European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 9, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday August 9, 1990the stars and stripes a a a Pago 9over Here to become snipers leaves gis no room for error r by John Millar w Al Ryburg Bureau Wil Flecken West Germany a moving was slow for the two so Dick teams but they travelled almost 30 Kilometres much of it crawling. Along the Way they carried 100-Pound Ruck sacks and went 72 hours with virtually no sleep. Only then did the real Point of the Mission begin shooting the Silhouette of a human target at a distance of up to 800 meters. Each team had Only two bullets to get the Job done. _ the test called the final shot is the ultimate measure for soldiers who want to join the army a corps of crack riflemen. It recently climaxed three weeks of intense training for 63 soldiers at the Wil Flecken training area. At the end of the training those soldiers who managed to kill their target within the two shots had their military occupational specially changed from a a 11b�?T�?T to a a 11bb4,�?� adding what the army Calls an additional skill identifier. In this Case it denotes an infantryman w to is More than just a Grunt. It says he a a sniper who. Can kill people at Long Range. The training was led by 1.7 instructors from cod 2nd in 29th inf regt from fort Benning a. Its aim was to qualify infantrymen on the army a new m-24 sniper Rifle issued to units in Europe this year according to i St it. Edgar Hannaman of the . Army infantry school at fort Benning. The new ride a modified Remington 700bolt-action .308 Caliper replaces the army so a 4 sniper Rifle. Staff set. Scott Raitt a senior instructor at the course said the m-24 is fitted with a heavy barrel and a precision Cut aluminium Block which gives the weapon greater stability accuracy and Range than the old m-14. Hannaman said the maximum effective Range of the m-24 is 800 meters. Quot but the Man that knows that weapon and is a fairly Good shooter can shoot out to a 1,000, said. While it s a common army practice to train soldiers on new equipment teaching them to be snipers also Falls in line with an army that is restructuring itself said it. Col. David White the commander at Wil Flecken. Citing the . Invasions of Grenada and Panama and rising tensions in places such As the Philippines and Liberia White said that Quot it is More than Likely. That Low intensity conflict would be the Type of thing wed be involved  Quot the increase in special forces and lighter forces that have been created Over the past five years supports that Quot White said. A and this kind of training supports  to icam the Trade the would be snipers were divided into two groups which alternated Between marksmanship and Field training said sgt. 1st class Stan Ellis of fort Benning. During the marksmanship training soldiers Learned to use the m-24 Ana How wind humidity and Type of ammunition can affect the accuracy of a shot. Soldiers were Given time to practice and then had to qualify shooting at Short and Long Range targets from 200 to 1,000 meters. Students who failed to Knock Down 80 percent of the targets were dropped from the course. The Field training taught soldiers to stalk their targets without being seen. To keep concealed soldiers made their own camouflage outfits called Gillic suits after British game wardens or Hunting guides. According to staff sgt. Antonio Ortiz of the 1 St army dives 2nd in 6th inf the training involved Quot a lot of physically Tow crawling an Inch at a  the Field training also involved target detection selection and observation. A this teaches soldiers to prioritize and select targets the top priority being enemy snipers a Ellis said. Quot a sniper can do a lot of damage not Only personnel Wise but materialise and  and he said a it takes a sniper to kill a  picking out leaders in a group by the types of uniforms they Wear gestures they make and actions they take was another part of the training. Quot anytime you take a Leader out you re going to cause some confusion a Ellis said. At the end of their training the sniper hopefuls had to Combine All of their new found skills to get the Chance to take that final shot. The group was divided into two member teams a sniper and an observer both Able to do each Job. Each team spent a Day planning and preparing for its 48-hour Mission Ellis said. An important part of the planning included choosing the Best route through say Jonn Mma their handmade Chillie suits make Chi. Gary Westland left and stuff sgt. Antonio Ortiz hard to detect amid the natural cover at Wil Flecken. The training area to the final shot firing zone. Once there they had to detect and hit a target with one of the two bullets provided. Quot you done to want to take any More than two shots from one position a Raitt said. Otherwise the sniper Loam might be spotted and become targets for enemy snipers. To the sniper students however two misses meant no graduation. Only a few suffered that Fale of the 63 soldiers who started the course 52 passed the final shot. But for those new snipers the hardest task was still ahead Hannaman said. A ninety five percent of what we teach Hefe arc perishable skills and if you done to practice them you lose them Quot Ellis said that meant the new snipers would have to persuade their commanders to use them and their skills when they returned to their units. Quot this Man is a highly skilled technician a he said of any trained sniper. Quot if commanders done to use them All they re doing is hurting  Chi. Donald Derr it Berry Waits for instructions from his observer spec. Wilbert Dobson during the recent training for snipers at w ild Flecken training area.