Sniper Operations by MSG Kon Fuhrman SGM Rodolfo Garza Group Room R 11 26 March 2004 -_.. _----- Fuhnnan ii Sniping Operations I. Introduction. Snipers have quietly played a significant role throughout the history ofwarfare. Feared by the enemy, miss-trusted by their senior leadership, snipers took the fight to forces much larger and scored a higher body count than many combined units. Today in OEF and OIF, snipers playa major role on the battlefield, not just with the "one well aimed shot", but also through the tasks ofreconnaissance and surveillance. a. References: See works cited. b. The majority ofresearch was extracted from FM 23-14, Sniper Employment and Operations; 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Program ofInstruction (POI); and the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJFKSWCS) Special Operations Target Interdiction Course (SOTrC) POI. In addition, much of the topic covered was gleaned from my own experience as a Sniper for the past 15 years. II. Body a. History ofSniping. (1) Definition and origin of terms: Sniper, Ghillie (2) Sniper Operations from 1700s to Viet Nam (2) Sniper Operations from 1970s to present b. Sniper Employment (1) The Sniper Team (2) Long Range Target Interdiction (3) Surveillance and Reconnaissance c. Sniper Weapons (1) Historical; M1903 Springfield, MICID Garand, M141M211M25, McMillan (2) Current Weapons and Equipment; M24 SWS, SR-25, M82 series d. Sniper "Shot". 9 steps for a first shot hit III. Closing a. Summary b. Questions c. Conclusion Fuhnnan 1 The sniper is one ofthe most effective weapons on the field ofbattle. Since the invention of firearms, skilled individuals with specialized equipment have influenced the tide ofbattle. At times, this effect has been enough to tum the tide of history. From Leonardo da Vinci to present, the long-range rifleman has had an effect on the direction, drive and scope ofbattle. With his discriminatory nature, he has eliminated the command structure ofhis enemies, rendered their equipment useless and struck fear into the hearts of their fighting men. He is deliberate and precise. He is not a superman, capable ofincredible feats, but he is skilled in ways that many misunderstand. The term sniper in its purest sense describes a soldier who spends the vast majority of his mission time gathering intelligence for his higher and occasionally takes the one, well-aimed shot that, ifdone properly, will save lives. The term sniper originated in the United Kingdom at the end ofthe 18th century. British soldiers would compete in skills of marksmanship shooting at the snipe, a small bird. Soldiers that could hit the bird were referred to as sniper. Another term used in the sniper community is the ghillie suit. Ghillies were the Kings game wardens in the United Kingdom in the 1600s and 1700s. In the pursuit of catching peasants poaching the Kings deer, these Ghillies wore burlap suits to conceal themselves in the woods. Thus the term used nowadays, ghillie suit. The United States has been using snipers since the American Revolution. Many famous units were "units comprised oflong-range marksmen" (Plaster 16). One of these units was Morgan's Riflemen. Morgan's riflemen were a group of handpicked sharpshooters. Daniel Morgan, a Pennsylvania frontiersman and first cousin of Daniel Boone, recruited these sharpshooters. In June 1777, General Washington authorized Morgan to raise a special corps of 500 light infantrymen who were chosen for their marksmanship. Given the official name Rangers, they came to be known as Morgan's Riflemen. Fuhnnan 2 During the Civil War, both the North and the South used long-range marksmen. Col. Hiram Berdan was the commanding officer ofthe 1st and 2nd US Sharpshooters. Under his tutelage, skilled Union marksmen were trained and equipped with the .52 caliber Sharps Rifle. It has been claimed that Berdan's units were responsible for killing more enemy than any unit in the Union Anny (Sniper Country). On 9 May 1864 a confederate sniper took what was to be considered an incredible shot at that time. During the Battle of Spotsylvania, Sgt. Grace ofthe 4th Georgia Infantry took aim and fired at a distant Union officer. Grace was using a British Whitworth target rifle and the distance was 800 yards. Grace's target, Major General John Sedgwick, fell dead. (Sniper Country). Arguably, the most famous United States sniper in United States history is Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Norman Hathcock II. Probably the name most associated with modern military sniping in the United States, Carlos Hathcock has become a legend in sniper and marksman communities across the United States. The lessons learned by Hathcock and others during the Vietnam conflict were used to rebuild and revitalize sniping within the US military. His influence on the development of the military sniper cannot be exaggerated. Even