Farmingdale Native Wins 'Shooter of Year' Title

By Paula J. Randall Pagán

A Farmingdale native has won a national shooting title. Capt. Rhonda L. Bright, an international pistol shooter with the US Army Marksmanship Unit of Fort Benning, GA, was selected as the 1997 USA Shooting Femald Pistol Shooter of the Year.

USA Shooting of 1 Olympic Plaza, Colorado Springs, CO, is the national governing body for Olympic shooting sports in the United States. Bright is now in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she will represent the United States as a member of the US International Pistol Team in the Championship of the Americas, which is being conducted through Nov. 28.

Raised in Farmingdale, Bright graduated from Farmingdale High School in 1982. She then entered the US Military Academy at West Point and graduated with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1986.

Bright's first assignment was with the 55th Engineer Company at Fort Riley, KN from 1986 to 1988. She was then assigned to the US Army Marksmanship Unit. In September 1993 she left the Army Marksmanship Unit to attend the Engineer Officers Advanced Course at Fort Leavenworth, KN, and then returned to the Marksmanship Unit in February 1994. She also attended the Combined Arms and Services Staff School from August to October 1995. She has been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, two Army Commendation Medals, two Army Achievement Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon and the Distinguished Rifleman Badge.

Bright started shooting rifle in 1974 and pistol in 1991 and has numerous marksmanship accomplishments. She is the 1997 and 1996 Sport Pistol Interservice Champion; the 1997 Air Pistol Interservice Champion; the 1995 and 1993 Air Pistol National Champion; the 1992 Rapid Fire Military World Champion; the 1991 Three-Position Military World Champion; the 1990 Three-Position and Air Rifle National Champion; and the 1989 Prone Military World Champion.

In 1995, she won a Bronze Medal in Sport Pistol at the US Olympic Festival and in 1993 she was a member of Championship of America's Team. In 1992, she was a Gold Medal winner and world record setter in Military Rapid Fire at the Military Championships, a team Silver Medal winner in Air Pistol and a team Bronze Medal winner in Sport Pistol at the Mexico City World Cup.

Bright was the National Three-Position and Air Rifle Champion and a team Bronze Medal winner in Prone at the Mexico City World Cup in 1990. In 1989 she won a Gold Medal and set a world record in Prone and won a Silver Medal in Three-Position at the Military Championships, as well as winning a Bronze Medal in Air Rifle at the Mexico City World Cup.

(Paula J. Randall Pagán is a representative with the US Army Marksmanship Unit Public Affairs Office.)