CAMP PERRY, OHIO – While few attendees admit that they learn scads of new information at the Rifle Small Arms Firing School (SAFS), one thing is certain – there are very few empty seats in the Camp Perry auditorium on Day One of the school and there is seldom a no-show on the firing line that afternoon for practice firing or at the M-16 Excellence in Competition (EIC) match on the morning of Day Two.

This year’s winner of the M16 EIC match held Sunday, 27 July was Gabe Hendricks, who fired a 375-5X out of a possible 400 in the 40-shot match consisting of prone slow-fire, prone rapid-fire, sitting and standing at a distance of 200 yards. Hendricks’s spread scores were 91-0X, 95-2X, 94-2X and 95-1X, respectively.

Sean Leighton, who fired a 378-7X placed first in the Overall Rankings of the M16 EIC Match. Leighton is already a Distinguished Rifleman so he was not eligible to win the EIC match. Leighton’s spread scores were 97-3X, 98-2X, 95-1X and 88-1X, respectively. Air National Guard Staff Sergeant Edward Altmeyer Jr., who already had EIC credit points and also was not eligible to win the EIC match, finished second overall with an aggregate score of 376-2X.

The top 10 percent of all SAFS students who fire this match and who have not earned any EIC points are awarded “introductory” 4-point legs to start them on their quest for the prestigious Distinguished Rifleman Badge. This year, 52 shooters earned 4-point legs toward Distinguished. The cut-off score for EIC points was 344-3X.

The rifle SAFS and M16 EIC Match attract new and veteran shooters alike each year. Attendees are provided with outstanding instruction in the classroom by members of the US Army Marksmanship Unit shooting team and on the firing line by USAMU and Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine and Navy Active, National Guard and Reserve shooting team members.

So if students, most of them who are frequent repeaters of the program, deny taking many eye-opening marksmanship revelations to their buddies at the club back home, why do they keep coming back?

“I don’t want you to use my name, but I can tell you why,” said a multi-year “veteran’ of the school.

“Shooters are kind of a proud bunch and none of them like to admit that they don’t know it all.”

“So they come back year after year and pick up tidbits of new information and receive a lot of reinforcement of what they have learned in the past – either from the SAFS or from their own shooting experience,” he said.

There may be something to that because many of the attendees of the SAFS, which is considered an entry-level, fundamental marksmanship primer, are found on the firing line participating in the President’s Rifle Match, National Trophy Individual Match and more in the days that follow.

“I love the class,” said Dan Skinner, 27, of Belleville, Ohio. “It’s basic, but that’s good for people like me,” he said. Skinner also confided that the class section on wind and weather was very good.

“I shoot a lot of scope, so learning to shoot with open sights and how to approach weather changes is very important to me,” Skinner said.

The first-time SAFS participant said he his bringing his wife next year. Skinner is in the process of becoming certified to instruct 4-H smallbore rifle and pistol through the CMP instructor training program.

It was Skinner’s first time firing an M16. His reaction to the experience?

“I want one!”

Derek Stratelak, 47, of Grosse Point, Michigan and his daughters Nikki, 17 and Jenny, 15, have turned the SAFS into a family tradition. The family camps at nearby East Harbor State Park. It’s Nikki’s fourth SAFS and Jenny’s third.

Derek is a veteran shooter of 21 years who began in sporting clays.

“I had always thought shooting paper targets seemed boring. I liked the idea of shooting at moving objects,” Derek explained.

“But all of a sudden I decided to shoot at Camp Perry as a life experience and now we spend a week here and I shoot Springfield, Garand, Presidents and NTI.”

He finished ninth in the M16 EIC match this year, only nine points from the top.

Nikki says with honesty, “I like the class the least, but I like the pits,” (pulling targets for other shooters) she said.

Navy reservist, Master at Arms First Class JB Stern, 44, of Agawam, Massachusetts and member of the Navy Marksmanship Team, brought his son Jake, 13, to the SAFS for the second time.

“I’d like it to become a family tradition,” the Navy vet said. “This is an important time for us.”

MA1 Stern, now a police officer, recently returned from a deployment in Kuwait and took the opportunity to bond with Jake and Jake’s friend, John Kroetz, 13.

Kaitlin Cleven, 17, of Greenleaf, Wisconsin and friends Steven Sabah, 13 and Kyle Doney, 16, of neighboring Green Bay came to SAFS for the first time for an education.

“It’s a good learning experience and reinforcement of things I’m familiar with,” Kyle said. “When I leave here, I’ll know what to expect in other competitions,” he added.

A shooter for the past four to five years, Kyle said he’s starting to get into Palma. “I want to be a belly shooter.”

Kaitlin, a horse rider, is a five-year veteran of air rifle and smallbore competition.

“It’s great to have instructors to help us when they notice we’re not dong something right,” she said.

The Department of Defense first conducted the Small Arms Firing Schools (SAFS) as part of the National Matches at Camp Perry in 1918. Federal law continues to require the annual conduct of Small Arms Firing Schools, which now instruct nearly one thousand pistol and rifle shooters each year in firearms safety and fundamental marksmanship skills.

Photos from this years Rifle Small Arms Firing School and M16 EIC Match are posted on the CMP website at http://www.odcmp.com/Photos.htm.

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