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Training troops to task allows leaders to have confidence their
unit can complete missions without fail.
Shortfalls in
training must be identified and corrected. One such correction was
the need to get snipers across numerous government agencies better
trained at engaging moving targets at varying speeds, distances and
scenarios.
The Joint Sniper Performance Improvement
Methodology Quick Reaction Test is the first step to improve
snipers' abilities. The last group of snipers began the final week
of data gathering at the Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, October 2015.
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A group of snipers have data on their shots recorded as they fire at robotic moving targets at Fort A.P. Hill, Va., Oct. 10, 2015. These strings of fires are part of the last data to be compiled for the Joint Sniper Performance Improvement Methodology Quick Reaction Test. This yearlong test aims to improve the skills of snipers across all United States government agencies. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Justin Boling)
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“We kicked off in February (2015),” said Marine Corps
Col. Tim Parker, test director and commanding officer of
Weapons and Training Battalion at Marine Corps Base
Quantico, Virginia. “We established a baseline and are
collecting data to create better tactics, techniques and
procedures.”
The test consists of yearlong data
collection involving snipers from numerous agencies firing
thousands of rounds at state-of-the-art robotic moving
targets at varying distances in varying conditions.
“We have found that this test
is very humbling for our snipers,” Parker said. “They are
not used to missing their mark, but a target moving at 8
miles per hour at 800 meters is really moving.”
Data
was collected on every shot the snipers fired, including the
details of wind calls and whether they followed the target
through the optic or aimed at a spot and waited for the
target to enter their crosshairs.
“We are not doing
this to affect the individual shooter's techniques, but to
create new procedures for all snipers to follow,” Parker
said. “We will have maybe an annex, which would compare the
effectiveness of different weapon systems and ammunition,
but that is not the primary focus, we just wanted the
snipers to shoot using whatever weapon they would be
operating with in field.”
All the data will be
compiled along with looking at the best way forward to train
snipers to engage moving target throughout the military and
other government agencies.
“After this is done, we
push out to the joint environment a procedure for
effectively training snipers to hit moving targets,” Parker
said. “Our end state is the development of a [document] that
any sniper can use to hit moving targets.”
By U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Justin Boling
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
The U.S. Marines
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