During large, multiunit exercises, the US military's snipers can be overshadowed by the men and machines roving the battlefield.
Take a look at how Army snipers zero in on their targets during specialized training
US Army National Guard snipers got specialized training during exercises in Wisconsin this month — here's what they went through.
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To correct that, Staff Sgt. Joe Bastian — a former active-duty sniper who is now a sniper observer/controller/trainer with the First Army's 1st Battalion, 335th Infantry Regiment — designed a special 10-day training course for snipers during the 33rd Infantry Brigade's Exportable Combat Training Capability, or XCTC, at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.
XCTC is the Army National Guard’s program to provide an experience similar to an Army combat-training center at a home station or a regional training center, like Fort McCoy. Soldiers from the 502 Infantry Regiment stood in as opposition forces.
"I had to call in a couple of favors because of the scope of this course," Bastian said. "My two co-trainers bring a breadth of knowledge and experience that is unparalleled and gives these soldiers an opportunity that they won't get otherwise."
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"The Army has a multitude of systems and professionals to continually train everyone, except snipers," Peterson, one of the co-trainers, said. "When these guys go back to their units, there's not a lot of personnel that can train them properly. This course will help them continue their education and properly train themselves."
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Spc. Johnny Newsome, a sniper with Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment based in Chicago, during a stress-shoot exercise.
"It's a force multiplier getting multiple sniper teams together to train and gain the knowledge they need for success," Brady, the other co-trainer, said. "Over this 10-day period they'll realize how much work it will take them to learn how to conduct their own training, and we'll give them the knowledge they need to do so."
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The XCTC Exercise is coordinated by the Illinois National Guard’s 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team and Joint Forces Headquarters-Illinois. Here, soldiers from the Illinois National Guard prepare vehicles for gunnery training.
A soldier from the Illinois National Guard prepares a weapon for gunnery training on June 9, 2017, at Fort McCoy.