Even the Coast Guard has sharper snipers than the Marines

Another Guard is better then active duty story. I find it hilariously funny that NG Soldiers love to compare themselves to active duty. Last I knew the Rangers win this almost every year. There is AGR Soldiers who aren't part time and are still considered Guard. Oh and you can't excuse the fact that a lot of Guardsmen were active duty at one point.

SFC Harry H. - You are correct that most of the participants are NG AGR Soldiers. Then answer me this, why does the active component hit the Guard up for Soldiers to deploy and fill their ranks vice the Reserves? I've seen NG Soldiers at NCOES schools take honor graduate and commandant's list (I was one of them) numerous times over the active guys so in a sense, we're slightly better because some of us have the privilege of working in our professions on the civilian side. Plus, we get dumped on more often than not just because we're National Guard. You can put any of my Soldiers up against an active unit and we'll hang if not outdo them.

CW2 Michael Bodnar - Great questions! BTW, I respect you and your opinions first and foremost. This has been an argument for generations and even more so now that NG and Reserves have been deploying alongside active duty.

I was active duty first, 10th mtn DIV, then switched over to Indiana Guard, 76th BDE. I deployed with both components. I for one saw a huge difference between the two. I will say, your going to get the same quality of Americans from all components and there is no denying that. We are Americans that love our country the same. So I believe the question boils down to, who is better trained? Active duty has the money and the latest greatest equipment. They train in their specialized skills daily and deploy more. Active Duty's OPTEMPO is much greater then the NG or Reserves.

I will give you that the experience level in which the National Guard SOMETIMES brings to the table is greater when speaking outside of the military. I had a Soldier that was part of my PSD team in IRAQ, he was NG and an In-flight Paramedic in the civilian world. Obviously he brought a lot to the table. He was passionate about his service and his MOS but he lacked the everyday training and knowledge of the job.

I'm not going to say NG is better, and definitely not just because you or select individuals brings home honor grad (good job BTW). Generally speaking, most that attend those NCOES schools are leaders that are in it for the long haul. They are the ones who care to be there. What about the many other POS Soldiers who rarely show up to formations or don't show up at all. The PT failure rate in the guard. The lack of knowledge by lower enlisted. Generally speaking lower enlisted also means lower non mission essential jobs in the civilian world. I have seen leaders punished in the NG over the Soldiers, because leaders want to be there and will listen. Unit command was afraid to punish the Soldier because of retention.

Active duty fills the ranks because they know the NG isn't worthless. NG is trainable and went through basic as well, they have the general knowledge of the MOS. I'm not sure if this is 100% correct but, they pick NG over Reserves because most units needing filled like Infantry, the Reserves don't have.

Active duty trains mon-fri and multiple field problems throughout the year. They conduct Soldier of the Month/Year boards often. There are other sections, plts, companies that are like yours in the NG. That's great they can hang in there with active, can you say that about all NG? Being on both sides and the shit we went through and how good we were on active duty, I have still yet found an entire unit that could match our, academically (general military knowledge), mentally and physically.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said it depends on the type of mission you train for, The International Competition does appear to test all aspects of sniping, and is the best of the best, so just being good enough to enter is something. In a maritime situation, there is no cover and concealment. In most cases, the USCG snipers are shooting from a helicopter at the outboards of a go fast boat that is both pitching on the waves and maneuvering at high speed. They do also train for anti-terrorist operations in similar circumstances.