{"id":284789,"date":"2024-09-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=284789"},"modified":"2024-09-21T06:49:57","modified_gmt":"2024-09-21T06:49:57","slug":"alabama-guard-hosts-all-guard-marksmanship-team-tryouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=284789","title":{"rendered":"Alabama Guard Hosts All Guard Marksmanship Team Tryouts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n The Alabama National Guard’s Lethality Group poses for a picture Sept. 8, 2024, at Clarke Range after hosting the All Guard Marksmanship Team tryouts. The Guardsmen who make the team will be trained at the National Guard Marksmanship Training Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. (Photo has been cropped and color-corrected to enhance detail.)
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ANNISTON, Ala. \u2013 Eighteen National Guardsmen from across the country competed in the All Guard Marksmanship Team tryouts hosted by the Alabama National Guard\u2019s Lethality Group at Fort McClellan Training Center\u2019s Clarke Range Sept. 5-8.<\/p>\n

The National Guard Marksmanship Training Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, holds the event annually to build the National Guard\u2019s premier competitive shooting team. This was the first time another organization hosted.<\/p>\n

The NGMTC focuses on developing a team of Soldiers and Airmen who compete with service rifles and pistols and encourage Guardsmen to improve their expertise by participating in competitive shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NGMTC maintains active working relationships with a myriad of training organizations across the 54 states and territories,\u201d said Capt. Garret Miller, NGMTC program manager.<\/p>\n

Miller said the ALNG\u2019s Lethality Group has long been recognized as a flagship organization known for its subject matter experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ALNG\u2019s Lethality Group was selected to host the competition because of the facilities on Fort McClellan and having our full-time staff to facilitate the entire match,\u201d said Staff Sgt. James Ruddick, the Lethality Group\u2019s noncommissioned officer in charge.<\/p>\n

Ruddick said marksmanship training units are dying out due to a lack of funding and support for their craft.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Alabama National Guard has been very supportive of the Lethality Group with our manning requirements and because of our engagement with other units and assisting with their qualifications,\u201d said Ruddick.<\/p>\n

Ruddick said supporting competitive shooting enables Guardsmen to refine their skills and then train their peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompetition breeds excellence,\u201d said Ruddick. \u201cWe\u2019re breeding hundreds of shooters that take lessons learned back to their units.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traditionally, marksmanship competitions have required competitors to wear an Army combat helmet, a vest to carry magazines and a belt to carry a pistol. However, the NGMTC is pushing to make competitions more combat-related by adding more physically demanding matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting next year, the idea is that we will go to full plate carriers, and the fighting load on the body will meet a certain minimum weight to ensure that it is realistic training,\u201d said Ruddick.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s competition alluded to the big push for physical fitness by including matches that involved throwing sandbags, carrying weights and running between firing berms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese competitions serve as a crucible to forge relevant tactics, techniques and procedures as well as important professional networks,\u201d said Miller.<\/p>\n

Soldiers and Airmen from states as far away as Colorado, Vermont and New Mexico traveled to Alabama to compete in this year\u2019s All Guard Marksmanship Team tryouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ALNG support staff were incredibly professional, and we look forward to hosting more events in Anniston,\u201d said Miller.<\/p>\n

The ALNG\u2019s Lethality Group also hosts the state marksmanship competition every year and will host the southeastern region\u2019s next marksmanship competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want people to know who we are,\u201d said Ruddick, \u201cI think this event definitely had a huge part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard X<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Alabama National Guard’s Lethality Group poses for a picture Sept. 8, 2024, at Clarke Range after hosting the All Guard Marksmanship Team tryouts. The Guardsmen who make the team will be trained at the National Guard Marksmanship Training Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. (Photo has been cropped and color-corrected to enhance detail.) (Photo Credit: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284791,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-284789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=284789"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284792,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284789\/revisions\/284792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/284791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=284789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=284789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=284789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}