This past week I held twenty hours of continuing training for a North Carolina County SERT Sniper team. This is the basic break down of what I offered and trained them on:
<ul style="list-style-type: disc">[*]<span style="font-weight: bold">[*] Sniper diagnostic clinic[*] Team communication[*] Intermediate DOPE [*] Use of mil-dot hold over’s and hold under’s</span>[/list]
The curriculum:
<span style="font-weight: bold">Sniper diagnostic clinic</span>
The SERT Sniper team met me 2 miles from the Fremont Training compound and I gave them a range safety brief and a situation as to why they were being deployed to this location. Then we drove to the training compound. Once there the Snipers dismounted the patrol car and moved tactically on foot to locate report and possibly engage targets; all the while being graded and observed by myself for after action reports.
This took around 3 hours to complete and afterwards an a AAR was conducted on the following subjects per target engaged:
<ul style="list-style-type: disc">[*]<span style="font-weight: bold">[*] Tactical movement[*] Use of cover and / or concealment[*] Observation techniques [*] Use of shooting support aids[*] Rifle marksmanship and techniques of rifle fire[*] Communication of situation to team and higher up’s[/list]</span>
Follow on training:
<span style="font-weight: bold">Team communication</span>
I identified that the team needed to work on team communication, mostly in the correct language and process of Spotter to Sniper dialog. As we worked in this area over the next 16 hours I used three drills to train these Snipers and on the last drill of training the team communication improved so much that the time of target I.D. to firing a round was cut by 70%
<span style="font-weight: bold">Intermediate DOPE</span>
For Intermediate DOPE I notice almost every Sniper team I work with has no dope except the basic 100, 200, 300 yard lines. We worked the first 100yards in 10yard increments and after 100yds in 20yd increments to establish a solid base line. The less than 100yd DOPE was done by mechanical offset hold over’s training.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Use of mil-dot hold over’s and hold under’s</span>
The mil-dot holds is a skill I strongly believe in for many tactical situations. If trained properly a Sniper can use Flash Mil and a hold to engage a <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">SHOOT NOW</span></span> target with extreme speed and precision. Also the same skill sets can be used when a new target appears outside of the bas engagement box. So we worked on techniques of fire with many DOPE settings dialed on the scope and the hold needed to engage a 2 MOA target at distance.
The Sniper diagnostic clinic will be a new training option for Sniper teams in the Southeast US. I noticed a huge amount of feedback information and a real test of a Sniper teams skill in a safe non-confrontational learning environment. One of the main training feedback points I received is <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> This is like a real call out, the level of realism is spot on</div></div> I know this is due to the Sniper team not knowing the range, or doing a range walk down and “gaming” the training.
All in all, I had a great team to work with, and a Sniper team is now better trained to engage targets with in there battle space. If you need any more info just send me a e-mail
John
