An Cosantóir

May/June 2025

An Cosantóir the official magazine of the Irish Defence Forces and Reserve Defence Forces.

Issue link: https://digital.jmpublishing.ie/i/1537109

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| 5 www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE ranges. That evening a social event took place where teams were introduced to each other and were formally welcomed by the Officer Commanding NGMTC and the Sgt Major. The second day included a pistol practice that saw competitors get familiar with the formalities of a pistol range and how it would be conducted. Again, this event was not scored and was done to give the competitors an idea of how the upcoming events would proceed. That evening the teams completed a nighttime zeroing with their IR lasers to ensure that they were fully ready for the competition. Due to a tornado warning in Arkansas the third, fourth and fifth day of the competition were cancelled and events scheduled during these days would take place during the following week. The second week consisted of scored competitive events. This included much more complex shoots such as rifle and pistol barrier shoots, close quarter battle shoots, rapid pistol CQB, stress shoots and an anti-body armour team match. These shoots would include day and night events and engaging at ranges of up to 500 yards. One of the more unique shooting tables involved teams being given ammunition that was not 'bombed up' in magazines but carried loose, they would then sprint to various firing points, and from these positions they were required to 'bomb up' the ammunition into the magazines (with the use of 'speedloaders'), distribute it correctly throughout the team and then continue to engage various targets. Each day the competitors would start with a safety brief and a walkthrough of the events. Most days consisted of three to four different shoots. Each one, a uniquely separate competition. This would then be followed by a team captain's brief where teams could discuss various points brought up throughout the day. Teams had unique levels of experience, all ranks competed with some being part time reservists while others were highly qualified soldiers with multiple combat deployments. During the second week, as competitors got to know one another, they began sharing knowledge in relation to marksmanship techniques which benefited all shooters and built up the standard of the competition. On the final day of the competition, the NGMTC allow retiring soldiers to fire what is called the "final shot". All teams gather on the range to observe the ceremony that simply involves a soldier conducting a final shoot from a pistol and being awarded, the paper target they had their last shot on and a retirement certificate. This courtesy was also extended to a foreign competitor from the British Armed Forces who had travelled to AFSAM from his home country for a total of 22 years symbolising the culmination of their military service. The overall experience was highly beneficial to the troops involved and the opportunity to benchmark their training against some of the finest small arms 'marksmen' in the world was invaluable. The competition also assisted in the Irish team building international relationships and fostering friendship with partner nations. Since then, the team have submitted after action reviews with the aim of developing the standard of marksmanship and small arms competitions within the Defence Forces. Travel to this competition would not have been possible without a huge amount of support from various elements from within the Defence Forces who assisted in both training and logistics and 1 Cn Cois are extremely grateful to all involved in this process. This was the second year a team representing the Irish Defence Forces have competed in the competition and it is hoped teams will continue to travel to AFSAM in order to further develop our soldiers in the most fundamental skill of military marksmanship. This unique military competition demonstrated that the standard of Irish soldiers is on par with their international counterparts and that the level of training available in Ireland can allow soldiers to perform confidently on the international scene. Furthermore, 1 Cn Cois personnel travelling to the United States, for a competition of this nature, highlights the great opportunities currently available to personnel of the Defence Forces and has most definitely proven an incentive for all members of the unit, both new and old, to focus on improving their own marksmanship and compete for places on the unit's shooting teams.

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