Region 6 marksmen put skills to the test at Camp Guernsey
By Staff Sgt. Kristina Kranz
GUERNSEY, Wyo. — Soldiers and Airmen from National Guard units across Region 6
gathered at Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center, Wyoming, July 21–26, 2026, for the Marksmanship Advisory Council Region 6 competition. The regional event gave competitors the opportunity to exchange techniques, build professional relationships, and learn from one another, strengthening interoperability across the National Guard.
Region 6 includes Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming, and promotes battle-focused marksmanship training that enhances weapons proficiency in a tactically oriented environment.
“The Marksmanship Advisory Council Region 6 shooting championships are to test shooters on their capabilities of combat marksmanship,” said Sgt. 1st Class Brant Knight, match director for the MAC. “This competition prepares Soldiers for real-world combat in every situation for lethality and shooting. They do a lot of move-and-shoot, long-range, and close-quarters battle. All the shooting skills that are required of a soldier.”
Throughout the week, competitors completed a series of rifle and pistol events designed to evaluate accuracy, speed, weapons handling and decision-making under realistic conditions. Each event challenged competitors to engage targets from multiple shooting positions while moving through timed stages that emphasized safe weapons manipulation and efficient target engagement.
Success required more than simply hitting targets. Scores reflected accuracy, efficient movement, weapons manipulation, and the ability to apply marksmanship fundamentals under time constraints.
“This competition prepares Soldiers coming in that don’t really have a lot of experience to engage targets at a quicker pace. It enhances their mobility skills and gets their muscle memory to react to contact, and speeds up their pace to do things deliberately, not so much rush to the shot process, and really focus on the fundamentals,” said Staff Sgt. Wade Phelps, an ammunition specialist with the Wyoming Army National Guard, and team captain of one of the Wyoming teams.
Competitors return to their home states with techniques and lessons learned that can be shared during unit training, extending the competition’s impact beyond the individual shooter and helping improve overall force readiness. For Spc. Joshua Herring, a CH-47 helicopter repairer with the Oregon Army National Guard, the opportunity to improve both himself and his unit is what motivates him to compete.
“The primary motivator for me is to refine my marksmanship skills, and then to be able to take the skills that I’ve learned here and bring it back to my unit and disperse it and help retrain others to get onto a similar level,” Herring said. Staff Sgt. Eric Olsen, an infantryman from the Wyoming Army National Guard, encouraged Soldiers considering future competitions to take advantage of the opportunity.
“If I were to see a Soldier who was on the fence about competing next year, I would tell them that you have to do it. It is such a fun experience. It will benefit you so much in the long run. You’ll make some great friends. Overall, it’ll be one of the best experiences of your life,” Olsen said.
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