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Squadron Adopter Program sponsors, commanders share experience on shooting range

  • Published
  • By Stacy Johnson
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  When the smoke cleared and the spent shell casings hit the concrete floor of the shooting range Aug. 6 at Sheppard AFB, "adopters" from the base's Squadron Adopter Program got a better understanding of Air Force weapons training during the Commander's Shoot event.

"Events like this allow Wichita Falls community members and military members to gather and form cohesion," said Tech. Sgt. Gregory O'Donnell, 82nd Security Forces Squadron's Combat Arms Section noncommissioned officer in charge. "We enjoy showing you, the local community, what we do here at Sheppard AFB."

Sergeant O'Donnell said the participating squadron commanders teamed up with community members, or adopters, got a safety briefing and then were allowed the chance to shoot an M-9 Berretta and an M-4 Carbine.

He said the Security Forces Squadron receives an amount of ammunition each year to train airmen who will be deploying.

"We get an allocation of ammo and we use it to train all the warfighters at Sheppard AFB to go to locations like Afghanistan," Sergeant O'Donnell said. "We teach them basic rifle fundamentals and allow them to get into the mindset of the location that they are going to be going to."

He said the Security Forces Squadron takes the adopter event into consideration when calculating its ammunition allocation.

"We do this so that you can see and understand what we do here in the United States Air Force and here at Sheppard AFB," Sergeant O'Donnell said.

Participants were first allowed to shoot the guns until all rounds were spent, and then were given time limits to shoot certain amounts of rounds to create stress similar to what would be found in a combat situation.

"The Air Force has the Air Force Qualification Course, and it adds a little stress to warfighters so they can react to certain situations if they need to be getting rounds downrange and hopefully effectively engaging the bad guys," Sergeant O'Donnell said.

Lt. Col. Patricia Welch, 382nd Training Squadron commander, said she enjoyed spending time at the shooting range Friday with her adopter, Richard Romanek.

"It's been fun," Colonel Welch said. "As a medic, we have to qualify to deploy with the pistol. I've had to do it one time, so it was definitely a refresher for me. But, I've never done anything with the M-4."

Mr. Romanek said being an adopter is rewarding in many ways.

"For the club, as part of the community, we're trying to give back to the military and to show them appreciation for what they do for us," he said. "Obviously we're very appreciative of the fact that we have a military presence out here at Sheppard, which not only brings economic benefits to the city but also brings a lot of young people to town who are training and also brings nice people to the base like the colonel."

Mr. Romanek said he didn't do too bad on his shooting, either.

"I did okay on the range," Mr. Romanek said with a smile.