EC shooting team wins competition

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Zachary Wilson
  • U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center
JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  With what began as "something cool to do" and a "chance to have fun," four members of the U. S. Air Force Expeditionary Center's 421st Combat Training Squadron won top honors in a shooting competition May 11 as part of the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst's National Police Week shootout.

Senior Master Sgt. Nathan Brett, Tech. Sgts Thomas Carpino, Luke Plemons, Jonathan Tourville and Aubrey Vasquez formed their team "Steely Eyed Killers" literally the night before the competition after being invited by the 87th Security Forces Squadron.

The 421 competed against seven other shooting teams, including the much heralded undefeated two-time world champion Southern Ocean County New Jersey SWAT team.
Police Sgt. Herman Pharo, a sergeant with the Stafford Township NJ Police Department and team commander of the South Ocean County SWAT team, is a big believer in the notion of maintaining superb conditioning as a foundation for achieving team goals both in competitive events and in everyday police work.

In a release from one of the team's sponsors, Sgt. Pharo says, "You've heard of two-a-days? How about all-days?" "Ocean County SWAT gets ready for competition with nonstop sprint intervals, circuit workouts and rigorous obstacle courses. In addition to SWAT, we perform our duties as police officers in departments that pride themselves on physical fitness."

Senior Master Sgt. Nathan Brett, 421st superintendant, noted how the team of four shooters from his squadron had never worked together as a team before and though he had experience from shooting competitions, it had been several years since he had last competed. However, citing the EC's dedication to preparing combat-ready Airmen to support expeditionary operations, the senior NCO felt he was sending out some of the Air Force's best.

"The bottom line is that the 421st always represents in whatever it does, whether we have time to prepare or not," he boasted. He noted one of the team members, Sergeant Vazquez, was able to hit a head shot on a target simulating a hostage-taker from 50 yards away after sprinting 100 yards to get there.

"We all did pretty well," he noted. "We just wanted to go out and have fun."