MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. -- Nine Airmen were named champions out of nearly 100 who competed for a spot at the top during an M4 carbine rifle competition here, Aug. 27.
The competition, part of a larger “Airmen’s Week” morale event, was conducted by combat arms training and maintenance personnel assigned to the 341st Missile Security Operations Squadron. It was open to all active-duty personnel in uniform and Department of War civilians with common access cards.
Though the competition was not facilitated like a typical weapons training one might attend as part of their operational requirements, the overseeing CATM instructors maintained a safe and strictly uniform sequence of events. It began with a safety brief where participants learned there would be absolutely no assisting, coaching or correcting offered while on the range: if something were to go even slightly awry – say, a double feed – competitors would be asked to leave immediately.
“Safety is an utmost priority for us, even during a friendly skills competition like this,” said Senior Airman Blake Spellman, CATM instructor with the 341st MSOS. “I’m talking to my guys constantly as they’re out there on the range to make sure the shooters know what they’re doing. If they notice someone maybe isn’t as knowledgeable or confident in their abilities, it’s nothing personal, but I cannot in good conscious let them continue firing.”
Four instructors, easily identified on the range thanks to their bright red ball caps, kept detailed watch over the shooters and reported to each other through cupped hands over the mouth pieces of their communications headsets.
Spellman served in the tower operator position, or “god” as the instructors affectionately described it, during the competition. He sat in a small cube atop a set of stairs behind the firing line, with huge windows to his left, right and center that gave an unrestricted field of vision over the entire range. In front of him sat a three-ring binder, thick with printed instructions, and a black time-worn microphone that amplified his scripted commands into the ether.
Instructors and shooters alike responded in synchronicity to Spellman’s orders: magazines were loaded, boots toed up behind a yellow safety line, red-capped heads nodded in unison, and hands gripped matte black weapons at port arms position.
For the instructors, this competition was a blip in the timeline of their annual workload. On average they conduct training upwards of two to three times per day, certifying approximately 4,000 members per fiscal year on an expansive range of weapons.
“I think this is the best job in the Air Force,” said Staff Sgt. Chase Coleman, CATM instructor with the 341st MSOS. “It’s all about being ready and protecting our assets, our personnel and the families on base.”
The job is more than just training and certifying members on weapons though, according to Coleman. At Malmstrom, a team of just three civilians and 10 active-duty members are charged with ensuring every single military weapon on base is safe and operational.
“It’s a big deal, the amount of responsibility we have in this job,” Coleman said. “But I love it, I really do. I’ve been doing it for 4 ½ years and don’t see that changing any time soon. For me, definitely the most gratifying thing [during training] is when students get that lightbulb moment after they were maybe having a hard time on the range.”
Back on the range, shooters finished zeroing their weapons and getting familiar with firing in the different positions that would be included during the formal leg of the competition: standing unsupported, kneeling unsupported, sitting unsupported, and prone unsupported.
Spellman’s booming voice then came from above with instructions on how many cartridges the shooters needed to load in each of their magazines before beginning round one. Carbon-covered fingers fed rounds into magazines at the loading benches, and once all four instructors in the bay gave a gesture to verify shooters were indeed ready, the event was called to a start by the tower operator.
For the next 30 minutes, shooters fired a total of 50 rounds from all four positions in sequence, each time at a different quadrant of their targets within a pre-determined window of 45 or 60 seconds. With each shot worth a maximum of 10 points, the goal was to earn as close to 500 points as possible and be named champion.
Most competitors hailed from the 341st Security Forces Group, which gave a perceived trained advantage over their peers from different career fields that don’t require firearms training as frequently. Still, that did not dissuade plumbers, maintainers, missileers, vehicle operators, aviation resource management specialists, force management technicians, or any other craft from showing up to prove their skills.
“I fire a lot as part of my job but also as a hobby,” said Senior Airman Nicholas Barras, missile security officer assigned to the 741st Missile Security Forces Squadron. “I wanted to compete today to gauge where I’m at compared to others, and maybe walk away having learned something.”
Barras, who hails from Chapin, South Carolina, scored 352 points; his score was 58 points higher than the total average.
Competitors fired towards their individual silhouetted targets after slow, controlled breaths. The third round was almost complete. Shiny brass casings ejected after each shot, landing on the cement with a smoking, delicate tinkering that juxtaposed the booming thunder of gunfire.
As magazines were reloaded before the fourth and final round, instructors reflected on their collective years of experience together by pulling down shirt collars and rolling up jacket sleeves to show off their scars, courtesy of free-falling “hot brass.”
And finally, after competitors spent their 60 seconds in the prone position to fire 20 rounds, Spellman called “Cease fire!” and waited for his fellow instructors to confirm the bay was clear before concluding the event.
Empty casings were swept up as instructors totaled scores on pock-marked targets, and after nearly 100 shooters were cycled through four iterations of the competition, nine were selected as the top 10%:
- Tech. Sgt. Nathan Turgeon, 341st Civil Engineer Squadron: 444 points
- Senior Airman Kyle Chandler, 341st Missile Maintenance Squadron: 440 points
- Senior Airman Brody Hays, 341st Civil Engineer Squadron: 431 points
- Chief Master Sgt. Christopher Bounds, 341st Missile Security Forces Squadron: 430 points
- 1st Lt. Johnny Dahl, 490th Missile Squadron: 429 points
- Senior Airman Mason Brown, 341st Missile Security Operations Squadron: 428 points
- Master Sgt. Noah Hyatt, 841st Missile Security Forces Squadron: 413 points
- Master Sgt. Alexander Short, 341st Security Forces Squadron: 408 points
- Staff Sgt. Chase Coleman, 341st Missile Security Operations Squadron: 407 points
The top scorers are now eligible to wear the Air Force Excellence in Competition Rifle badge on their service dress uniform.
“I laughed when the instructor gave me my score, I couldn’t believe it,” said Tech. Sgt. Nathan Turgeon, first place winner and Ludlow, Massachusetts native. “I went to the competition because I wanted to enjoy some time with my Airmen for Airmen’s Week.”
Turgeon, section chief for the 341st CES water and fuels systems maintenance shop, praised the CATM instructors for not only being professional and keeping the event safe, but for making it a fun and enjoyable experience.
“We definitely had some laughs,” he said. “It was a nice break from the heavy operations tempo my shop has endured recently. It felt like a resiliency down day for us, which made it worth it.”