Refer to the color photo insert at the center of the book when reading this chapter.
In Vietnam, it took the big military machine an average of 2,000 shots to achieve one confirmed North Vietnamese army kill. It took a U.S. military sniper an average of 1.3. Talk about your cost-effective war machine. After the evacuation of Hanoi, the United States entered a relative lull in global hostilities, taking part in only a few small conflicts over the course of the next 16 years prior to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The loss of the experienced war fighter brought about a bureaucratic military establishment that eventually would forget the professionalism and power of one well-trained marksman. The 21st century has brought about a shift in training and tactics whose effectiveness is proved immediately in real-time combat. While it would be irresponsible for us to go into detail about modern sniper training methods, it is important for us as former SEAL snipers to give the reader a brief outline of what a SEAL sniper student is up against. The U.S. Navy SEAL course is divided into three phases over 90 days, and it tests to the highest standards in the world.
In phase one the candidate learns the latest in digital photography techniques, computer image manipulation/compression, and satellite radio communications. Historically the sniper would sketch a target in detail and record notes with pencil and paper. In the 21st century, the sniper leverages technology to his advantage and uses the most advanced camera systems, hardware, and software available to record target information and produce a firing solution.
Snipers aren't always on the gun. Here a student sets up his camera for some long-range photographs.
Phase two is the scout portion of training. The name of the game is stealth and concealment. In this phase the sniper learns the art of camouflage, small unit tactics, patrolling techniques, and most important, how to get in and out of hostile enemy territory undetected, without leaving a trace. We often fail candidates who leave behind the smallest trace; a bullet casing left behind will get you sent home. Toward the end of this phase we introduce advanced marksmanship fundamentals and a system of mental management used by the world's top athletes. Mental management gives the students the tools (whether or not they use them is up to them) to cope with adversity and also a system to rehearse and practice their skills perfectly through mental visualization techniques. To prove the value of mental management and rehearsal, I would often relate a true story related to the topic. A Navy fighter pilot was shot down in Vietnam, captured, and imprisoned for years in the famous prisoner of war camp, the Hanoi Hilton. The pilot was an avid golfer back home and to get through the extremely demanding situation he would shoot rounds of golf in his head. For years he would play his favorite courses perfectly in his mind. Eventually liberated and back on U.S. soil, the first thing this pilot did was jump out of the military ambulance and onto the golf course. After explaining his ragged looks (he was a tall man and extremely skinny from malnutrition), he shot nine holes of golf at one under par. This was shocking to those who witnessed the event, and when questioned about how this was possible, the pilot replied, “Gentlemen, I haven't hit a bad shot in four years!”
Here a SEAL sniper candidate takes long-range digital photos to be sent back to a Tactical Operations Center for intelligence purposes.
A SEAL sniper candidate veges up his tripod and camera to avoid detection yet still get the intel.
Never underestimate the sniper's importance to reconnaissance and surveillance.
Instructors brief snipers on the “rules” prior to beginning a stalk.
Not always warm and dry
A student tries to locate the OP (observation point) without getting spotted.
Stay low and use the dead space created by the tree to avoid detection.
Find the shooter…
Good camouflage
Instructors man the OP table, using high-powered optics to try to spot the students… and fail them.
Rain or shine, sniper candidates spend hundreds of hours on the range.
Phase three is the sniper portion. We spend hours in the classroom learning the science behind the shot, ballistics, environmental factors, and human factors, and calculating for wind, distance, and target lead. We then put the knowledge to practical application on the shooting range. The students train and test with moving and pop-up targets in high-wind conditions out to 1,000 meters. As part of the training, we put the shooters in the most stressful and challenging situations imaginable. We look for signs of high intelligence, patience, and mental maturity. Then we intentionally (often unknown to the candidate) place the shooter in adverse and unfair situations to test their mettle. An example of this would be the “edge” shot. Individual trainees are lined up on the shooting range and are told that they have 4 minutes to run 600 meters, set up on the firing line, and wait for their targets to appear sometime between 4 minutes and 1 second, and an hour. We always send a target up right at 3 minutes—usually right when the shooters are just getting set up on their lanes and identifying their fields of fire. Often, a shooter will take his eyes away for a split second to wipe sweat from his brow, then drop down on his scope to see his target disappear and his opportunity gone. The peer pressure is intense and shooters often break down in frustration at a missed shot. They eventually learn to control their feelings or they don't move on. As instructors we keep detailed student records and record everything. A large percentage of SEAL candidates don't make it through the course and just getting a billet is extremely competitive. No one wants to go back to their SEAL team deemed a loser for having failed out of the course. However, this course is one of the few courses you can fail as a SEAL and not be looked down upon by your teammates. This is because the SEAL course is renowned for being one of the toughest and most challenging courses in the world. More than 3 months of 7-day, 100-hour workweeks go into the training. It takes extreme perseverance in order to graduate with the title of SEAL sniper. It remains one of the most stressful events of my life—even when compared to my combat tours.
The training that takes place in modern military-grade sniper communities is far more advanced than anything seen throughout history.
A major shift in training methodology is the fact that modern-day Special Operations snipers are trained and deployed as independent shooters, not in the traditional shooter/spotter pairs. Training in the past would have graduates that were great shots but not so great behind the spotting scope and vice versa. As tough as it is to admit, we were graduating students that were not well-rounded snipers. Because students were trained in pairs and shared scores, often they would make up for each others’ deficiencies, and this is not a good way to conduct business or create a world-class sniper. Ninety percent of our sniper missions in the SEAL teams are conducted with single shooters in separate positions, and when I became the course manager, I pushed our officer in charge to accept that if most of our snipers were being used independently, then we needed to start “training like we fight” and focus on graduating a well-rounded sniper capable of operating on his own without a spotter. My thinking was that the first time a sniper operates independently should not be on a real world mission, it should happen in training. We did start to focus on gradually shifting training and testing to ensure that our SEAL students had a complete grasp of all the subject matter. My prediction is that modern courses will continue to shift toward the use of more technology and graduating snipers capable of deploying as single shooters who don't require or rely on a spotter. The modern graduate can deploy in any combat theater without the aid of a spotter, because he has the training and a complete suite of technology at his fingertips. The days of dope books and hand sketches are falling to the wayside and being replaced by digital imagery, handheld computers with complex ballistic software programs, chronographs that measure each weapons specific muzzle velocity (two identical rifles shooting the same round will produce different results), nanotechnology applied to camouflage, and extremely accurate rapid-fire smart weapons.
Some interop sustainability training overseas. If you don't use it, you lose it. In order to stay sharp, you have to get time on the trigger and behind the spotting scope.
SEAL sniper student well-concealed and ready to shoot!
A Shooting Chrony Beta Master Chronograph. It will accurately measure thes muzzle velocity for a particular round and rifle combination. That data will then be input unbelievably accurate first-round.
The 21st-century sniper is a mature, intelligent shooter that leverages technology to his deadly advantage. He has spent thousands of hours honing his skills. He is a master of concealment in all environments, from the mountains of Afghanistan to the crowded streets of Iraq. He is trained in science, but he alone is left to create the individual art of the kill. The battlefield to the sniper is like a painter's blank canvas. It is up to him to use his tools, training, and creativity to determine how that final shot will play out and the devastating psychological impact that is ultimately the result of his actions.
The data will then be input into a device like this PDA, but technology is pushing it into devices that double as tactical watches as well.
