Civilian Marksmanship Program to Welcome JROTC Cadets to Camp Perry

Civilian Marksmanship Program to Welcome JROTC Cadets to Camp Perry

 

Civilian Marksmanship Program

CAMP PERRY, OHIO – More than 500 high school Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) cadets from across the US and Department of Defense Schools overseas, together with their coaches and parents will visit the Port Clinton, Ohio area between February 12 and 28 to compete in All Service Air Rifle Championships to determine Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force JROTC national individual and team champions. In addition, the top competitors in each championship will advance to the National JROTC Air Rifle Championship at Fort Benning, Georgia in March.

Spectators from the Northwest Ohio area are welcome to attend any or all competitions to see the what sporter and precision class air rifle shooting entails and to give the area youth an opportunity to learn more about CMP’s many junior shooting programs.

“We are delighted to host so many fine young competitors at our state-of-the-art air rifle range,” said Gary Anderson, CMP’s Director of Civilian Marksmanship. “We welcome the nation’s best JROTC air rifle competitors to our new facility where they will find a safe, comfortable, spectator friendly and highly competitive atmosphere.” Camp Perry Marksmanship Center facilities are comparable to the best airgun ranges in the world that host International Sport Shooting Federation (ISSF) competitions like Beijing and Munich. Anderson said, “they are definitely the finest facility of this type in the entire Western Hemisphere.”

The JROTC competition process actually began last November when nearly 7,000 cadets and 1,200 JROTC unit teams began firing on CMP-provided postal targets at their home ranges. The CMP then used its Orion Visual Imaging Scoring system to scan and score the 21,800 10-bullseye paper targets electronically. Scores in last fall’s postals determined qualifiers for this month’s JROTC Service Championships.

Competitors in the JROTC Championships will fire with either “precision” or “sporter” class air rifles. In general, precision rifles are high tech and feature adjustable stocks and triggers, internal rechargeable air tanks or CO2 cylinders, etc. Sporter rifles are low-cost, conventional appearing air rifles without specialized adjustments, but they also utilize air or CO2 cylinders to power their projectiles.

The competition entails 60-shot three-position events to be fired on two successive days. Each day, competitors will fire 20 shots each in prone, standing and kneeling positions at a 10-meter (33-feet) target with a bull’s-eye that is only one-half millimeter in diameter. Individual finals among the top eight sporter and top eight precision class competitors will be fired on the afternoon of the second day. That will be followed by huge awards banquets in the Camp Perry Club House on Saturday evenings.

The schedule and times when competitions can be watched in person at the Camp Perry Marksmanship Center or viewed live on the Internet via the CMP website at https://www.odcmp.com are as follows:

Army JROTC Championship:

  • Friday, February 13, 10:00 AM – 5:30 PM, individual & team competition
  • Saturday, February 14, 8:00 AM – 3:30 PM, individual & team competition
  • Saturday, February 14, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM, individual finals
  • Marine Corps and Air Force JROTC Championships:
  • Friday, February 20, 10:00 AM – 5:30 PM, individual & team competition
  • Saturday, February 21, 8:00 AM – 3:30 PM, individual & team competition
  • Saturday, February 21, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM, individual finals
  • Navy JROTC Championship:
  • Friday, February 27, 10:00 AM – 5:30 PM, individual & team competition
  • Saturday, February 28, 8:00 AM – 3:30 PM, individual & team competition
  • Saturday, February 28, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM, individual finals

Camp Perry is located five miles west of Port Clinton, Ohio on State Highway #2. Two lighthouse towers on the north side of the highway mark the entrance. To drive to the Competition Center, proceed north to the flagpole and then turn right, drive 300 yards and turn left into the Center parking lot.

Qualifying for the four service championships during the postal competitions had each cadet fire a 30-shot course of fire. The highest individual precision rifle results in this year’s JROTC postal were 296 x 300 scores fired by Lynnise Johnson of Patch High School in Stuttgart, Germany and Jacob Brown of Luella HS in Georgia. The highest individual sporter class score was a 284 x 300 fired by Yvonne Swiontek, of Zion Benton HS in Illinois. All three will compete at Camp Perry.

More information about who is coming to this month’s National JROTC Service Championship and their qualifying scores is posted at https://www.odcmp.com/3P/jrotcinvites.htm.

Additional information is available at www.odcmp.com or by calling (419) 635-2141.