guard, Badge # CP-228
Spc. Thomas Carpenter, South Dakota Army National Guard, Badge # CP-229
National Guard Marksmanship Training Center 