New York National Guard
By Eric Durr,
As he gets ready for the National Guard’s annual rifle and pistol competition, New York Army National Guard SSG Michael Kapela is spending a lot of time in his Buffalo backyard.
He doesn’t have a home range but SSG Kapela, a long-time shooter who headed the team that won the 2017 New York National Guard Adjutant General’s Match, says you can get a lot done at home with some targets, a little space and an empty weapon.
He practices changing from firing position to firing position – prone to kneeling, then to standing, and back to prone – while getting a good sight picture on a target, SSG Kapela explained.
The goal is to set a good shooting stance into muscle memory by doing it again, and again, and again, he said.
“The first time you do the kneeling position, or the last time you do the kneeling position, it should not be on the range,”
-SSG Kapela
He compared it to doing push-ups during the Army physical fitness test. “If you do a push up once a month at drill, you will never get stronger, and you never really experience the benefits,” he said. “Working on shooting stances is the same thing.”
SSG Kapela and three other members of the 152nd Engineer Support Company represented New York at the Winston P. Wilson Championship marksmanship competition being held at the Robinson Maneuver Training Center in North Little Rock, Ark., July 23-27.
The competition tests the ability of Guard shooters to employ their issue weapons – M-4s, M-16s and M-9 pistols – in a variety of shooting situations.
Dubbing themselves “the Gravediggers” because of their engineer backgrounds, SSG Kapela and 1LT Christopher Tornabene, SSG Raphael Ramos and SPC Tyler Studd will represent New York at the event.
SSG Ramos, like SSG Kapela, is a Buffalo resident, while 1LT Tornabene lives in nearby Williamsville. N.Y., and Studd lives in Medina, N.Y. Their unit is located in Buffalo at the historic Connecticut Street Armory.
The events test the Soldiers’ ability to hit targets with pistols and their assigned rifle. No specially modified target weapons are used. Soldiers fire the weapon their unit assigns to them.
Events replicate combat situations and a variety of targets are used. There are both team and individual shooting events.
One of the really challenging events involves engaging targets with shotguns at close range, SSG Kapela said. After engaging, the shooter runs a half mile to a new location and shoots targets with a pistol and then with his or her rifle.
He said that despite being a competition, the best part of the event is that the Soldiers and Airmen there are not super competitive. The participants share knowledge and best practices and talk shooting.
For a guy like him who loves shooting, SSG Kapela said, there is no better place to be. “It’s like you’re at a Star Trek convention, but for gun nerds.”
