Snipers on Tomorrow's Battlefield

"...await the right moment for one, and only one well-aimed shot"
- Vassili ZaitsevINTRODUCTIONThe term "sniper" originated in the 19th century with the British Army in India where the Snipe was a favorite game fowl. The Snipe is small and fast, and an extremely difficult target. The successful Snipe hunter was an expert shot and proficient in other arts of the hunter. Therefore, the term "sniper" came to signify one who possessed all the skills of a successful Snipe hunter. However, the proficiency of the military sniper evolved into an art as advancements in weapons, equipment and techniques were made.A sniper has special abilities, training and equipment. His task is to deliver discriminatory, highly accurate rifle fire against enemy targets which, because of range, size, location, fleeting nature or visibility, cannot be engaged successfully by the typical rifleman. By delivering precise long-range fire on selected targets, the sniper creates casualties among enemy troops, curbs enemy movement, terrorizes enemy soldiers, debases morale, and influences their decisions and actions. By augmenting a unit's firepower and enhancing the varied means for destruction and harassment of the enemy, the sniper propagates the combat power of that unit and hence becomes a "combat multiplier Throughout history, snipers have proved to be an effective and economical force multiplier. During the First and Second World Wars, infantry snipers were effectively employed within the Canadian Army, where they could be found at full strength in any infantry battalion. Snipers were also used extensively by the Soviet Army during World War II, where they had carefully integrated sniper tactics into their tactical doctrine.During the Korean conflict the Canadian Army amalgamated the specialties of the sniper with those of the reconnaissance patrolman. The sniper section, although highly effective as scouts and battlefield observers, gradually began to lose valuable sniping ability. This deterioration resulted in the attrition of actively employed and qualified snipers. Today the army's requirement for operative snipers has never been more apparent, particularly when one acknowledges that the art of the sniper requires more flexibility, initiative and practice to survive on the modern battlefield than ever before. New technology in sensors, thermal imagers and various other counter measures employed against the sniper has raised the ante he must pay for success.AIMThe aim of this paper is to illustrate the critical deficiency in the training and employment of the sniper in the Canadian Army and provide recommendations for improvement.DEFINITIONSBefore proceeding further, it is necessary to differentiate the infantry sniper from the marksman or sharpshooter as there is often a tendency to confuse the two terms. The marksman/sharpshooter is a soldier who consistently achieves a high standard of shooting and who is trained to inflict casualties on opportunity targets using the normal individual weapon. A sniper is a highly trained marksman and observer who can locate and report on an enemy, however well hidden and wherever situated. The sniper can stalk or lie in wait unseen, often for extended periods of time, and can kill with one round using special weapons and equipment.BACKGROUNDFirst a word about the organization of the sniper section within an infantry battalion. For ease of administration and training, snipers are organized as a section of the reconnaissance platoon. The section consists of a sergeant section commander, two Master Corporals, one of whom is the second-in-command, and four corporal/private snipers. The section is organized into three detachments of two snipers each, and the section driver is also a spare sniper.When deployed, each team or detachment is organized as a sniper and an observer. Team members assist each other during long periods of observation and with range estimations, adjustments of rounds and security.The Section Commander is designated as the unit master sniper, and is responsible for advising the Commanding Officer, usually through the reconnaissance Platoon Commander, on all matters related to sniping including counter sniping. He is also responsible for sniper training and testing.A sniper must be trained and motivated to kill with his rifle. He must be dedicated to an uncompromising standard of selecting targets and firing on them accurately at long range. Within the Infantry Battalion structure, a reserve of 100 percent of snipers must be maintained at all times. This reserve is based on wartime attrition due to personnel being killed, captured, or the inability of an individual to effectively work as a sniper, as a result of fear or mental instability. In order to maintain this reserve of snipers in the battalion, it is necessary to properly evaluate potential candidates prior to attending training.Selection criteria include the following:• potential infantry snipers will be nominated from a select group of experienced and proficient soldiers. A sniper must have considerable knowledge of the outdoors, a sense of belonging to the wilds, extensive fieldcraft skills, excellent physical condition and, mental stability;• snipers will be exposed to mental and physical stress above the normal in combat. Psychological make-up is paramount. A sniper must have the self confidence that enables him to kill when the time comes. At the same time he must have a conscience that keeps him from killing just for the sake of killing;• snipers may be required to work alone and to use initiative and intelligence beyond that normally expected of junior ranks;• snipers must be prepared to stalk and kill in a more personal way than is the case in most combat situations. A sniper must also have truly limitless patience. Nothing else must enter his mind except his mission; and• snipers should always be volunteers.Candidates for sniper training require careful screening. Apart from the obvious requirements of marksmanship proficiency, top physical conditioning and motivation, aspiring snipers must be emotionally balanced. Psychological stress or injury has, historically, run quite high among snipers. This may be attributed to a lack of psychological evaluation of the candidate. The sniper must be capable of calmly and deliberately killing targets that may not pose an immediate threat to him. Unlike the infantryman who kills an enemy emotionally and instinctively in the heat of battle, the sniper must not be susceptible to emotions such as anxiety or remorse.

