Why is the year 1903 so near and dear to our hearts here at NRA? That's the year your NRA launched the Marksmanship Qualification Program (MQP). It serves as a guide for instructors and coaches in clubs across the United States to train new and novice shooting sports enthusiasts, and has become a flagship program.
The MQP has touched many lives, and I would like to share with you a quick story. Having been the coordinator of this program for going on 10 years, I receive mail from MQP participants weekly ... but one package left a lasting impression on me. It happened to be a letter from a Veteran who served in the U.S. Army during World War II in Europe. The letter noted this gentleman was given a field commission because he was so accurate with his rifle and was able to clear a path for his platoon.
He attributed his accuracy and skills directly to your NRA's Marksmanship Qualification Program. Included with his letter were the patches he earned participating in the program. Many more veterans participated in the MQP's disciplines, and therefore became more competent once they were called to serve our great nation.
Over the years the program has gone through changes; some courses of fire were dropped, while others were added. One of the changes is not that our Distinguished Expert program has been expanded to shooters of all ages.
As a benefit to being an NRA member, the organization recognizes and awards members that reach the highest level of the qualification program--Distinguished Expert (DE) level. It gives them national recognition free of charge if properly submitted. Once a DE is complete, participants are encouraged to engage with more of the offered disciplines. One of the highlights of working for the NRA is that it sure is fun to see the submissions of folks who have earned double, triple and more DE awards!
In 1994, NRA created a database to keep track of all individuals that reach the honored DE level. This also allowed us to track our Doubles and Triples. Achieving Double and Triple means that you achieve Distinguished Expert in all three disciplines. In 2024 the NRA's Education and Training had the privilege to award 131 Distinguished Experts and 13 Double Distinguished Expert.
The Marksmanship Qualification Program has 21 different courses of fire and participating in any one of them is guaranteed to be challenging yet fun. You may not be as ambitious as one of NRA's Training Counselors who achieved Distinguished Expert in all 21 courses of fire, but I hope to see you submit your first Distinguished Expert. For more information, visit www.mqp.nra.org.
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