Eight Fort Benning Soldiers going to 2004 Olympics

[USAMU]

U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, Accessions Support Brigade

FORT BENNING, Ga. - When the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, kicks off
Aug. 11, there will be eight Soldiers from Fort Benning there to represent
the United States. Seven shooters and a gunsmith of the U.S. Army
Marksmanship Unit have been selected to the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team.
Sgt. 1st Class Charles P. Gartland, 39, a USAMU gunsmith, was chosen by USA
Shooting to be the official gunsmith for the 2004 Olympic Games. USA
Shooting of 1 Olympic Plaza, Colorado Springs, Colo., is the national
governing body for Olympic shooting sports in the United States.
The following seven USAMU shooters will compete in 10 Olympic shooting
events: Maj. Michael E. Anti, Men's Prone Rifle and Three Position Rifle;
Sgt. 1st Class Bret E. Erickson, Men's Trap and Double Trap; Sgt. 1st Class
Shawn C. Dulohery, Men's Skeet; Sgt. 1st Class James "Todd" Graves, Men's
Skeet; Sgt. 1st Class Jason A. Parker, Men's Air Rifle; Sgt. 1st Class Daryl
L. Szarenski, Men's Air Pistol and Free Pistol; and Spc. Hattie J. Johnson,
Women's Air Rifle.
For Anti, 39, this will be his third Olympics. The infantry officer is
attached to the USAMU through the World Class Athlete Program. He shot in
the 1992 and 2000 Olympics, finishing in 9th Place in 2000 in the
Three-Position Rifle competition and in 18th Place in 1992 in the Prone
Rifle event.
Erickson, 43, will be shooting at his third Olympics as well. He came in
20th in 1996 and in 16th in 1992 in the Trap competitions. This time, the
mortarman will be competing in both the Trap and Double Trap competitions.
Parker, who turns 30 years old June 27, will be competing for the
second time in the Olympics in Men's Air Rifle. The infantryman finished in
fourth place in the 2000 Olympics, barely missing a medal by seven-tenths of
a point.
The third time shooting in the Olympics in 2000 resulted in a Bronze
Medal in Skeet for Graves, 41. He finished in 15th place in Skeet in the
1996 Olympics; in the 1992 Olympics, the infantryman took 11th place in
Skeet and 29th place in Trap.
For Szarenski, 36, this will be his second trip to the Olympics but
his first time competing in Air Pistol; he will also compete in Free Pistol.
The infantryman finished in 25th place in Free Pistol in the 2000 Olympics.
A medic, Johnson, 22, will be competing in Women's Air Rifle in
Athens. The first-time Olympian is married to Staff Sgt. Robby Johnson of
the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, of Fort Benning.
Dulohery, 39, will compete in Skeet in the 2004 Games. This will be the
first Olympics for the infantry Soldier who won the 2001 Skeet World
Championship in Cairo, Egypt.
(Formed in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to raise the standards of
marksmanship throughout the U.S. Army, the Army Marksmanship Unit is
assigned to the Accessions Support Brigade of Fort Knox, Ky., which is under
U.S. Army Accessions Command, of Fort Monroe, Va. Accessions Command is
charged with overseeing recruiting and training of the Army's enlisted
Soldiers and officers. The Marksmanship Unit trains its Soldiers to win
competitions and enhances combat readiness through train-the-trainer
clinics, research and development. The world-class Soldier-athletes of the
USAMU also promote the Army and assist recruiters in attracting young
Americans to enlist in the Army. For more information on the U.S. Army
Marksmanship Unit, contact the Public Affairs Office at (706) 545-5436,
paula.pagan@usarec.army.mil or http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/amu/. For more
information on USA Shooting, contact media director Sara Greenlee at (719)
866-4896, sara.greenlee@usashooting.org or http://www.usashooting.com.)