He was a champion Army shooter who ended up living where he only expected to train

I was 13 years old when Fort Benning became my chosen destiny.

At 13, I was an accomplished young rifle shooter living in northern Idaho and determined to be the best I could be at it. Maybe even an Olympic champion. The best way to do that was to join the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning. It was the Home of Champions, dozens of them in rifle, pistol and shotgun skills.

Nine years later, in 1981, after two collegiate titles and a lot of hard work, I was proud to join my idols at Fort Benning as a brand new second lieutenant at the most elite shooting organization in the world, the U.S. Army Shooting Team and the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit — commonly referred to as the USAMU or the AMU. With a three year ROTC obligation, my best shot at a lifetime goal was at hand. I was going to give it my damnedest along the way.

At any given time there are only 200 or so soldiers in the USAMU, but in the highly refined world of precision shooting the USAMU, with its distinctive black hat, is and was the most elite of organizations — on a par with the Celtics in the 1960s, the Yankees of the ‘40s and ‘50s, the Green Berets of Army Special Forces and the modern day Navy SEALS.

As the leading edge of marksmanship for the U.S. Army, the AMU was most visible as a competition shooting team but we were deeply involved in teaching, recruiting and firearms development. One small example is the evolution of the M-16 into the current M-4 carbine which soldiers carry today. If you look back in history, you’ll see that a lot of the M-4 technology was developed and proven by the AMU going back to the 1980s.

From Day 1 at the USAMU I was surrounded by elite soldiers striving to be the very best they could be.

Walking into the office for the first time, my boss was Lt. Col. Lones Wigger, four-time Olympian, twice an Olympic gold medalist. The executive officer was just back from the World Championships with a new world record. Everybody in the room was at least a national champion with a few records to boot. The welcome was sincere, but it came with a subtle message. Time to step up rookie.

In a few short years I earned a few national titles and more than a dozen national records of my own. After 12 years with the AMU and several other Army responsibilities, physical limitations and the Army getting small fast pointed me in a new direction in 1992.

Throughout the Chattahoochee Valley there are hundreds of former soldiers just like myself and other USAMU alumni, who have found themselves at Fort Benning by choice or by happenstance. We were focused, disciplined and determined to be the best at whatever they are doing.

People such as these make up a healthy part of the Columbus/Phenix City community. Not only AMU alumni, but many other talented soldiers have settled in the area to add to the diversity, energy and entrepreneurial mix of the region.

During my Army career, there were plenty of long days, six or seven days a week, 12 hour days were not unusual during much of the year. At other times we worked a more normal schedule. Late in the ‘80s, I started fixing up small houses along the Buena Vista road corridor. I’d find the houses, enlist some buddies to help give them a cosmetic or light repair makeover and then put them with a rental manager while I went back to work. Being single with no obligations beyond the Army, I made a lot of progress in the investment world. Over several years I was up to 60 rental units when I got out of the Army in 1992.

By then I was married to my wife, Rose Anne Erickson, a crackerjack realtor in her own right and we needed to make a decision. Stay in Columbus to start a civilian career or perhaps go back to the northwest to get a masters in wildlife and a start a new career.

We chose to stay in Columbus. A nice sized town with steady growth, good business opportunities and enough room for a new comer to make a mark. I could tend to my real estate investments and strike out in a new career as a real estate developer and home builder.

Soon I was in the home building business with 20 homes a year, then 50 and later hundreds of houses per year.

The recurring housing needs of the soldier community stirs the housing industry and the employment base of Columbus.

The recent expansion of Fort Benning now touches roughly 45 percent of the soldier training across the entire Army. It has a huge influence on Columbus/Phenix City at the same time. What is good for Benning is good for Columbus/Phenix City and vice versa.