9 Platoon Wins Falling Plate Competition
A team made up of Bermuda recruits won today’s Recruit Camp Falling Plate shooting competition, beating teams from the Bermuda Police Service, Government House, the Defence Board, the Fire Service, and Customs.
The ‘Falling Plate Competition’ took place this afternoon [Jan 28] on the 100m Beach Range, in the South Shore trails below the entrance to Warwick Camp.
The ‘Falling Plate Competition’ is a rapid-fire rifle shooting competition with the targets 100 yards away from the shooter. It starts with two five person teams standing about seventy-five yards behind the firing line. Each person has a rifle and ten rounds of ammunition. The teams run through sand and grass, get on to the firing line, lie down, and commence shooting at seven steel plates that are set up 100 yards away [the full length of a football field]. Each steel plate is 12 inches square. The winner is the team that shoots all its plates down first. For a winning team, this knocking down can take anything from five seconds to twenty seconds.
Teams were assembled from each of the sections across all four platoons, and the competition progressed through a quarter- and semi-final round which saw 7, 8 and 10 platoons eliminated from the shoot. In the final round, the last two sections standing were both from 9 Platoon. The runner-up was 8 Section, commanded by LCpl Damon Rogers. When asked to say a word about his section, he was enthusiastic in supporting them – “It was a close final, and I’m really proud of those guys, they’re the best.”
He was just as enthusiastic about his section’s performance: “They’re a great group of guys, they’ve bonded like family even more than a team, and it drives them to win – they’ve put in a lot of effort.” He noted that this wasn’t their first big win during the camp – his section also won the Inter-Section Drill competition held last Saturday.
The overall winning section out of the recruit competition was 9 Section, commanded by LCpl Damir Armstrong. Although he took them through all of the weapon handling lessons throughout the two week camp, he wasn’t on the shooting team for the section – but his cousin, Pte Kanhai Armstrong was, and along with four other members of the section [Pte Michael DeSilva, Pte George Spurling, Pte Mitchell Tucker, Pte Kyle Brangman] they went on to win not only the recruit competition, but the overall Falling Plate Competition, shooting against guest teams from Government House, the Defence Board, the Fire Service, Customs and Police.
Pictured below is Governor Sir Richard Gozney, and his wife Lady Gozney, who was one of the few females to take part in the competition.
Former Regiment Commanding Officer Lt. Col. Eugene Raynor, and former Regiment Captain Larry Burchall are pictured below. They, along with Lt. Col. ‘Chip’ Waters, Lt. Col. William White, and ex-Corporal Dervyn Wright made up the Defence Board team, which had an average age of 60.
The recruits are now preparing for the final event of Recruit Camp 2011, to take place tomorrow afternoon [Jan 29] at 2:30pm in Warwick Camp.
Friends and family are welcome to attend; they are asked to park in the lower car park [Chaplain Bay] opposite the gates of camp, and aim to be through the gate by 2:00pm so they can take their seats. Shortly before 2:30pm the Deputy Premier and His Excellency the Governor will arrive, and the Platoon Drill Competition will get underway.
Many thanks to Bernews for the ongoing coverage. A short note on the Falling Plate Competition:
9 Section (pictured in the article above) were the overall winners of the Falling Plate Competition, and the Intersection Drill competition last week Saturday. The group photo above is of the Falling Plate team from 9 Section, 9 Platoon, and the quote attributed to the section-drill winners should be attributed to 9 Section (names listed).
We hope to see you at tomorrow’s Passing Out Parade!
Great story, it made me proud of the Camp. Check out Lady Gosney! What were the scores of the guest teams?
I say!,Rather…Jolly Good Show! WHAT?
So, does this mean that the average Bermudian can shoot better than our own Police department??? What does that say when the BPS are faced with an arms incident involving say local gang members??