News from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit 'Champion of Champions'-USAMU soldier wins World Cup Final Gold Medal By Paula J. Randall Pagán U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Public Affairs Office LONATO, Italy - A soldier from Fort Benning, Georgia won the 2002 World Cup Final in skeet. The annual International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final is now considered the shooting world's "Champion of Champions" competition. World Cup Final events are restricted to the "12 top shooters in the world" who are selected from the World Shooting Championship or Olympic Games and World Cup results for the year. SFC Todd Graves of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, qualified for the World Cup Final by winning the Santo Domingo World Cup skeet event with a score that was just one point under the world record. At the Final in Lonato, Italy, he won the skeet gold medal on 20 October, by beating the gold, silver and bronze medallists from this year's World Shooting Championships and eight other medallists from 2002 World Cups. World Cup Final Skeet Medallists: (l. to r.) Hlavacek, Czech Republic, silver; Graves, gold; Falco(right) Italy, bronze. In the qualification round, Graves shot a 124 x 125 followed by Leos Hlavacek of the Czech Republic with a 122 and Ennio Falco of Italy with a 121. The top six shooters advanced to the final that also included USAMU's SFC Shawn Dulohery, who qualified in fifth place with a 119. The top three shooters all shot perfect finals of 25 straight targets. Graves finished with at total of 149 targets to win the Gold Medal. Hlavacek, 38, took the Silver Medal with a 147 and Falco, 34, earned the Bronze with a 146 total. Dulohery finished in fifth place with a score of 143. "I believe this is the first time one of our soldiers has ever won a World Cup Final in any shotgun event," Dean Clark, USAMU Shotgun Team Coach said. "Shooters call this prestigious match the 'Champion of Champions' match for good reason. Todd's scores this year have been outstanding - almost unprecedented; he's shooting well enough to win an Olympic Gold Medal." Graves, the 2000 Army Athlete of the Year, enlisted in the Army in January 1984 and was assigned to the Army Marksmanship Unit after he completed Basic and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Benning. In 1990, he was assigned as a team leader with the 20th Infantry Regiment in Korea and then returned to the Marksmanship Unit in 1991. Since he joined the Army, Graves has had an impressive competition career. He has won medals in every major shooting championship in the world. He was the 1997 U.S. Olympic Committee Shooter of the Year. He is a three-time U.S. Olympian and won a Bronze Medal in skeet at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The 39-year-old soldier won two medals in 2002 World Cup skeet competition, his Gold Medal at Santo Domingo and a Silver Medal at the Sydney, Australia, World Cup. Graves and his wife, Tracy, live in Cusseta, Georgia., with their two children, James and Cody. In his spare time, he likes to hunt, fish and coach Little League. He also performs trick-shooting demonstrations for charity, helps Boy Scouts earn Marksmanship Badges and conducts gun safety classes for youth groups. "All my goals have been fulfilled, except one - Olympic Gold," Graves said,. "Not very many people get it, but as long as I can, I'll keep trying." USAMU trains British army shooters By Paula J. Randall Pagán U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Public Affairs Office FORT BENNING, Ga. - Members of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Service Rifle and Service Pistol Teams provided rifle and pistol instruction for 22 members of the British Army Combat Shooting Team at Fort Benning's Easley and Phillips Ranges on September 28-30, 2003. The 10 pistol and 12 rifle shooters from the United Kingdom came to Fort Benning to train for the Armed Forces Skill at Arms Meeting, an international combat-style shooting competition being held Camp Robinson, Ark., Oct. 5 to 10. British soldiers training under the guidance of USAMU Instructors "We're training here to adjust to the climate and to train on a range similar to that used in the AFSAM competition," explained Lt. Col. Richard T. Hoole, of England who is the secretary of the British Army Rifle Association. "I have been to the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit before and always enjoy training here." "USAMU has world-renowned facilities and instructors who definitely know what they're talking about," said