Shooting stars of world stage
Tess Ikonomou
ive at ere e urrent se that d .” n said ice through their platform.
“We do Hit The Hill to engage with the community on mental health, so it’s a topic that’s spoken about,” she said.
“I definitely think more people are feeling less ashamed if they do have a problem and ask for help.”
Hit The Hill has managed to raise more than $ 100,000 for charity organisations over the past four years. EXPERTS in combat shooting and “owners of the night” were the tags given to the Aussie Army Combat Shooting Team following the annual Canadian Armed Forces Small Arms Competition in Quebec Province, Canada.
“We achieved what we came to achieve,” said Corporal Hawker of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment.
“We learned valuable lessons from, and developed valuable links with, some of the best military shooting teams in the world.
“In addition, we established the benchmark for combat shooting, shooting at night and leading soldier combat equipment.”
During August, the team prepared in Townsville, enabled by 1RAR prior to heading to Canada in September for the two week competition.
Competing against the best from Canada, the United Kingdom, US Army, US National Guard and the Armed Forces of the Netherlands, the Army Combat Shooting Team won the machine gun competition, dominated the night shooting events and led the dynamic combat shooting practices.
“The other teams were very impressed with our leading combat behaviours during the combat shooting and urban practices,” said Lance Corporal Scott Clark.
“They were also blown away with our combat equipment: weapon, ancillaries, SCE and night fighting equipment.”
Cpl Hawker said the competition was valuable to personnel.
“It really does inspire one to be truly expert at combat shooting and combat behaviours,” he said.
“It also allows you to validate, and improve, what and how you train, against the world’s best and then feeding those lessons learned back into our units and training centres. Finally, it is a great feeling to represent our Army, and Australia, on the international stage.”
Assistant coach Sergeant Tom Squires of 1RTB said CAFSAC was a highly professional and challenging world- class competition.
“The opportunity to test our training and equipment against international military athletes should continue to be pursed and embraced into the future,” he said.
Australian Army Combat Shooting Team 2018:
MAJ Wayne Gough ( HQ CATC – coach), WO2 Martin McPherson ( ASEME – coach), SGT Thomas Squires ( 1 RTB – assistant coach), CPL Matthew Hawker ( 1 RAR), LCPL Scott Clark ( 1 RAR), PTE Nicholas Latham ( 1 RAR), PTE Grant Coad ( 1 RAR), PTE Eugene Rebsdorf ( 2 RAR), PTE Spencer Bradburn, CPL Jake McDermott ( 3 CSSB) and PTE Sheldon Ronald ( 7 RAR). Mounting Unit Manager: SGT Ash Moran. marksmanship