RICHMOND, Va. – For the third consecutive 12 months, snipers from the first Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Fight Group traveled to Finland to compete towards their worldwide friends on the HÄYHÄ 2024 Sniper Taking pictures Championship.
Three Purple Dragon snipers — Workers Sgt. Joshua Johnson, Sgt. James O’Connell and Spc. Jonathan Farrar — competed Sept. 20-22 at a coaching website close to Imatra, Finland.
“Being a sniper is the privilege of a lifetime,” O’Connell stated. “It’s one thing I’ve needed to do since earlier than I joined and one thing I’ve earned by means of laborious work and a real love of nation. Competing internationally is an honor I hope to earn once more.”
The multiday occasion included quite a few phases designed to check the snipers on their craft.
“Whereas capturing was the central focus of the occasion, the Finnish cadre clearly demonstrated an understanding that our jobs are extra than simply being good behind the rifle,” O’Connell stated.
Opponents needed to show their competency with abilities, together with tactical casualty care and calling in air help, and quite a few bodily challenges. O’Connell stated these abilities and the flexibility to overcome challenges utilizing “uncooked bodily power” are all “important to a sniper’s position” and a part of what units the sniper aside from the essential marksman.
“The competitors was very dynamic and every occasion would require you to create a plan in lower than 5 minutes and execute the plan,” Farrar stated. “Occasions had been timed and would require you to stealthily arrange your capturing positions previous to engagements.”
To organize for the competitors, the three first educated independently. Farrar stated he targeted on “working, rucking and doing calisthenics” to face the bodily challenges. Then, the snipers got here collectively at Fort Barfoot for a number of days of extra targeted coaching.
“We educated on capturing in numerous positions, making simultaneous photographs, stress capturing and stalking,” Farrar stated.
O’Connell stated the workforce targeted on tackling targets at unknown distances and firing from the standing place.
“By myself time, I studied formulation I’d use, targeted on my bodily train routine and on endurance cardio, and bought set off time on my private rifle to remain sharp,” he stated.
The snipers completed ninth out of 14 groups. Every Virginia sniper expressed appreciation for the work put in by their Finnish hosts and left the competitors with a number of helpful classes.
“I realized that there’s a shocking quantity of overlap in the best way that we and the remainder of NATO do issues as snipers,” O’Connell stated. “I really feel assured that if I had an English-speaking Finn as my spotter, we might don’t have any hassle working collectively and getting a very good impact heading in the right direction.”
Farrar known as the HÄYHÄ 2024 Sniper Taking pictures Championship his greatest army expertise up to now.
“I loved the competitors as a result of it was difficult [and] I used to be capable of construct relationships with the opposite rivals,” Farrar stated. “Our group is small and we’re at all times on the lookout for methods to change into higher and extra deadly.”
By SFC Terra C. Gatti, Virginia Nationwide Guard Public Affairs Workplace
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