After a two year long lay-off, the Jamaica Defence Force's top marksmen were finally able to flex their shooting muscles in the spirit of competition and camaraderie, during the highly anticipated Force Shooting Festival, held from November 8-27, 2011 at the Twickenham Park Gallery Range.

The festival, which featured seven shooting events comprised of eliminations and finals, sought to display individuals and teams' efforts at marksmanship and physical fitness, two of the foundation tenets of soldiering. Enthused participants and supporters welcomed the return of the festival and turned out in their numbers to give support to the JDF family.

Although the event culminated with the Queen's Medal Shoot, the Pistol and Gun, March and Shoot and the Maj T N 'Bagga' Martin Competitions all drew impressive crowd turnouts from friends, family and well-wishers of the participants.

The headline event for the Shooting Festival was the Queen's Medal Shoot which started with an Eliminations Shoot in the Firearm Training Simulator (FATS) System in Up Park Camp. On November 26 and 27, participants then competed in the final two stages held at the Twickenham Park Gallery Range, where JDF/27841 LCpl Robinson, D of the Support and Services Battalion (Sp and Svcs Bn) emerged the overall top shot. Prior to his win this year, LCpl Robinson had made three previous attempts at gaining the coveted accolade, and his efforts twice landed him in the top ten. This year however, he applied himself a bit more, conducting dry practices at every opportunity, and when the smoke cleared Sunday morning, his overall performance earned him the winner's seat.

"I have an intense passion for shooting," said LCpl Robinson, "and I also believe in the age old mantra of the military, which is to "practice, practice, practice. I managed to put them together and this is the result today".

LCpl Robinson's skill and competitive spirit was demonstrated throughout the competition as he also outshone his opponents in the Force Pistol Competition where he defeated Sgt Walters, C of the Third Battalion the Jamaica Regiment (2nd place) and
SSgt Coley, G of Combat Support Battalion (3rd place) to round out the top three.

In congratulating LCpl Robinson, Maj Gen Antony Anderson encouraged him to now work on his leadership skills so that he can "increase the number of stripes on his arm to at least match the number of medals around his neck". Gen Anderson also congratulated the other winners and stated that they "exemplified the very best of what the JDF stands for as soldiers by demonstrating excellence with their weapons". He also thanked the organizers for putting together an excellent, well run and well organized competition."

The Queen's Medal Competition is an individual event that is open to all members of the Force. Stage 1 of the elimination sees shooters competing to make it to the top 72 spots. The shooters then compete for the top 24 spots and subsequently, on the final day, do their best to make it into the top ten and classify as a marksman.

Instituted by Queen Victoria on April 30 1869 the Queen's Medal was to be awarded to the soldier who had the best shot in the British Army. Army Order 174.1923 indicates that "The medals will be competed for at an Annual Central Meeting in the several countries named in paragraph 1, (to include Jamaica) under Battle Firing Conditions".

• Competitive shooting returns to the JDF
• Combat Support Battalion Leads The Way