This past weekend, West Point's Combat Weapons Team competed in the Relentless Warrior action shooting competition, hosted by SIG Sauer.
https://www.ssusa.org/.../west-point-wins-2026-sig-sauer.../
The competition is the national championship for two-gun and three-gun action shooting teams from the US service academies, the Royal Military College of Canada, and senior ROTC schools such as VMI, The Citadel, and Virginia Tech. 11 teams total.
I really like this competition, as it serves to bring together a lot of young leaders who would otherwise never have met each other, helping to sow the seeds that will, "upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory." We have a particularly good relationship with the Canadian team, and always look forward to interacting with them at this competition. But as an ROTC guy myself, I think it's really useful, and important, for the kinds of ROTC/academies interactions that this competition brings. And I'm very grateful to SIG SAUER for putting on this event every year, which I know is a major lift for them.
This year, West Point placed first in a very competitive match, reclaiming the trophy after last year's second-place finish.
The team that won last year were not good winners. Having lost to us every time for several years, after their victory last year they immediately took to Instagram to gloat, referring to the West Point team as the "evil empire" and posting a picture of the Death Star exploding, among other things.
That's OK. The team used that disrespect as fuel for this season, and it paid off. If last year we were the evil empire, I guess this was the year that The Empire Strikes Back.
I'm very proud of our cadets, who took not only first place overall, but also something like seven of the top ten spots in the stages. It was also great to see the support from family members and donors, many of whom traveled great distances to be there for the team.
Although we won, we are not taking anything for granted. The team is going right into recovery and preparation for another tough year of competing. Many thanks to all of the great competitors, all of the supporters who came out for all of the teams, and, once again. for SIG Sauer for putting on this great event.
https://www.ssusa.org/.../west-point-wins-2026-sig-sauer.../
The competition is the national championship for two-gun and three-gun action shooting teams from the US service academies, the Royal Military College of Canada, and senior ROTC schools such as VMI, The Citadel, and Virginia Tech. 11 teams total.
I really like this competition, as it serves to bring together a lot of young leaders who would otherwise never have met each other, helping to sow the seeds that will, "upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory." We have a particularly good relationship with the Canadian team, and always look forward to interacting with them at this competition. But as an ROTC guy myself, I think it's really useful, and important, for the kinds of ROTC/academies interactions that this competition brings. And I'm very grateful to SIG SAUER for putting on this event every year, which I know is a major lift for them.
This year, West Point placed first in a very competitive match, reclaiming the trophy after last year's second-place finish.
The team that won last year were not good winners. Having lost to us every time for several years, after their victory last year they immediately took to Instagram to gloat, referring to the West Point team as the "evil empire" and posting a picture of the Death Star exploding, among other things.
That's OK. The team used that disrespect as fuel for this season, and it paid off. If last year we were the evil empire, I guess this was the year that The Empire Strikes Back.
I'm very proud of our cadets, who took not only first place overall, but also something like seven of the top ten spots in the stages. It was also great to see the support from family members and donors, many of whom traveled great distances to be there for the team.
Although we won, we are not taking anything for granted. The team is going right into recovery and preparation for another tough year of competing. Many thanks to all of the great competitors, all of the supporters who came out for all of the teams, and, once again. for SIG Sauer for putting on this great event.
