In an effort to build practical and dynamic shooting skills, the Marine Corps has over time shifted its focus within the Competition in Arms Program (CIAP). The link above (“COMPETITION IN ARMS: THE MODERN MARINE”) gives us a glimpse of what the thrust of the program is today, while below you will find a few links to additional brief videos that will give some of us “old-timers” a little more insight into what’s going on these days within the Marine Corps Marksmanship Competition (MCMC) Program. The videos are ones produced by the Marine Corps Shooting Team in preparation for the FY 2023 Competition in Arms Program (CIAP), and as such are from last year (2022).
“The shot that never happened is as useless as the shot that never hits.”
(A quote from one of the videos posted on the USMC Shooting Team’s Facebook page.)
In this link (What is a MCMC?) Sgt. Cardenas of the Marine Corps Shooting Team explains what “MCMC” is.
In this next link (MCMC Authorized Gear vs. Unauthorized), Sgt. Cardenas reviews what gear can be used at a MCMC.
And finally, in this clip (Cross Training) from August 2022, “…members of the Shooting Team conducted cross training with Marines from the Advanced Marksmanship Training Program, in order to increase their knowledge, skills and lethality. During this training, they shot USPSA…” (United States Practical Shooting Association) “…and gas gun rifle style competitions with night vision, utilizing both active and passive aiming.”
(Quote is from the USMC Shooting Team’s Facebook page.)
NOTE: I will continue to seek video links which will provide informational videos that will hopefully be of interest to our Association members while also giving us insight into the direction that the Corps has moved in an effort to make the Marine in the field more lethal and assuredly successful in accomplishing the Mission.
the BADGE Newsletter, Volume IX – April 2023, is now available on our website.
Simply click on “the BADGE Newsletter” link at the top of this web page, and it will take you to the page on our site which provides a link to our current (April 2023) newsletter, as well as a link to a scanned copy of last year’s newsletter (May 2022).
REUNION 2023
Photo by Carole Ellison
If you have any photos that you would like to contribute to our “2023 Reunion” photo album on PhotoBucket, please send your pics to:
jo.mcdsa@gmail.com
Contributors thus far to our 2023 Reunion album: Carole Ellison, & Donnie Heuman
…It isn’t “last call” yet, but, it soon will be!
If you haven’t yet lined yourselves up to attend the Reunion on Saturday, 01 April 2023, time is still on your side!
RSVP to Danny Burke (MCDSA President), ASAP!
b12daniel@aol.com
(NOTE: Attendees at the Reunion, and only attendees, will have the opportunity to participate in the raffle for a CMP AR-15 Upper donated by Alan Baker of Baker Precision Firearms in Pearce, Arizona.)
Our upcoming Reunion on 01 April should be a humdinger — we currently have over 120 who are planning to attend!
IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO ADD YOUR NAME TO THE LIST – RSVP NOW!
(RSVP MCDSA President Danny Burke at: b12daniel@aol.com )
***Get in on an opportunity to reconnect with folks while enjoying great chow and a PRESENTATION BY MSGT. CAPKO (SNCO OF TEAMS) WHICH WILL FILL IN THE OLD-TIMERS ON HOW THE MARINE CORPS’ REGIONAL AND CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES ARE BEING RUN TODAY! (MSGT. CAPKO’S PRESENTATION IS TO INCLUDE BOTH A POWER POINT AND A VIDEO.)***
Also, whereas participants in the Marine Corps Championship Matches will be in training all day (and night) on Saturday, the 1st of April, and they therefore will not be able to check out our Association’s Reunion, the MCDSA will be hosting a cookout for the 80 or so competitors on Sunday, 2nd of April, at noon on Range 2, under the 600-yard line pavilions.
If you can see a way to be part of the MCDSA membership who will be hosting the cookout for Active-duty Marines on Sunday, it would probably prove to be a stellar opportunity to connect with the current generation of Marines who are both pursuing Marksmanship Excellence and currently serving our Country!
This year the Marine Corps Championships are scheduled to run from 28 March to 07 April, with the Awards Ceremony currently slated to take place on 04 April 2023.
Registration is NLT 27 March, with live-fire training days beginning on 28 March 2023.
Hosting Commander: CG, Training Command, Quantico
Hosting Unit: WTBn, MCB Quantico
Each year the Marine Corps Championship Matches are the culmination of the training opportunities and competitions held strictly within the ranks of the Marine Corps itself as part of the Marine Corps’ Competition-In-Arms Program (CIAP).
All of the training and competitions are coordinated and facilitated by the Marine Corps Shooting Team.
Some Marine Corps Championship competitors will go on to represent the Marine Corps at Interservice and National competitions, while ALL Marines who have participated in the Competition-In-Arms Program will go on to take their knowledge and newly-acquired skills back to their home units with the ability to disseminate and share the skills honed during the training and live-fire sessions provided to all participating Marines at each of the five Regional Marine Corps Marksmanship Competitions (MCMC) held each year during the months leading up to the Marine Corps Championships.
Semper Fidelis!
The MCMC East is the fifth of five scheduled regional competitions in the Marine Corps Marksmanship Competitions (MCMC) line-up. (All of the competitions are coordinated and facilitated by the Marine Corps Shooting Team.) The MCMC East training and competition is scheduled to take place from 06 March – 17 March 2023. The live-fire training days are scheduled to be conducted from 06 March – 16 March, while the Awards ceremony is slated for 17 March 2023. Registration is no later than 05 March 2023. The hosting unit is WTBn, MCB Camp Lejeune.
Note: The two-week training package is detailed in our post entitled FY 2023 CIAP Kicks Off
Remember:
Our Reunion is coming up — scheduled for 01 April, and to be held in Virginia. Please make your plans to attend, and remember to RSVP Danny at: b12daniel@aol.com
For details about the Reunion, please see the posting below which is dated 05 February and entitled: “ROAD TRIP!!!”
We would love to have members contribute their recollections and stories for us all to enjoy reading in the upcoming edition of “the Badge” newsletter. Please contribute by sending your story to Danny at: b12daniel@aol.com
In hopes that the following will spark ideas for contributions, here is one for the books:
One summer’s day in 1979 at the rifle range in Quantico, a SNCO who was a member of the Summer Rifle Team walked over to the Armorer’s Van, wearing his “skunk coat” and carrying his M-14. Arriving at the back of the van, he looked up into the van and mischievously told the Match Armorer that he needed “…a trigger-finger adjustment!” The SNCO then proceeded to extend his trigger finger, stretching it straight and laying it flat on the van floor, all the while looking up at the Armorer who by then was walking over to a bench to retrieve his rawhide mallet. Now, the SNCO figured that the Armorer would swing the mallet, hitting just off to one side of the trigger finger, while the Armorer – who had bent over so as to get in a good swing with the rawhide mallet — figured that the shooter would quickly pull away the trigger finger at the last moment, but…
…I heard that there was blood splatter to clean up.
MCMC West is the fourth of five, scheduled, regional competitions in the Marine Corps Marksmanship Competitions (MCMC) line-up. (All of the competitions are coordinated and facilitated by the Marine Corps Shooting Team.) MCMC West training and competition is scheduled to take place from 13 February – 24 February 2023. The live-fire training days are scheduled to be conducted from 13 February to 23 February, while the Awards ceremony is slated for 24 February 2023. Registration is no later than 12 February 2023. The hosting unit is the Marksmanship Training Branch, Marine Corps Installations West.
Note: The two-week training package is detailed in our post entitled FY 2023 CIAP Kicks Off