Barrett,
I sent your statement about the poor state of training of the US Army snipers to two guys that KNOW the true state of Army sniping! If you wish to educate yourself please read the following below. I have changed the place names in the e-mails I received from my friends by their request to protect unit identities. The two individuals I contacted are in positions to know the TRUE state of sniper training in the US Army. One is a retired Colonel who spent some time in Vietnam as a enlisted man and now does some work for the US Army as you will see from his statement below. The other guy is an active duty Colonel who has completed two tours (25 months) in Iraq as a commander and other positions of responsibility.
Quote:
Barrett wrote: Separate issue, but you'd be sorely disappointed at the state of sniper training in the US Army these days. I've worked with graduates of Ft. Benning and elsewhere: really good kids, highly motivated. But they think a sling is for carrying the piece; they seldom shoot without a bipod, and they're only allowed to single-load. Many of them had never conducted a live-fire stalk, and not one had ever checked his zero inside 100 meters. The upside is, they're getting excellent support from NRA certified instructors who aren't bound by service policies and bureaucracies.
I don't know who the guy is that made that statement, or what his
opportunity to observe US sniper teams in action has been. I have
interviewed snipers in six different battalions, in five different Iraqi
cities, during three different trips to Iraq and I have observed deadly
effectiveness.
Remember, the point of having a sniper isn't to have him use the sling or
not use the bipod...the purpose of having them is to kill the enemy, and our
snipers have proven they can do that.
It sounds to me like he is more enamored of the "process" and not the
"product".
The sniper team from the last battalion I was with in ********** (six guys)
had from 15 to 35 confirmed kills each. Not too shabby. I don't really care
if they used the sling or not, do you?
One thing that he might possibly be seeing is sniper wannabees that the unit
has created out of hide, using off-the-rack M14s, some sexy-looking Wal Mart
scope, taking some soldiers who shot expert on the M16 range and then
calling them "snipers".
Some of these guys can actually shoot, in a rough and ready sort of way, but
some can't even do that. Some can shoot but have rifles you and I wouldn't
use to shoot nuisance ground hogs out of the back garden. Everyone wants to
be a sniper these days. Just 'cause you use the name doesn't mean you have
been professionally trained for the profession.
It's a big army, in a war that sprawls across the world. I'm sure there are
some soldiers out there that don't shoot well...and some of them might even
have been given sniper training. You can lead a horse to water sometimes,
but you can't make them drink.
The US Army Sniper School might not be perfect, few large training programs
are, but it consistantly turns out soldiers who are deadly shots and who
have the fieldcraft skills needed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the wars du jour.
There are some dedicated instructors there. You should have seen the level
of proficiency exhibited at the recently completed International Sniper Team
competition. US snipers from across the services distinquished themselves
during the match, even though most of the instructors from the Sniper School
were deployed supporting Mobile Training Teams around the world.
LTC Luawanig, the Commander of the Army Marksmanship Unit, has done a
tremendous amount of excellent work to use his instructors to improve the
Army's marksmanship skills. He has taught extra courses, built specialty
ranges using his own funds, had his expert gunsmiths build and maintain
accurized weapons for the snipers and designated marksmen from the 3rd Bde,
3rd ID, stationed here at Fort Benning.
All in all, I think the marksmanship skills of the American Army are the
highest right now of any time since I joined it back in 1966. I know that
the Infantryman of today gets more good, practical, product-oriented
shooting training than I ever got, even during four years in the 82nd
Airborne Division as an Infantry platoon leader. I had to go out and do
that training on my own, with my own weapon.
Separate e-mail a few days later:
There was an article today in the local paper, part of a series of articles
about the brigade that is stationed here at Benning, that was on the brigade
snipers. According to the brigade, its snipers accounted for over 200 enemy
kills. Not too shabby. It pretty much discounts the comments that guy
made, doesn't it?
End of their comments!
Mike
