Airmen aim for sniper marksmanship competition

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Rochelle Clace
  • 19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. --  Two Airmen from the base are taking aim at the 2009 Inter-Service Sniper Sustainment Training Exercise from Nov. 7 to 13 at Fort Chaffee, Ark.

Staff Sgt. Carl Hook, 19th Security Forces Squadron security forces trainer and shooter, and Senior Airman Dane Coppini, 19th SFS commander's support staff and spotter, are among 25 teams at the competition. Each unit invited is allowed one team per brigade or equivalent sized organization, comprised of a shooter, spotter and all operational equipment organic to that unit's sniper team.

"There are three Air Force teams competing in this, along with the Army, the Navy SEALs and international teams from all over," said Sergeant Hook.

The training exercise is hosted by the National Guard Marksmanship Training Center at Camp Robinson, Ark. and is designed to physically and mentally challenge sniper teams from throughout the US Armed Forces.

The competition evaluates sniper sustainment programs, validates sniper marksmanship and field craft skills, and provides an exchange of techniques and tactics for participants from different units and backgrounds. The training exercise is designed to test, evaluate and facilitate the development of training and sustainment programs among military snipers.

"The purpose of the competition is to pretty much collaborate with all other snipers from different branches [of service]," said Sergeant Hook. "You get together one day and learn different ways to maybe get better."

The winning team is the one that demonstrates the most proficiency in a wide range of sniper skills.

"There's going to be some sort of rivalry among all the different branches to see who's the best, but the whole point behind all the military service branches getting together is everyone trains a little differently and everyone has different experiences [to share]," said Airman Coppini.

To prepare for the competition, the two Airmen have been going through the fundamentals they learned at their sniper training.

"The purpose of us training is to get the fundamentals down," said Sergeant Hook. "The primary duty for a shooter is to get those rounds down range as soon as possible. The whole purpose for the spotter is to get the shooter on target."

Each sniper team will participate in 10 to 20 training exercises, most of which relate to combat missions that a sniper team could encounter out in the field. Some of the sniper skills tested include field firing, advanced marksmanship, heavy weapon firing, aerial platform gunnery, stalking and navigation.

"The more that the military evolves and changes in time, the more you see the military is becoming a unified force," said Airman Coppini. "It's not just Air Force, it's not just Army. You're always going to have those different branches, but we're finding out that the more experiences we have, the more things we're doing side by side."