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Reader Comments:
I wanted to let you know that your news letter is outstanding. A lot of really
good info that I pass on to many people. Thank you.
David F.
Thanks for the work you
do. We enjoy the CMP Newsletter and updates. Sincerely, W. Chessman
I enjoy reading the email and look forward to it every week.
Thanks,
Eric C.
Having been a member of the Junior NRA during the late '50's where I
achieved the rating of Sharpshooter 6th Bar, I am honestly able to state that I
was pleasantly surprised and very pleased to see that you're still actively
pursuing today's youth to continue the interest of sport shooting (which I still
love). Thank you and warm regards.
Ted K., SCPO, USN Retired
Thank you for a great news letter.
J. B.
I shot high expert in the Marine Corps in the 60's with the venerable Garand and hope someday to own one again. I like reading TFS and their informative articles. Thanks for the excellent site.
Sincerely, Fred C.
I attended the Houston Gun Collectors January Show, and truthfully, the CMP display was the high point of the show for me. I'm still trying to decide about buying a Greek Collector Grade M-1 rifle (I have too many Garands already), but when all is said and done, I think the decision to take the CMP to such major gun shows is a real winner.
Larry S.
The First Shot is a well put together, informative on-line magazine. Kudos'
to the staff for the idea and content.
Col. Lance, USA-Ret.
PS Great revitalization and up grade of the old DCM.
Love these CMP Updates, faster than newsletters. Great info,
LTC Eaton, JROTC Lumberton H.S., Lumberton, N.C.
Hi,the Western CMP games sounds like a GREAT idea. I hope it works out as well as your matches do. I am hoping to shoot the Springfield Match along with the Garand Match this year. Again, I Thank all of you for being there for us shooters!
Warren W.
WONDERFUL IDEAS THESE WESTERN GARAND MATCHES , KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
JACK
Thanks for having an awesome site, I have never been disapointed.
Shane M.
Great website! I especially like the story about what you did for the 200th Red Horse Flight. I saw some of their previous work while in the Middle East last year.
Paul D., Lt Col, IN ANG, BSC
I think it is great. Keep it up
Don E.
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Sea Cadet Air Rifle Camp:
A Coaches View
By Ray Harvey, TN CMP State Junior Director & Camp Riflery Master Instructor
Ray
Harvey served as a coach and range officer during week I
of
the first CMP Naval Sea Cadets Marksmanship Camp.
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This is a fantastic Sea Cadet camp! There were sixty (60) sea cadets in the marksmanship camp, mostly from the midwest, but really from all over. I had eight sea cadets in my coaching unit from California, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. One of them had just come from LCDR Perez's recruit training in Florida.
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60 Sea Cadets were firing in the standing position by the 2nd day of
the camp. |
The camp is two weeks long, the food is good and the barracks are new. It is on Lake Erie, but nobody goes swimming. The nights were cool, down to 55 degrees and the days were warm, up to 92 degrees. There is very little marching and the marksmanship training is conducted under cover in the shade. There is PT every morning and movies every night. Another exciting thing about this camp is the location. Camp Perry is where the National Championship Rifle Matches are held every summer. The range is huge and the firing line runs for almost a mile. The ranges are 1000 yards long on the west end and 300 yards long on the end where we were shooting.
The CMP staff went all out to make this a successful first marksmanship camp for the Sea Cadets.
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| A
CMP camp counselor observes the targets being fired by two Sea Cadets. |
In the first week of the camp, we started everyone from the very basics in the supported position to teach safety, the sight picture, sight alignment, breath control, trigger control and sight adjustment. We took a safety quiz TWICE. Then we moved to standing position, to prone position and kneeling position. On Friday, we had a camp match which was won by one of the four girls in the camp. I did not have any of the girls in my coaching
group. The second week of camp was to be the regular Civilian
Marksmanship Program Air Rifle Summer Camp. See http://www.odcmp.com/Programs/camp.htm.
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| Dr.
Dan Durben, the CMP Junior Rifle Camp Director, was the lead
instructor during the second week of the camp. |
I can tell you that there is really good coaching there. People who attend that CMP
Three-Position Junior Air Rifle Summer Camps become national championship team members.
Army JROTC cadets from Bogalusa, LA are often the national champions and they never miss a summer there. I attended three with our daughter who eventually became TN state high school rifle champion. I also worked in three of them and I can tell you that the coaches are excellent. The assistant coaches are all either on college teams or are on the national olympic development team. The head coach, Dr.
Dan Durben, is an Olympian (1988) who served as the National Rifle Coach from 1997 through the 2000 Olympic Games and is the current Paralympic Rifle Coach.
The coaches at our own NSCC Marksmanship Camp were from several backgrounds. I am basically a high school rifle team coach with shooting experience in rifle competition, coaching experience in beginner through international level shooting, experience in running matches from the local to the national level and teaching experience in training other adults to coach youth rifle teams.
The man next to us on the line was CAPT John Hoffman, a retired policeman from Nashville and retired from the TN Air National Guard. He is the range officer for the match at Montgomery Bell Academy every October and for many national matches. He trains adults all over the country to coach juniors.
He was a pistol shooter in competition for many years with the National Guard Pistol Team. Next to him was a woman from Ohio who coaches 4-H BB-gun and air rifle teams in competition. Then on the other side of the tower was a U.S. Olympic team member who competed in Athens last summer in the three position rifle event (that is smallbore--.22 cal--rifle). It was interesting to meet another olympic team member. You will see and be coached by many of them in our sport. Beyond her were four college students who are on their school's NCAA rifle teams. One was from University of Nebraska, one from University of Akron, and one was from University of West Virginia. The head of the range was Gary Anderson and he was on the range every day, teaching and coaching. There are not many camps in the United States in ANY sport where you can get instruction from an Olympic athlete like Coach Anderson or Coach Durben. Coach Anderson won the Olympic gold medal TWICE, once in 1960 and again in 1964 in riflery.
He coached and taught all week, but we didn't get to see his gold medals.
Coach Durben will coach all this next week.
I met several of the commanding officers of the Sea Cadet divisions in the midwest and they are all just as squared away as our commanding officer. I met the new Smoky Mountain Division commanding officer, LT. Yeary from Maryville, TN, who was in charge of supply for the entire Combined Training Camp. The Marksmanship camp we were in and, from what I could tell, the RTC were both well conducted.
If you are at all interested in marksmanship, I would encourage you to attend the CMP Summer Camps next year. Contact Kathy Williams at (419) 635-2141 ext. 1109 or email kwilliams@odcmp.com to receive 2006 Summer Camp Information when
it becomes available.
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