Marines of various military occupational specialties from across the East Coast competed in the Marine Corps Shooting Team’s 2015 Combat Shooting Match Oct. 26-30 hosted at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.
During the first four days of the competition, Marines were challenged at six different stages. The first four stages of fire consisted of shooting static or moving targets while navigating obstacles. The last two stages introduced dragging simulated casualties and carrying ammo cans while simultaneously shooting targets.
The Marines used the M16A1 service rifle, Beretta M9 pistol and the Benelli M1014 shotgun during the six different stages of competition.
Throughout the match, Marines are expected to achieve speed and accuracy with their weapons through challenging scenarios. The Marine Corps Shooting Team hosts this new program, which was officially started in 2014 to help Marines get the chance to apply the fundamentals to a more realistic live-fire range.
This competition takes place on Marine Corps bases throughout the year to ensure Marines around the world have the opportunity to compete.
"We bring the competition to them because we want Marines out here doing what Marines do best: applying the fundamentals of marksmanship that they have learned," said Staff Sgt. Jaime Vega, a Combat Shooting Team member.
After five days of competition, Staff Sgt. Phillipi Sanz, a Combat Marksmanship Trainer from Quantico’s Weapons and Training Battalion, took first place out of 98 competitors with a score of 458.5 out of a possible 500 points.
The Shooting Team is excited to make their way to Okinawa, Japan next to see how the Marines perform.
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