Stormy Weather Drives SAFS Shooters from Camp Perry Range, CMP to Refund Majority of Fees to Participants

CAMP PERRY, OHIO – More than 380 Pistol Small Arms Firing School attendees fell victim to the unpredictable skies of Camp Perry on Monday, 11 July when not one, but two thunderstorms rolled through the area. The first storm delayed the shooting portion of the class for about 90 minutes and the second storm provided the knockout punch and ended firing for the day.

Lightning strikes are a part of life at Camp Perry in the summertime. Unfortunately, inclement weather forced the cancellation of most shooting at the 2011 Small Arms Firing School for Pistol.

Given the tight National Matches schedule and the impossible task of finding a suitable make-up date for shooters and coaches coming from all over the U.S., cancellation was the only viable option.

“When you conduct an outdoor event of this scale, the risk of yielding to the elements is always a possibility, and the safety of our participants, coaches and staff is paramount,” said Christie Sewell, CMP North General Manager. “The Camp Perry range control officers do an excellent job of providing a safe environment for us and they deemed the situation too dangerous to continue,” she added.

More than 380 students attended this year’s SAFS Pistol school. Here attendees await instruction at Hough Auditorium.

SAFS Basic course attendees received expert classroom instruction from Army Marksmanship Unit pistol team member SFC Greg Wilson at the Hough Auditorium in the morning and afterward shooters assembled at Rodriguez Range for practice and match firing. After the first two stages of practice for Relay 1, however; lighting strikes in the area forced evacuation of the range and a downpour ensued.

SFC Greg Wilson, a member of the elite U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit pistol team, talks about the one-handed stance during his morning presentation at SAFS Pistol.

As shooters returned to the range to resume firing, a second wave of thunderstorms rolled in from the west and put an end to firing for the day. The Basic class was to have fired an M9 pistol Excellence-In-Competition match at the conclusion their practice session.

U.S. Army Reserve MSG Robert Mango instructs a SAFS student during the first relay of practice firing.

The CMP is refunding two-thirds of participation fees ($30 of the original $45 fee) to all SAFS Basic Pistol attendees regardless of whether they received range time or not. All Basic participants will separately receive a certificate of attendance by mail in addition to the t-shirt, National Matches lapel pin and instruction booklet they received at registration.

Members of every major military service pistol team assist with high-quality instruction at the SAFS Pistol school.

The SAFS Advanced pistol school was conducted as scheduled from 1 to 5:30 p.m. at the auditorium and was completed as planned with firing in the CMP Pistol Warm-Up Match Tuesday morning.

Ray La Chance, of Greenwich, Connecticut, brought his friend and New York City police officer Willie Chu, of Great Neck, New York to his first SAFS Pistol class in 2011. It was La Chance’s trip to SAFS Pistol.

Edward Harrison, 60, and his wife Diane, 61, of Newton Falls, Ohio were assigned to the second relay and were waiting their turn to fire when the storms arrived. It was the Harrison’s first visit to the SAFS Pistol school, having participated in the SAFS Rifle school eight years earlier.

Ed Harrison and his wife Diane, of Newton Falls, Ohio didn’t get an opportunity to fire the M9 pistol at the 2011 SAFS due to inclement weather, but Ed plans to return to shoot his Springfield rifle during the CMP Games in August.

“Our schedules finally worked because Diane wasn’t scheduled to work on Monday, so we are happy to be here,” Edward said. “Now we’re just hoping that we get an opportunity to shoot,” he said as the skies darkened.

In addition, Edward said he plans to fire his 1903 Springfield in the CMP Games matches during the rifle phase of the National Matches.

Henry Beiro, of Huron, Ohio learned about the SAFS Pistol school when he stopped at the CMP store at Camp Perry and decided to give it a try.

Henry Beiro, 53, of Huron, Ohio was also waiting for his turn on the SAFS firing line for the first time.

“I enjoy shooting and on a lark one day when I was driving by I decided to pull in and check it out,” Beiro said.

When visiting the CMP store he struck up a conversation with a customer service staff member who informed him about the SAFS schools and he decided to participate.

Larry Bignall, of Brook Park, Ohio attended his first SAFS class this year. An experienced shooter and instructor, Bignall came to SAFS to continue his quest for improvement in shooting.

Larry Bignall, 68, from Brook Park, Ohio was also attending the SAFS Pistol school for the first time. A veteran NRA instructor, Bignall said he is a proponent of 2nd Amendment rights and is on “a continual quest” to find better ways to instruct and improve his shooting game.

U.S. Army CPL Tyler Imig takes a break from instruction on the firing line with students Savanah Whitt and Rebecca Scott, both of Portsmouth, Ohio.

To view photos from the SAFS Pistol class, log onto http://cmp1.zenfolio.com.

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