CAMP PERRY, OH – Lila, Don and Eric Swearingen are familiar faces at the National Matches. Lila can be heard talking from the tower, Don can be seen out maintaining the range and Eric can be found breaking records on the firing line, as he did at the 2013 Matches. After speaking with them, their loyalty, playfulness and strong connection quickly becomes apparent, making it seem only natural that they would all find themselves wrapped up together in the same pastime.
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The Swearingens, Don (left), Eric (center) and Lila (right), have made Camp Perry an annual family reunion spot over the years, as shooters and volunteers. |
Lila, 65, and Don, 67, have been married 44 years. The two met at church while Don was stationed in Lila’s native area of Fort Louis, WA, after returning from Vietnam. Eric, 30, was later added to the Swearingen mix. Since then, the family members have done all they can to stay close to one another.
“We were looking for something we could do as a family . . . We wanted some kind of activity,” Don explained.
The Swearingens tried a number of activities to share together, but, somehow, shooting was what grabbed hold. Don was always interested in the hobby growing up and incidentally instilled the same passion into his son after taking him to the range to shoot one day, when Eric was still quite young.
“We were at the range, and he got up from playing with his tractors on the ground and said, ‘Daddy, can I shoot the gun?’ I had my .22, and he wasn’t tall enough to sit, so he was kneeling on the bench with his armpit over the stock, squeezed the trigger, fired three or four shots, and got down and played with his tractors again,” Don explained.
He never pushed competitive shooting towards his son – it was just something Eric found himself naturally gravitating towards.
“It’s in the blood,” Lila added. “Osmosis or something.”
When he became old enough, Eric started shooting a .22 with the local junior shooting programs and gun clubs. The family lived in the Toledo, OH, area, just down the road from Camp Perry, and would visit the ranges to get a taste for competitive shooting.
“I’m not sure what the draw was considering he (Don) wasn’t a competitor, but we always came, so I pretty much grew up at Camp Perry,” Eric said. “Seeing all of the military shooters and civilian shooters and all of the cool toys on Commercial Row, I just sort of became interested in it.”
Lila, who can also shoot, chose to watch her boys instead of join them.
“I’m just a support person. Someone’s got to support them,” she said with a smile.
With Eric’s new interest in the highly equipped sport, things quickly got expensive. Don made a deal with Eric that if they did some side work together, all of the money would go towards supporting their shooting habit. People also provided Eric with deals on key items, such as a Bushmaster, a shooting jacket and a Kowa scope.
“People just bent over backwards for a junior shooter, to kind of help him out,” Don said. “Lots of people are responsible for developing a good shooter.”
Eric also got a summer job to help pay for his shooting passion. Since the start of his career as a competitor, his collection of guns and equipment has only gotten bigger.
“It’s still growing steadily,” he said with a laugh.
Eric eventually progressed into highpower, leading to his first competition at Camp Perry in 1997. He and Don also competed in an early spring Father-Son match at Camp Perry together.
The first year they fired in the match, they took first place. The next year brought another top three finish and some unpleasant memories for Don.
“We were out in the pits, 0730 in the morning, and it was pouring down rain. The wind was blowing towards us, and it was a cold wind, and there was a boat in the impact area. The range was cold because of the boat, and I’m freezing. I turned to Eric and I said, ‘Never again!’” Don said, laughing and pointing his finger.
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| Don visits Camp Perry each
year but now volunteers for the NRA. Don is pictured here
showing a National Match competitor the target image at the
Function Range. The Function Range is located North of the
CMP Marksmanship Center and is open daily during the
National Matches for competitors to sight in their rifles
and test fire. |
“It was fun. I was just a kid playing with guns and ammo. All I had to do was shoot,” Eric added.
Though Don swore never to return to Camp Perry, Eric quickly made his way back to its ranges to participate in the Marine Corps Highpower Clinic as a junior. Though unaware at the time, it was his first taste of Marine Corps life. Having truly admired his instructors during the clinic, he officially became a Marine in 2001 after graduating high school, eventually rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant.
“One of the Marine instructors he had as a junior felt responsible for him joining the Marine Corps, and he came to his graduation at Parris Island Boot Camp. That was really neat,” Lila added.
In 2005, he got off of Active Duty and was placed on terminal leave. To prepare for the upcoming National Matches, Eric decided to shoot in a local match, where the Marine Corps Reserve Team also happened to be shooting. There, he was introduced to the team, and the following January, they picked him up.
His shooting career, and his career with the Marine Corps, came full circle that year as he returned to the Marine Corps Highpower Clinic – this time as an instructor.
“It was neat. Obviously, sitting in the clinic, being a junior and looking up to the Marines, it was cool to then come back as an instructor,” Eric said. “It’s kind of cheesy, but it was nice to sort of give back, in a way, being on the whole other side of the equation. It was cool.”
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SSgt Eric Swearingen joined the Marine Corps in 2001 after having admired the instructors he had as a junior during the Marine Corps Highpower Clinic at Camp Perry. He later joined the Marine Corps shooting team. |
While Eric was just beginning to shoot with the Marine Corps team, recently retired Don and Lila began to travel around the country full time. They returned to the National Matches at Camp Perry to watch Eric shoot – camper and all.
