07/30/2025
The Winston P. Wilson Machine Gun Championship. This is the national level marksmanship competition in which all 50 states and several territories within the National Guard are eligible to compete. The competitions are held in four disciplines (rifle, pistol, machine gun, sniper), 50 shooters total from across these four disciplines are awarded the “Chief’s 50” badge. The Machine Gun Competition took place from the 22nd to the 27th of June at Camp Robinson in Arkansas. Two teams were sent from Texas to compete with SGT Paxman and SGT Crenwelge, winning 2nd place overall. Both team members were awarded the Chief’s 50 badges. The second team consisted of SSG Jenson and SGT Wallace. They took 1st place in Range Estimation and Field Fire Match. The Texas team competed against nearly two dozen teams, including two teams from the Netherlands.
The machine gun competition, competitors must employ the M240 medium machine gun and other gun team weapons (pistol, rifle) in matches representing different skills necessary to be a successful gun team. For example, during one match, the team had to (under time constraint) identify and record T&E settings for targets at distances of 300-600m. The team was then blindfolded as they engaged the targets with the machine gun according to their previously identified target settings on the T&E. Simulating a low-visibility engagement, this match required the team to understand and apply: gun emplacement techniques, T&E manipulation techniques, the ability to complete a range card, and the ability to employ the M145 optic—in addition to the basic ability to fire the machine gun accurately.
SGT Paxman and SSG Jensen are from 1-143 ABN. SGT Wallace is from 454 EN CO. SGT Crenwelge is from D Co. the 1-141 IN BN.
Way to represent D Co SGT Crenwelge!
