Retired Special Forces Sergeant Major Tom Buchino, owner and operator of
Tactical Ranch hosted the first annual
Elite Tactical Challenge benefitting the Task Force Dagger Foundation on September 27th, 2014. Tactical Ranch is located approximately 20 miles EAST of El Paso, Texas and saw 19 teams compete in this inaugural event. This event raised over $4,000 to fund The Task Force Dagger Foundation and their recreational therapy events for wounded SOF soldiers. The picture at top left is match sponsor Hoy-Fox presenting the proceeds check to The Task Force Dagger Team. Keith David from the TF Dagger executive staff is on the far left.
The Task Force Dagger Foundation was established in July of 2009 and is a federally recognized 501(c) (3) non profit foundation. The Foundation assists US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) soldiers and their families when a valid need is identified. Needs are verified two ways: one, through the unit command; two, through the US SOCOM Care Coalition. The Task Force Dagger Foundation responds to needs that are verified as quickly as possible. The Foundation keeps in contact with the unit command organization and the SOCOM Care Coalition to ensure that the funds were received and that no further assistance is needed. Please consider a financial donation that will go toward helping the brave soldiers of our country. 92% of all donations directly assist wounded, ill, or injured Army Special Operations Soldiers and families.
The Elite Tactical Challenge saw 4 man teams compete in live fire events, at targets from 2 to 300 meters, using handguns, rifles and shotguns through a 2 mile obstacles course. The winner was determined by time with misses and penalties adding to the team's final team requiring the teams to blend speed, endurance and accuracy in order to win. To give an idea on the difficulty scale, the best completion time was 1 hour 7 minutes not counting time added for misses and penalties. Oh, did we mention that each team, in addition to their rifle, shotgun, handgun and ammunition was required to carry 25 lbs of gear? The final event for bonus points (to deduct time) was the top teams shooting from a airborne OH-6 Little Bird Helicopter, pictured above right.
The winning team, see picture left, was a composite team from the U.S. Border Patrol Special Operations Group Tactical Unit (SOG-BORTAC) as the scheduled competitors were recently deployed at short notice on a manhunt for a cop killer. Team members L to R: N. Krone, E. Torres, C. Landin and I. Meyers defeated 18 teams from the U.S. Army and National Guard, several local police and Sheriffs SWAT teams. Second and third placing teams were the New Mexico National Guard's 1/360th Infantry and the US Army's 72nd Military Police Special Response Team #1.
SFA Chapter member Sam Morgan organized a local team who has bragging rights on the two oldest competitors, Tony Beltran 72 years old and Gary Benavidez 65 years old. Tony came in from Oregon to compete! Sam also brought a ringer in by the name of Nathan Buck, who was tearing up the long range targets with his M4 carbine. See picture below, L to R: Sam, Tony, Gary and Nathan.
Sponsors for this event included: Hoy-Fox Automotive Group, Hodge Defense Systems, Mayflower Research and Consulting, Barnett Harley Davidson, Little Bird LLC, Article 15 clothing, Oakley, Alamo Auto Supply, Magpul, Santa Teresa Motorsports, Reliance Outdoor Supply, Streamlight, Tropicana Properties, Sportsman Elite, Special Forces Recruiting, Premier Uniform and Tactical Gear, Surefire, First Medical Response, Cobra Cuffs, Collectors Gun Exchange, and ADS.
"as the scheduled competitors were recently deployed at short notice on a manhunt for a cop killer", way to take these guys hard effort away. Why add this asterisk to their win?
ReplyDelete"Take away from their hard effort?" Hardly. I am the author of this article and work with these guys on a daily basis. Due to mission requirements, 3 of the team could not compete so the team leader scrambled to find BORTAC shooters in a unit that was spread out from Central America to the Canadian border. Three BORTAC agents went home on Friday night expecting to have a quiet weekend with their families only to get a call to be at T-R at 0630 on Saturday ready to compete. This does not take away or put an "asterisk" on their win. If anything it shows the high training standard across the unit and will to pickup when your buddy could not.
ReplyDeleteTo be clear, I'm a different person than the one who posted the original anonymous comment.
DeleteThe same sentence was confusing to me. It made it sound like the only reason the first place team won was because the "actual" best team weren't able to compete due to a work emergency.
I understand now from your comment that this wasn't the case though; thank you clarifying.