Team MacDill drums Tampa PD trash-talkers

  • Published
  • By Nick Stubbs
  • Thunderbolt Editor
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  It started as good-natured jabs, a ranking Tampa Police Department officer doing a little trash talking on the phone with Lt. Col. Kenneth Ohlson, 6th Security Forces commander.
"They were saying their shooters could beat our shooters in a sporting clay match," said Staff Sgt. Keith Corcoran, a firearms instructor with the 6th SFS. "Without even knowing if we had anyone who could shoot skeet or trap, Colonel Ohlsen took up the challenge."

The match was a Tampa Bay Safety Council charity event held last month in Land O' Lakes, and when the shotgun smoke had cleared, competitors learned that Air Force members can shoot - Team MacDill took second-place honors. The Tampa PD team didn't place.

"We pretty much settled that," said Sergeant Corcoran, who was the top scorer on the MacDill team. Colonel Olson also competed.

The event was a sporting clays challenge, which is designed to approximate bird hunting. Clay targets are thrown from cover, mimicking a bird flying from brush. Sergeant Corcoran has a background in skeet and trap, and was up for the task, though going in he didn't know what he and his teammates would be up against.

"I figured with all the talk they (Tampa PD) were doing, they probably had some top shooters," said Sergeant Corcoran. "When they showed up I saw a couple of their guys were using entry guns (short-barreled combat shotguns designed SWAT and assault operations), so I knew we were going to be OK."

Sergeant Corcoran used a borrowed shotgun and shot a 43 out of a possible 50 points, helping his team to a 141 out of a possible 200 score. It was enough to secure second place, and more than enough to best the "big talkers" on the Tampa PD team.

"They said they'd see us next year for a rematch," said Sergeant Corcoran, who added that Team MacDill would not be opposed to trouncing them again.