Green Beret ProAm

On Monday, I had the opportunity to head down to 37psr Gun Club in Bunnlevel, NC for the 2012 Green Beret ProAm. The Green Beret ProAm is an annual event held at 37psr benefiting the Green Beret Foundation, which is a  non-profit that supports wounded and injured special forces troops.The event is a shooting competition that raises money for the GBF, but it’s not just any shooting competition. This years event involved the following, and I’m not exaggerating: Sky divers, Green Berets (obviously), binary explosives, Hooters girls, Spa girls, dual-weilding pistols, AR-15’s, fried chicken, and zombies.

When heading down to the event from Raleigh, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, however, having shot some of Frankie’s Gunfighter matches in the past, I was certain that taking the day off of work for this would be worth it, and it was.

I arrived just in time to watch the sky-divers jump from their plane, and land right in front of us. There’s just something about someone jumping out of an airplane with a giant American flag hanging from their feet, and sailing to the ground with it that really makes you proud to be an American!

After the sky-divers safely made it to the ground, everyone headed back across the street and the match began.There were really two matches going on at once. One was the shooters who were competing against each other, and the other was the Hooters, and Spa girls who were in a competition against each other. Some of these girls were deadly with an AR-15, and at one point one of the Hooters girls had the high score on a stage, over all of the other competitors. 

The competitors shooting the ProAm had their work cut out for them on a couple of the stages. One stage involved a handful of close range rifle targets, combined with some pepper poppers, and a Texas star. The Texas star was giving a lot of the shooters a good bit of trouble, and I can’t say that I saw anyone clean it while I was watching.

Another stage involved some field stripped weapons that had to be assembled, and fired while on the clock. Even the girls jumped in on this stage, and were eager to learn how to assemble the rifles.

Other stages involved some longer range pistol shooting, shooting on the move at moving targets, and even some exploding targets thrown in for good measure.

In addition to the ProAm match, John Z. from the Zombie Shooters Association was on site running a side-match benefiting the GBF as well. John had a simple setup. 2 handguns, and 3 targets at about 5 yards. Shooters would start the stage with a S&W 686 in one hand, and a 1911 in the other, each loaded with 6 rounds. On the buzzer shooters would raise the pistols, and engage the outermost targets with 3 rounds each, and then the inner target with 6 (3 from each handgun).

The shooters with the fastest times were firing two handguns, at two different targets at the same time, and getting decent hits. It was definitely fun to watch!

I had a great time observing the ProAm! At the end of the day, over $18,000 was raised to support the GBF, and I think all involved would say that they enjoyed their time on the range. Big thanks to Frankie McRae of 37psr Gun Club, and the folks from the Green Beret Foundation for letting me come out with my camera for the afternoon. I got to work on Tuesday morning, and I couldn’t wipe the grin off of my face.