Each year, the CMP awards 100 $1000 scholarships to college ROTC cadets based on their leadership, academic and marksmanship accomplishments. Cadet Michael Mann, who is now a senior in Army ROTC at Virginia Tech has been a CMP ROTC Scholarship recipient each of the four years he has been in college. One week ago, Cadet Mann was one of two dozen military cadets who competed alongside 160 Active, Reserve and National Guard soldiers in the 2007 U. S. Army Small Arms Championship. In these service rifle and pistol competitions that took place at Fort Benning, Georgia on 5-12 March, Mann finished as the overall high scoring cadet. He also won a “leg” that counts towards being awarded the prestigious Distinguished Rifleman Badge.

Cadet Mann, 21, of Prospect, Kentucky, was a 2003 graduate of South Oldham County High School. He has been shooting competitive high-power service rifle competitions since he was 14. Each summer, for the past six years, he has trained and competed as a member of the Kentucky State Rifle and Pistol Association's junior service rifle team that competes at the National Matches at Camp Perry.

In winning the top military cadet award at the All-Army Matches, Cadet Mann placed 22nd overall with his score of 849, which aggregated results from four different individual matches including the Audie Murphy Match that begins with a mile run in full combat gear (running time counts in the match score). For winning the top military cadet award, Mann received a presentation M1 Garand rifle provided by the CMP. Mann also placed 8th among 138 Non-Distinguished competitors in the All-Army Excellence-in-Competition Match to earn six additional EIC points to give him 16 of the 30 points he needs to earn the Distinguished Rifleman badge.

The U. S. Army Small Arms Championship is open to all members of the U.S. Army, Active, Army Reserve and National Guard. The service rifle and service pistol events on the program constitute a supreme test of combat marksmanship skills for the soldiers who participate. The U. S. Army Marksmanship Unit conducts the championship. The CMP provided results services for the competitions. Check the CMP web site at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=2056 to see all of the results.

Cadet Mann will not be a candidate for another CMP ROTC Scholarship this year since he will graduate from Virginia Tech in May and will receive a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army. He plans to serve as a Field Artillery Officer. That will not, however, prevent him from returning to Fort Benning to compete in the next All-Army Matches as an Active Duty Officer.