today, some 30 years later, his name is still well known wherever sniper training is taking place. Gunnery Sergeant Hathcock carried out many extraordinary missions during the Viet Nam war. During one mission, Gunnery Sergeant Hathcock destroyed an entire NYA company over the span of 5 days. Gunnery Sergeant Hathcock and corporal John Burke pinned down a fresh company ofNY A regulars in what was known as the Elephant valley. Facing amazing odds, the two snipers forced the company to sit in place while they slowly decimated the enemy, one by one. At the end ofthe fifth day, Hathcock and Burke used another sniper skill and called down effective artillery fire, which killed every man left alive (Sniper Country). Fuhrman 3 Another amazing Gunnery Sergeant Hathcock feat is the longest recorded kill with a .50 BMG mounting a telescopic sight. Hathcock was one ofseveral individuals to utilize the Browning .50 caliber heavy machine gun in the sniping role. This success has led to the development of a modern .50 caliber sniping rifle for heavy target interdiction (Sniper Country). The two most famous names in sniping operations since the end ofthe Viet Nam war are those ofU.S. Army Master Sergeant Gary I. Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randall Shugart. On October 3, 1993, members of the United States Army's Task Force Ranger went on a mission to capture Gen. Mohammed Farah Aided and to arrest his staff. The mission went awry when the soldiers ran into greater than expected opposition. The Somalis began shooting down U.S. helicopters. When the helicopter containing Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant went down, Gordon and Shugart requested permission to insert and attempt to establish a security perimeter. After several requests, they were given authorization to insert. The two were set down approximately one hundred meters from the crash site. Shugart and Gordon fought their way through a maze ofshanties and mud huts to the downed helicopter. Once at the site, they set up a perimeter, started first aid for the wounded, redistributed ammunition and commenced to keep the hostile crowd at bay. Ultimately Shugart and Gordon were killed in the ensuing battle, but their actions possibly kept Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant alive. As a result oftheir actions, the United States Government awarded the two commandos the Medal ofHonor for their honor and bravery against insurmountable odds (Bowden). Contrary to the image ofthe "Lone wolf' sniper, creeping across a battlefield in pursuit of game, a sniper is not ofmuch use without a partner. Snipers work best in a team of at least two. The two man team is traditionally broken down into a spotter and a shooter. The spotter is the most important job and is usually the senior or most experienced man. The spotter has the Fuhrman 4 mission of locating targets and relaying the location of the target to the shooter using a crafted and carefully rehearsed verbal exchange. Once the target is located and the spotter has talked the shooter onto target, the process begins to place one well-aimed shot onto the target. This is accomplished using a process in which several factors are taken into account. The spotter undertakes the majority ofwork that goes into the classic sniper shot. This is the reason that the role of spotter is best filled by the most experienced man. The mission ofthe sniper team is 95% reconnaissance and 5% shooting. Most of the time the sniper team is gathering information for the command. To accomplish this, the sniper team spends the majority of its time observing the targeted area of interest. This task is best accomplished with two snipers that can rotate into and out of the observer role. The sniper weapons system is an accurized long-range rifle with telescopic sights. Weapons specially designated as long-range marksman rifles go back as far as the civil war. One of the most widely used sniper rifles of the civil war was the British made Whitworth percussion muzzle loaded rifle. During the Red River Campaign in 1864, Captain John Metcalf of the US Army Engineers used a heavy barrel .50 caliber muzzle-loading Whitworth to kill a Confederate officer at a distance of 1666 meters. This was an incredible shot even by today's standards. The Whitworth rifle that CPT Metcalf used weighed between 50 and 59Ibs., and was fitted with a 24x power telescopic sight. The Confederate officer was standing in front ofa tent on a distant hillside, which Metcalfhad previously established the range to with a surveyor's transit. The bullet took approximately five seconds to reach the target. During World War I, the 1903 Model Springfield was the main U.S. sniper rifle. The 1903 Springfield was used as a sniper rifle through World War II. In addition to the 1903 Springfield, the Ml Garand, which entered service in 1936, was used as a U.S.