USAMU Shooters Train Special Forces

By Paula J. Randall Pagán
U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Public Affairs Office

FORT BENNING, GA. - Although their competitive shooting season is over, the champion shooters of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Service Rifle Team have been very busy passing along their shooting techniques to other U.S. Army soldiers, including elite Special Forces units. The U. S. Army Service Rifle Team, headed by Staff Sgt. Jared van Aalst, conducted an advanced rifle marksmanship clinic for seven members of the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) of Fort Campbell, Ky., at Easley and Pool ranges on 3-6 December.

"We regularly do advanced rifle marksmanship ‘train-the-trainer’ instruction for all units, but now we're doing tactical training for special operations units or any type of sniper section," van Aalst said. "Our sessions with the 5th Special Forces Group went very well. The idea we're trying to push is that our type of competitive shooting training ties in with tactical training. It is important for soldiers to understand the limitations of their weapons and alternate shooting positions."

"We did this training so our detachment could improve its long-range marksmanship capability,” said Capt. Heath Harrower of the 5th SFG. "We're getting different training ideas that we can use and we're sharing ideas on training and equipment. We're also learning techniques that we can employ for our sniper teams."

According to Harrower, the USAMU Service Rifle shooters emphasize basic rifle marksmanship skills. "But it's more than a refresher course," he said. "Their instruction builds on the fundamentals."

The Special Forces soldiers learned from the Service Rifle Team both on the ranges and in the classroom. Instructional topics included how to read and correct for the wind, range estimation and reading the mirage. "The USAMU shooters really emphasized the point that the two most important things to work on are trigger squeeze and sight alignment," Harrower said. "We learned variations and different techniques for trigger squeeze that can be employed by a sniper team when engaging a target. We also used the Noptel (a computerized marksmanship training system), which was a very effective tool to track sight alignment before, during and after the shot."

Besides shooting on the USAMU ranges, the elite soldiers also toured the USAMU Custom Firearms Shop where they spoke with USAMU gunsmiths, machinists, reloaders and ammunition technicians who build and modify USAMU weapons and ammunition.

"I was very impressed with the gun shop. There is a lot of knowledge here that a unit could use and a lot of answers to be found here on weapons, ballistics and bullets," Harrower said. "This training has enhanced our long-range shooting capability and it was very worthwhile. We would do it again and I strongly recommend it for other members of our unit."