JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- During a skeet competition in Nevada earlier this year, things simply weren't coming together for Tech. Sgt. Andrew Winders, 673d Inpatient Squadron Multi-Service Unit shift supervisor.
Sporting clays streamed across the field at approximately 45 mph. He tracked the targets and squeezed the trigger as he normally did during competition. BLAM. Unbroken, the clays kept flying, much to Winders' dismay.
“Going into that shoot, I didn't get as much practice as I probably should have, so I didn't produce the scores,” the Cincinnati native recalled. “Ever since that shoot, I told myself I wasn't going to go into a shoot cold like that.”
The Airman said he doubled down on practice at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Skeet and Trap Range, his efforts paying off with best-in-class honors during the 2017 World Skeet Championships in San Antonio during early October.
In addition to Winders' winning AA class honors in doubles, the five-Airman Air Force Skeet Shooting Team earned top military honors.
Two other JBER Airmen were also members of the team. Team captain Staff Sgt. Andrew McNamara, a 517th Airlift Squadron C-17 Globemaster III crew chief, earned a gold medal for being the top military shooter overall, and Tech. Sgt. Michael Sibbett, a paramedic with the 673d Medical Operations Squadron, also rounded out the top three military competitors with Winders.
Winders started shooting skeet with his father when he was 14. Both had hunted birds together, Winders said, and the sport seemed like a good way for the two to enjoy time together.
Winders joined a youth skeet league, learning the fundamentals and honing his skills for future competition.
Joining Navy Junior ROTC in high school, Winders said a Marine master sergeant instructor instilled in him the need to pursue higher personal standards through drill competitions and other JROTC activities.
The values he learned as a cadet would later compel him to join the Air Force, and they determined how he would pursue excellence in everything he does.
“I'm the type of guy that when I do something, I'm all in,” Winders said. “I want to be the best that I can be. I don't like to settle for mediocrity.”
A few years after joining the Air Force, Winders started shooting in local competitions. His drive for excellence would lead him to seek out and come under the tutelage of skeet professionals like Sam Armstrong and John Shima.
Though the fundamentals can come fast enough for most shooters, Winders said it took years of work and practice to begin to master the sport.
“Skeet isn't one of those things you wake up one day and figure it out,” he said. “It takes a lot of mental practice because a lot of different things can happen during competition.
“The target may fly on a different path,” Winders continued, explaining the agility of mind required to compete at the highest level. “You have to have the mental game to shoot the bird where it's at, not where you want it to be.”
Skeet is a type of shotgun competition where clay pigeons fly from side to side at different trajectories dependent upon whether they are shot from a low or high house. Competitors shoot four rounds of 25 targets for a total of 100.
For Winders, the process of engaging targets is a methodical one. He steps up to a concrete station and takes his stance. He drops two shells into the breech of his over-and-under shotgun before placing the gun into the ready position.
“Pull!” he calls, commanding the trap operator to loose a sporting clay.
Essentially a pitch and pulverized-limestone rock frisbee, the orange saucer flies over the course. Moving as precisely and smoothly as an M-1 tank turret, Winders picks up the target and leads it to compensate for the time it takes for the shot to intercept the bird. He squeezes the trigger.
BLAM. If he does everything right and stays in the groove, the clay will explode in a spray of orange and black shards every time.
Inevitably, he will eventually miss a target. Winders said it is important to always focus on the next pull.
“When you miss a target, and you see it keep flying without breaking, you take a step back, relax, and go on to the next target,” he said. “The only thing that matters is that next target. If you stay focused on the target you missed, the next 24 targets are going to be rough.”
Winders said staying on the ball is a concept common to his career and in competition.
“Being in the military as well as in shooting, there is a constant awareness of what's going on,” he explained. “You have to keep your mindset at all times while you're working. You have to know the job you have to do and the importance of getting the mission done.
“That mental capacity goes with shooting as well,” Winders continued. “You have to focus on what you're doing. If you take your mind off what you're doing and what you're trying to accomplish for one second, you go into failure mode.”
Failure mode was not his default during the World Skeet Championship. During the doubles competition, when he had to shoot at two targets in opposite directions back to back, Winders shot 100 clays in a row at one point.
Citing a lack of practice for his failure in Nevada, Winders credited hard work for getting him back into his competitive state.
“I put a lot of time and practice in leading up to a world championship,” he said. “That's what allowed me to go there and do what I did.”
McNamara said he agreed with Winders' assessment.
“Winders has definitely put in the time and effort this year competing in over 20 competitions,” the team captain said. “He saved the best time to shoot a personal best for the doubles event. If you're going to peak, the World Skeet Championships is the place to do it.”
Winders said representing the Air Force at the world championship placed just the right kind of pressure on him to perform at this best.
“I pursue excellence when I wear this uniform, and when I'm out there doing my job,” he said. “That translates into the shooting world. When I step out there on the pad, I want to be the best shooter I can be and represent the Air Force the best that I can.”