Cpl. Robert Doak, a pistol shooter from Northern Ireland. "This facility is to die for; we have nothing as nice or comprehensive as this." USAMU Service Pistol shooters SSG Gregory Wilson and SSG Nathaniel Seltenreich provided the training for the British Pistol Team. It included techniques on barricade shooting, effects of lighting on iron sights and familiarization with the AFSAM course of fire and range commands. According to Wilson, "it was real enjoyable" to train the British Team. "Anytime I can train with somebody else, especially good shooters like the British Team has, I always learn something from them," Wilson said. USAMU Service Rifle shooters assisted the British Rifle Team, which included soldiers from Nepal, with coaching and running the range. "The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit has been superb to us," said Lt. Col. David J. Elsam of the British Rifle Team. "We always enjoy training here." USAMU shooters win 25 medals at Pan-Am Trials By Paula J. Randall Pagán U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Public Affairs Office FORT BENNING, Ga. - Soldiers from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit won more than two dozen medals at the USA Shooting Fall Selection Match. This competition was the first of two trials that will be used to select the U.S. Team that will compete in the 2003 Pan-American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit hosted the matches on September 25 through October 10. Competitions for 12 of the 13 Olympic-shooting took place at Fort Benning, while the running target trial was conducted at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. USA Shooting, the national governing body for Olympic shooting sports in the United States, sponsored the selection matches, in which 200 shooters competed. SSG Jason Parker won the Gold Medal in men's three-position rifle. MAJ Mike Anti took the Silver Medal and SPC Trevor Gathman was third. Parker, the 2002 Air Rifle World Champion, also won first place in men's air rifle match, followed by SPC Shane Barnhart and Gathman. In the men's 50-meter prone rifle event, ex-USAMU shooter Ken Johnson won the gold medal, while SFC Thomas Tamas and Anti placed second and third. SSG Jason Parker, 2002 World Air Rifle Champion SPC Mary Elsass and SPC Hattie Ponti took second and third place in the women's sport rifle prone event behind junior shooter Sarah Blakeslee. In women's air rifle, Elsass won a bronze medal behind civilians Emily Caruso and Jaime Beyerle. In the clay target trials, SFC Todd Graves won the skeet gold medal and SFC Shawn Dulohery was second. In skeet team competition, the USAMU Team of Graves, Dulohery and SSG Joe Buffa won first. The USAMU two man team of Graves and Dulohery won that event and set a new national record. In the men's double trap, SGT William Keever was third behind civilian Glenn Eller and Air Force Major Dominic Grazioli. SSG Joetta Dement won a bronze medal in women's trap and Private 2 Matthew Wallace won a silver medal in men's junior trap. . In the pistol trials, SFC Daryl Szarenski was second in men's air pistol while SSG Eric Daniels was third in men's rapid-fire pistol. In the Running Target trial in Colorado, SGT Armando Ayala won men's 10-meter 30 + 30 event. SGT Armando Ayala The second and final trial for the U.S. Pan-American Games Team is scheduled for April, 2003 at Fort Benning. The Pan-Am Games will be held in Santo Domingo in August. The Pan-American Games, is an Olympic-style multi-sports competition for the Western Hemisphere that is conducted every four years. Not only can shooters win medals and set world records at the Pan-American Games, but the Pan-Am Games also will be the last chance for shooters from the Western Hemisphere to win quota slots for their countries to compete in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. (Formed in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to raise the standards of marksmanship throughout the U.S. Army, the Army Marksmanship Unit has been a part of the U. S. Army Recruiting Command since October 1999. The Marksmanship Unit trains its soldiers to win competitions and enhances combat readiness through train-the-trainer clinics, research and development. The world-class soldier-athletes of the USAMU also promote the Army and assist recruiters in attracting young Americans to enlist in the Army. For more information on the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, contact the Public Affairs Office at (706) 545-5436, paula.pagan@usarec.army.mil or http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/amu/.)