An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 13 tional and international. The national division would comprise only Irish teams, who would be restricted to using certain issued items of equipment only. The international division was open to both Irish and international teams, with no equipment restric- tions in this class. The team from 28 Inf Bn were the only Irish entry in this division. The beginning of the competition saw all teams line up at the briefing shed, with body armour, helmets, day sacks, and weapons, from where they were released for a two-mile battle run to the anti-tank range. On arrival at the anti-tank range they had to iden- tify their 'high-value target' (a head-sized target) and engage with one 'cold bore' round, all in under 20 minutes. While all but one of the 24 teams made it to the firing point and fired a shot inside the allotted time, only five teams managed to hit their correct target in time. Teams got little chance to rest after the battle run before be- ing split into two groups and sent to concurrent shoots. While one group was participating in an 'unknown distance shoot' the other group faced a 'barrier shoot'. As soon as a team had completed their shoot they were moved by TCV to the other shoot; ensuring that the competitors were kept under pressure and constantly moving. The unknown distance shoot comprised team snipers having to fire from inside a jeep, out of the window, onto targets to which their spotter had calculated the distance. Snipers could only fire after their spotter had successfully shot a steel plate that rotated to reveal a colour. Whatever colour was revealed indicated to the sniper what colour target to engage. Directing staff made it dif- ficult for competitors to communicate with each other by having the jeep running and the radio turned up loud; some of the more quick-thinking teams turned off the radio, making communications with their partner much easier. The barrier shoot saw teams confined in a tight enclosed space, facing wooden walls with variously shaped holes cut out, through which they had to shoot a set number of targets under a time constraint. To increase difficulty, the sniper team's space was clut- tered with objects, such as ammo boxes, chairs and various military items. Again, smarter teams adapted quickly, using the various ammo boxes and items to their advantage to build platforms to aid or steady their firing position, whereas other teams simply saw the items as clutter that was in the way. After the teams had completed both the barrier and unknown distance shoots there was a short break for personal admin before the first day's final event, the night shoot. The night shoot consisted of teams moving an injured member of friendly forces to safety, from where the spotter would call on a circling heli to use an infra-red (IR) beam to mark enemy targets. (The 'helis' were simulated by directing staff using IR beams.) Targets would only be marked on receipt of a correct IR request format message, and as some targets were very difficult to see through the NV without the IR marker the spotter needed to send the IR request correctly for each of the five targets available; all while under time pressure and trying to guide the sniper onto the targets. To add another level of stress to the shoot the directing staff used loud hailers, blank ammunition and thunder flashes to simulate battlefield noise. Due to the distraction, pressure, and visual and communications difficulties, only one team scored maxi- mum points on this stage. Day two saw competitors again split into two groups for con- current activities, comprised of a 'rural OP shoot', an 'alternate position shoot', an 'unstable platform shoot', and a 'battlefield recovery shoot'. The rural OP shoot saw teams given a scenario of an enemy sniper to their front, who they must find and engage after crawling forward and entering a subsurface OP. From the tight confines of the OP they had to find and engage the target representing the sniper, before withdrawing from the OP and immediately engaging close targets with their pistol. The alternate position shoot took the format of various barriers, much like the previous day's barrier shoot. This time, however, teams needed to make their way along several of these barriers, problem solving various awkward and unusual firing positions they encountered and were forced to fire from. The unstable platform shoot, a new shoot to this competition, saw teams engaging targets from the back of a TCV as it drove along a bumpy track; sniper and spotter fired five rounds each. The erratic movement of the vehicle as it traversed the rough ground made for difficult and challenging shoot- ing, and while shooting from a moving vehicle was a skill all of the international teams had practiced before it was new to nearly all the Irish teams. The battlefield recovery shoot involved a friendly forces outpost that had come under enemy fire. Teams were briefed to give first aid to casualties and to find and engage any enemy targets. On running to the stand teams found a casualty to whom they needed to render first aid in the form of a tourniquet to the leg, and move the casualty to cover. They then had to search for and engage enemy tar- gets. Again, the directing staff used battle simulations and blank firing to simulate battlefield noise, to add realism, pressure and distraction to the competitors. Day three began with a stalk, where teams were given a mission area and a time in which they must stalk unseen onto an OP manned by two directing staff. From there they had to fire a blank round before withdrawing, without being seen. Directing staff recorded the distance and type of firing position that teams selected during the blank fir- ing phase of the stalk. (The follow- ing day directing staff recreated the firing positions and the competitors fired a live round at a steel target from the same distance and firing position as previously recorded.) After the stalk competitors were again split into two groups and sent to two concurrent shoots: a pistol shoot and a box shoot. This year's pistol shoot, involving various shooting positions, focused on engaging small precision targets under time stress, and proved to be very challenging.

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