“We brought our house to Perry with us,” Lila said as she laughed.
“My parents are gypsies,” Eric joked.
For Eric and Don, as avid shooters, finding ways to fill their time while at Camp Perry was simple. Lila, however, found it a little more challenging to keep herself occupied when her boys weren’t on the range.
“For my dad, it was great because it’s what he likes to do, but my mom, she was kind of like, ‘It’s all well and good, but I need something to do,’” Eric said.
At first, the team adopted her as one of their “historians,” as she helped to take photos of the team and its members. Later on, she decided to try out something new by volunteering for the National Rifle Association (NRA).
“The next thing I know, she’s one of the people in the vests out on the line,” Eric said.
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Lila Swearingen can be seen during the National Matches in the tower on Rodriguez Range calling the matches. |
She enjoyed volunteering so much that she returned to volunteer the following year, and even talked Don into becoming a volunteer as well.
Having now been volunteering for the past six years, Lila is the NRA Tower Talker for Rodriguez Range, and Don is the NRA Chief Range Officer of the function range.
“If I was going to be here, I wanted to be helping out,” Lila said. “That way we could catch up with Eric too for a couple of weeks in the summer. It works out.”
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“Typically I hear this voice from the tower yelling at me to get on the line, get off the line, and it’s no different because it’s just like childhood. It’s just like home, so I’m pretty much in my comfort zone,” Eric said of his mother volunteering as a NRA Tower Talker.
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Lila and Don are at Camp Perry the entire duration of the National Matches, while Eric is only there for a few weeks. It’s the time of year that Eric gets tiny reminders of what it was like living in the same house as Lila.
“Typically I hear this voice from the tower yelling at me to get on the line, get off the line, and it’s no different because it’s just like childhood. It’s just like home, so I’m pretty much in my comfort zone,” Eric said with a laugh.
“I tried not calling the relays he was on, but then he goes, ‘Well, so what? I’m used to you yelling at me,” Lila added as she looked at Eric and gave a smile.
“It’s definitely cool because if I have a good string or if I know I just won something, I’ll kind of go over to the tower – “ Eric said before Lila finished his thought.
“And he’ll whisper ‘I think I’m winning!’” she said as she laughed. “I used to take pictures from the tower as they were coming up from the line too. I try not to ask him how he’s doing. I’ll find out eventually.”
Though “Eric Swearingen” has become a well-known name through his triumphs, he isn’t the only Swearingen people now recognize at the Matches.
“We’ll be walking down Commercial Row and people will walk up to us and see our name and say ‘Oh, you’re Eric’s mom’ or ‘You’re Eric’s dad.’ And Eric will be out on the line, and people will come up to him and go, ‘Oh, you’re Don and Lila’s son!’” Don said. “So it just depends on what side of the shooting fence you’re on now.”
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Eric showed his talents at the 2013 National Rifle Trophy Matches as he won the overall trophy in the National Trophy Individual Match and set two new records with his score of 497-23x.
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Of his many accomplishments, Eric added even more to the list from his performance at the 2013 National Rifle Trophy Matches. There, he received the Daniele Boone Trophy for his overall win in the National Trophy Individual (NTI) Match as well as the Citizen Soldier Trophy, Police Rifle Trophy and Coast Artillery Trophy. He also set a new record for the Citizen Solider Trophy and another record for the Coast Artillery with his score of 497-23x in the NTI Match.
“We’re not all at proud of him . . .” said Lila, sarcastically. “We only tell everyone about him. There’s definitely talent there.”
“You have to say that,” Eric said, laughing.
“We try to keep things in perspective. Fame is like ice cream – it soon melts away,” Don said with a smile.
When not at Camp Perry, Eric lives in San Diego, CA, with his wife of 2.5 years, Kjersti. He’s also going to school, working on an electrical engineering degree.
Don, originally a pistol shooter, is slowly getting into the world of riflery. He’s currently in F-Class rifle shooting and more of a competitor now than he ever was.
“I never had a good rifle until after Eric started shooting highpower. Once I saw that was the game he wanted to pursue, so we would be together while we were shooting, I had a couple of rifles built,” Don said.
As for life with Lila, the couple recently bought 240 acres in New Mexico that they plan on developing.
“When we don’t come back to Camp Perry we’ll be branding cows with the ranchers,” Lila joked.
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Eric was asked to help present the new Distinguished Badges during the awards ceremony at this year’s Matches. |
After hoping for so long to find an activity the whole family could enjoy, the Swearingens succeeded. Though Lila and Don are proud of the accomplishments Eric has achieved in the sport of shooting, to them, the most valuable qualities they could have taught him shine through even more.
“Some people came up to me and said, ‘Congratulations to your son, he did a fine job. And he’s a great man.’ I told them, the trophies are one thing, but the fact that people consider him to be a fine human being, that’s far more important than the shooting accolades.” Don said.
“Well they must’ve seen me on a good day,” Eric teased.
Whether a good day or a bad day, it seems that any day is a good one to be a Swearingen at Camp Perry.
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