Rainbow Division deploys 'intel snipers’ to Iraq

FORT DRUM, N.Y. The 42nd Infantry Division has deployed to Iraq with what leaders term a powerful, yet subtle, combat-multiplier — the sniper-trained Soldiers of the division’s 173rd Long Range Surveillance Detachment, and their newly-issued M-14 rifles.

The rifles are “part and parcel” of the changing LRS(D) mission, said the unit’s commander, Capt. Michael Manning.

“This is not a detachment of snipers,” said Manning. “This is a detachment of highly trained intelligence collectors. We have sniping capability. Now we can acquire targets, identify targets, and destroy targets with organic direct fire weapons. That’s the big change. That’s what these weapons allow us to do.”

Manning said LRS(D)’s mission used to be strictly reconnaissance and surveillance; working in small groups 80 to 100 kilometers beyond friendly lines, reporting information on enemy movements and the battlefield to a higher command. The enemy and battlefield have changed, so the mission has changed, according to Manning.

“We’re not training for the Fulda Gap anymore,” said Manning, referring to the area in Germany that NATO forces were assigned to defend against Russian maneuver brigades. “We’re fighting insurgents who operate in small groups. That drives the way we conduct operations.”

Manning described the new mission as reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition; in other words, LRS(D) will be assigned to observe areas for improvised explosive devices and indirect fire activity and, if ordered by the combatant commander, eliminate insurgents with their sniper rifles. The M-14, commented Manning, has redefined the unit's mission.

“It’s a tremendous force multiplier. It’s a tremendous asset on the battlefield.”

The M-14 rifles will increase LRS(D) Soldiers’ ability to neutralize targets without collateral damage, said Ellwanger.

“The rifle gives the Soldiers the ability to engage targets out to 800 meters. Once the word gets out to the insurgents that the Soldiers have that capacity, they will be less likely to get inside the 400- to 500-meter range and engage with RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) or medium machine guns.”

“These guys are superb marksmen. They instilled in LRS(D) the techniques, tactics and procedures that make them good marksmen. They’re professional. To a man, they’re first-rate marksmen.”

Most of the training took place at Fort Drum’s Range 21, where the sniper-trained LRS(D) Soldiers zeroed and engaged targets with their iron sights, and zeroed the scopes on their rifles.

“By virtue of going through this training, LRS(D) Soldiers now have the confidence in themselves that they can effectively operate this weapon system,” said Manning. “What the 42nd Division has done, by virtue of outfitting LRS(D) with M-14 rifles, is make us the cutting edge of the LRS(D) community.”

But the real edge in LRS(D)’s sniping capability are the LRS(D) Soldiers behind the newly issued M-14 rifles — graduates of the four-week National Guard Sniper School at Camp Robinson, Ark. With their M-14 training complete, the LRS(D) soldiers became trainers themselves, turning Soldiers from other 42nd Infantry Division units into designated marksmen.

“We’re a combat multiplier because we can give the division planners nearly real-time information, and a picture of the battlefield,” said LRS(D) sniper-trained Staff Sgt. Tim Halloran. “If we’re on a mission and we acquire a high-value target, we can not only report it to higher [headquarters], we can eliminate it.”

“Hopefully we can interdict the people placing the IEDs,” said LRS(D) Assistant Team Leader Cpl. Wayne Lynch, who, along with LRS(D) Team Leader Staff Sgt. Thomas O’Hare, served a tour in Iraq last year.

“That’s all I thought about when we were in Iraq last year: ‘how do we stop these people who are placing the IEDs?’ Now that we’ve got snipers in LRS(D), we’re able to do surveillance and take direct action,” Lynch said.

Deployed to Iraq with the 119th Military Police Company, Rhode Island National Guard, Lynch said he and O’Hare made it their job to find IEDs. Lynch said he hopes LRS(D) will be tasked with interdicting terrorists placing IEDs. He’s been a member of the unit for nine years and loves it. He does not regret going back to Iraq.

“I’m going with a unit I’ve trained with,” he said. “I’m honored to go to war with them.”

Based in Rhode Island, LRS(D) ruckmarches to the north summit of New Hampshire’s Mount Mooslacki every year. All members of LRS(D) are airborne qualified, and nine are ranger qualified. They have to do a jump every three months to maintain their airborne status.

“We train on a higher plain,” said LRS(D) sniper-trained Soldier Spc. Richard O’Connor. “Most units do five-mile rucksack marches. We do 15-mile rucksack marches. Other units have 45-pound rucksacks. We have 80-pound rucksacks. We have to march farther and faster than anyone else.”

O’Connor was a scout/sniper with the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He’s been on real-world missions to Tunisia and Liberia, and took part in the rescue of Air Force Pilot Capt. Scott O’Grady, who was shot down over Bosnia in 1995.

“Anticipation of the mission is awesome,” said O’Connor. He described the job as a “rush”, and said LRS(D) team members must be physically fit, mature, and disciplined, and must know each other’s jobs.

Part of that job is going “subsurface”― patrolling to a location outside friendly lines, digging a hole, and living in it while observing enemy activity.

“They might live in that hole for two to four days,” said Manning. “It takes an unbelievably disciplined individual to do this job.”

“We’re just guys with rifles,” said O’Connor. “You have to have absolute confidence in everyone on your team. There’s nothing else in the Army I want to do.”

December 23, 2003
Sniper's skills in demand in Iraq
By Matthew Cox
Army Times Staff writer
SAMARRA, Iraq — The sun was sinking at the desert's edge when Sgt. Randall Davis spotted his target, an armed Iraqi on a rooftop about 300 meters away. "It was just getting dark. I saw a guy step in front of the light," said the 25-year-old sniper.

