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| Robert Fox of Forest, Ohio was the winner of the Inaugural M-16 EIC Match at the 2004 National Rifle Matches. Fox fired a score of 370-5x. He is being congratulated at the post-match award ceremony by Lt. Colonel David Liwanag, Commander of the U. S. Army Marksmanship Unit, which supported the conduct of the match.
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Since the CMP began adding new matches to the National Matches, the number of new shooters participating in highpower service rifle shooting has gone up significantly. Matches such as the John C. Garand Match, the Springfield and Military Bolt Rifle Match, as well as the Rimfire Sporter Match have become great attractions to the National Matches, bringing in shooters who previously were put off by the thought of competing at Camp Perry.
Another new match, called the M-16 EIC Match, was added in the 2004 National Matches. The objective of this match is to give new shooters an introduction to the quest for earning the Distinguished Rifleman Badge, one of the highest awards a rifle shooter can aspire to earn. The M-16 EIC Match gives shooters a chance to earn their first “Excellence-in-Competition” (EIC) points that count towards earning their Distinguished Rifleman Badge. It is hoped that this experience will encourage them to become even more active in the exciting and challenging sport of highpower service rifle competition.
The M-16 EIC Match is a joint effort between the CMP and the Army Marksmanship Unit. The match is fired with rack-grade M-16 service rifles and ball ammunition issued on the line. Competitors are not allowed to use their own rifles in this match. To conduct the match, USAMU provided M-16 service rifles that were used in the Small Arms Firing School for competitors to fire and then assigned Army Rifle Team Members to work on the line as Range Officers and to assist competitors with the rifles. Only competitors who have no credit points for earning their Distinguished Badges (leg points) are eligible to fire.
Nearly 500 of these competitors looking to earn their first EIC points stepped to the line on the day of the match. To the surprise of many Army and Navy Rifle Team members and civilian Distinguished shooters who served as volunteer range officers on the line, there were some very good scores posted in this inaugural event. Robert Fox of Forest, Ohio topped the leader board for nearly the entire day and ended up as the winner of the National Matches’ very first M-16 EIC Match. His score of 370-5x earned him a plaque at the award ceremony the next day. For his efforts, Mr. Fox was also awarded four EIC points that count toward his Distinguished Rifleman Badge. The top ten percent of the eligible competitors in the match earned “introductory” four-point “legs,” as EIC credit points are called by competitors. All competitors who scored 357-1X or higher earned four EIC points. In all, 46 shooters earned their first EIC points in this year’s match and now will not be eligible to shoot in next year’s match. Complete results for the match are posted on the CMP web site at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=346.
For more information about the Distinguished Rifleman Badge system or the M-16 EIC Match, as well as other CMP Games events at the National Rifle Matches and to see the match program, go to http://www.odcmp.com/NM/CMPGames.htm. |
