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Kaiserslautern Soldiers and Ramstein Airmen had mere seconds to make every shot count using unfamiliar weapons Oct. 6 at the international shooting competition hosted by the German Police Academy in Enkenbach-Alsenborn, Germany.
“I think the best thing about (the shooting competition) is that we get to sit down with our counterparts from other countries to get to know each other a little bit better,” said U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern Commander Lt. Col. Kevin Hutchison, who was the leader of the garrison’s Team I during the competition.
The “Begegnung von Führungskräften mit Vergleichsschießen,” or Gathering of Leaders with Competitive Shooting, is a way to put a face to the name, said Polizeihauptkommissar Harald Jung, the German Police Academy public affairs
officer.
“The event is important because it provides an opportunity for law enforcement officials to meet each other and discuss matters in a relaxed atmosphere.
Information is shared and networks are expanded, which leads to new opportunities,” he said. “The shooting competition is just an activity – the main focus is the contacts that develop (among the participants).”
A slight increase from last year’s contest, 22 European and American law enforcement teams from Germany, France, Belgium and The Netherlands competed this year.
American military teams in the competition consisted of two from the garrison and one from the Air Force Office of Special Investigation, 13th Field Investigations Squadron. It was also the first year that a military police team from the Allied Air Component Command Headquarters on Ramstein participated in the competition.
“It would be a little better if they give us a practice round because we are not familiar with these weapons,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jorge Rios, the garrison’s Directorate of Emergency Services Provost Marshal’s Office operations sergeant, who was the leader of the garrison’s Team II during the competition. “Overall, it was still good – makes you go back to the basics of marksmanship.”
Weapons and ammunition were provided by the German Police Academy. Each three-member team shot four contests: two with a 5 Walther pistol and two with a MP-5 Heckler and Koch sub-machinegun.
The first pistol challenge and the first of the day was five rounds for one target at 50 meters in 60 seconds, and the second one was four targets at the 20, 15, 10 and 6 meter positions – eight rounds, two per target in 2.5 minutes. The first sub-machinegun contest was five rounds for one target at 25 meters in 60 seconds, which meant team members had three seconds per shot.
The second sub-machinegun contest and last of the regular competition was five rounds for as many targets at 25 meters in 15 seconds.
Colonel Hutchison was the only American and one of only three shooters in the competition to score 50 points in the first sub-machinegun contest, Mr. Jung said.
The day ended with the leadership round with each team represented at least once firing three shots with a 44-Magnum pistol. The highest points from each shooter’s three shots were tallied. Scoring a nine out of a possible 10 points in the leadership round were Colonel Hutchison, Sergeant Rios, Sgt. Edwin Davis, a member of the garrison’s Team II, and Tech. Sgt. Steven Morris, from the CC-Air Ramstein’s team.
Mr. Jung said this shooting competition has been held every year since 1977, except in 2006 because of the FIFA World Cup games, which were held in Kaiserslautern.
It first started out as a competition for leaders only, but about 10 years ago, that all changed and team membership now is not dependent on rank. From the very beginning, American teams from the KMC have been invited to the competition, Mr. Jung said. The garrison has participated in this shooting competition for 10 years.
(Helen Tesfai from the U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern Public Affairs Office assisted with this story.)
