Schunemann Earns Intro EIC Leg Points With Victory in First-Ever M9 Match
By Steve Cooper, CMP Writer
CAMP PERRY, OHIO – In her first-ever competition with an M9 service pistol, Jennifer Schunemann surprised everyone including herself by winning the 2010 National Matches M9 Excellence-In-Competition Match for non-distinguished pistol shooters on Monday, 13 July.
Rebekah Jennings (271-5X) and Chad Bruske (268-5X) captured first and second place in the EIC match overall.
Shooting next to her husband Mike, 62, in their first SAFS class, Schunemann said she was actually disappointed with her score because she shot several points better in the practice round.
“It’s mind-blowing,” Schunemann said as she reflected on her accomplishment one day later
Schunemann, 42, of Winter Haven, Florida, fired a 267-3X score out of a possible 300 with a rack grade Beretta M9 service pistol, issued on the line during the 2010 CMP-US Army Marksmanship Unit Small Arms Firing School for pistol.
An accomplished .45 and .22 caliber pistol competitor and NRA basic safety instructor, Schunemann finished third overall and earned her first four “leg” points toward her 30-point Distinguished Pistol Badge.
The EIC match follows a one-day SAFS basic pistol school, designed to educate shooters in safe handling and marksmanship using the Army’s standard sidearm – the Beretta M9. Students participate in a two-hour classroom session covering M9 safety, function and general marksmanship skills followed by continued training on the firing line.
Training concludes with a 30-shot practice match featuring 10-shot slow-fire, timed-fire and rapid-fire phases. Immediately after the practice match, participants fire an identical EIC match at 25 yards using the same USAMU-issued M9 pistol used in practice.
“I had no idea that I won the non-distinguished match. I’m just tickled,” she said.
Schunemann said later she checked the results posting and was stunned to see herself on top. She said she checked back several times because she knew the postings were unofficial.
In the end she finished on the top out of 378 non-distinguished shooters and third out of 410 competitors overall.
Schunemann and her husband are spending the entire National Matches at Camp Perry, competing in as many matches as possible, both pistol and rifle. She said her pistol resume is expanding into .38 caliber, but still needs work.
“It’s a dream shooters vacation for us,” she said. The couple is retired and it’s the first opportunity they’ve had to spend the entire six weeks shooting CMP and NRA matches.
Schunemann credited her SAFS Pistol firing line instructor SSG Nick Capko, USMC, for helping her during her EIC practice match.
“Everyone has given me great instruction,” she said. “I’m just here to have fun!”
If Schunemann’s first day at the National Matches is any indication of what’s to come, it could be one of her best vacations ever.
For complete results from the 2010 M9 EIC Match, log onto
http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=5688. To view photos from the M9 EIC
Match, log onto
http://cmp1.zenfolio.com/'