FIRST NON US CITIZEN TO BE HONOURED
"DISTINGUISHED RIFLEMAN"

After reading all I could find on the internet, and getting a hold of the NRA rulebook, it was clear that this was a target shooting sport I wanted to pursue.  At this point, I’d been shooting for 16 years so I was no stranger to various shooting sports.  It was very clear in my mind that shooting 3 positions with a repeating rifle over multiple distances out to 600 yards, in slow and rapid fire strings, was exactly what I wanted to do.  Sounds like Service Rifle.  Well, it is, but it isn’t just restricted to service rifle shooters.  However, calling this style “service rifle” is a great injustice.  It is simply high power rifle, or centrefire rifle, for any repeating rifle.  All rifles compete in their own class, of which there are a couple, and service is certainly one of them, and probably the most popular.

My enquiries over the coming years all lead me to “Camp Perry”.  What was this place, what happened there…etc?  The enquiries continued.

Some years went by, when I finally got to shoot a couple of XC matches in the US.  It was in North Carolina followed with a match in Florida.  They were both amazing experiences.

Given these courses were effectively already practiced in Australia, typically during service rifle courses, I pondered the question of possibly getting service shooters to also shoot this international style of service shooting.  We simply need to add X-ring targets to our sheds, whip up some new scoresheets, and give it a go.  It all made sense to break down the barriers and open up our sport to a variety of different courses.

In 2002, I met Peter Barnier at a Fly Shoot in Tamworth.  Peter is, hardly arguably, the best service shooter in Australia.  I had heard Peter visited Camp Perry in the late 90’s a couple of times, so I obviously had some questions for him.

XC was first introduced to Australia during an international postal shoot that was advertised to contacts of groups that were known to shoot service rifle back in 2002.  Aubrey Sonnenberg was very keen on this course and talked of us visiting Camp Perry in coming years, so helped to start AIHPA with myself to formally manage XC in Australia.  My mind was racing for a prosperous international based sport shooting future.

True to Aubrey’s dream, we had 6 keen shooters organised for Camp Perry in 2005, which was to be my fist trip there.  It was an amazing experience.  The size, scale, organisation, professionalism and participation are something Australian shooters can, unfortunately, only dream about.  It seems it was a duty for local shooters to be there, but every shooter was proud of it.  The best bit of the trip was getting an AR15 in my hands, and shooting target matches with it, and proving that shooting a National Match AR15 is as accurate as any target rifle out there.  From this trip, to current day, I only shoot the Service Rifle category in the US using an AR15.  If I want to shoot bolt guns, I’d stay in Australia.

My very first shot fired at Camp Perry was in an EIC match.  EIC stands for “Excellence In Competition”.  EIC is a system run by the CMP.  The CMP is the Civilian Marksmanship Program that is funded by the US Government and is heavily backed and supported by the US Defence Forces.

Matches specially sanctioned by the CMP are called EIC matches, but are often referred to as “Leg” matches because of their scoring system.  Leg matches are run to accumulate Leg points.  Once a shooter accumulates 30 leg points and “legs out”, the shoot earns the “Distinguished Rifleman” honour.  Going “Distinguished” is a very big deal.  Every shooter in the US wants this honour, but achieving it isn’t easy.

Leg point allocations based on the significance of a match and the number of shooters in the match – the more shooters in a match, the more leg points available.  The winner of a match gets 10 leg points, 2nd 8 points and 3rd 6 points and so on.  But earning points is only one part of the scheme.

A shooter may accumulate more than 30 points by place finishing in various leg matches, but still NOT be distinguished (legged out).  A shooter must ALSO win an EIC match outright, which is known as the “hard leg” (because it is harder to win a match than finish 2nd or 3rd).  Because of the “hard leg”, many shooters have accumulated more than enough points, but just can’t get that desperate hard leg win to “leg out”.  And, the longer you wait, with the more matches you shoot, the more nervous you are at each match, making legging out even more difficult.

During the 2005 EIC match, I opened my account by earning 4 leg points.  4 points were offered because there were so many competitors, so they offer more leg points.  I thought…who cares.  With high average marksmanship skills amongst the US competitors, I will never earn another leg point, never mind legging out.

2006 was a disastrous year.  I had everything go wrong, and I just couldn’t get into it, to get some good scores posted when it counted.  I didn’t earn a single point.  But, I didn’t care about legging out, because I accepted there was no way I could achieve it…the cost, the time…the inability to practice in Australia…it was all against me.

