Military Olympians

The 2008 Olympics are over for the Soldiers of the United States Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU). Six Soldiers ranging in rank from PFC to MAJ competed in Beijing and ended up winning 2 Gold medals. These Soldiers will eventually be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the USAMU and join 21 other Soldiers that have represented their Nation in shooting events at the Olympics and won medals.

Once they return they start right back up again, everything from Mobile Training Teams, the Basic Non-Commissioned Officers Course (BNCOC), to training for the next shooting event. PFC Hancock and SPC Eller told there families goodbye for awhile because on top of the things listed above they will be traveling around the country thanking Americans for supporting them and the other Soldiers.

SPC Eller says it best, “I never would have made it here without the Army”. Eller leaves for BNCOC soon and I am sure he will excel there as well. Keep up with these Soldiers at www.usamu.com or at www.goarmy.com .

PFC Vincent Hancock pulled off a great, if not dramatic, win for the second AMU Olympic gold medal in 2008! Leading by one shot into the finals he fired a 24 out of 25, the second placed competitor shot 25 out of 25. The Norwegian that tied him had to shoot first and he shot both targets clean. Hancock followed with a perfect pair as well. SPC Jeff Holguin’s father said, “Everyone get comfortable, this could go on for awhile”. Luckily the Norwegian dropped one of his next two and Hancock was perfect on his pair, proving again that the 19 yr old is solid in pressure situations.

Afterwards Hancock said, “I just got really mad when I missed that one and that was the end of it. I knew I wouldn’t miss again” During the press conference that followed Hancock spoke with pride about his brother who recently returned from his second tour in Iraq and is also stationed at Ft Benning GA. The respect that each Soldier has for each other is obvious. PFC Hancock is the youngest of 23 United States Army Marksmanship Unit Olympic medal winners.

Tomorrow SFC Jason Parker shoots in the final shooting event of the 2008 Olympics. He will be competing against a tough field of 3 Position International Rifle Shooters.

PFC Vincent Hancock is positive. His bride is positive, his friends and family are positive and so is everyone else around him. They are positive he is going to win a medal in the Skeet event. The way he is shooting after day one, the color of the medal may be gold. He has a long way to go but he is in the lead by one shot.

The skeet event is a total of 150 shots, 125 in the preliminary and 25 in the final. Today Hancock shot 73 out of 75 and has a one shot lead- something he has to try and sleep on tonight. Tomorrow they shoot 50 more in the preliminary and those that move forward to the finals shoot 25 more.

All targets aren’t weighted equally. Mr. Gary Anderson, Olympic official, said, “He is about one third of the way there.” The pressure that builds with each step makes those final targets real hard to hit. Having won multiple gold medals as a member of the USAMU, Gary should know.

This is already one of the best years for the USA in shooting in decades, but there is still more on the table. Tomorrow we find out if 19 year old PFC Hancock can add to that.

Today was a quiet around here for the Soldiers, no events. Of course they were training and supporting the other Americans shooting but no events for them. We took the opportunity to take some Unit pictures.

PFC Hancock is coming off of a good training day yesterday. He shot three rounds, his first since getting here, and shot a 23, 25, and 25. “I’m right where I want to be.” Today he shot another three rounds in some wet conditions. Heavy rains, thunder and lightening interrupted some of the actual events and while they weren’t shooting Hancock was.

2004 Silver medalist MAJ Mike Anti also shoots tomorrow. Anti’s event is International Rifle. This is his 4^th Olympics so he isn’t awe struck by all of it and is doing a great job helping out the Soldiers that haven’t been before. During practice the other day he shot a 598 out of a possible 600 so he shooting well.

The excitement from SPC Eller’s Gold medal yesterday has everyone he comes in contact with fired up—to include people he meets on the street. The pride you see in Americans as they shake his hand and have their pictures taken with him is fantastic, and the group of people from Minnesota that had their pictures taken with him yesterday will be talking about that for a long time.

SPC Eller, who is an easy going guy, was a real class act with all the media interviews. Eller follows football coach Tom Laundry’s philosophy on how to handle himself after victory. He didn’t act all crazy like he had never won before or he never expects to be there again, he was very professional. Although when we spoke 7 hours later he still had the grin on his face that he had from the medal ceremony, which will probably be there for a long time.

19 year old PFC Vincent Hancock was walking around like a caged tiger yesterday. PFC Hancock is shooting the International Skeet event on the 15^th and he can’t wait. He has his priorities right also and is staying focused. His family and new bride show up the same day he gets to practice and there is no doubt practice is his priority. Hancock has not been able to shoot since he got here and said, “I just can’t wait to get this thing started. I’m really looking forward to match.” The confidence from this humble but confident Soldier seemed to grow as fellow USAMU Soldier Eller won and Holguin finished just outside of the medals.

You know that feeling of chills you get when you hear the National Anthem played at a ball game? Seeing your flag raised over two others and hearing the National Anthem played at the most premier sporting event in the world is indescribable.

SPC Glenn Eller was the cause of that today in the Olympic Double Trap event. He set two Olympic records on his way to winning by 3 shots over the silver medalist. This was his third Olympics but first since he joined the Army. His family, friends, coaches and other athletes credit the discipline and support structure of the Army for getting the gold medal to the US.

SPC Jeff Holguin was just out of the medal finish in 4^th which was a remarkable accomplishment for his first time at the Olympics. Neither of the Soldiers were expected to do as well as they did by the sports media “experts” which just goes to prove that you should never underestimate a US Soldier.

