U.S. military police attempt Norwegian sharpshooter badge

SMITH BARRACKS, Germany - The tell-tale acrid, sulfurous odor of range day lingered in the air like a typical Baumholder, Germany fog, which was punctuated with smiles and laughter of German, Belgian and U.S. Soldiers as they exited the range while comparing silhouettes riddled with bullet holes.

The 18th Military Police Brigade's 92nd MP Company, 3rd platoon, hosted a three-day combined Norwegian sharpshooter range and law enforcement weapons training and qualification range, Dec. 11, at Smith Barracks.

According to 2nd Lt. Justin Wyatt, the 3rd platoon leader and range officer in charge, the idea to host a Norwegian range was born from the idea to problem solve ways to maximize motivation within the unit.

"The platoon has had several leadership and personnel shuffles recently. My platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Travis Zembrzycki, and I decided to try to give our Soldiers as many opportunities as possible to solidify morale and camaraderie in the unit," said Wyatt.

Through Wyatt and Zembrzycki's personal connections made with allied partners during previous missions, one Belgian Soldier, and more than a dozen Bundeswehr Soldiers were contacted and invited to attend the Norwegian range. According to Wyatt, Zembrzycki found out about the Norwegian Sharpshooter Badge and requested permission to run the range from the Norwegian Embassy. The platoon's leadership team was excited to invite international allies to the event. "Sergeant Z is a strong noncommissioned officer and arguably one of the hardest workers I've ever met in any field," said Wyatt.

The platoon leadership team also invited other local U.S. units like the 16th Sustainment Brigade and the 554th Military Police Company from Stuttgart, which is also part of the 709th Military Police Battalion, and members of the 108th Military Police Company who is deployed to Smith Barracks from Fort Bragg, N.C.

Although the Soldiers could be seen visibly enjoying the range experience and opportunity to place a foreign award on their dress uniform, it wasn't an easy task. Wyatt and Zembrzycki noticed low passing scores on the sheets and decided to attempt the task themselves.

"I saw on day two of the three-day range, that firers were averaging around a 25 percent satisfactory rate. Sergeant Z and I tried it ourselves and quickly realized our Soldiers were struggling with the timing of the firing," Wyatt said. Zembrzycki quickly pulled participants aside and coached them on their shot pacing and proper technique.

With Zembrzycki's additional training, range officials noticed a significant increase in passing rates. The overall completion rate for all firers rose to 32 percent with 22 qualifiers out of 67 participants.

The Norwegian marksmanship event for pistols is broken into three firing sessions for 15 rounds of ammunition all at 25 meters from the target. The first session is 90 seconds for five shots. The second and third sessions are five rounds each at 15 seconds. According to Wyatt, the Soldiers were intimidated by having an imaginary clock ticking over their shoulder.

"I paced myself on the first session. Five rounds in 90 seconds was easier to pace my shots to ensure proper placement on the target. The second and third rounds were difficult. You have to average an accurate shot every 3 seconds," said Sgt. Craig Turk, a signal operations NCO with the unit.

In between groups of firers and range pauses for lunch, the U.S. Soldiers traded small tokens of appreciation for one another, such as unit patches, coins, and MREs.

As the event ended, Wyatt and other range personnel gathered the targets, tallied the scores, and began readying the paperwork to be send to the attaché at the Norwegian Embassy for official accounting.

"Once the scores are tallied to the corresponding anonymous roster number, the platoon submits the scores to the Norwegian embassy. Only then will we receive a by-name roster of who successfully earned their Norwegian sharpshooter badge," said Wyatt.

According to Wyatt, the platoon leadership team will stay busy planning unique professional development opportunities for their troops. Wyatt and Zembrzycki are planning future events like ranges and international foot marches with the goal to simultaneously increase unit morale and its lethality.