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thedrifter
11-22-05, 12:48 PM
Top snipers take their best shots
Shooters compete against each other, share tips and techniques

By Matthew Cox
Times staff writer

FORT BENNING, Ga. — They don’t fit the Hollywood image of a group of lone assassins waiting for their next mission, their next confirmed kill.

They serve different armed services, wear different camouflage patterns and seldom choose the same sniper weapon.

All are highly competitive, yet most here gladly share their sniping secrets with fellow brethren of the precision-shooting world.

“We are all about shooting and helping each other out,” said Sgt. Nicholas Howard of the 25th Infantry Division on day four of the 5th Annual International Sniper Competition that began Oct. 31. “I don’t care; I’ll help you even though you are competing against me.”

Howard and his sniper teammate, Spc. Sean Clark of 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, are among the 31 sniper teams that traveled to Benning from all over the world to make new contacts, share information and learn how they measure up against the best of the best.

“We swap thumb drives with information from after-action reviews to classes,” said one Marine sergeant, whose team preferred to remain anonymous, while representing the Scout Sniper Instructor School at Quantico, Va. “I still don’t know everything I have, but I know I will be able to pull bits and pieces of it for the classes I teach.”

International appeal

This year’s competition had the largest participant turnout so far, said Staff Sgt. Larry Davis, assistant competition coordinator and an instructor at the Army Sniper School.

Besides the Marine Corps team, there were three teams from the Air Force, 21 from the Army and five teams from Britain, Canada, Israel, Ireland and Scotland. There was also a team from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.

“Our events are from scenarios based on combat in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Davis said.

Teams are run through the events in groups of five and are briefed right before each event so they don’t have time to plan strategy. “It forces the teams to have to respond to different situations,” Davis said.

Tech. Sgt. Todd Reed and his identical twin brother, Master Sgt. Tim Reed, competed as one of the Air Force teams.

Todd became a sniper in 1997 after graduating from the Army National Guard Sniper Course in Little Rock, Ark.

But the Air Force refers to them as sharpshooters instead of snipers because they are in more of a defensive role. They primarily stick to airfields and do mostly counter-sniper work compared to the offensive work of snipers.

Now, Todd is an instructor at the Air Force Close Precision Engagement Course. Tim went through the course in 2001.

“I brought him over to the dark side,” Todd said with a grin.

The two brothers came to Benning to compete, but mainly to learn from others in this small brotherhood.

“When we get together with people like us, we share information, Todd said. “This is our second time here; we have learned a great deal here.”

The competition began with an urban sniping event. Teams were inserted near their first firing range, riding in the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle.

Each team had to run to a house. A squad was positioned inside and shot from the windows. Simulated explosions added to the realism, Howard said.

A sergeant led each team upstairs to the roof and handed it off to another sergeant who pointed out targets.

“It was quick-quick — no time to think about it, which is the way combat is,” Clark said.

Davis said it was clear that the competitors’ combat experiences helped in the urban shoot.

“A lot of the U.S. teams, who have been to Iraq and Afghanistan — their times were quicker than we expected,” he said.

‘A learning experience’

Despite the strengths of many competitors, a skill that most teams lacked was clear communication between the spotter and the shooter, Davis said.

This became clear when teams had to shoot at multiple targets on the third day of the competition using what are known as hold-off techniques: aiming above or below targets to compensate for different ranges because snipers had to go from target to target without making adjustments to their optics.

Many struggled with the event.

“The communication was bad. A team has to be able to talk to one another,” Davis said. “For one, a spotter has to be able to let the shooter know where the target is.

“You want to make sure the shooter understands what you are looking at — at least distance and direction and a brief description.”

Sgt. Joseph Fernandez and his teammate, Spc. Kevin French, of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 3rd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, found the competition frustrating at times since they had little time to train at their unit.

“We are taking it more as a learning experience,” Fernandez said. “We want to go back and say, ‘This is where other units are and this is where we are.’

“It’s a great competition. They have definitely got the right tests out here. You can’t just be good at one thing here; you’ve got to be well-rounded. We may come out of here in last place, but some of the knowledge we get will definitely prepare us for next time.”

Sgts. James Brown and Colin Handy of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, liked that events were combat-focused rather than the way they normally train, which is mostly on known-distance ranges.

“Everything we have done is stuff we could use to train people up for deployments,” Brown said.

Both Brown and Howard said the gathering is also a good chance to see what type of gear other countries employ.

“You come down here to see what gear and tactics other snipers are using,” Howard said.

Matthew Cox covers the Army.