"He who is prudent, and waits for an enemy who is not, shall be victorious." - Sun TzuWithin the Canadian Army psychological screening is not conducted to our own detriment. During hostilities, many snipers may be unable to rationalize their task of deliberate killing which will result in mental breakdown. Unfortunately, too many leaders who send soldiers to attend sniper training choose them at the last minute on the basis of who is available or who can be spared most easily from the unit. It is incumbent upon commanders at all levels to properly select sniper candidates as there will be little time available once an operation occurs. This fact became readily apparent during the summer of 1990 when snipers from the Royal Canadian School of Infantry had to be attached to 5e GBMC during Operation Salon in Oka, Quebec. Sniper skills must be kept current at the unit level.HISTORICAL EMPLOYMENT - LESSONS OF WAR AS A BODY OF EVIDENCEIn his book, Eye Deep in Hell - Trench Warfare in World War I, John Ellis states that, "In one fortnight of trench warfare in December 1915, British troops sustained 3,285 wounds. About twenty-three percent of these were in the head, face and neck. It is a fair assumption that a great number of this latter category were caused by snipers  A sniper's value in combat cannot be measured solely by the number of casualties he inflicts on the enemy. A sniper can also have a tremendous psychological effect on enemy forces by his mere presence, instilling fear and demoralizing the enemy as well as influencing his decisions and actions. As was the case in the Great War, enemy snipers may well cause soldiers to remain in relative security in the bottom of their trenches rather than conducting a local counter-attack.During the First World War, the British Army encountered expert German marksmen equipped with camouflage capes and special rifles with telescopic sights. German snipers forced the British Army to employ the same techniques, and under the leadership of Major Hesketh-Pritchard, a sniper course (the first Army School of Sniping, Observing and Scouting) was organized. By the end of the war, the British were able to beat the Germans at their own game.During World War II the American Army found that the employment of snipers differed between units and commanders. When used effectively, that is to engage selected targets beyond the range and capability of the average soldier, snipers provided a valuable asset to the unit commander. A specific lesson learned was that a sniper is a weapon of opportunity and that a typical rifleman cannot be arbitrarily assigned a sniper mission. Every marksman is not a sniper but every sniper is a marksman. The Germans were well aware of the effects of snipers particularly during the battle for Stalingrad. The Russian Vassili Zaitsev killed nearly forty Germans in ten days, and Russian correspondents gloatingly wrote of his amazing ability to destroy his enemies with a single bullet.Following the Korean conflict, the United States Army Infantry School was tasked with the mission of organizing a sniper school with a view to reiterate lessons learned which included:• the best active protection against enemy snipers is a trained sniper;• the skills required of a trained sniper must be superior to those of the average rifleman;• unstructured, incomplete training and the lack of doctrine inhibit the use of snipers; and• education of commanders is vital to ensure the proper employment of snipers.The requirement for snipers was realized during the Vietnam war where the United States Army found the enemy demonstrating the effectiveness of sniper employment techniques under varying tactical conditions. Division-level sniper training courses were conducted and Commanders at all levels were educated in the employment of snipers.During Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in 1983, the American Rangers made kills on Cuban 120mm mortar crews at ranges of more than one thousand metres. Cuban prisoners who were questioned after the action revealed that the accurate sniper fire of the Rangers was directly responsible for reducing their will to fight.CURRENT EMPLOYMENTDoctrinally, the primary role of the sniper is to kill or disable individual enemy soldiers. He will normally do this from concealed positions up to a maximum effective rifle and optics range. He will also acquire targets beyond the range or capability of his rifle, for engagement by supporting arms. A secondary role for the sniper is the gathering of information on enemy activities and the provision of surveillance. Without question, the sniper's skills and application of optical devices, surveillance and silent movement techniques make him an outstanding reconnaissance asset. On occasion, the sniper may prove more valuable for the intelligence he reports than for the target he interdicts.Regardless, to accomplish his role, the sniper will be employed in all types of conflict and all operations of war by day or by night in the following tasks:• the destruction of the enemy performing identifiably important functions such as commanders, forward observers and reconnaissance patrols;• destroying enemy identified or selected by intelligence sources;• destroying selected enemy and other targets on his own initiative;• destroying enemy snipers (counter