Now that’s what I call an Easter Basket!
Now that’s what I call an Easter Basket!
The Special Operations Assoc Museum Committee wants to raise $15,000.00 in the next sixty days. This will allow sufficient time to purchase and assemble items needed.
This project will consist of four mannequins of Special Operations men kitted out in mission ready gear, to include weapons. The goal is to have the display ready in time for the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Reunion in September 2022 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. After a period in the 5th SFG(A) Hall of Heroes the display will be moved to the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Please donate today.
Read the CONOPS for more more information.
Thank you.
Bruce Christensen – Chair, Special Operations Museum Association (SOAM)
www.specialoperations.org/soa/museum
Big Tex took a Vertx Gamut Checkpoint and stuffed it with a ton of awesome stuff.
– 18350 FDE Modlite Handheld
– 10 Pmags
– Thyrm LPC
– Thrym CellVault
– Trijicon RMR 3.25 MOA Dot
– Multitasker Twist
– PHLster Pro holster
– BTO Promat gun cleaning mat
– NAR IPOK first aid kit
– ESD Sling
You’ve got until the 29th of April to register to win it. Then, they are going to select a winner live on Facebook and YouTube.
www.bigtexordnance.com/vertx-giveaway
FORT BENNING, Ga. — U.S. service members throughout the Department of Defense, along with partner nations, converged at Fort Benning, Georgia, April 4-11 to compete during U.S. Army Infantry Week.
Infantry Week supports service members’ readiness by providing a controlled, high-pressure environment to validate tactics, techniques and procedures, test the latest doctrine, highlight Infantry initiatives and build esprit de corps through competition and camaraderie.
An annual event hosted by the U.S. Army Infantry School, Infantry Week is the venue for some of the most physically and mentally demanding challenges any Soldier can face in a U.S. Army competition.
Infantry Week is comprised of three events: the International Sniper Competition, the All-Army Lacerda Cup Combatives Competition and the Best Ranger Competition.
The week kicked off with the International Sniper Competition where teams competed in a three-day test of precision, technique and teamwork.
Instructors from the U.S. Army Infantry School designed a gauntlet that challenged each three-person team’s ability to work together within a range of sniper skills. Events included long-range marksmanship, observation, reconnaissance, communications and the ability to move with stealth.
The sniper team from U.S. Army 2nd Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne), based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, earned the title of the world’s best sniper team.
The All-Army Lacerda Cup Combatives Competition features teams of eight individuals from across the Army who competed in a three-day event, hand-to-hand, for the tournament titles. Soldiers went in head-to-head matches against opponents in their respective weight classes.
The competition enhances unit combat readiness by building Soldiers’ personal courage, confidence and resiliency as well as situational responsiveness to close quarters’ threats in the operational environment.
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Sharon Jacobson, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, became the first female noncommissioned officer to win the Lacerda Cup Combatives Competition.
“It’s an honor. It’s amazing. I’m the first NCO enlisted female Soldier to do it. It feels really good. I’m really proud of myself,” said Jacobson. “These competitions push Soldiers and NCOs to their limits both mentally and physically.”
This year, U.S. Army Ranger-qualified two-person teams competed in the David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition. The grueling 60-hour event tested each team’s physical, mental, technical and tactical skills. Back-to-back events featured weapons firing, extended foot marches, land-navigation courses and Ranger-specific tasks.
The winners of the 2022 David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition representing the 75th Ranger Regiment were Capts. Joshua Corson and Tymothy Boyle.
Corson highlighted a lesson he can bring back to his unit. “Competing … brings back the drive to want to compete, the drive to want to win, the drive to do better every day and not give up,” said Corson.
Boyle spoke on why winning the Best Ranger Competition matters to him. ‘We have to go as hard as we can, we have to try to win because that is what our job is because we owe it to everybody we represent,” said Boyle.
The fierce competition coupled with camaraderie displayed throughout the seven-day event made this Infantry Week an incredibly successful event.
Story by Alexander Gago
Photos by Patrick A. Albright, Alexander Gago, and Markeith Horace.
