Page 7 - Customs Today Winter1984-OCR

By Harry M. Allison
National Pistol Team
On the range at the Federal Law Enforcement Train
ing Center (FLE'TC), Glynco, Ga., are members of Customs' 1983 Pistol Team. As Patrol Officer Joe Parker watches with binoculars, two of his teammates
squeeze off rounds during the FLETC-Customs match that followed competition to determine who would be on the Customs Team. Shooting on the left is Special Agent Seth Nadel; on his right is Inspector Charles Grabbatin.
was authorized by Commissioner The Customs National Pistol Team
von Raab in the summer of 1982 to pro mote firearms interest and skills among Customs employees, and to enhance the image of the Customs Service in the law enforcement community.
Once a year the Customs Service
Academy at the Federal Law Enforce ment Training Center in Glynco,
Georgia, runs a master class for aspiring
Harry M. Allison is Director of the Customs Academy at the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center, Glynco, Ga.
After firing stopped during the FLETC-Customs
match, two participants add up scores. On the left,
Perry DeFino, on the staff at the Center, watches as Customs Patrol Officer Team member Ken Hiebert
pencils a score on a target.
shooters who would like to represent Customs in national pistol team competi tion. Customs' top 20 shooters, based on competitive scores submitted by con tenders, are brought to Glynco for one week of intensified coaching and instruc tion in competitive pistol shooting match techniques. The 20 competitors, known as the "Commissionex's Twenty," fire standard National Rifle Association (NRA) courses for a five-day period. Their aggregate score is the basis for the National Pistol Team selection. The top nine scorers become the Customs team for the next year.
During this year's competition, held this past August, Commissioner von Raab
was on hand to select the team and present awards to the top shooters. An informal
shooting competition also was held be tween Customs and the Center, with a
match between Commissioner von Raab and Center Director Charles Rinkevich.
Customs' 1983 team consists of Spe cial Agents Seth Nadel and Charles
Young, Inspectors Barlow Hill, Paul Rawlins, Charles Grabbatin, Myles
Knight, Senior Patrol Officer J. Edward Parker, Patrol Officer Ken Heibert and Air Officer Kenneth Epperson.
Next year the team will compete in
approximately 10 major shooting matches against other Federal, state and
local law enforcement officers' teams and will represent Customs at the National Pistol Team Championship held in Des Moines, Iowa. This year at Des Moines, the team came in 5th in high-master
competition, and 8th overall. Consider
ing that 83 of the Nation's top pistol teams were competing, Customs has
moved into the top ten percent of that
prestigious group.
Customs employees are invited to
compete for slots on the "Commissioner's Twenty" and on the team itself. To com pete, you must be serving in a position
authorizing you to carry firearms, and must submit at least three scores fired in
sanctioned competition within the pre-
ceeding 12 months to the Customs Service
Academy, FLETC, Glynco, Ga. 31524. Good shooting and good luck!
CUSTOMS TODAY / WINTER 1984