2005 JROTC Nationals - With professional baseball returning to Washington D.C., hearing people talk about “The Nationals” has come to mean a little more these days. However, for young shooters who belong to JROTC rifle teams, “The Nationals” means something entirely different and the weight of the phrase has not changed. It is a big deal for them to qualify for “The Nationals” – the National JROTC Air Rifle Championship, that is. The 2005 event took place on 22-23 April at the Pool Shooting Range Complex at Ft. Benning, Georgia, the home of the Army Marksmanship Unit.

Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia Students Victorious in Navy JROTC Championship - The winning teams in the 2005 Navy JROTC Championship at Fort Benning, Georgia hailed from Georgia and North Carolina. The individual sporter and precision class champions represented NJROTC units at schools in Florida and North Carolina. 160 NJROTC cadets from as far away as California and Washington state were selected to represent their schools and JROTC units at the Fort Benning competition on 18-19 April and the top finishers in this championship now advance to the National JROTC Championship, which also takes place at Fort Benning during the same week, on 22-23 April.

New Safety Indicator Adopted for Air Rifles – Representatives of the CMP, USA Shooting and the NRA have recently approved the use of a new type of empty chamber indicator (ECI) for use in air rifle safety training and competition.  This new "Clear Barrel Indicator" (CBI) is easy to use and economical and is something most people may already have in their home.

Postal Competition Results Are In! – The CMP and its volunteers have been busy scoring the hundreds of entries received as part of the Army and Navy JROTC Postal Qualifier Matches used to determine who will attend the JROTC Air Rifle National Championships later this month at Ft. Benning, Georgia as well as the National Guard Bureau Junior Postal Competition, a separate competition whose winner could earn a trip to Bisley, England to compete with the best young shooters in the world.

Army JROTC Postal Results   Navy JROTC Postal Results          National Guard Bureau Postal Results

CMP Develops New JROTC Marksmanship Instructor Course – There are over 2,400 Army, Navy and Marine Corps JROTC units in the USA.  Statistics kept by JROTC commands and the CMP indicate that at least two-thirds or approximately 1,600 JROTC units offer rifle marksmanship programs to their cadets.  Most of those JROTC units have rifle teams and many actually provide basic safety and marksmanship training to all of the cadets in their programs.  The CMP has been working with the Army, Navy and Marine Corps JROTC programs to develop a new JROTC Marksmanship Instructor Course.  The one-day course teaches JROTC instructors about the sport of shooting and how to implement an air rifle marksmanship program in their schools.  Since the course was first introduced in February 2005, CMP-certified Master Instructors have already trained over 1,000 JROTC instructors.

Western CMP Games:  CMP Gold Medals to be Had in California May 14-15 –  In an effort to give more shooters from the western part of the USA an opportunity to participate in the CMP’s popular and challenging John C. Garand, Springfield and Vintage Military Rifle Matches, the CMP will hold the 1st Western CMP Games at Camp Pendleton, California May 14-15.  Find out how you can shoot in one of these matches and be part of the camaraderie and fun that comes from a Garand Match experience.

U.S. Military Match and Marksmanship Automatic Pistols by Bill Jenkins - For those interested in military match pistols that were used at the National Rifle and Pistol Matches and other pistil competitions, the search for well-researched and interesting source material just became much easier.  Recently published, U.S. Military Match and Marksmanship Automatic Pistols by Bill Jenkins of Medina, Ohio is an interesting and informative reading experience for anyone who has ever fired in the National Pistol Matches or other pistol competition as well as to collectors of the pistols and equipment that go along with that competition.   

Distinguished Shooters of Florida - Recently, the Florida State Rifle Association published a 48-page book titled Distinguished Shooters of Florida.  It is a detailed, up-to-date list of Florida residents who earned Distinguished Badges in the various shooting sports disciplines, including the prestigious Distinguished Rifleman, Distinguished Pistol Shot and Distinguished International Shooter Badges.  This publication is the product of fifteen years of work and research done by the author, Jim Perkins.  A total of 113 photographs and biographies of Distinguished shooters are included.  The individual listings have brief biographical data, Distinguished badge numbers and dates when they were earned.  This paperback book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the history of competitive shooting in Florida .  It will also be of interest to shooters and shooting history buffs from other states who would like to create something similar for their home states.