Months after leaving Battalion Command, a former sniper of ours reached out to me for advice. He had just PCSd to a new unit and joined the their reconnaissance platoon. In his assessment, the battalion’s sniper section was non-existent and the unit’s advanced marksmanship program was uninspired. To make matters worse, the unit was deploying in about a year. He saw an opportunity in that the unit was about to receive the Army’s newly fielded M2010s, which he had already mastered in our unit. What follows is the advice I gave him over the course of a few emails. I have added additional ideas recently provided by my coauthor, Sgt. 1st Class Brian Moran who has been my trusted advisor for years on this topic.
Sergeant [name withheld],
You appear to have two problems: a dormant sniper section, and a unit marksmanship program problem. They are related, but I believe we need to diagnose and treat them, separately. Your third problem, everyone’s problem, is time. I’ll offer you some command perspective on the sniper problem first.
Sniper Sections usually go dormant for one, or a combination of, four reasons: unit manning, risk aversion, disdain for the baseball hat, and lack of sniper leadership & expertise. I’ll share my experience with each issue and ways to attack them.
Unit Manning
The Problem
The rifle squads are the lifeblood of an Infantry unit. If your unit is having trouble manning its rifle squads, it may see the sniper section as an unwelcome source of demand for limited human resources. Look at the rifle companies in a PT formation, if there are less than 30 people standing in a platoon formation, that’s your first indicator that you’re up against a manning issue. This is often the hardest problem for raising a sniper section. It is largely a battalion level issue or higher, but it might be resolved over time as you get closer to the deployment and your unit gets a bump in manning. The battalion and company commanders probably think, “look, I’d love a sniper section, but for every soldier that serves in the sniper section, I have one less solder in a rifle squad.” Hence, it’s an economics problem.
The Solution
Thomas Sowell defined economics as the use of scarce resources with variable/alternative uses. In the near term you have to attack the undermanned commander’s assumption that a soldier cannot be a sniper and a member of a rifle squad at the same time – soldiers have variable / alternate uses. Start a program that trains rifle company squad-members to be squad designated marksmen. Train them on the long guns. Some of these guys will be in your future sniper section. Make sure this training does not conflict with the training of the rifle squads.
At the same time, your recon platoon should press hard to receive some of the new privates that are coming into the battalion, even though you’d prefer to select your recon soldiers from the rifle companies. In the long term, you’ll develop decent long gun capability in the rifle companies. Then, when the unit manning improves, your 1SG can trade the privates you recruited for the snipers that you trained.
You and your chain of command will have to choose how transparent you are with the rifle companies when it comes to poaching their talent. It’ll depend on the inner politics of the unit and how well the 1SGs get along; they wield the most influence over moving soldiers. By default, I recommend being honest and transparent up front so the rifle company 1SGs don’t feel blindsided when the battalion tells them to start giving up soldiers to the sniper section. Surprised elephants trample things.
Risk Aversion
The Problem
Real commanders care deeply about their soldiers and this care can skew their risk calculus. Many commanders neglect their sniper section because they believe that sniper missions invite excessive risk. The vision a commander has is a small two-man team alone and unafraid and in radio silence getting rolled up by an enemy and their bodies being dragged through the streets on YouTube. This may be far from the truth, but this is the crux of a risk averse chain of command’s sniper problem. In the chain of command’s point of view, snipers invite too much risk for too little reward – so why build a sniper section, especially when you’re undermanned.
The Solution
You have to change your chain of command’s mind on the risk vs. reward misconception. This is where educating your chain of command may be necessary. In this case, you’re not educating them about the weapons capabilities or the training path. Your most important education will be about:
- infil/exfil, QRF, contingency & evasion planning, i.e., how not to get rolled-up, actions on compromise, and the fact that the recon platoon or another unit are always ready to support the sniper section,
- communications planning, i.e., how to always make your CP/TOC know you are good or that you are implementing a contingency plan, and
- how the sniper team connects directly to the S2 by reporting priority intelligence requirements (PIR) and influencing key tactical decisions at the battalion level (I know that this neglects the kill / end-game of sniping, but as a good sniper, you know that being a sniper is 90% surveillance and 10% killing….most of the time; kind of like how brewing beer is 90% janitorial).
Address the first two topics to convince your chain of command that you can reasonably mitigate the risks they fear. Address the third topic to convince them that the pay-off is high. I believe that snipers are better observers and reporters than the average recon squad, especially with static surveillance. Your PL, S3, and S2 should be your teammates on this issue. A Battalion S3 has very few assets to commit to his S2 / commander’s PIR, so to wish away a sniper section is folly. You just need to have your PL team-up with the S2 to find a way to communicate this to the S3 who can then take the issue to the battalion CSM and commander.
