Greetings from the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), our Army’s and our soldier’s professional organization.I had the opportunity to engage and visit with many noncommissioned officers and soldiers who attended this year’s AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition.The unanimous feedback was positive regarding the meeting’s setup, execution, variety, focus on hot issues and, most importantly, professional development.The attendance at the meeting topped 28,000, and our soldiers, DoD and DA civilians, family members and many friends of the Army were present and participated in our three-day event.The planning for next year’s AUSA Annual Meeting has already begun and is now currently scheduled for Oct. 12-14.The only event that could possibly top the AUSA Annual Meeting or the 30th Army Ten-Miler was the 14th Annual International Sniper Competition held at Fort Benning, Ga., on Oct. 20-24.This competition is an annual international competition hosted by the U.S. Army Sniper School.The competition is open to sniper teams from across the Army, sister services, the Department of Homeland Defense, law enforcement organizations and countries around the world.The 1st Special Forces Group team of Sgt. 1st Class Travis Cloy and Staff Sgt. Rudolph Gonsior from Joint Base Lewis-McCord in Washington were honored at a banquet as the winners of the competition.Sgt. 1st Class Terry Grower and Sgt. 1st Class Neil Hudspeth of the 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Campbell, Ky., placed second, and the team of Master Sgt. Sean Wiseman and Staff Sgt. Stephen McAuley from the U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., placed third.Starting on Monday, Oct. 20, the 36 two-man teams zeroed their weapons and prepared for the week-long competition featuring many of the very best marksmen in the world.The competition tested both shooters and spotters as a team engaging targets, and as individual marksmen with their personal weapon – the pistol.The competiveness in marksmanship and physical performance at this level of competition is extremely high.The competition for this year consisted of nine scored events worth 100 points each, for a total of 900 for the competition.Elevating the degree of complexity for the competition, competitors were not given any information about specific events or a schedule of the events prior to or during the competition.Competitors were only given a five-minute notice to get on a bus to be transported to an unknown location where they were briefed on their next event."We just wanted you to do your best at every single stage, not know where you were at, and shoot it as if you were in combat," said Staff Sgt. Alexander Tellez, an instructor with the Army Sniper School at Fort Benning and an event official.Regarded by many of the competitors as the most challenging of the nine events was the night Combat Outpost (COP) defense mission.Sgt. Cameron Pope and Spc. Preston Daigle, infantry soldiers assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division, confirmed the challenges of the COP defense."When we did the night COP defense we didn’t have the correct equipment," said Pope.Adding, "There was a huge wall of fog and with the equipment that we had, we just couldn’t see through the fog. We just laid up there looking for targets."Throughout the competition the competing teams remained very close in the scoring process.By design, the scoring and placement of the competing teams was kept secret until the end when the winners were announced.Among the 36 teams were five international teams from Germany, Denmark, United Kingdom, South Korea and Ireland.Additionally, there were three teams from the Marine Corps, three teams from the Army National Guard, an Army Reserve team and four civilian teams from the Department of Homeland Security, Pentagon Emergency Response, Department of Justice and the Covington Police Department in Georgia.The competition started with the fundamentals and increased in complexity – encompassing everything from physical fitness, target detection, stalking, land navigation and marksmanship.The last 48 hours of the competition were the most challenging for the teams because it allowed no time for sleep, said Staff Sgt. Matthew Fox, a team sergeant for the U.S. Army Sniper School."They were up the entire time," Fox said. "Every event rolled into another event, 48 hours of competition from Wednesday to Thursday."For those familiar with Fort Benning, much of the shooting took place on Burroughs Range located on the appropriately named "Good Luck Road."Shooting on the range tested sniper teams at a variety of target ranges principally between 50 to 1000 meters.There were some special targets placed at 1600 meters to add a degree of difficulty to a very competitive group of shooters.Between the competitive events, competing teams were encouraged to network and share their experiences and knowledge with the other teams."When you bring that many different groups of people together, it’s that vast knowledge exchange," Fox said.Adding, "More than the competition, soldiers and lawmen get to work with people they otherwise wouldn’t get to work with."Overall the competition was a huge success and provided all the competitors with an opportunity to share the knowledge and wisdom of their craft with their teammates.Now more than ever America’s Army needs AUSA and AUSA needs your membership support. Still Serving, Still Saluting!