After the preliminarily event and before the finals both Eller and Holguin were seen outside of the secluded area were they are expected to stay alone and secluded from any of the spectators and music going on outdoors. Eller’s sister asked what the heck they were doing and they both answered, “Just listening to the music.” These two Soldiers will be a force on the Olympic stage for a long time as long as they can handle pressure that well.

Tomorrow is a busy day for the Soldiers of AMU. Both 50-meter Free Pistol and Men’s Double Trap compete.

SFC Darryl Szarenski will shoot a .22 caliber pistol at a target 50 meters away with a bull’s-eye under two inches. Szarenski has been working hard and staying focused, so much so that very few people see him here unless it is at the practice range.

So what does SPC Jeff Holguin think his chances are in men’s Double Trap?

Both he and SPC Glenn Eller are very humble about their chances but both say, “I came here to win the Gold Medal”. Both of their fathers are here and couldn’t be more proud of their sons’ dedication. “Coming into the Army is exactly what Glenn needed” said Butch Eller.

They are going to need that dedication to make it to the podium. International Double Trap is no joke! The target is moving 60 mph and is usually seen, targeted, and shot within the first 40 feet of being launched. The clay target is about 4 inches long and 2 inches wide.

SFC Jason Parker is first up for the USAMU Soldiers. He has earned an Olympic slot in two events and will have about a week “off” between them. Tomorrow’s event is the 10-meter air rifle event.

In the air rifle event, a .177-caliber (pellet) rifle is used. The rifle can not weigh more than 12.1 pounds. Any sight not containing a lens or system of lenses is permitted. Competitors complete 60 shots in 105 minutes. The shots are fired in the standing position at a target 10 meters away that has a center ring 0.02 inches in diameter. Let me say that again — 0.02 inches in diameter. Eight athletes advance to the finals, where they each have 75 seconds to fire 10 shots.

International Rifle and Pistol are very big national sports in Europe and Asia. SFC Parker first started shooting when he was 3 years old with a BB gun. His competitive career began at the age of 13. After Graduation from Xavier University (OH) where he earned a bachelor’s in Psychology and was a 7-time All- American International Rifle shooter, he enlisted into the Army.

We spoke earlier and he said, “My guns are shooting fine, the ammo is good, now I just have to go out and shoot.” I can tell you though that he probably isn’t sleeping well tonight and his roommate MAJ Anti is trying to keep the distractions in the Olympic Village to a minimum. I guess if I was shooting standing in the Olympics at a target not much bigger then the period at the end of this sentence, I wouldn’t be sleeping all that well either.

You might think that with seven Olympics between them that MAJ Mike Anti and SFC Jason Parker would be old hands at this, not at all. I spoke with them today and it was obvious that the combination of the opening ceremony, meeting the President of the United States and their events still pending had them fired up.

Both were going over routines they have used after years of rooming together on the road to keep the tension down. Only half joking, Anti said, “We both know what bothers the other guy and depending on who starts bothering who first it could go on for days.” “You have to stick to your routine” they both said — even if that means finding a McDonalds.

The opening ceremony for the athletes lasts for most of the day, but Parker wasn’t having any of it. “My event is just a few days away and I wasn’t going to spend eight hours in that craziness when I could be getting ready.” SFC Parker marched in the ceremony, but found a side exit and went back to his room. The rest of the Soldiers don’t shoot for a few more days so they stayed for all the media events afterwards and finally got back to their rooms about 2 a.m. SFC Parker has his official training event the 10th and will shoot air rifle, one of his two events, starting on the 11^th.

Much of what I saw on the news before I came over was about the smog and the food. Here are the impressions after six hours on the ground.

We were sitting around talking about how this place reminds us of different places we have been to.  As Soldiers, we were talking about different places and the place that came to mind was Ugljevic, Bosnia.  Soldiers that have been there know how that was. For the people that have not been there, I’m told it is a little like Los Angeles on a bad smog day. If you remember the even/odd license plate days for gas, that is the same thing that the Chinese government is doing for driving now to try and limit the smog.  Today only cars with an odd number as the last number on their license plate were allowed on the road. As far as the airport, security and the attitude of the people — I think it is better than a lot of places I have been.  

As far as the Soldiers go, their training camp in Korea seems to have been the right way to go because the guys are not struggling with jet lag or anything like that.  SPC Jeff Holguin had a very good training camp. The conditions of the range are very good and they can’t wait until their events start. Today was the first day they got on the ranges here in China.  The Olympic Village is where all the competitors stay and the AMU Soldiers are happy with the conditions there. At this point they are as ready as they can be and I think everyone would rather shoot their event the day after the opening ceremonies (tomorrow) rather then wait several days for their events.

AMU Soldier SSG Mark Weeks (assistant Coach for the National Shotgun team) and I were talking about some of the other competitors here today. One guy suffered a mild heart attack a few years ago and SSG Weeks was in the area. He took control of the situation and performed CPR until the rescue crew could arrive. He is obviously fine and tonight that competitor’s daughter celebrated her 18^th birthday here in China. SSG weeks, the competitor and his daughter were all here together.

Training and the opening ceremony are on the schedule for the next few days, but I will have the soldiers start giving some impressions. The internet is clogged, but I will try and have some pictures tomorrow.