When the smoke had cleared from two days of firing by 73 soldiers and airmen of the Delaware National Guard, Team A from 153rd Military Police Company had grabbed top honors in the pistol competition and Headquarters, State Area Command proved best with the rifles.

The 43rd Annual Governor's Rifle and Pistol Competition was held on September 16th and 17th at the New Castle Rifle Range as some friendly competition between members of the Delaware National Guard. Many of the winners will go to Camp Robinson in Arkansas for regional and national championships this October.

It was a great weekend for the MPs as they took home five first-place trophies in the pistol competitions. Soldiers of the unit won Best Team, Excellence in Competition, Best Shooter, Best New Shooter - Pfc. Thomas L. Emerson; and as icing on the cake, company commander, Capt. Mark Gaglione and 1st Sgt. Eugene Bledsoe grabbed first place in the Commander's Category.

Top gun for pistols this year was Army Sgt. Victor J. Consiglio of the 153rd. He was on the winning team from the MP Company, won the Excellence in Competition and Best Individual Shooter. The other members of the team were Sgt. Lawrence M. Rice and SFC Jerold Huber.

'The win means that all the training I did with and for my soldiers paid off," Consiglio, the team captain, said. The type of training the unit did involve plenty of individual pistol practice during training weekends, on their own time, as well as shooting in other matches since May that led to the September competition.

Consiglio explained the first place award in the new shooter category was a surprise. Emerson (winner of the Best New Shooter) injured his wrist during the summer and had only two practices under his belt before stepping into the competition. Obviously the injury had had no impact on Emerson's two days of shooting.

Consiglio said the day of the match he was confident everyone competing would do well.

The most important part of the match to him was allowing him time to even serve as an instructor. "It's just basic primary marksmanship training," he said. Unit members had fired at the Marksman Advisory Council Region II at Fort Indiantown Gap over the summer.

Since he has received more than 30 points of shooting during this year, he has also received the Distinguished Shooting Award from Fort Benning Ga. Consiglio was also picked again for the Governors Ten Team. He received his first Governor's Ten Award in 1998 and again in 1999.

Consiglio explained that he just did not work with his unit in preparing for the competition, but he worked with other Army Guard units such as 262nd Maintenance and 945th C & C Company. The A Team of the 945^th, and A Company, 2/126th Aviation took second and third place in the competition.

In his civilian career, Consiglio serves a member of a nuclear security team at the Salem Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station. Even at his full-time job, he has fielded a six-member shooting team for the station and recently participated in their Region I shooting competition. For the first time out, the team took fifth out of 14 other teams in the region. "It's really great fun helping other people and providing hints to win this game. After all, it's a game. A game with some great Army training," he said.