The time had come to hold marksmanship team tryouts for the army cadets of 3045. Five spots were up for grabs. Larger corps are allowed to have multiple teams. Participation was voluntary. Tryouts are usually held in the new year, but the schedule was moved up. Eleven cadets decided to compete. The Stage 1 competition occurred on November 30.
We arrived at the school gym in the early morning to set up the air rifle range. Tables, chairs, shooting mats, backboards, flags, air rifles, spotting scopes, shooting jackets, safety glasses, pellets, paper bowls, and paper targets were all brought out and placed in designated spots. The participating cadets would shoot a few practice relays to zero in their rifles. I set aside an “official” batch of paper targets that I would mark and use to choose the cadets for the team.
I
held three practice relays for the cadets after a quick briefing. The cadets practiced shooting prone &
standing. The cadets had a short break
and then the real competition began.
There was no set order for the cadets to shoot. I asked for volunteers. Each cadet shot three relays: two prone & one standing. The competition target papers were worth 100 points each, so a perfect score was 300. Cadets were given 45 minutes to shoot their target papers, spread across several relays. The prone relays were the longest because cadets shot both prone papers at the same time needing 30 minutes.
The shooting competition continued after lunch and was completed at 2:00pm. I collected the paper targets and placed them inside a large envelope. I told the participating cadets that I would grade them later and announce the team at the next regular training night. We spent the next 20 minutes putting everything away and cleaning the gym.
I
let the cadets play sports in the gym until 3:00pm. They were then dismissed for the remainder of
the day.
