Captain Mike Gray is a distinguished competitive marksman who began his marksmanship journey in 1979, as many have, with the Army Cadets joining 242 Royal Canadian Army Cadets in Fredericton, NB, where he learned many shooting skills from great coaches like Mr. Gerry Carr of the RNBRA. Upon joining the reserves in 1982 with the 1st Bn Royal New Brunswick Regiment he immediately gained a position on the unit shooting team, participating in District and Area competitions in rifle, pistol and LMG. After graduating UNB he took a job in Halifax, NS which resulted in transferring to the Princess Louise Fusiliers where he continues to serve today.
Mike has won five Queen’s Medals for Champion Shot (Reserve), in 1997, 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006. He was the Canadian National Service Conditions Rifle Champion in 2005, 2006 and 2007. He has also competed internationally; attending the 1996 and 2002 Army Rifle Association (ARA) Central Skill-At-Arms Meeting (CENTSAM) and Bisley Service Rifle matches in the United Kingdom, the US Armed Forces Small Arms (AFSAM) Matches 1996 and 1997 in Little Rock, AK, USA, and in 2005, the NATO Reserve Small Arms Competition in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2006, he was awarded the Canadian Armed Forces Land Force’s Coach of the Year for coaching his team which took the top place at the NATO competition in 2005, and where he personally was the Top Rifle Shot.
Mike attended CFSAC, NSCC and CAFSAC competitions from 1989 through 2009, first as a pistol competitor in 1989 and 1991, then joining the rifle team in 1992. He was never able to attend the full training sessions with the team, so his practice usually consisted of a few days to a week in Ottawa just prior to CFSAC. Even with this limited training, he was able to improve consistently each year. In 1995 he was top reserve shot in stage 1 but faltered in stage 2 dropping to third place. This however earned him a spot on the 1996 Bisley team where he was finally able to participate in a full training session with excellent coaching (WO Ron Surette and WO Norm Besaw). In 1997, with sage advice from the LFAA Team Coach, Sgt Bill Smith, he overcame his difficulties with Stage 2 and came from 4th place to win his first Queen’s Medal.Although he had to hang up his shooting bag when he became RSM of the Princess Louise Fusiliers due to the commitments of the job, Mike continues to compete in IPSC and 3-Gun matches with his local gun club, but still gives back to the Service Rifle community when he can. In 2018 he was honoured to accept the position of Team Captain for the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve Combat Shooting Team at Bisley UK.
