ULM, Germany - Practical shooter Andreas Dauphin from the Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC) has competed in European and world championships. His skills as an athlete are also a valuable asset to the Ulm-based NATO Command’s mission.
Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas - Precision, power and speed - also key attributes describing how JSEC fulfills its mission
OR-8 Andreas Dauphin has chosen an intense sport where everything happens within mere seconds: as the start signal sounds, the Senior Master Sergeant takes a few precise steps and shoots the first target, makes a swift turn, shoots again, then sprints from cover to cover and hits three more moving targets. The timer stops at the last shot. This time, it reads 11.38 seconds. Andreas Dauphin is a successful world class competitor in practical shooting, also known as dynamic shooting or action shooting: a unique passion that the 41-year-old dedicates most of his free time to. The objective of this shooting sport is to complete a pre-arranged course as fast as possible, while shooting and hitting the designated targets. “The dynamic movement makes this sport much more appealing than other static disciplines,” explains Andreas. From a young age, he has been fascinated by practical shooting - a sport still relatively new to the German sport shooting scene. According to Andreas, the challenge is to find the perfect combination of speed and precision.
Andreas Dauphin is one of over 800,000 active members from 92 countries worldwide, who are part of the International Practical Shooting Confederation.
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Andreas’ fellow servicemembers at Wilhelmsburg Barracks benefit from the competitive shooter’s extraordinary knowledge and skills since he is also a marksmanship instructor..
As a military servicemember at NATO’s Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC), he is able to use his sport to keep honing his military skills, even after work. Enrolled in several regional shooting clubs, the German Senior Master Sergeant is also a practical shooting instructor to his civilian club members. Having competed in European and world championships, the JSEC Building Manager has become a role model and a mentor to other athletes.
Andreas Dauphin is one of over 800,000 active members from 92 countries worldwide, who are part of the International Practical Shooting Confederation, or IPSC. When competing against each other, practical shooters do so under their Latin motto “Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas.” These words represents another parallel between Andreas’ work and personal life: Precision, power and speed are also key attributes describing how JSEC fulfills its mission of contributing to NATO’s and allies’ deterrence and defense in the Euro-Atlantic area.
It doesn’t matter if you win or lose - until you lose.
Andreas’ fellow servicemembers at Wilhelmsburg Barracks benefit from the competitive shooter’s extraordinary knowledge and skills since he is also a marksmanship instructor. “I am more than happy to help out any fellow soldier at JSEC who wants to further improve their individual marksmanship level,” says Andreas, who pursues his sport with perfection, even making his own large-caliber ammunition. In addition to traditional marksmanship skills, his sport demands reaction speed as well as endurance and stability. “But once you have reached a certain level, mental fitness is everything,” explains Andreas, who is originally from Nuremberg, Germany. At competitions, shooters are usually granted only two to four minutes to memorize the fastest way of traversing the course. As soon as the starting signal sounds, they need to instantly activate their physical fitness and shooting skills, anticipating and engaging stationary and moving targets. More often than not, the difference between winning and losing is just a few milliseconds. Blocking out this pressure is one of the mental challenges of the sport. “I have developed my own set of rituals that help me focus on myself and my objectives,” says Andreas - true to the common German military saying: “living in the situation.” Another guiding principle to Andreas is a quote by the 1976 Olympic champion Lanny Bassham: “It doesn’t matter if you win or lose. Until you lose.”