 Hi, I'm Lance Colburn-Munger, rifleman from Tutu. I'm from Massachusetts, native Massachusetts. I'm here as a summer augment with the Marine Corps shooting team. Summer augment is like a shooter that gets put on the summer team, gets to come out here and shoot competitions. They come from all around. They can come from Far East, Oki. They can come from Pendleton, Lejeune, really anywhere around. So, how long have you been shooting? In the Marine Corps and then before the Marine Corps? In the Marine Corps, not too long. I've only been in for a year. But before the Marine Corps, I used to shoot a lot with my dad. He was a CMC coach, so he taught me a lot about shooting. What's a CMC? A CMC is kind of like a range coach. They wear the safari covers. So I haven't been shooting too long for the Marine Corps. Of course, the training, like the qual at the beginning or at boot camp. And then I got to shoot the advanced marksmanship training program at my infantry school. AMTP is like a, it's kind of structures of competition. There's like a short bay, it's a long bay. And you get to learn how to shoot first before you actually do this like competition. It helped a lot with a lot of shooting. And my peers, we saw a lot of improvement throughout the course. How long have you been shooting with the Marine Corps shooting team? Not too long. It's been like three or four months. I found out about them through the MIC MIC. It's a Marine Corps shooting competition. The Marine Corps marksmanship competition, yeah. They had a competition out in Lejeune. And I got texted by my squad leader asking if I wanted to go shoot it. And I said, yeah, so went out there, did pretty good. I meddled and then I got invited to championships. I got a fifth silver, went to championships. I did all right there, but they saw that I was good at a certain position in high power. And they wanted to look at me. So I went to do like a little tryout and then an interview. And they liked me, so they put me on the team. My overall experience with the Marine Corps shooting team has been awesome. I've learned a lot. Especially about shooting, but not just shooting. Learned more about being a good Marine. Learning to be like a good leader. I think it's awesome because I get to shoot every day. I enjoy shooting because it's calm. It's a lot of fun. Especially out here, you get to meet a lot of cool people. Met tons of people out here. Marines, Army, retired folk. So far, I've met all at the MiC-MiC. Got a medal at Butner. What is Butner? It was Camp Butner, one of our first competitions. And I met all at Inner Service. That was a competition held in Quantico. It was like an all-service competition. What kind of medals did you get? So for the MiC-MiC, the Marine Corps marksmanship competition, that was a silver. And then I got a bronze at Camp Butner. And I got second place at Inner Service. The national matches are Camp Parry, this match right here. It's like a two-week, three-week match with a bunch of little matches. The first match we shot was like an 800-ag, which is 80 shots and 800 points. And a few other matches. Today's match was a six-man team match, which is a 500-ag, which is 50 shots per person. So whatever six times 50 is, is how many shots. So the regular course of fire for high power is usually an 800-ag or a 500-ag, which is 80 shots, 800 points, or 50 shots, 500 points. And then we start at the 200, then we go to the 300, and then to the 600. So I like shooting competitively because it pushes you a lot. You got a lot of pressure on you when you're shooting next to people for score. And sometimes you mess up, sometimes you don't. And those days you don't, it feels really good. That's good. What I can bring back to my unit shooting-wise is a lot of fundamentals in marksmanship. With this sport, one little change in something, if you weren't consistent, if you didn't put your buttstock in the same place, you can go from ten points all the way down to six points, and that can lose you a match. And in like a real combat scenario, a six would be a miss, so you didn't hit the guy. And that can cause you, it can cause you problems. The skills I've learned so far with the Marine Corps shooting team directly relates to my job as a rifleman. I can bring back a lot of these advanced skills that I've learned and teach my peers. Marines already understand the fundamentals from bootcamp or annual qual, but this sport really teaches us consistency and attention to detail about the fundamentals and really helps with your shooting, helps with your fundamentals. Also the mental aspect of shooting, you may have shot like a six or a seven, which is a point value in high power, and that's basically a miss. So that'll rip you right out of your pet space. You were in the flow, you were in the zone, and now you're thinking about this shot. The sport really teaches you how to get back into that mindset. If you ever get the chance to shoot a Marine Corps marksmanship competition, definitely go to great opportunity. So the competition is two weeks. The first week is all practice. You shoot pistol, you shoot some action stages, you shoot long distance ranges, non-standard distances, stuff like that. And then the second week is all competition where you use all those skills you just learned from the first week and you put it to the test. So most Marines only get to shoot during your annual qual or they might even skip a year. The MiCMiC really gives you the chance to go out there and shoot, learn like what a basic Marine is, what sets us apart from the other services, which is every Marine is a rifleman. The best way to get in contact with a shooting team is get in contact with your chain of command and then have them try to figure out when the next MiCMiC is in your area.