To my RnG brothers, I miss you and look forward to running with you in 2022.
After Riverbend RnG, I decided to put my head down and make a run at earning a Distinguished Rifleman badge (DR). The DR is something that I dreamed about earning since Nixon was president but was completely impossible because of my poor eyesight. Last year, I spent nearly $8K on cataract surgery which profoundly improved the quality of my life and rekindled my childhood dream.
The Distinguished Rifleman badge is one of 3 marksmanship awards authorized by the US government. To earn the badge, one needs to score in the top 10% of non-Distinguished shooters at an Excellence in Competition match (EIC). There have been little over 8,200 badges issued since the program’s inception in the late 1800’s. So far 2,541 civilian badges have been awarded since 1925 when the award was opened up to non-Military. In 2020, 29 badges were earned and so far, this year 27 have been earned. Earning this award is tough and everyone who has earned it deserves a great amount of respect and be held in awe.
By my math, a shooter needs to earn at least 96% of the points possible to be in the running, unless the Marines show up and then there is no hope. This is a static positional shooting competition that includes standing, sitting, and prone with slow single load fire portions and rapid-fire portions. The shooting techniques and challenges are different for each stage of fire.
The slow-prone to 600 yards stage is like a sniper or small-bore match whereas the rapid sitting and prone is close to what we do in RnG. Rapid prone is my favorite as I can pound away in RnG style …. Fast with wild abandon. Standing has proven to be hardest to master since the needed stance is so different than a pistol or a 3-Gun/RnG stance. Every day, I practice the standing position.
There are several nearby clubs that have EIC competitions scheduled in the next couple months:
After Riverbend RnG, I decided to put my head down and make a run at earning a Distinguished Rifleman badge (DR). The DR is something that I dreamed about earning since Nixon was president but was completely impossible because of my poor eyesight. Last year, I spent nearly $8K on cataract surgery which profoundly improved the quality of my life and rekindled my childhood dream.
The Distinguished Rifleman badge is one of 3 marksmanship awards authorized by the US government. To earn the badge, one needs to score in the top 10% of non-Distinguished shooters at an Excellence in Competition match (EIC). There have been little over 8,200 badges issued since the program’s inception in the late 1800’s. So far 2,541 civilian badges have been awarded since 1925 when the award was opened up to non-Military. In 2020, 29 badges were earned and so far, this year 27 have been earned. Earning this award is tough and everyone who has earned it deserves a great amount of respect and be held in awe.
By my math, a shooter needs to earn at least 96% of the points possible to be in the running, unless the Marines show up and then there is no hope. This is a static positional shooting competition that includes standing, sitting, and prone with slow single load fire portions and rapid-fire portions. The shooting techniques and challenges are different for each stage of fire.
The slow-prone to 600 yards stage is like a sniper or small-bore match whereas the rapid sitting and prone is close to what we do in RnG. Rapid prone is my favorite as I can pound away in RnG style …. Fast with wild abandon. Standing has proven to be hardest to master since the needed stance is so different than a pistol or a 3-Gun/RnG stance. Every day, I practice the standing position.
There are several nearby clubs that have EIC competitions scheduled in the next couple months:
- Riverbend – https://rbgc.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=265856&module_id=471036 – has EIC’s on Sept 12 and Dec 4.
- Oak Ridge Sportsmen Association - https://orsarandp.com/hp-events/ - has EIC’s on Oct 2 and 3. ORSA is 3 ½ hours from ATL.
- Talladega – has an EIC on Nov 19 as part of the Talladega 600
- Riverbend – the second Saturday of the month. This is a full course event with pit duty and out to 600 yards. Anytime you can shoot at Riverbend is special. On the second Sunday, they do a 3 x 600 yard match where any rifle can participate, even our RnG guns.
- South River – the first Saturday of the month. This is a walk and paste match meaning the longest distance is 300 yards and there isn’t pit duty. Basically, you shoot each stage and then walk to your targets to score.
- Talladega – the fourth Saturday of the month. This is the most efficient match I’ve ever shot. It’s all electronic and everyone shot the same stage at the same time from one position. Load, shoot, load, shoot, etc. We finished the match in 1 ½ hours. The total distance that I walked in the match was less than 25 feet. The experience was exhilarating.
- Appleseed – The A/S course of fire is similar to Service Rifle, especially the KD events. There is a KD in Pelham TN (north of Chattanooga) on Dec 31. https://goappleseednow.org/?event=pelham-tn-known-distance-appleseed-december-31-2021