Disdain for the Baseball Cap
The Problem
Great sniper sections specially select their soldiers and leaders. Their specialized training and frequency of training has always made them relatively autonomous. Fair or unfair, this autonomy has often given them the mystique of being renegades – not a good thing if you are a commander. This has led to the misconception that when many commanders think of a sniper section, they have a vision of a really cool looking dude with his sleeves rolled up high, badass sleeve tats, wrap-around specs, a cool bling patch or five on his kit and a rolled baseball hat, and whose best credentials are how he looks OAF even though he has no real sense of professionalism and may possess dubious technical credentials.
Commanders and senior NCOs hate this sniper-stereotype and don’t trust him with high-risk missions. You can thank Hollywood, amateur operators, undisciplined snipers, and the book Black Hearts for this one.
The Solution
Luckily, this is easy, because snipers are (or should be) the opposite of the misguided vision I described. The best snipers I’ve had the privilege of knowing are usually very mature, professional, and skilled. And most of all, they are far from renegades – quite the opposite, they tend to be extremely well-tied into their chain of command and S2 / S3 shops because of the nature of their business and training. You just have to prove it.
So how do you do that? First, live a life like the guards of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Be the readiest, fittest, most disciplined, professional soldier/ NCO. Be serious and approachable. Know your doctrine, namely TC 3-22.10. ATP 3-21.11 has a lot of great sniper employment information. Offer to teach LPDs on this to showcase your professionalism and get buy-in (more on that later). Get along with the rest of the company. Volunteer for the NCO of the quarter board to get into the good graces of the 1SGs and CSM (I know, I know, this sucks). Help the companies coach and train their soldiers. If there is something to win, volunteer yourself or your soldiers to compete and win it.
Bottom Line – make it obvious that when you start trying to build a sniper section, you are going to build it in the image of the Army at its best. No chain of command will turn you away if you dispel the misguided image of the OAF amateur who looks the part but gets soldiers killed.
Lack of Sniper Leadership and Expertise
I tailored this portion to my former colleague who was tackling this problem as an E5/Sergeant. Nonetheless, its still largely applicable to any sniper section NCOIC.
The Problem
This is two related problems. First, you cannot start a Sniper Section without a sniper qualified NCO. What’s more, most chains of command will insist it be an B4-qualified staff sergeant before they will take the NCO seriously. The assumption that a chain of command is making is that it takes a staff sergeant Sniper School graduate to know how to raise, train, sustain, and lead a sniper section… and they are more or less right. Second, and most overlooked, the Sniper Section NCOIC needs to know how battalion training management works. His PL will run most of the traps on this, but he is an entry level leader too and may need a hand from his NCOIC.
The Solution
To the first problem, if you’re just an sergeant. Be humble yet ambitious in your pursuit of staff sergeant when it’s your time. If you aren’t a graduate of the Sniper School, be humble but lobby for a school slot. Offer to hand walk the paperwork yourself. If neither will happen in the near term, then you need to find a guru in a sister unit. Mortar platoons are really good at this. As an example, one mortar platoon in a brigade may have a former IMLC instructor or a best-in-class NCOIC. All mortar platoons in the brigade will gravitate to this platoon during certain training phases to ensure they can get through their MORTEPs with fully qualified crews and FDCs.
You have to find the best most professional sniper NCOIC in your brigade and see if you can bandwagon on his training. Don’t be a free rider. Offer to resource your own ammo, transportation, and even land. This includes providing the OIC, RSO, and the other duties required to run the range. Use this relationship to help build your team until a qualified staff sergeant arrives or you become that qualified staff sergeant. Formalize this relationship by having your HHC Commanders draft a formal memorandum of agreement or at least exchange a trusted handshake. The S3s should be on board too.
To the second problem, your best friend is your company XO. Even though the CO is the guy that advocates for your training and gets it on the calendar, the XO is the officer that resources your company’s training. Many great sniper section NCOICs have direct access and placement with the S3 shop (land, ammo), forward support company (ammo), and the XO helps them establish this. Sit down with your XO and describe to him/her what a sniper training path entails. Get him to teach you:
- how far out you need to request land and ammo,
- lead time for pitching a training concept to the S3 / battalion commander in a training meeting,
- how to set up transportation,
- the process for turning in to turn in the guns for gauging etc.
