Email   Print   Share By Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Facebook Digg Delicious October 25, 2012 | Sports

, Fort Hood Skeet Team captain Dave Wood triggers the release of a clay target as Col. Matthew Elledge, Fort Hood Garrison commander, tracks it Oct. 17 at the Fort Hood skeet range at the Sportsmen’s Center. Elledge recognized the Fort Hood Skeet Team for its win in the .410 category at the Armed Services Skeet Championship. Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Fort Hood Skeet Team captain Dave Wood introduces Col. Matthew Elledge, Fort Hood Garrison commander, to the rest of the Fort Hood Skeet Team Oct. 17 at Fort Hood’s skeet range. Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Fort Hood Skeet Team captain Dave Wood briefs Col. Matthew Elledge, Fort Hood Garrison commander, before releasing a clay target for Elledge to shoot down Oct. 17 at Fort Hood’s skeet range. Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

The Fort Hood Skeet Team received recognition Oct. 17 for taking first place in the .410 Bore category of the Armed Services Skeet Championship, which was held May 21-25 in Waco.

Delayed by a trophy mix-up, Col. Matthew Elledge, Fort Hood Garrison commander, and Command Sgt. Maj. Douglas Gault, Fort Hood Garrison command sergeant major, were on hand to deliver their congratulations.

Elledge called skeet shooting a “learned skill that takes forever to master.”

“And for these guys to be at the pinnacle, to take first place at that tournament, is just incredible,” he said.

During the May competition, which was plagued by windy conditions, the Fort Hood team didn’t shoot up to their own standards in the .410 event – one of the tournament’s six categories – but their score still remained better than the field.

“If you look over the years at what kind of team score it took to win the .410 trophy at the Armed Forces, and then you look at our team score, you’d say, ‘Wow, that was the winning score?’” said Fort Hood Skeet Team captain Dave Wood, who’s been on the team since 1995. “And it wasn’t very typical, but we had 25-mph winds, and when you’re shooting with a

.410, there’s not a lot of room for error.”

1st Lt. Justin Hackett, 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, who along with Wood was one of four shooting toward Fort Hood’s team score, also pointed out that the weather didn’t pose as big of a problem for the other teams competing that day.

“Early in the morning was when the other teams got to shoot, and the wind was low,” he said. “We got up there (in the afternoon) and the wind was brutal. The targets would be flying and they’d just drop. Or the wind would hit it and it would bank.”

“It was good enough to be better than the other guys,” Wood concluded.

This was Fort Hood’s first win at an Armed Services Skeet Championship event since 2007.

Seven total shooters comprised Fort Hood’s team in 2012, including permanent honorary member retired Air Force lieutenant colonel Ed Hughes, 86, who is one of only two Directors Emeriti of the Armed Forces Skeet Association, and one of its founding fathers.

The other team members not yet mentioned were 2nd Lt. Alex Thomson, 215 BSB, 3rd Bde., 1st Cav. Div., Don Miller, Chris Strauss and Monty England.

Following an exchange of coins and posing for a photo, Wood then briefed both Elledge and Gault for their own chance to take aim at the clay targets.