MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Maintain a solid stance. Rest the cheek on the butt stock. Breathe in, breathe out. Bang!
Marines know these commands well, but on Sept. 17 at the skeet and trap range in the 25 area of Camp Pendleton, they were specific to the art of skeet and trap shooting.
“Today we’re hosting the Pendleton Intramural Sports Program and Race Series,” said Sam Leiske, recreational shooting manager, Marine Corps Community Services. “There are four people per team and I have 44 teams signed up for the tournament so we have more than 150 participants signed up for today’s event.”
The sport, originally developed to simulate the action of bird hunting, has created a steadfast following amongst Marines, who pride themselves in staying on top of their shooting game.
“In trap, you shoot three-inch clay discs with 12-gauge shotguns from the sixteen yard line at five different stations,” Leiske said. “It’s one shot each so you have to make it count. Skeet is more difficult because you shoot one “pigeon” coming from directly behind your head and one roaming across the range in front of you.”
Skeet and trap shooting serves as an outlet for Marines to release stress in a social environment that’s comfortable for them. Marines are taught the basics on the rifle range, but this sport enables an entirely different type of shooting, one that hits home for many Pendleton residents who grew up hunting.
“This can open Marines’ horizons on what they can do in their off-time,” Leiske said. “They can join the club and meet other Marines, retired Marines, civilians … it’s a good mix for young Marines to meet other people and take advantage of all the opportunities available to them.”
The event brought out professionals and beginners alike, proving the sport warrants its seat in the USAA-hosted Pendleton Cup challenge.
“We were told to come out, that’s how we got here, but now that I’m shooting, I’ll definitely be coming back,” said Gunnery Sgt. John Frost, staff non-commissioned officer-in-charge, Individual Mobilization Augmentee Unit, Deployment Processing Command, Reserve Support Unit, Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton. “It’s just that instant gratification of destroying the target and seeing it explode that’s satisfying. It’s perfectly in line with the Marine Corps’ ‘every Marine a rifleman’ concept. You have to acquire the target and take it out. These ideas have been drilled into us from the very beginning of our Marine Corps careers.”