Young shooters aim for expertise

CAMP BUTNER -- It was a typical summer day in North Carolina, sticky hot with a breeze that didn't really help. The conditions were reflected by the flushed cheeks of Katherine Keville, but she didn't seem to care. The Cary High School junior's attention was focused on Marine Gunnery Sgt. Kevin Marion, who was coaching her in the art of high-power rifle shooting.

Summer's heat wouldn't interfere with the chance to receive coaching from one of the military's finest shooters. Keville was among 35 youths under age 20 who attended the inaugural Eastern U.S. Junior High Power Clinic and Championship held June 25-30 at the N.C. National Guard Training Center in Granville and Durham counties.

"Air rifle was the big starter for me, and I got really good at it," Keville had said before the shooting session. "I started in small-bore [rifle], but Bob [Hughes, a coach,] switched me to high-power."

Her transition and the event are part of the Civilian Marksmanship Program, a throwback to the days of Teddy Roosevelt that has evolved into a youth-oriented program teaching citizens to shoot military-type rifles such as the M1 Garand, the M14 and the AR-15, the civilian version of the M16.

As they learn about the weapons and techniques, young shooters participate in a historical program that they might never read about in a U.S. history class. As they shoot, they fulfill Roosevelt's vision of a century ago.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program was created by Congress (and the then-president) in 1903, according to the program Web site www.odcmp.com, to "provide civilians an opportunity to learn and practice marksmanship skills so they would be skilled marksmen if later called on to serve the U.S. military."

From 1916 to 1996, the CMP was administered by the U.S. Army. In 1996, the Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle Practice and Firearms Safety was created to take over the CMP. Over the years, emphasis has shifted to youth education, with safety, fellowship and competition the hallmarks. Old military rifles can be purchased through the CMP, which helps fund the organization.

Even with its roots in history, the program still had room for improvement in the eyes of some modern-day participants, including Bob Hughes of Raleigh.

"Brad Palmer [a juniors coach from Connecticut], Chief Warrant Officer Martin Cole [officer in charge of the Marine rifle team in Quantico, Va.] and I were sitting around at the regional match in Quantico last July, and we were talking about the fact that the junior high-power [shooting division] did not have a national championship," Hughes, a juniors coach at Sir Walter Gun Club in Creedmoor, said as he watched the shooters practice at the 200-yard line. "So, we thought about having a junior championship."

A year later, here they were at Camp Butner.

After a practice day, two days of clinics were conducted or assisted by members of Air Force, Marine, Army and National Guard shooting teams. The Marines even brought their gunsmithing trailer to keep equipment in top operating order.

The next three days featured complicated competition, with shooters firing from 200, 300 and 600 yards in various modes (rapid fire, slow fire, sustained fire) and stances (prone, sitting, standing, kneeling). Shooters used more than 600 rounds of ammunition apiece as they competed not only for a winning score but also to qualify for various designations of proficiency in the sport.

'It's her sport'

Shooters from six states gathered on bleachers the morning of June 26 for the clinics on cleaning and care of the AR-15 (the .223-caliber civilian, non-automatic version of the M16 and the preferred gun of most in attendance). Other clinics covered fundamentals of marksmanship, zeroing the rifle, effects of weather and the use of a data book (a shooting log).