In Plain Sight

Some injuries or disabilities are invisible to the naked eye, but are as real as missing an arm or leg. I have been fortunate and proud to say I have met one such individual who has had to deal with not one, but two limitations most of his life. I call them limitations and not disabilities because he works hard every day of his life to overcome and surpass these limitations.

Mike Pietrowicz was first introduced to marksmanship at the age 6 when he and his dad took a ride out in the woods and his dad handed him his grandfathers .22 rifle. It was love at first fire. They would shoot for hours at bottles and cans with both the .22 and a BB gun. He could not get enough of it and would ask his dad when they could go again and again. His father enjoyed his time with his son but was never really into the sport, but Mike wanted more. He wanted to do it right, like a professional.

Mike Age 4 fishing with Dad

School to Mike like so many others was not easy for him and he had to work harder than most. He always had this constant struggle. Due to a very observant teacher at age 13, Mike was diagnosed with a very mild form of Tourette’s syndrome. Tourette’s is not a life threatening disability, but can be life altering. It can range from mild tics of the facial and shoulder muscle groups to having difficulty in focusing on different tasks. The effect of Tourette’s varies significantly in each case. He spent his four years of high school dealing with not only the normal issue of teen-age hood but this new aspect of his life. Doctors, medication, depression, weight gain, fatigue not to mention school, friends and family. Each new day was a new struggle for him.

Shortly after he and his family moved further out to the country where he now had lots of farm land and woods to explore and hunt right in his own back yard. By age 15 he took a hunter safety course, got his FID and bought his first shotgun, with the help of his dad of course. He started hunting, fishing and camping by himself. He loved the outdoors, open space and all that went with it, peace and quiet. The outdoors was his haven. His love of the shooting sports kept his focus and was very important in his life.

Age 16 he got his drivers license and started to hang out at the gun store near home after school. He bided his time and went back day after day until he had earned his presence in this adult only area. Realizing Mike was serious about his interest he was taken under the wing of several patrons. They taught him many facets of the shooting sports. The knowledge and experience he obtained could never be matched in a book.

The next two years Mike was exposed Trap, Pistol, Black Powder, Combat Pistol and Silhouette shooting at 100 yards. He became proficient in all of them and could not seem to get enough of it. The more he learned, the more wanted.

Finished now with High School, he was determined to take control of his own life on his terms. That meant no more medications or doctors, just him. He would learn to deal with everything his way, straight on.

In 1997, a friend talked him into shooting a DCM match. A reduced 100 yard course in Hopkinton, MA, with a rack grade AR-15 with a 4.5lb trigger. He was so excited after the match, this was the shooting discipline he had been looking for - Highpower. He was like a little kid again and could not wait to do and learn more.

By the beginning of the next season, he had gone and bought himself a shooting jacket, scope, trigger modification kit, AR-15, etc. and he was more than ready to shoot. His first season was shot on all reduced targets and his scores slowly crept up by the end of the season from a 406 to 440. Practicing off season and throughout the winter, he brought his scores up to a 470. He was determined to be ready for the next season when it began.

Mike was introduced to a Master classified shooter at one of the matches. To Mike then a 19 year old unclassified shooter, he was like a god, oh boy a master shooter. Despite him being in awe they began to talk and quickly became friends. He brought Mike to one of his clubs Reading Rifle and Revolver in Reading MA. He told him they have a 600 yard range. He had never seen a 600 yard range or heard of Reading and was more than eager to go. He was entering his first 600 yard match at Ft. Deven’s the next weekend and needed to get zeros, so this was perfect timing.

He could not believe it, the first time he saw the range at Reading and immediately knew he needed to belong there. He shot a 196 for his first time at 600 yards, not to sloppy! But he did not realize that there is this thing called wind and mirage that he did not figure on when he then went to Ft Devin’s the next weekend feeling all smug about his 196. After about seven misses on another person’s target, another shooter came over and gave him a short lesson on wind. He shot lousy but learned quick about WIND and its effects.

At the end of his 1998 season, he picked up a couple of books on highpower that gave him more insight into his performance. One was called Black Magic. He read and he dry fired all winter, determined to excel in his next season.

All things were going well, electrical apprenticeship, practicing, focusing, perfecting positions and he was on the list for membership at the Reading Club. He was in where he wanted to be and felt good about it and himself.

