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As we all anxiously await the NRA sending out the International Distinguished Badges, we have fifteen new recipients this year, who have earned their badges at the F-Class world Championships at Connaught Range in Canada. Four of the new recipients are now double International Distinguished, having earned their first badge in Target Rifle.

The new recipients are:

Bryan Litz                                   (Double)

Mitchell Fitzpatrick

Rhys Ireland

Shawn McSparron

Collin McSparron

Madison Bramley

Raymond Gross                       (Double)

Steve Hardin                             (Double)

Scott Fulmer

John Droelle

Tracy Hogg

Daniel Pohlabel

Dan Lentz

Doug Boyer

Michelle Gallagher                 (Double)

Well done and Congratulations All!!! Listings of all the badge recipients and accumulated point totals for those who are working toward a badge, are included below.

The NRA is in possession of the numbered badges. When we first received the badges from the manufacturer they were supposed to be individually numbered, but they were not.  The badges were sent back for numbering and during that time period the manufacturer went bankrupt. Eventually everything was sorted out and the badges were numbered and returned.

When they will be sent out is unknown. NRA Competitions is reorganizing and there are many personnel changes. Hopefully when things settle down, the badges will be sent out so that everyone gets their proper number. Keep your fingers crossed.

The International Distinguished Badge is continuation of a program that fell by the wayside in the late 1960’s. The rules that are used to award points for the new badge are closely based on the original rules. Points are earned by competing in sanctioned international matches.  The amount of points earned from each event is based on the event’s prestige or status.  More points are earned at a World Championship than at an America Match, for example.  The point chart is below.

The aspect of ‘Sanctioned Matches’ is often misunderstood. Oftentimes teams and/ or individuals from more than one country will compete in an event. That does not make it an international event. The Berger Southwest Nationals draws people from several countries. The event itself is sanctioned by the US NRA.  It is a ‘National’ level event, but it is not an ‘International’ event.

International events are sanctioned by the International Council of Fullbore Rifle Associations (ICFRA). In addition to ICFRA sanctioning, for a ‘Team’ World Championship to occur, a minimum of four countries must compete (and each country can only enter a single team).

The America Match is not yet an ICFRA sanctioned match. It is included in the IDB program because it is an event that happens by an agreement between the US NRA and the DCRA.  It also often draws teams from several additional countries.  In Target Rifle, the America Match is very tightly contested. The US has only won three of the eight America Matches that have been run. The F-Class America Match is beginning to gain the same international draw.  

There also seems to be some confusion regarding the status of the Rutland Match. Per ICFRA rules it is not a ‘World Championship’. It is a match conceived to allow those shooters who are not on a national team, a chance to shoot alongside the World Championship Team events at the F-Class World Championships. There is work being done to elevate the Rutland to ‘World Championship’ status, but for now, it is not. If it does attain that status, it will fall under the other requirements to a world championship team event, e.g. at least four countries competing and only one sanctioned team per country.

No ICFRA rules or format have been established for an F-Class U25 Team event at this time. That is also being worked on and sanctioning rules will likely be in place for the next World Championships. 

Thanks to Pam Merillat for all the work she did designing and laying out our team program for the World Championships.  She designed several of the ads and sought out and signed up several advertisers for us. 

Pam has a gifted eye for design and we have worked with her on numerous projects over the years. In fact, she is responsible for the idea of using a shield type symbol for our team logo.

We heartily recommend her work and look forward to working with her again in the future.

More to come when i get time to write it up!

In the meantime, check out the article at WWW.SSUSA.ORG.

A little story about my Uncle Alton for Memorial Day.  He passed a few days ago. I got to hear a lot of his stories, but my memories just scratch the surface. He was drafted August 5th 1941, prior to our entry into World War II. His job was being a runner. As a runner he didn’t have to carry much gear and thought it was a great job until the first time he was in battle and he could hear the bullets snapping by his head as he carried messages back and forth. His first piece of advice for me was to never get out of a ditch or hole in the same place that you dived in. He said the Germans would be on aim at that spot waiting for you to climb out.

He was in the 9th Infantry Division and was among the first units to land in Africa. I only ever heard him voice two complaints about American leadership and the first was about the Kasserine Pass. He said that we knew that our tanks, at the time, were no match for the Germans, but they were sent into battle anyway and nearly all were destroyed.

Somewhere in Algeria, he got pinned down by machine gun fire. His unit was a few hundred yards below him on the hill side and they couldn’t get to him to save him and he watched them pull out and leave him behind. I heard that story several times, and one of them he mentioned that he only had a few rocks for cover, but that he set to work digging a hole while they were shooting at him. I asked how he was able to do that, but one of my other uncles jumped in with a smart remark about doing it fast and I never got an answer. After nightfall he worked his way through German lines and made it back to the American side.

He fought in Sicily and at some point his unit got to ride on tanks to the next battle. He hopped up and straddled the main gun and thought it was a good spot until they started moving. Apparently they were on that tank for many hours and he couldn’t move because there were so many guys on it with him. He said he was sore for a long time afterward.

His unit went into France a few days after D-Day. The hedgerows were much worse than any of the fighting he had been in up to that point. They experienced a lot of casualties there. The Germans, or the “damn krauts” as he called them, would cut the communication lines and then leave a sniper to shoot the guy sent out to repair it. He stopped sending out the new guys because they all got killed. He would go out and repair the lines himself. I never found out how he knew how to avoid the German traps. He told me that he stopped talking to the new guys. He didn’t want to get to know them, because they only lasted a few days.

His last battle was at or near the Huertgen Forest. His unit had been in constant contact with the enemy for months. He said they never took their boots off because the Germans were constantly counter attacking. It didn’t matter how miserable or wet they were, when the attacks came they had to be able to move to survive.

