TXSG Team Takes Top Sniper Honors
MAJ Michael Quinn Sullivan, PAO, TXSG
2012/06/22
DALLAS, Texas - A school teacher and a truck driver were on the team taking first place at a recent sniper competition. Their team, comprised of members of the Texas State Guard's 19th Civil Affairs Regiment, were competing with other Texas Military Forces teams in the Texas Adjutant General’s Combat Sniper Competition held at Camp Swift this month.
Other competitors included a 36th Division sniper team trained at the US Army Sniper School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and a Texas-based Air Force team. Unlike those teams, the TXSG team is comprised of volunteers who pay for their own ammunition, weapons and range-time.
“I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to compete," said Sgt. Scott Hunt, who also took the "Top Individual Shooter" award, obtaining the Sniper Governor's Twenty tab. "The commitment, countless hours of practice and the personal funds that we’ve had to expend has been well worth the sacrifice.
The 19th Regiment is based in Dallas. Another team from the 19th included Sgt. Donald Sheffield and Sgt. Sean Mounger. Capt. Thomas Baroody is the Officer in Charge of the 19th's weapons teams, as well as commander of the regiment’s Quick Reaction Team (QRT).
The TXSG is an all-volunteer force with full-time civilian jobs. For example, the 19th Regiment's sniper team includes Sgt. Hunt, who is a photography teacher at St Mark’s School of Texas, and Sgt. Lay, who is a truck driver with UPS Freight of Irving, Texas.
The commander of the 19th Regiment, Col.David Erinakes, said the success of the sniper team reflects the quality of soldiers volunteering in the unit and throughout the TXSG.
“We’ve placed top in Pistol, Rifle and now Sniper in the statewide matches becoming, I believe, the first unit to do so in the history of Texas Military Forces," said Erinakes. "The 19th Regiment has the best trained, most highly motivated folks in the state and now we’ve also proved that we have the best shooters in the state. This accomplishment brings immense credit and credibility to the 19th Regiment, the Texas State Guard and the Texas Military Forces as a whole in that it shows the level of dedication, motivation and skills of our volunteer soldiers. I am proud of their efforts and the dedicated competitive team that we have built in the 19th.”