It’s mid afternoon, and there’s no shade on the open range.
The watchtower stands in the center of the field with the rangemaster inside. Shooters stand at wooden tables. Lt. Lee A. Fleming, assigned to Thomas Nelson Community College in Newport News, Va. and MKCS Brad K Wise from Group Detroit, Mich. stand at the same table. Wise, a stock, 6-foot, 230-pound man, keeps his head down and his eyes closed.
“Ready on the right.” The rangemaster’s voice is heard from a row of speakers that line behind the shooters.
Wise takes in a deep breath.
“Ready on the left.”
He opens his eyes and raises his head. His left hand rests in his pant pocket. His right hand holds a .22- caliber pistol. He brings his arm up. The only thing on his mind is sight alignment, trigger control as he prepares to fire at a bullseye target 25 yards down range.
“Ready on the firing line.”
The line of targets turn, and the crackle of the guns begin.
Wise and Fleming joined Lt. James B. Knapp, an H-60 pilot for Air Station Kodiak, Ak., MKC Robert E. Gossett, of Coast Guard Cutter Venturous now on terminal leave, and PS1 Gary W. Feazelle of Station Portsmouth, Va. to represent the Coast Guard at the National Rifle Association’s National Pistol Championship at the Air National Guard Post, Camp Perry, Ohio, July 15 through July 19. All five members competed in both the individual and team portions of the competition. The days were long and the sport was tough, but the experience was unforgettable.
Over 700 people and 100 teams, including at least one from each branch of the service, competed. The first relay of shooters for the individual matches began around 7:30 every morning, and each relay would last up to two hours. All five Coast Guard members would then meet back for the team matches held at 3 p.m. During the breaks, some built guns, some bought guns, and all of them talked about guns.
Even at night, many stayed immersed in the unique atmosphere of Camp Perry. Feazelle and his wife slept in huts, which used to house POWs.
“The huts are 14-by-14, single-floor dwellings with panel walls, concrete floors, three windows, two sockets, four steel bunks, a couple of shelves mounted on the wall, and one light bulb in the ceiling. Everything after that is fluff, if you brought it,” Feazelle said.
The panels were torn, the windows and light bulb bare. Cobwebs nestled in corners of the walls and bed frames. A padlock was mounted on the weathered, wooden door on the outside only.
Fleming, Wise and Gossett hit the racks in the post’s barracks, an open squad bay much like those from boot camp in Cape May, NJ. Other shooters bunked in the same squad bay.
For the week at Camp Perry, shooting was their focus. Each one had put time and money into practice leading up to the event, and they wanted to see it pay off.
“I’ve trained hard,” said Fleming, the officer in charge of this unofficial team. “This is the big show. This is the culmination of a year’s worth of training. The best of the best show up here.”
Fighting the nerves from this pressure reinforces the concept that the bulk of this sport depends on the right mentality.
“If you get too pumped or too stressed, you’ll get shaking. They call him the match monkey. The match monkey gets up on your arm, and he jumps around,” Wise explained. “You need to be calm.”
Easier said than done. The course of fire alone may challenge one to keep calm and focused. During the slow-fire stage, shooters shoot 10 rounds in 10 minutes at a 2 ¾” bullseye target 50 yards away. For timed fire, they shoot two, five round strings. For each string, they have 20 seconds and shoot from the 25 yard mark. In rapid fire, they have 10 seconds for each of two, five round strings from the same distance. All stages must be shot using one hand, unsupported.
Add to the difficulty of the course, shooters struggle against the Lake Erie wind and changing weather, malfunctions (if any) with the firearms and their own physical limitations.
“You’re trying to make your body do what it’s not designed to do…and that’s to stand perfectly still,” Feazelle said.
To stay calm and completely focused takes discipline, said Feazelle.
“No matter how good you get, you sometimes forget something,” he said.
When everything is remembered, especially during the national matches, it makes the experience more fulfilling.
“The greatest satisfaction I get is that it’s something I do on my own,” said Fleming. “It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to shoot a pistol well, and when you do it well, you know you are in control of your environment. You control that gun; you control the trigger. It’s the culmination of a whole lot of things that are going on inside of you that just say, ‘okay, this is what it takes to shoot an X.’ When you shoot an X, you know you’re in control.”
This experience isn’t an unattainable goal, said Knapp.
“One of the neat things about this competition is it doesn’t really matter about your size, strength or speed. You can still use the same techniques, and you can reach the same level of performance regardless of your physical condition,” said Knapp. “I’m shooting next to a man with a half of a leg.”
No matter what level a shooter is, all other shooters want to help him get better.
“People give you pointers or help you in some way. It’s really all about bringing people up,” said Gossett, who has been shooting competitively for four years.
The people who come to Camp Perry carry a passion for the sport and a love for the camaraderie. From loaning equipment to a complete stranger to offering advice, encouragement and shooting stories to anyone who will listen, many make it a personal obligation to share their passion with someone else.
“I remember when I first started out, everybody wanted to help me out. So, I try to do the same thing,” said Fleming.
It is this passion for the sport as well as his passion for the Coast Guard that has driven Fleming to try to recruit and organize an unofficial team every year since 1996.
In 1994, the official All Coast Guard Team disbanded, and all funding for the marksmanship program ended, except for the Coast Guard Academy’s Collegiate team. This year was the second successful year Fleming was able to bring a team together.
“The main reason I do it is pride. I want people to see the Coast Guard is represented. I may grumble a little bit about the fact that we don’t get supported, but it’s important to be in uniform. It’s important to fly the flag,” he said.
The Coast Guard was well represented. The team won first place for the overall team competition in the expert division of the service category, and individuals took first place in a few competitions as well.
Even as Fleming packed his bags to head home, next year was already on his mind. With Gossett retiring and Feazelle going off active duty, Fleming knows he needs more people. He wants the Coast Guard to be represented in the team competitions, so he’ll go home and begin recruiting and practicing now for next year’s competition.
For more information on joining the sport of pistol shooting or the unofficial Coast Guard team, contact Lt. Fleming at 804-642-7540.
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