SAN ANTONIO — The Army Marksmanship Unit hit a bulls-eye with educators and business leaders from around the United States Thursday and Friday at the San Antonio Gun Club.


The world-class competitive-shooting Soldiers provided shotgun instruction, performed a trick-shooting demonstration, and hosted a shooting competition for dozens of the 87 distinguished guests of U.S. Army Accessions Command for the Army’s All-American Bowl game Saturday.


“As I heard some of the people say during introductions this morning, a lot of people don’t realize the Army even has a shooting team,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Holguin, a double trap shooter who was the 2009 World Championships silver medalist and 2008 Olympian. “To be able to get to know us on a personal basis — a lot of the public’s exposure to the military is on television — is a good way to meet them face-to-face and get to know them on a more personal level.”
 Olympic gold medalists Sgt. Glenn Eller and Sgt. Vincent Hancock gave the guests hands-on instruction, along with world champion Staff Sgt. Josh Richmond and Sgt. Sherri Gallagher, the Army Soldier of the year.

“You see their eyes light up and their faces light up when the two Olympic gold medalists are introduced,” Holguin said. “They’re like, ‘Oh, wow,’ because that’s something that they can relate to. 

“Everyone knows what the Olympics are, and not everyone has a chance to meet an Olympic gold medalist. It’s special for a lot of them. Some of the ladies were going around getting autographs from all of us. That was pretty neat.”

Jacquinita Rose, dean of academic affairs at Pearce College in Los Angeles, was one of those autograph seekers.
 “In the media, when they talk about the Army shooting this and shooting that, they don’t show you the other side of it,” said Rose, who has two sons in the Navy. “The media only gives you that one biased perspective. Unfortunately, what people tend to think of are assault weapons, those big barrels that shoot like 50 things, and snipers, but this is fantastic to be able to see another side of the Army that is not exposed to the masses. I really enjoyed myself.”

Rose was one of the 87 Accessions Command guests to network and learn more about the Army during the week of the All-American Bowl, the Army’s annual East vs. West all-star football game for high school seniors.

“My primary purpose for this week is to come and discover wonderful new and exciting opportunities with the Army,” Rose said. “My family was military and my sons are in the military, so I’m familiar with the Army and some of their educational opportunities, but this was a great week to learn more.”


Mark Mayberry, president of ExamExperts USA of Canton, Mich., said his company, like the Army, “inspires students to greatness.”

“I’m here to learn about the educational options that the Army offers to students who may want to look at military service as an option and what educational opportunities they can take advantage of if they choose to go into the military,” he said. “If students want to pursue military service, we want to help them achieve those objectives.”