Four South Dakota Army National Guard Soldiers and one South Dakota Air National Guard Airmen participated in the 52nd Winston P. Wilson (WPW) National Small Arms Championship, hosted by the National Guard Marksmanship Training Center, on Camp Robinson, AR, April 30 through May 5, 2023.
South Dakota team members included the following: 1st Sgt. Clint Sandness, Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Heier, Staff Sgt. Thomas Carpenter, Tech Sgt. Trevor Dietrich and Sgt 1st Class Grant Serna. This team earned third place in the all-state championship.
“This was probably the toughest shooting environment I’ve competed in yet,” said Heier, “20 MPH winds and gusts, combined with the hot weather and new matches that we’ve never done before made the conditions difficult.”
The WPW is conducted by the National Guard Marksmanship Training Center and held annually to promote marksmanship training to servicemembers from the National Guard and offer an opportunity to test marksmanship skills and weaponry systems in a battle focused environment.
The team coach, Serna, said that much of the coaching of shooters at this level is fairly simple; considering it’s sometimes difficult for professional shooters to take advice that may go against their own instincts, but it just takes that trust.
“We’ve all grown together to become the top marksman in S.D. and being able to compete on the Alpha team allowed us to show how the program really works in developing marksman and how everyone fills their roles within the team,” said Heier.
Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Heier earned the prestigious Chief’s 50 badge during the competition.
Heier said he’s always enjoyed marksmanship and has a solid family history of competitive marksmanship and that it has been instilled in him at a young age.
The Chief’s 50 Marksmanship Badge was established to provide evidence and public recognition of outstanding marksmanship abilities demonstrated at the National Guard Championships.
“I’ve always really enjoyed marksmanship and I’m the 28th Soldier in South Dakota to achieve the award, so that I think is really cool,” said Heier.
The team placed first at the MAC VI Regional Marksmanship Competition which allowed them to attend the All Army Matches that hosts the active, reserve and guard components for a chance to compete in one arena. The SDNG represented S.D. for the first time in over a decade and placed 10th of 56 teams in the All Army Match competition at Ft. Benning, G.A.
Congratulations to South Dakota- ALPHA on your outstanding achievements and dedication to marksmanship and your representation of the SDNG.
Five members of the South Dakota Guard participated in the 52nd Winston P. Wilson National Small Arms Championship, hosted by the National Guard Marksmanship Training Center, on Camp Robinson, AR, April 30 through May 5, 2023. The competition brought many unique training opportunities and challenges with shooting events from morning to night and varying temperatures.
(U.S. Army National Guard courtesy photo)
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