Do all of this with your PL. At the end of the day, if you can prove to your chain of command that you not only know how to snipe and teach snipers, but you also know how the battalion’s unit training management system works, then you will not have problems advocating for your section…and you’ll probably see your way into an staff sergeant board.
Time and Advocacy
Your last problem is time. This is going to be intense if you deploy in a year. I’m not going write anything about how to train snipers over time. You know far more about that than I do. Waging an interpersonal insurgency against your unit to convince them that it needs to invest in its sniper section will be time consuming. But when it comes to interacting with your battalion or coaching your PL, it may help if I lay out who’s got skin in the game and their biases.
HHC CO
This guy should be your biggest fan. Commanding troops is awesome, but let’s be honest, commanding an HHC isn’t sexy. So why would an HHC CO not want to have a sniper section. It’s one of the only parts of the company that is in the close fight.
HHC 1SG
This is the guy that is going to wage war to get you your talent. He will likely be doing so in a highly contentious environment, i.e., dealing with the other 1SGs. So don’t annoy him.
Recon PL
This officer should be opening all the doors you need. Let him lead until you start developing your own access and placement and sense of who you can talk directly to, or not. Don’t make waves, use the PL until you know where you are welcome.
Rifle Company COs and 1SGs
These are your mortal enemies. They don’t want to give you anyone. Ask around and see if any of them are former SOTIC Level 2 or sniper graduates. Those ones may help. But assume you are in hostile territory with these guys and form the best approach (lead with your PL / PSG until you feel like you have access).
S2
The S2 shop has a crappy job in garrison, so they will be over the moon if you approach them to talk about PIR and surveillance etc. You can convert them into your advocates easily as long as they aren’t total POGs or asleep at the wheel.
S3
The S3 should be your biggest advocate, but when it comes to training, he or she likely does NOT have time for you. When dealing with the S3, be brief, have your stuff tight, and quickly transition to one of his A/S3s or NCOs who deals with land and ammo. This relationship is increasingly important as new sniper systems and DODICs require snipers to use ranges normally reserved for tanks and IFVs.
Battalion CSM
This NCO has time for you. Don’t fight to get into his office but be prepared to end up there with your 1SG and PSG. Just know that whatever you are saying to him, he is in the back of his head wondering how he is going to haggle with the 1SGs to deal with manning issues required to build a sniper section.
Battalion Commander
This officer has time for you. Don’t aggressively seek out his attention but be prepared to have access to him. You are a large source of his risk decision making, so he should want to know who you are and what you are about. It would be totally OK for you to ask your PL and CO to join you for a sit down with the battalion commander. But brief them first. If you ever talk to your battalion commander, the S3 and XO are going to wonder what the hell a junior NCO is talking to the boss about. That’s OK.
If you ever have a professional discussion with the field grades, BC, CSM, staff, whether you intended to or not, quickly let your CO and PL know. As an example, your last NCOIC SSG Moran had a great interpersonal game. It may have annoyed people the way he went in and out of important doors with impunity, but he got things done and it was always in the professional interest of the sniper section and the battalion. He knew how to push the interpersonal envelope, but not get into trouble. That’s the fine line you have to learn to walk. Again, let your PL walk it with you. Let him walk point. He’ll show you the way and you can slowly take over the few issues that are in your lane.
Finally, and this is really important, don’t read too much into the sniper NCOIC’s role as advocate across the battalion. Your PL should be doing this as much as possible. In a perfect world, you would only have to focus on your snipers and their training & employment. Unfortunately, it is too often the case that a sniper section NCOIC is in an in extremus situation where advocacy has to be developed quick to turn around a defunct sniper section and you’re the only guy that knows anything about the tradecraft.
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Once you’ve successfully built and deployed a great sniper section, get back on the line as a rifle squad leader. Too many sniper NCOs don’t leave the sniper section and they quickly lose relevance in their MOS. This may be unwelcome advice but trust me, and you can always return to the section as its NCOIC.
Col. Teddy Kleisner is an infantry officer who has served in light, Ranger, and Stryker formations. His preferred caliber 7mm Remington Magnum.
Sgt. 1st Class Brian Moran is an infantry NCO who has served in Ranger and Stryker formations as Sniper, Sniper Team Leader, Sniper Section Leader, Reconnaissance Platoon Sergeant, and Sniper Instructor as USASC. He currently serves in the Army Marksmanship Unit. His preferred caliber is 260 Remington.
Photos provided by Cav Scout and NTC O/C/T Master Sgt. Luis Coriano at luis-coriano.pixel.com and on IG @coris_fine_photography. His preferred caliber is 120mm Sabot or Canon 7D MK2.
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