He said that fighting in the wooded areas was terrible due to the artillery shells exploding in the trees above. There was no cover to get away from it if they were on patrol.

After nearly three years of heavy combat, it was his feet (from not taking his boots off) that finally got him pulled and sent home. When he got to a hospital far enough back that they could get his records, the doctor realized how long he had been fighting and asked him what he was still doing there. There was point system that determined when each soldier would get sent home. Uncle Alton kept giving his points away to guys who were married and had kids at home. He stayed in combat long after he had to.

They sent him to some nice hotel/resort in Florida with all the other long time veterans to rest and recuperate.

He was an avid hunter before the war, but he sold all his guns when got back and never went hunting again. To meet him on the street you would never know what he did during the war.

I know these details and stories are probably mixed up as I heard them piece by piece over thirty plus years and I am probably leaving out lots of detail. He was interviewed for a documentary and it is much more riveting than my account.

http://stream.media.loc.gov/…/afc2001001_071940_mv0001001_6…

He survived six company commanders, received a Purple Heart and a Bronze star. My uncle was lucky and he admits it several times in the video.  Many were not and I hope everyone takes a few minutes today to reflect on their sacrifice.

This year marked the first year that we have been able to award prestigious trophies to the winners of the FTR events at the F-Class National Championships. Every year the subject of trophies would come up and then recede after the award ceremony was complete. No more. With the generosity of several marvelous sponsors we now have four impressive trophies to award our winners.

Nightforce Cup provenance PDF

Burger Bullets Trophy provenance PDF

Pierce Engineering Trophy provenance PDF

Michigan Trophy 

At Camp Perry, for the Highpower Rifle Award Ceremony, the NRA has the trophies for each event, set out on a stand and then the winners are called up, one by one, to stand behind them. The first time I was called up onto the stage, I was so nervous, my knees were shaking. It seems funny looking back on it now, but it was such an honor to be on that stage for the first time, surrounded by my shooting heroes.

Since then, I have been fortunate to attend formal award ceremonies in both Canada and Great Britain, even receiving some awards in Canada. What stood out for me was the memories that each trophy would invoke. Before the ceremonies people would cluster around the trophy tables and talk about when they won this or that trophy or how close they were to winning this year, building the determination to win it next year.

Our Camp Perry Highpower ceremony is probably the most grandiose, held at the base auditorium with spot lights on each trophy on the stage. Canada’s TR Prize Giving is almost the opposite. It is held in a big tent with bad lighting and the trophies set out on folding tables. The thing is, the trophies are all shapes and sizes, two or three deep, for three or more tables. The minute you walk into either venue, the trophies grab your attention and surroundings are almost immaterial. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I secretly like Canada’s presentation a little bit more.

Those experiences shaped what I wanted our award ceremony to be like. So I began spreading the vision of what the trophies should be to our team sponsors and sending pictures and links to antique Silver cups and bowls that would make an appropriate symbol of victory and success. It was not a hard sell. Sean Murphy at Nightforce Optics and Eric Stecker at Berger Bullets, quickly agreed to help.

Nightforce Optics sponsored the trophy to be awarded to the individual National Champion. Pictures do not do this trophy justice. The cap comes off and inside is gilded gold. There is a presence to this trophy. It is not the biggest, but it is weighty and it radiates class. So far, it is also the oldest, crafted in 1899. This year’s National Champion is Richard Dixon.

Berger Bullets sponsored the Team National Championship Trophy. At this year’s SHOT Show I met with Eric Stecker to talk about trophies. His direction regarding the trophy was to get the item that it ‘had to be’ to properly represent the award. The Berger Bullets Trophy is nearly six pounds of silver, crafted in 1914. As a member of eight time National Championship Team Sinclair, I can’t imagine a better symbol to represent this match!

Applied Ballistics sponsored the Michigan Cup which is awarded to the winner of the first day at the National Championships. Bryan Litz, chose the name to represent the prominence that Michigan shooters have taken in FTR events. This year’s winner, Richard Dixon, appropriately is from Michigan.

Pierce Engineering Sponsored the trophy for the winner of the second day at the National Championships. The Pierce Engineering Trophy is unique in shape with three handles and it has a hammered finish unlike the other trophies. It is also the second oldest, crafted in 1905. When I showed John Pierce this trophy he immediately said “yes, that’s the one I want!” Mike Plunkett is this year’s winner.

I have stories about how each of the sponsors above has helped out the shooting sports in many different ways and places. This is just another example of them taking a long term view of their place in the shooting world and it speaks very highly of each of them. Thank you.

Special thanks also goes out to US Team member Al Barnhart who organized the manufacture of the bases for each trophy and applied the name plates for all the past winners.

We have sponsors for both a Senior and Junior trophy, but have not found appropriate items for them yet. We are also looking for a sponsor and trophy item for the third day champion.

The first badges have been awarded in ceremonies at Camp Perry and at Lodi this year. Everyone who has earned a badge will receive one from the NRA as soon as they are properly numbered.

Everyone who has earned a badge or has earned points towards a badge is listed in the charts below.

Special thanks is due to Walt Walter and Dennis Flaharty for their work behind the scenes, to make this award possible.

To date, 36 competitors have won the IDB for F-Class and 67 competitors for Target rifle.

In order to get the program started, we began accumulating points at the turn of the new millennium. There are many deserving competitors who have represented the USA in International Competition prior to that. Someday, we hope to be able to include them as well.

The International Distinguished Badge is awarded to those competitors who have medaled at the World Championships, America Match and Australia Match.

To all who have earned your Badge, Congratulations! To everyone working on it, good luck!

(Ray Gross is currently the official record keeper for the IDB)