Walla Walla High School Cadets to host regional drill meet Saturday

Walla Walla High School Cadets to host regional drill meet Saturday
The Walla Walla High School Blue Devil cadet battalion will host a JROTC drill and rifle meet Saturday (Jan. 14) at Walla Walla High School. Cadets from Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps units will participate in the Cascade Mountains League Drill and Rifle Competition.

Teams decked out in their full-color, service dress uniforms from 11 schools from Eastern Washington and Oregon will go head-to-head in unarmed drill, armed drill, and color guard categories. The event also features physical fitness and rifle marksmanship competition.

This meet will be the first time the public will get to see the new electronic target scoring system in use that the JROTC department installed last summer. In the past, observers would watch the shooters on the firing line and then waited for scoring information till each marksmanship rotation was over and paper targets checked. With the new system, attendees will be able to watch in real time, right along with the competitors in precision and sporter levels, on a 60-inch screen, as each trigger squeeze of the .177 caliber air rifles

JROTC cadets from all the military services learn a broad range of subjects including military history, leadership, precision drill and ceremony skills, and marksmanship. The Wa-Hi "Blue Devil" cadets invite the community to come out beginning at 8 a.m., and observe this all-day event in the main gymnasium. The competition is open to the public and there is no charge to attend and parking is free.

Saturday's meet to feature new, high tech rifle range
Walla Walla High School Rifle Range was renovated this summer and Saturday (Jan. 14) Walla Walla High School will host its first competitive shoot on the new electronic range. In May, Rifle Marksmanship students began to move everything out of the old classroom and shooting areas and into storage for the work that would be done. During July and August the entire room was painted and rewired for new lights and technology equipment.

The range also received new tables, chairs, gun safes, computers and a Brightlink projector to create a better classroom environment for teaching JROTC Rifle Marksmanship and coaching the High School Rifle Team.

"Possibly the most significant change is the installation of Megalink electronic targets," said JROTC instructor Mark Mebes. "Unlike paper targets, Megalink targets register each shot immediately and show it on a monitor next to the shooter, as well as on the instructor's computer at his desk."

The system scores the shot automatically, down to a tenth of a point. Also recently installed is a large flat screened monitor hanging from the ceiling that projects a graphic of the shots of all the shooters, along with their score. These are the same targets used at the National Rifle Championships at Camp Perry, Ohio and the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Currently, Walla Walla High School has two competitive rifle marksmanship teams. A 'Sporter' category team, and a 'Precision' category team. Sporter shooters must shoot with rifles made in the United States, cannot adjust their rifles to specifically 'fit' them, and are not allowed to shoot with any special clothing. In the Precision category, most of the rifles are manufactured in Germany, are fully adjustable to the individual shooter and shooters utilize special coats, pants and boots for greater stability, identical to what is seen in Olympic shooting events. Precision shooters are generally the most experienced shooters on the team.

On December 10th, the Precision Team traveled to Spokane to compete in the Washington State Junior Olympics match, placing 3rd in the state out of 18 precision teams. One shooter, Sarah Jameson was the state champion in the J2 age class and will likely receive an invitation to shoot in the Junior Olympics National Championship in Colorado this spring.

This year, Walla Walla High School has qualified both their Sporter Team and their Precision Team to compete in the Army JROTC National Championship Match in Camp Perry. National Championship invitations are decided by 'Postal' matches. Teams from across the country are mailed a set of targets to shoot. Once they have shot the targets, they are mailed back to the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) at Camp Perry, Ohio. The top scoring shooters in the postal, are invited to the National Championship. On February 8th, 10 Walla Walla shooters will fly to Ohio to test their skills against some of the best shooters in the nation.