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a r k a n s a s M I N U T E M A N September 2007 Guard demonstrates value of Sharpshooters to Air Force commanders By Sgt. Julia Spinnato National Guard Marksmanship Training Unit Public Affairs FORT LEWIS, Wash. — Airmen from the National Guard Marksmanship Training Unit’s Close Precision Engagement Course (CPEC), on Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Ark., performed a sharpshooter demonstration for guests and competitors during the Air Mobility Command Rodeo, held July 22-27. The Air Mobility Command (AMC) headquarters asked CPEC to provide this demonstration in order to help the security forces commanders better understand how to employ these skilled shooters. The sharpshooter uses advanced observation to deliver long-range precision rifle fire, enhanced observation and reporting in support of airbase defense and continuous airfield operations. Students who attend the CPEC learn stalking, field craft such as range estimation and target detection, and keep in memory exercises, which enhance the airmen’s intelligencegathering capability. “Believe it or not, [sharpshooters] are so new to the Air Force that many people in the Air Force don’t even know it exists. That’s why we conduct these kinds of demonstrations,” said Col. Michael Irwin, the AMC Chief of Security Forces at Scott AFB, Ill. During the demonstration, CPEC instructors displayed some of the gear that a sharpshooter employs. The instructors set up a stalk, where a two-man sharpshooter team hides Arkansas School offers only Air Force training in Close Precision Engagement Photo by Sgt. Julia R. Spinnato, National Guard Marksmanship Training Unit Public Affairs Office Engaging the target Master Sgt. Mike Kennedy, a Close Precision Engagement Course instructor, helps an Airmen accurately engage his target. With the help and observation of the instructors, spectators of the CPEC demonstration were able to shoot the M24 sharpshooter rifle. downrange and onlookers act as observers, trying to detect the position of the sharpshooter team. After this exercise was completed and the team returned to the base of the range, the instructors assisted spectators in shooting the M24 rifle. With the expertise of the instructors, spectators were able to effectively engage targets up to 850 meters away. “This demonstration is an opportunity to educate the command group on the capability of sharpshooters,” said Maj. Victor Marcelle, the officer in charge of CPEC. “They are another tool in the tool box for the Security Forces commander to use in support of security operations,” Marcelle said. Sharpshooters are employed in the Air Force for See Value, page 9 Photo by Sgt. Julia R. Spinnato, National Guard Marksmanship Training Unit Public Affairs Office Hands on Tech. Sgt. Sean Wallace, a Close Precision Engagement instructor, shows Maj. Gen. John M. Howlett, the mobilization assistant to commander, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Il., how to shoot the M24 sharpshooter rifle. Competitors and guests of the 2007 Air Mobility Rodeo were given the chance to fire the M24 as part of a demonstration put on by the Close Precision Engagement Course instructors from the National Guard Marksmanship Training Unit, Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Ark.
September 2007 Hide and Seek. Foreign competitors at the 2007 Air Mobility Command Rodeo are trying to identify the sharpshooter team who are situated in a hide downrange. Competitors from around the world participated in the Close Precision Engagement demonstration, run by the National Guard Marksmanship Training Unit from Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Ark. t Value a r k a n s a s M I N U T E M A N Photo by Sgt. Julia R. Spinnato, National Guard Marksmanship Training Unit Public Affairs Office Valuable Asset. Maj. Victor Marcelle, the officer in charge of the Air Force’s Close Precision Engagement Course, explains the sharpshooter weapons system to Gen. William T. Hobbins, the commander of the United States Air Forces in Europe. Instructors from the CPEC were at the 2007 Air Mobility Command Rodeo in Washington, performing sharpshooter demonstrations. Photo by Sgt. Julia R. Spinnato, National Guard Marksmanship Training Unit Public Affairs Office Continued from Page 8 tasks such as presidential and distinguished visitor security, air show support and stateside and overseas base defense. Air Force sharpshooters also augment military emergency service teams and assist Air Force Space Command during nuclear convoys. “The most important thing [sharpshooters] bring to the fight is real-time surveillance and intelligence gathering, which is forwarded to the Security Forces commander,” said Marcelle. The Security Forces sharpshooters are tasked with a dual job, said Retired Air Force Col. Lawrence “Rocky” Lane, who served as the director of Force Protection for the U.S. Transportation Command. They are qualified in combat operations and then in law enforcement. “The roles are changing for each service and as we take on more of an expanded mission, it just makes sense to use these airmen,” said Lane. “If you are going to deploy a team of this capability, the officer corps requires training,” said Lane. “The Air Force should teach officers and senior noncommissioned officers how to employ sharpshooters. You can have a great capability, but if you don’t know about it and aren’t taught about it, you can’t do anything with them.” The AMC and CPEC instructors make it clear they want to get the word out about the critical skills of the Air Force sharpshooter. “We have about 70 teams competing in Rodeo,” said Irwin. “Thirty-five of those teams are security-force related teams. The guard, reserve, active duty and their leadership are getting a first-hand view of what this capability does,” Irwin said. “Commanders need to have an understanding, and more importantly, be aware of how the capability is to be employed,” said Irwin. “A critical piece of that is recurring training. The CPE skills set is a perishable skill and without continual and reinforced training and time with the weapon and the scope, in time, those skills devolve to a point where the CPE team would not be as effective as it could be.” Arkansas troops aid injured Iraqi Soldiers LOGISTICS SUPPORT AREA ANACONDA, Iraq – A route clearance team with the 875th Engineer Battalion, from northwest Arkansas, recently rendered aid to five Iraq Army Soldiers injured when their armored vehicle flipped along a major supply route near Balad. A sixth Iraqi was killed in the single vehicle accident. According to official reports, the route clearance patrol arrived on the scene at about 10:15 the morning of August 16. The up armored Iraqi Army patrol vehicle had experienced a front tire blow out, which flipped the truck into a nearby ditch and ejected an Iraqi Soldier. Sergeants Patrick Hart and Richard Isom, of Jonesboro, and medic Spc. James Werner, of Springdale, quickly dismounted from their armored Buffalo and rendered first aid to the injured Iraqi men. All five were flown via a U.S. Army Blackhawk air ambulance to a hospital in Baghdad for treatment. The U.S. route clearance team was able to use a winch mounted on one of their armored vehicles to pull the flipped truck upright and off of the ejected Iraqi, who was dead at the scene. The rest of the patrol team provided a security cordon around the accident sight until the injured were evacuated out and the area secured by additional American troops. The Arkansas Army National Guard’s 875th Engineer Battalion is attached to the active Army’s 20th Engineer Brigade, and is over 10 months into a yearlong deployment to Iraq. Soldiers from the Vermont Army National Guard’s 131st Engineer Company, and the Indiana Army National Guard’s 1313th Engineer Company augment the 500-man unit. The 875th is charged with a critical assured mobility mission, which includes route clearance, route sanitation, rapid crater repair and culvert denial operations.
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