sniping);• observing and reporting on enemy dispositions and activities;• acquiring targets for engagement by combat support weapons; and• assisting in the coordination of friendly force operations by virtue of his surveillance capabilities.The function of the sniper in an internal security scenario is to dominate the area of operations by delivery of selective, aimed fire against specific targets as authorized by local orders or instructions. Within this capacity some distinctive tasks which may be assigned to snipers include:• engaging dissidents involved in such activities as hijacking, kidnapping and hostage situations;• engaging dissident snipers as opportunity targets or as part of a deliberate clearing operation;• covertly occupying concealed positions to observe over selected areas;• recording and reporting all suspicious activity in an area of observation; and

• providing protection for other elements of the controlling forces including auxiliaries such as firemen and repair crews.Although tasks for snipers in combat operations are listed in current Canadian doctrine, experience shows that the employment of snipers in peacetime is generally tied to the defence of an area. Lack of imagination and neglect to employ snipers as combat multipliers has contributed to the degradation of the valuable capabilities of the sniper section. Although 1992 marked the rejuvenation of sniping in the Canadian Army, potential exists to exploit the synergistic impact of tomorrow's snipers.As an aside, the rejuvenation plan for basic and master sniper courses relies on the Infantry School to conduct the master sniper course and also on the three Area Training Centres to govern the basic sniper courses. The master snipers will be capable of instructing basic snipers and will facilitate their continuation training thus magnifying their impact many times over.TRAINING GIVES THE DECISIVE EDGE IN WARThe requirement exists to actively train and develop snipers in order to maximize their capacity to inflict casualties, slow or deny enemy movement, create confusion, and lower enemy morale. This training must include educating the Commanders who will employ snipers. Infantry officers in today's training system are not exposed to doctrinal employment of the sniper, except perhaps, for a single TEWT during the Intermediate Tactics Course. If this approach continues, the art of the sniper will surely be lost. At the very least, Commanding Officers must ensure that unit officer training sessions include problems which centre on the effective employment of the most potentially valuable but most overlooked tools available to today's commander - the sniper.It can be said that training gives the decisive edge in combat. Commanders therefore owe it to the troops to ensure that they are properly trained for battle of varying intensity as well as internal security operations. While it is understood that in times of fiscal restraint training often becomes the first casualty, sniper continuation training can be inexpensive and will produce healthy dividends.A particular approach to training and sustainment is the use of match-grade air rifles. Air rifles are cost-effective, always available and allow training virtually anywhere and anytime without the complicated requirements of setting up a live-fire range, forecasting ammunition, requesting transportation, and so on. Air rifles merely augment practice; they do not take the place of live-fire training. Air rifles allow snipers a chance to shoot every day and sustain such perishable skills as trigger control.To reiterate the comments made by British Colonel Hamilton-Russel, in an article entitled Taking Training Seriously, "All too often the first casualty is training, which is regarded as an easily raided cupboard with a priority well below operational equipment  He further states that, "It is a waste of money to design ever-increasing high performance into weaponry if men, from the highest commanders down to the lowest operators, are not adequately trained to get that performance out of it. CONCLUDING REMARKSThe rehabilitation of snipers within the Canadian Infantry will be effective only if realistic training is conducted at the unit level. Unit and sub-unit commanders must be key players in this process where they can provide realistic training scenarios which challenge the sniper section. Officer and Senior NCO training must also include scenarios which offer interesting challenges concerning the employment of snipers.

United States Infantry Captain Philip Abbott states the following concerns regarding the employment of snipers, "Although a few senior officers have finally begun to pay more attention to the sniper issue, too many of our leaders do not understand the very basics of marksmanship, much less the refined skills required for effective sniping. They do not understand the potential combat multiplier effect this flexible and versatile asset can offer them  Although these comments are made scrutinizing the American Army, the same may be said concerning the Canadian Army. The far-sighted approach taken by the Infantry School to revitalize the situation is certainly on track. What remains is the requirement for Commanders to come on line and acknowledge that snipers possess the very real potential to be a decisive element on tomorrow's battlefield.