Jan 1, 1999 he was at a local range with some fellow shooters. They were shooting 03 Springfield’s with lead loads at steel plates at 150 yards.

Mike went to shoot and the next thing he knew he was standing there with the stock snapped in half in his hands, the receiver was blown to pieces and the bolt was 20 feet behind him. He stood there with his fellow shooters feeling numb, no pain just numb. He noticed fluid coming down his face from his right eye. He dropped the stock and waved his hand in front of his eye and saw nothing.

Two paramedics who happened to be shooting on the next range came running at the sound. They and other shooters tried to get Mike to sit down. But all he wanted to do was go look in the mirror of his truck; no one would tell him if they saw anything in his eye or what was going on. He got to the truck and looked and saw nothing but red. He could not see out of his eye. They finally convinced him to sit while waiting for the ambulance. While waiting he asked others to take care of his equipment and who to call, even during such trauma Mike was in control!

He spent two and a half days in the hospital with full removal of his right eye. He was very lucky a piece of the receiver the size of a nickel probably deflected slightly from his shooting glasses lodged in his skull and not thru to his brain. He was 20 years of age.

After being released from the hospital his parents took him home to rest. He did that for about 5 full minutes, got up and put on his shooting jacket. He wanted to see how confusing it was going to be to now have to shoot left handed. Not wasting any time he laid down in the prone position left handed. After a few moments of trying, he laid there and cried. He got up, put everything away, but he was not giving up. Day by day he got down into position and worked building his left handed positions. When it did not work he reversed back to right and then tried to mirror the position left. By March he was determined and went to the range to practice rapid fire and worked more on his position.

Reading put his application process on hold knowing he would return someday and would wait until he felt he was ready to begin the process again. In April of 1999, Mike shot his first 600 yard match as a lefty with an AR15. He shot a 198 with seven X’s, jokingly he was told to give it up and go home. His place at Reading was truly established. He smiled and walked off that range with great hope and expectations. His other positions that day may not have been so great but who cared after that 198. He went back to work to perfect his other positions to make them solid as they once were.

In 1999 he went from a Marksman to an Expert as a lefty. Over the 2000 winter he practiced and dry fired so he would come into the season ready and he did winning his first 5 matches. By the end of the year he was now the one being called “Master” and a long range Expert. He just missed High Master by one tenth of a point, but since nothing came easy to him he was not disturbed it just made him push harder to achieve this next level.

Over the next couple of years he shot but could not meet his own expectations and burnt himself out. Realizing this he put his rifle down and walked away from competitions for 4 years. Over that time he joined the State Guard and started his own electrical company.

Then one day in August of 2005 he woke up and realized his fiends were all out at the National Matches in Ohio having a great time and here he was at home missing out. Shaking the mothballs out he donned his shooting jacket once more and headed to his local range to start working his way back home to his shooting friends, his family. This time he was not going to beat himself up if he did not shoot up to expectations, he was doing it because he loved doing it. It was and is the ultimate sport for him!

Shooting all matches from 2005 to 2008 he was in the constant chase for High Master, Presidents 100 and his Distinguished Medal. In 2008 he realized he had hit a stone wall and needed to do something to move to the next level. Finally after coming in as first leather five times in a row he now had won his first points toward his distinguished. This came with his first six points earned at a leg match held at Reading. This was the boost he needed to push on. He felt the “monkey was now off his back” giving himself the confidence to do more.

In 2009, he won ten more points at the National Matches and a Gold Daniel Boone Medal. Determined that he had the ability to succeed, he felt he needed more help in the mental aspect then physical. He picked up Lanny Bassham’s CD on Mental Management and listened to them over and over again. This put it all together for him like a bible for him to follow.

Determined in his efforts he went distinguished in 2010, High Master in 2011 and the Presidents 100 in 2012. Mike always felt that his handicaps as they are called, acted more of an accelerant for him propelling him always forward not back.

Now at 34, some 15 years after that first match he can look back at his disabilities, knowing the efforts to overcome them was worth every minute. Mike’s day to day challenges are minor compared to some, but his attitude gave him hope to see his dreams come through. I am very proud to call him my friend and I have learned a lot about life from him and I hope others can to.

NEXT ARTICLE