Ranger Snipers

goon175

Ranger
Verified SOF
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Messages
1,803
Location
Jedi Center of Excellence
SSMP
SOF Mentor
This is an awesome write-up on the great training our SNOT guys get:

With the limited information about the sniper community within the Regiment, I thought it would be a good idea to shed some light on the men behind the scope.

I am often questioned about the selection process for a 75th Ranger Regiment sniper. The complete process may take years before a Ranger can become a sniper in any Battalion. The sniper community now, only taking Rangers with multiple combat deployments, the Ranger Tab, and men who have served in multiple leadership positions. This is key when shaping a great sniper. He has to know how the battlefield works from all aspects as a Ranger when assaulting an objective.
During my time in 3rd Ranger Battalion, I served as an assaulter, machine gunner, and designated marksman before even being sent to Ranger school, as well as multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. After the completion of Ranger school, the doors opened and I was given the choice of serving in the recon, dog handler, and sniper platoons. Battalion holds a selection process for each of these job specialties, varying in length and is tailored to the job.
My selection for the sniper platoon consisted of mental evaluations, physical fitness tests, shooting drills with the M4 and the M16 designated marksman rifle, and a board selection. Out of the ten or so men who attended the sniper selection with me, three failed to meet the standards and subsequently released back to their line platoons.
After successfully completing the selection phase, we were all assigned to a company and platoon who we would support overseas and placed on a probation period lasting 6 months. During the probation period, failing to meet the standards within the sniper section, you were released back to your original line platoon. As with anything in Ranger Battalion, the standards were enforced to a tee. The standards ranged from being on time to a formation, to successfully graduating a sniper school.
When battalion used to only send guys to sniper school, and if you’re lucky Marine Scout, we now have an endless supply of sniper schools in which we can attend, civilian or military. Military schools are great, but to learn sniper tactics and techniques from a civilian who has taught everyone from Tier 1 groups to the Secret Service Snipers for over 20 years is priceless. I learned quickly that being a one minded military sniper gets you absolutely nowhere in improving your craft.
During my time in sniper section, we had guys that would attend schools for six months straight with only a few weeks’ vacation before deploying. As for myself, I attended the US Army sniper school, High Angle Course, Precision Rifle Course, Extreme Range Precision Course, 3rd Ranger Battalion Designated marksman course, and the Designated marksman course held by the AMU in a six month time span. The plethora of knowledge gathered not only saved lives, but gave me the confidence to make a shot at distances beyond 800 yards, and be 100 percent sure that I would hit my target with no more than two rounds. The two round hit on target was key in the role I had as a sniper deployed. On a single mission, my team would engage as many as 15 targets, and with our limited supply of ammunition, every shot had to count.
After successfully completing these courses, I was assigned to a platoon deploying to Afghanistan. With the amount of knowledge gained stateside, I would have to say that it directly contributed to success of my missions while deployed.
Years before becoming a sniper, the sniper was not always at the center of the fight. The main role of the sniper back then was to simply provide over-watch, and to report real-time intelligence of a target we were going to hit. With the amount of training that the snipers in Battalion are going through nowadays, commanders have confidence in the men to conduct special tasks and operations, which were at a time considered a “No Go.”
For example, on my first deployment as a sniper, my sniper team along with four reconnaissance Rangers set out on a five day operation behind enemy lines to gather intel. On the fourth day of our operation, my sniper team thwarted an enemy attack on a Marine compound by placing precise rounds on enemy targets beyond 700 meters, not normally the range of a direct action sniper. The fifth day of our operation, my team was caught in a 360 degree ambush and on the receiving end of a Chechen sniper. With the training we had completed stateside, my team was successful in engaging targets that extended the “max effective range” of our SR-25 sniper rifles and evaded the Chechen sniper.
All in all, I believe that the amount of knowledge the snipers have access to within the 75th Ranger Regiment allows them to perform tasks/operations normally reserved for Tier 1 groups.


Read more: http://sofrep.com/16806/the-75th-ranger-regiment-sniper/#ixzz2K4CIEMcs
 
Okay so this actually came up at work today...what in the hell does SNOT stand for?
 
Interesting selection criteria. I wonder what effect it has on the line units and how sustainable it will be in the future.
 
That has been the same selection for a long time. They basically just take volunteers at the beginning of every training cycle, have them complete the standard Ranger PT events, interview them to make sure they aren't shit bags, and sometimes they go out to the range and sometimes they don't. Really it is just a lateral move to a different duty position, it's not like going to RRC or something.
 
Yeah, on that, his experience was different from what I personally saw (not saying what he said isn't true for 3/75 when he was there), but at 1/75 you mostly saw E-4/E-5 types go over, which usually meant that they had 2-3 if not more deployments under their belt. Obviously if deployments slow down then that same level of experience won't be there.
 
SNOT? You guys couldn't have come up with something better than that? Haha. I'm going to see what all I can come up with off the top of my head...

HATER: High-speed All Terrain Enhanced Riflemen
ARSE: Area Reconnaissance/Sniper, Embedded

It's 3:30am here and that's about all the imagination I have at the moment...but I tried.
 
Yeah, on that, his experience was different from what I personally saw (not saying what he said isn't true for 3/75 when he was there), but at 1/75 you mostly saw E-4/E-5 types go over, which usually meant that they had 2-3 if not more deployments under their belt. Obviously if deployments slow down then that same level of experience won't be there.
His criteria made sense for E-5s moving to SNOT. They usually had something like 4+ deployments including a successful TL deployment. On the other hand I've known multiple guys to have 1 deployment and go to SNOT pretty much immediately after Ranger School.
 
Well then invite them here to defend their points of view.

Arguing a point with second-hand information seldom ends well.

I wasn't trying to denigrate Rangers at all, nor was I doubting their tactical proficiency. I will stand by the fact that the Ranger regiment is without a doubt the finest, most professional, and downright menacing Light infantry unit that had ever been assembled. Don't take what I said the wrong way, you guys are literally the finest infantrymen that have ever existed - bar none no comparison.

It's just some of my mentors who have served in certain units certainly respect the Rangers, it's just that they don't feel that they're capable of what some might refer to as a complex operation - something restricted to Tier 1 special missions units. Again, these are their feelings - I'm not denigrating anyone nor would I want to denigrate a Ranger. It's just certain units have certain responsibilities and specialties.
 
Back
Top