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2002 Texas Adjutant General,s

Combat Sniper Match

By

SFC Pete Carpentier Jr

TX National Guard

 

On 27-29 April 02 the Small Arms Readiness Training Section of the Texas National Guard put on the 2002 AG Combat Sniper Match at Camp Swift TX. This match is held every year in April and draws sniper teams from all over Texas. This year we had a total of 9 teams compete.

The Figure 14 target used for the Cold Barrel.

Day One

The first day of the match the sniper teams were given the run down and course of fire for the two day event. The first event of the day was a Keep In Memory (KIM's) exercise. The sniper teams were taken to an area and they were shown 10 military items that were laid out on a blanket. The teams had 2 minutes to look at the items. They could not touch, pick up or right down anything about the items. Later in the day the teams would have to remember what they saw. The next event was the first of two Cold Barrel Engagements. This match was shot on a Known Distance range. In this match the sniper teams set-up on the 300 YD line. The sniper would be engaging a Figure 14 target at 300 yards. He had two round in which to do this with. Once the sniper was set-up, he was to stand up. At the signal, the sniper would drop down behind his sniper rifle, load and fire one round. He had a time limit of 30 seconds in which to fire his first round. If the first round hit in the X ring, the sniper was given 50 points. If it hit anywhere else on the target, he got 25 points. If he missed he had one more round in which to engage the target with. Again the sniper would stand up. At the signal he would drop behind his sniper rifle, load and fire one round. If he hit with his second round he would receive 25 points. If he missed with both, he would receive a zero.

Sniper Team firing the Stress Fire match.

The next event of the day was the Stress Fire match. Again this match was shot on the KD range. In this event the sniper team would fire three different weapons. The M9 pistol, the M16 rifle and the M24 sniper rifle. At the 15 yard line the sniper would fire the M9 pistol. He would fire ten rounds at this yard line. He would engage the target with one round, every time the target faced him. He would do this four times for a total of four rounds. Then he would fire three rounds, reload and fire three more rounds. The sniper team then moved back to the 50 yard line. At this yard line the Observer would engage a target with the M16 rifle. He would have 10 round in which to fire. Every time the target appeared, the Observer would fire two rounds. He did this five times for a total of 10 rounds fired. At this same yard line, the sniper would load two rounds in the sniper rifle and the team would prepare to move to the 100 yard line. This is where the Stress would begin. The signal to run to the 100 yard line was a Artillery simulator going off. Once at the 100 yard line, the sniper take up a prone position, load his rifle and engage a Hostage target each time it came up. He would fire two rounds at this yard line. Of course while he is firing ,Artillery simulators are going off and there is also smoke canister being thrown. This adds to the stress. This happens at every year line. Once the sniper has fired, the Observer would load two rounds and prepare to run to the 200 yard line. At this yard line there was a barrel. The Observer would set-up on the barrel , load and fire two rounds at this yard line. Again he would have two target expsoures. And again it would be a Hostage target. Once the observer has fired, the sniper would load two rounds and prepare to run to the 300 yard line. Once at the 300 yard line the team would move in to a hide. Again the sniper would engage the target each time it came up. He would fire two rounds at this yard line. The target was a Figure 14. Once the sniper fired, the observer would load two rounds and prepared to run to the 400 yard line. Once at the 400 yard line the team set-up on a roof top. From here the observer would engage a moving target. He would fire two rounds. The target would move from left to right then from right to left. Once the observer had fired both rounds, the sniper would load two rounds and prepared to run to the 500 yard line. At the 500 yard line, there was a table, two chairs and a window. The team set-up on the table and the sniper engage a target, each time it came up. Again the sniper would fire two rounds. Every time the team moved from one yard line to another, they would have to run. Again adding to the stress. The total point for this match was 140. The highest score was 105 points.

The next event was the Moving target match. In this match the sniper teams will engage one stationary target and four moving targets. Again this match was shot on the KD range. The sniper teams will engage the targets at 300, 400, 500 and 600 yards. The sniper will fire twenty rounds and the observer will fire twenty rounds in this match. The target is a 12x40 silhouette. At the 300 yard line the sniper will load with five rounds. From the pits the target will come up for five seconds. The sniper will engage the stationary target with one round. After five seconds the target will go down. Then the target will come up and move from left to right. The sniper will engage the target with one round. The target will then return in the opposite direction and again the sniper will engage the target with one round. This will happen two more times. A total of five rounds is fired at this yard line. A hit anywhere on the target is worth 10 points and a miss is worth zero. After the sniper has fired, the observer will fire and do the same thing. They will do the same thing at 400, 500 and the 600 yard line. The total points for this match is 200. This a observer match. The sniper team has to work together. If you can not see trace or call hits on the target, your team will not do well in this match.

Sniper teams during the Target Detection exercise.

The last event of the day was a Target Detection exercise. The sniper teams road marched to an open area. The sniper teams took up a prone position. In the area in front of them were 10 military that they had to locate and plot on a score card. The sniper teams could use there spotting scopes, bino's and the scope on the M24 to locate the items with. They were given 20 minutes to observe the area and try to locate the items. This was a team event and the team could observe and work together to find the items.

Sniper working up the data for his cold barrel shot.

 

Day Two

The day started off again with a cold barrel engagement. In this event each individual fired the cold barrel. They had to do this without the aid of an observer.  The sniper was brought up to the line. Down range there was a steel iron maiden, which is 20 wide by 40 tall. The target is at an unknown distance. The sniper had five minutes to range the target and engage it. He is given two rounds in which to do this. If the sniper hits the target with the first round, he is given 50 points. If he misses, he still has one more round he can use to engage the target. If he hits with the second round, he gets 25 points. If he misses with both rounds he gets a zero. Both shots must be taken during the five minutes. The target was out at 700 meters.

Sniper team shooting the Field fire (scope) match.

The next match the sniper teams fired was the Field Fire (scope) match. In this match there are 5 targets set out from 300-700 meters out and are at unknown distance. The target again are steel iron maidens. Two of the targets are 20 wide by 20 tall and 3 of the targets are 20 wide by 40 tall. The sniper teams are brought up to the line. They setup there gear. They are then given 10 minutes in which to engage the targets. They fired at all five targets twice for a total of 10 engagements. If they make a first round hit, they would get 10 points. If they missed, they could fire again with another round. If they hit with the second round, they would get 5 points. If they missed with both rounds, they got a zero and would move on to the next target. Once the sniper fired, they would switch and the observer would fire. The total points for this match was 200. One sniper fired a perfect score.

At the same time the other teams that were not shooting, were doing an Armor identification execrise. In this event there was 10 military vehicles setup. The sniper team had to be able to identify the vehicles. They had 10 minutes in which to write down the nomenclature and the country of orgin of the vehicles. There was 2 American vehicles, 6 soviet vehicles and 2 British vehicles. The total points for this event was 100 points. Several teams got 8 right.

The match was a big success. The sniper team received a lot of good training. Not only was this a match, but it was also a great training opportunity. Not only did the snipers had to be able to shoot, but they also had to be good at fieldcraft. Next years match should be even better.

 

 

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