Davis knew he was watching another sniper by the way the man stepped back into the shadows and crept along the roofline to spy down on a squad from his unit — B Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment. "Most people, when they get on a roof, will just move around and do what they've got to do," he said in a recent interview here. "But this guy was moving slowly, trying to have smooth motions, trying to stay in the shadows."

From his own rooftop position, Davis tracked him with his favorite weapon — an M-14 rifle equipped with a special optic sight that has crosshairs and a red aiming dot. He didn't have to wait long before the enemy sniper made his second mistake. "He silhouetted his rifle from the waist up, trying to look over at the guys in the courtyard," Davis said. His M-14 spoke once.

"I hit him in the chest. He fell back. His rifle flew out of his hands," Davis said. "You could see blood spatter on the wall behind where he was standing." Confirmed kill, his eighth — which includes seven enemies picked off in one day.

The deadly Dec. 18 encounter took place on the second night of Operation Ivy Blizzard, a joint combat operation aimed at clearing guerrillas from this city of 250,000, a nest of insurgent activity in the Sunni Triangle.

The operation is being carried out by the 5-20's parent unit, Fort Lewis, Wash.-based 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (SBCT), and 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, out of Fort Carson, Colo. Snipers had attacked the 5-20 three days before the rooftop encounter.

"We had been engaged by snipers in here before, so I was hoping it was the same guy," the Nashville, Tenn., native said. "It's kind of a professional insult to get shot at by another sniper." He seems to take his job in stride, though he admits he's been surprised at how busy he's been since he arrived here two weeks ago.

New urban-warfare threat
In April 2001 the Army began teaching urban sniper techniques as part of its five-week sniper course at Fort Benning, Ga. Army leaders recognized the emerging threat and realized that traditional sniper techniques of lying prone and stalking prey in the open would not be enough in a world where terrorists hit and run from inside city buildings and busy streets.

Army Sniper School's urban training course includes lessons on concealment, shooting positions and more. The Army also added more snipers to field units as part of its ongoing transformation to a more mobile and lethal force.

The leaders of the Stryker brigade — the new wheeled combat vehicle that is part of the transformation — say their snipers have proven ideal for limiting collateral damage and civilian casualties in this guerrilla-style fight. "These guys are invaluable to our mission," said B Company commander Capt. Damien Mason, describing how two-man sniper teams are deployed to provide precision fire against hit-and-run shooters or for counter-sniper work. "[Enemy] snipers have been a problem in this town," he said.

The enemy sniper Davis took out Dec. 18 was by no means his first kill here. In the handful of skirmishes since mid December, Davis has been credited with eight confirmed kills and two "probables," a count no soldier in the brigade has come close to matching.

Davis sees his job as vital to saving the lives of his own troops and takes no pleasure in the killing. "That's one of those things you accept when you take the job," he said.

Davis has been working in two-man sniper teams for two years. He's a spotter and mentor for his less-experienced sniper teammate, Spc. Chris Wilson. In many cases, the situation dictates who takes the shot. "The roles switch up constantly between spotter and shooter," Davis said. Davis, though, has done most of the shooting since his unit began operating in Samarra on Dec. 14.

It wasn't long after arriving that he found himself with an Iraqi in his sights and his finger on the trigger. One night, he and Davis were taking sporadic fire in their position when two Iraqis burst out of a mosque with AK-47 rifles. "I shot the trail one," he said, describing how the individual managed to crawl away, so he was listed as a probable kill. "He was hurt pretty bad."

The next day, B Company walked into an ambush designed to draw them into the city. Before the day was over, Davis, armed with an M-4 carbine and an all-purpose optic, would be responsible for seven of the 11 enemy kills.

Most of the shots he took were while on the move at distances of 100 to 300 meters — longer than a football field, but certainly not the greatest distance from which he has hit his human target. On Dec. 20, he killed another sniper with one shot from an XM107 .50 caliber sniper rifle at a distance of 750 meters.

Davis admits he never thought he'd be this busy before deploying to Iraq. "This is the first time I have been in ever been in a combat situation," he said. "Really it was just like targets down range – you just hit your target and acquire your next target. I thought I'd have a harder time shooting. Shooting someone is pretty unnatural."

Early interest in sniper work
Davis is described by B Company 1st Sgt. Ray Hernandez as one of the best noncommissioned officers in the unit. "He's very professional — one of those NCOs where you tell him to do a job, and he does it," said Hernandez, who is from El Paso, Texas. Mason, the B Company commander, agreed. "He will make things happen," said the 29-year-old from Kihei, Hawaii. "He will get the mission done no matter what."

Davis said the toughest part of the deployment is that it means a year away from his wife and six-year-old son. Nevertheless, serving in a war zone is the opportunity to fulfill a dream he's had since he was a kid. "It's one of those things I wanted to do since I was 12," he said, describing how reading about famous snipers was a favorite pastime.

Legendary snipers became his role models. Snipers such as Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock, a Marine sniper in Vietnam with 98 confirmed kills, Sgt. 1st Class. Randy Shugart and Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, two Delta Force snipers, who died in Somalia in 1993 trying to rescue a downed crew of a MH-60 Black Hawk during the battle of Mogadishu. "What those guys did was amazing," he said.

Born with 20/10 vision, Davis said he has been shooting and hunting as long as he can remember. His favorite deer gun was a Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifle in .308 caliber — the civilian version of the Army's M-24 sniper rifle. "I kind of grew up with the rifle," he said.

The interests of his youth made it easy for Davis to transition into a job he describes as a more humane way of fighting an enemy that can easily blend in with harmless civilians.

"I just thought it was a very smart way to fight a war — very lethal, very precise," he said. "This way I know I'm not shooting civilians. Every shot you take, you know exactly where the bullet is going."

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