BETHANY BEACH, Del. — Highly specialized American Army units from the U.S. Department of Defense’s premier all hazards command trained for interagency nuclear forensics missions during Exercise Prominent Hunt at Bethany Beach, Delaware, April 4-7.
The 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives Command’s Nuclear Disablement Team 2 and 3rd CBRNE Response Team qualified to serve as a part of the National Technical Nuclear Forensics Ground Collection Task Force at the conclusion of Prominent Hunt.
NTNF members who have recently served on prepare-to-deploy orders for the task force — including members of NDT 3, 2nd CRT from the 46th Chemical Company, Army Public Health Center and AFTAC — served as observers and controllers during the exercise.
Soldiers from the Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington-based 3rd CBRNE Response Team, 9th Chemical Company, trained for their NTNF mission of collecting ground samples through crawl, walk and run phases.
“Prominent Hunt promotes tactical and operational readiness to react in a nuclear emergency to meet the Army’s current demands,” said 1st Lt. Samantha K. Roberson, the team leader for CRT 3. “This mission specifically gives our Soldiers a further understanding on the radiation and nuclear portion of our mission-essential tasks. These lessons they can internalize and apply to future missions and carry on to their future Soldiers.”
According to Roberson, CRTs have to stay ready for all four weapons of mass destruction threats: chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear.
“This task force gives us a rare opportunity to exercise our radiological and nuclear capabilities. In this particular mission, we stress our ground sampling and escort tasks alongside the FBI and Department of Energy to create a joint task force,” said Roberson.
A former enlisted Soldier from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Roberson was commissioned into the U.S. Army Chemical Corps in August 2019 after earning a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Toxicity from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana.
“I felt drawn to the Chemical Corps as it naturally pairs with my degree,” said Roberson. “The Chemical Corps has provided me with the opportunity to learn more of what I’m passionate about, while protecting my fellow Soldiers from any CBRN threats.”
NDTs directly contribute to the nation’s strategic deterrence by staying ready to exploit and disable nuclear and radiological WMD infrastructure and components to deny near-term capability to adversaries. They also facilitate follow-on WMD elimination operations.
As the U.S. Department of Defense’s nuclear subject matter experts, Nuclear Disablement Teams serve as an informed interface between the CBRNE Response Team and the Department of Energy technical experts. The U.S. Army’s three Nuclear Disablement Teams — NDT 1 “Manhattan,” NDT 2 “Iron Maiden” and NDT 3 “Vandals” — are all stationed on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
Maj. Stacey M. Yarborough, the deputy team leader for the Nuclear Disablement 3, served as an observer during the exercise.
“The NDTs are the DoD component lead,” said Yarborough. “We exercise mission command over elements from a CBRNE Reconnaissance Team, the Air Force Technical Applications Center and augmentations from the 20th CBRNE Headquarters.”
Yarborough said NDTs plan and battle track ground collection missions through a variety of Department of Defense communication systems.
“Our Medical Science Officer and Health Physics Technician noncommissioned officers monitor all members of the ground collection team for radiation exposure forward of the DoE hotline,” said Yarborough, a Nuclear and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction officer from Felton, Delaware.
Lt. Col. Ronald C. Lenker, the team leader for NDT 2, served as the task force leader during exercise, a role usually reserved for an FBI Special Agent.
“The Ground Collection Task Force is led by the FBI as the task force leader and the Department of Energy also provides a deputy task force leader,” said Lenker. “In this particular scenario, no FBI agent was available, so I’m the acting task force leader for this exercise.”
An 18-year Army veteran from Wiconisco, Pennsylvania, who has deployed to Kuwait and Iraq, Lenker has participated in Exercise Prominent Hunt six times, including three exercises as a player and three as an observer and controller.
“Prominent Hunt is extremely important to the NTNF GCTF,” said Lenker. “This exercise demonstrates several agencies from the federal government can come together, swiftly form a cohesive task force and accomplish the mission In this case, attribution for the detonation of a terrorist initiated improvised nuclear device.”
Lenker said the task force came together to navigate around obstacles during the exercise. When one system went down, the operations team used a joint mapping tool in Humvee to track the plume of a simulated detonation.
