Without watching, pit crews working a firing range at the Robinson Maneuver Training Center on Thursday could tell when shooters missed their marks.
Crew members, mostly National Guardsmen, hoisted and lowered thin wood targets from behind a berm. Hundreds of yards away, competitors took aim and fired.
With earth and cement separating the groups, crew members listened to the gunfire. A good shot meant a rifle slug smacked wood. When a bullet went awry and struck the berm, a spray of dirt sprinkled overhead like confetti.
The event, called the Bianchi Battle, was one of many challenges that made up the Winston P. Wilson Small Arms Championship. The entire Wilson Championship, a three-week-long annual contest in its 47th year, is the largest military marksmanship competition in the United States.
It was hosted by the National Guard Marksmanship Training Center of the Arkansas National Guard, based in North Little Rock.
At the same time, the 27th Armed Forces Skill at Arms Meeting also took place. Only National Guard units participated in the Wilson championship, whereas the arms meeting allowed international competitors and inter-service members.
Altogether, about 370 people from 42 states, Canada, Italy and the United Kingdom competed. Teams were split into four, with two experienced shooters and two novices on each, said Sgt. Zoe Morris, a public affairs specialist.
Each match is scored, sometimes as a team, sometimes as an individual, and the "top shot" of the Wilson championship is based on an aggregate score.
Of all the events, the Bianchi Battle is Staff Sgt. David Tate's favorite. Tate, with the Arkansas Army National Guard, said he enjoys the intensity.
During the battle, teams dash through an open field. From their bellies, shooters fire rifles at targets 300 yards away, then at 200 yards while seated. At 100 yards away, they level pistols and shotguns at metal plates, hoping to hear the successful sound of a bullet glancing off the mark.
The feedback is immediate.
"That steel is either 'tink' or 'Oh man, I missed,'" Tate said.
All Thursday morning, soldiers waiting their turn in the Bianchi Battle dozed in the grass, or chatted with their neighbors. They stretched their legs before hunkering down at the starting line, anticipating the peek-a-boo of wooden targets over the berm.
For many, the annual contest allows them the chance to branch outside their regular duties.
Sgt. Alexandra Wilson, who placed in the top 20 of pistol shooters, works for the Regional Training Institute of the Virginia National Guard. She does administrative tasks, mostly paperwork at a desk, she said.
"This is way more fun than my real job," Wilson said.
The sergeant was introduced to shooting in 2004. She walked onto the pistol range at Missouri State University and told the instructor, a retired Marine, "I've never shot before. Teach me."
Since then, Wilson married her husband, a retired U.S. Army sniper, on a gun range. Their son is named, aptly, Gunnar.
Wilson was one of very few women at the competition, which was not a foreign feeling to her.
"It's something you get used to, if you're going to be a girl in the shooting world," Wilson said, adding that she wants more women to participate in shooter training and contests.
The practice is "cleansing," she said. There's no space for cluttered thoughts while lining up a shot. Plus, "there's a sense of accomplishment of doing a technical skill well," Wilson added.
For Master Sgt. Derick Robison, networking is just as important as performing well. The Arkansas Air National Guardsman said he's made lasting friendships and lasting group text message threads.
"You might not hear anything for six months," Robison said. "Then it blows up for a week."
And for Aaron Newton, a specialist E4 in the Arkansas Army National Guard, the contest is humbling.
Walking away from the Know Your Limits Barricade Team Match, Newton said his team did "middle-of-the-road" but not great.
Being around world-class shooters is like "going from Pee Wee to the NFL," he said.
A soldier could be rated an expert shooter going into the competition. Newton, himself, is a pretty good shot, he said. But out there, with so many matches and that much trigger time, he said, "Expert don't mean nothing."
Metro on 05/04/2018