Airmen return from Urban Sniper School

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ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam: Two Airmen from the 736th Security Forces Squadron here recently returned from 11 days of training in an Urban Sniper School with a Marine expeditionary unit at Kadena Air Base, Japan.

Staff Sgt. Samuel Howell and Staff Sgt. Patrick Pendergest along with nine Marines attended the school taught by the Special Operations Training Group from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force from Okinawa Air Base, Japan.

“It's exciting to be able to work with another branch of service and figure out their lingo,” Sergeant Howell said. “The Marines were very knowledgeable and they treated us like Marines, with respect. They were very professional and provided quality training for us.”

The Airmen said they were a little unsure about the training at first, but were later reassured when they realized the Marines train the same way, even though they may use different acronyms for the same thing.

It made them “a little more confident that we can just go out and work with any other service, be able to step next to them, pick up the mission and be confident in one another,” Sergeant Pendergest said.

Before attending the Urban Sniper School, one prerequisite is to be sniper certified or have former sniper training. Both Airmen had previously gone through the close-precision engagement course offered by the Air National Guard in Arkansas. So when their commander selected them to go to the training, they were ready.

During the first couple of days, the Airmen were instructed on aerial platforms, different firing platforms such as sitting and kneeling, and using things around them for a stable platform — ropes, tables, rucksack, whatever they had available — to stabilize the shot.

They also talked a lot about how the Marines and the Navy work hand in hand; how to visit, board, search and seize a vessel; how to fire from an aerial platform and helicopters; and how to provide security for teams boarding ships.

“That was a new experience for us because we don't have the capability or reason to board ships, but we do have the training now so if the Navy ever needs it, we can help them out,” Sergeant Howell said.

“We did a lot of night targets and had to get up at 2 a.m. to go out to the range,” Sergeant Pendergest said. “We were firing the M-24 sniper weapon system. And the Marines were firing the M-40A3, which is the same type of rifle just configured a little differently.”

The Airmen worked together as a sniper team during training; one was a shooter and the other a spotter.

“A sniper team is a two-man team,” Sergeant Howell said. “Both of them are capable of doing both jobs. The spotter basically tells the shooter (once they make their first shot) any corrections or adjustments they might have to make to get the round on target. A spotter is also used to identify targets. You've got numerous targets coming out. The spotter's there to tell the shooter where they're coming from, which way they're heading, and how fast they're heading there.”

On the last day they had a field exercise where they had to go into a combat town, get into a position to assess a target, and make a shot at that target from approximately 100 meters away. They were also flown in by helicopter.

“I thought it was great,” Sergeant Pendergest said. “Any time we get advanced training, or further training, it's good. This is not only going to provide a different aspect of the job, but also it's going to provide the sustainment training that we need — the refresher training. As we leave basic training school, we don't always get that chance to freshen up on our skills, especially in a formal setting.”

Members of the 36th Contingency Response Group generally go into a place during certain situations, such as wartime situations, humanitarian situations, or disaster relief. They have a team that goes in to do airfield assessments to ensure aircraft can land at the airfield and download any supplies that might be needed.

“Our personnel do things, such as presidential security and anything else the Pacific Air Forces headquarters needs us to do,” Sergeant Howell said. “As far as our job being a part of the sniper team, we can do assessments, we can go out forward and get eyes on in an area in which you wouldn't want to send a big team and endanger a lot of people.

“With a smaller team we can go out there and get eyes-on for the commander, do septor sketches, assessments of surface-to-air missiles footprints. We're more covert,” Sergeant Howell said. “We can get into places and be able to get back without being seen. And if there is a target that needs to be taken out, we can do that also.”

A lot of their capabilities provide that command and control element intelligence of what's going on without having too many people in there.

“It's not always about the shooting,” Sergeant Pendergest said. “It's about getting intelligence back to the commander so he can make an assessment and send in the right team to do the job.”

The Airmen said this training provided a lot of good tools and assessments so they could come back here and train other Airmen.