2007 was a great year, where we practiced in the week leading up to Perry, and I kept the momentum to manage finishing high in the placing’s earning a further 10 leg points.  I’m now on 14 points, and could not wait for 2008.  Suddenly, everybody I knew was talking about how to leg out, what is expected, possible matches I could attend to give myself the best chance possible, etc.  It is all time and money, and I typically suffer from being a little short of both.

2008 was the year I truly expected to earn 10 points, and possibly consider the fact I could leg out in 2009.  Well, it wasn’t to be.  Still getting acclimatised, the first few days saw me shoot the worst I have ever shot at Perry.

In contrast, the 2nd week of Perry, NRA week, I shot very well and managed to earn my NRA “High Master” classification.  Later, I was told I am the first High Master for High Power outside North America.  I’ve emailed the NRA to verify this, and am waiting a response.

2 months after Perry, while shooting an AR15 was still fresh in my mind, and my eye was still talking to my finger and consciousness, I flew back to the US, desperate to make amens for my poor showing at Perry, to attend the Western CMP Games, Creedmoor Cup and Texas State Service Rifle Championships.

The Creedmoor EIC match held at Ben Avery range in Phoenix Arizona was fantastic.  I felt fresh and was shooting very well through very tricky conditions in what as a reasonably uneventful match (the way I like it).  I won the match outright, earning me 10 points and getting my “hard leg” behind me.  It was now up to Texas and, being 6 points from legging out, my nerves not giving out on me.

We rolled into Camp Swift Texas for the State Match ready for a big result.  My nerves were hard to control, as legging out was the only real objective at this point.  With 2 matches to shoot before the EIC match, one would think I had plenty of time to work the nerves away, get solid zero’s and practice.  Well, that might be true on the first match, but the 2nd match was a bit of a disaster.  So many people reminding me about legging out, I could hardly concentrate.

The last day of the Texas event was the EIC match.  This was it, and I had everything on my side – I slept well, felt well, am shooting well, I just need to stay focused and do what I do.

After the 200 standing slow, 200 sitting rapid and the 300 prone rapid fire, I was only 9 points down.  Nowhere near my best results, but they were good and I was still feeling confident going into the 600 prone slow.  This is where matches are lost, but I typically do well at given the amount of mid-range prone shooting I have done.  The conditions were picking up, which I like, so things were looking good.

A few shots into the 600, and all was good.  All X’s and 10’s.  Then, I shot again but the target didn’t go down.  We called for a mark.  It came up a miss.  I could not believe it, so I asked for it to be rechecked.  A scorer from 3 targets down came up and said there was a cross fire.  I cannot believe I cross fired, 3 targets down, but it must have been me.  My dream was slipping away…fast.  Dropping 1 or 2 points can cost you a gong amongst this competition, but to drop 10 points usually puts you way back in the pack.  My next shot was a 7, which I took under duress, and wasn’t doing myself any favours.  With plenty of time remaining, I took a few minutes to regain my composure and get on with it the job at hand.  I finished with lots of X’s and 10’s but unfortunately shot a few 9’s.  I was devastated.

My next job was pit duty to mark targets for other competitors.  It is a good time to think about how silly my mistake was, and go over it in my mind as to what could of happened to train myself to not do it again.  Cross firing is not something I typically do during slow fire prone.

At the close of business, a great Texan friend of mine, Glenn Edgard, came to the pits looking for me.  He gave me the news and congratulated me on earning 8 leg points and ultimately legging out.  I was so happy.  I could not believe it.  It was the most amazing feeling.

My highlight of the trip was earning my hard leg in Arizona and legged out in Texas – the 2 states I love shooting in.

The presentation at Texas was great, and some kind words were said about my attendance and accomplishment.  It was also confirmed within a day or so, from Gary Anderson himself, that I was the first non US citizen to achieve Distinguished Rifleman, out of all the international competitors over the years.  Gary Anderson, the Director of the CMP, publicly said this achievement is a defining moment in history.

Overlooking the accomplishment, some interesting stats to become distinguished are: it cost 170,000 km in travel, approximately $45,000, 6000 rounds and 50 actual shooting days.  It was worth every cent, every second, every kilometre and every round.

I’ll be back at Perry in 2009, just because…I love it.

Many thanks must be given to some key people and groups (in alphabetical order).  AIHPA, Aubrey Sonnenberg, Bob Laird, Clint Greenwood, CMP, CMP Staff (especially Christie and Laurie), Doug Giraud, Gary Anderson (CMP) Glenn Edgard, Mike Krei, Noble Hathaway, NRA, NRA Staff, Peter Cuddy, Rick Crawford, Roy Smith, SSAA NSW, and every single shooter and shooting supporter that I met during my time shooting High Power.  Many thanks.

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