“The highlight for me is seeing my Soldier and Airman teammates overcoming challenges as they arise,” said Lenker. “It’s this type of problem solving skills that set our military personnel apart from any other military in the world in my opinion.”
Story by Walter Ham
Photos by Marshall R Mason
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As a part of an interagency task force lead by the FBI, the National Technical Nuclear Forensics Ground Collection Task Force gathers and packages samples of radioactive fallout that enable partner agencies to determine the source.
Headquartered on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, the 20th CBRNE Command is home to 75 percent of the U.S. Army’s active-duty explosive ordnance disposal technicians and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear specialists, as well as the 1st Area Medical Laboratory, CBRNE Analytical and Remediation Activity, five Weapons of Mass Destruction Coordination Teams and three Nuclear Disablement Teams.
From 19 bases in 16 states, Soldiers and civilians from the 20th CBRNE Command deploy to confront and defeat the world’s most dangerous hazards during joint, interagency and allied operations around the world.
LEWISTON, Idaho – CCI’s sub-brand Blazer was recently named the most frequently purchased handgun ammunition brand in Southwick Associates 2021 “Hunting & Shooting Participation and Equipment Purchases Consumer Tracking Study”. Southwick’s yearly survey compiled the feedback of over 11,000 hunters and recreational shooters.
“Once again, CCI is very proud of the continued popularity of Blazer Brass centerfire handgun ammunition,” said Handgun Ammunition Product Director, Mike Holm. “We continue to push to provide consumers with a quality product that performs as well as consumers expect it to. We are also incredibly pleased to see that combined, CCI and Blazer make up more than 14% of handgun ammunition boxes purchased. This shows the large market share that these two storied brands have in our industry.”
In the handgun ammunition purchase survey, CCI and all its other affiliate brands proved to have a strong hold on the overall handgun ammunition market. All brands combined accounted for more than 32% of boxes purchased. Across this wide range of brands and product choices, any shooter is sure to find the perfect handgun ammunition option for practice, hunting, target shooting and self-defense.
Not only is CCI’s Blazer a popular brand for handgun shooters, CCI rimfire ammunition also ranked high in the rifle ammunition category in Southwick’s 2021 survey, accounting for almost 6% of boxes purchased. When it comes to target shooting or hunting with rimfire cartridges, CCI continues to be a top-tier, go-to option for all types of shooters.
Southwick’s in-depth resources illustrate shopping behaviors, such as where consumers buy, brand preferences, and amount spent. To learn more about the 2021 report, visit www.southwickassociates.com.
Since 1951, CCI has shaped the industry and served generations of shooters with the most advanced offerings for hunters and shooters. For more information on CCI and Blazer Ammunition, go to www.cci-ammunition.com.
OROVILLE, Calif. – April 11, 2022 – RCBS®, the leading manufacturer of ammunition reloading equipment for rifles and pistols, congratulates long-range competitor Paul Phillips for winning the ELR Light Class during the recent Spearpoint ELR Match held in Barnard, Kansas. Phillips, who prepped for the match using an RCBS Rock Chucker® Supreme Press and MatchMaster Powder Dispenser, led the field throughout the two-day match to secure his first win of the 2022 ELR season.
During this year’s competition, Phillips opted to compete in the Light Class, which requires shooters to use a rifle weighing under 26 pounds and chambered in .338 caliber or below. His personal rig for the match was chambered in 33XC and fired a 300 grain Berger bullet propelled by Vihtavouri Powder inside a Petersen cartridge using a Federal 215 M primer.
The Spearpoint ELR match featured many of the top long-distance shooters in the world, including the reigning King of 2 Mile team. After the match, it was noted that 76% of the shooters registered were in the Top 100 ranking in the world for King of 2 Miles.
“Whenever you load world championship level ammunition you need to make sure all of your tolerances are exact,” said Phillips. “RCBS equipment delivers this to me every time I’m at my reloading bench and hasn’t let me down once. I know that when I get to the line in a major competition I never have to worry about my ammunition, and I can instead concentrate on doing my job as the shooter.”
For more information on the latest RCBS presses and electronic loading dispensers including the recently introduced ChargeMaster™ Supreme and ChargeMaster™ Link, or to check out other RCBS products, be sure to visit RCBS.com.