An Cosantóir

| 13 www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE mobile armoured unit with an at tached man sized target, the Marathon targets can be pre-programmed to move along a patrol route, react to f ire by advancing towards the shooter or withdrawing and can even "revive" other target units once they are downed by competitors f ire, by moving to the location of a neutralised system. Only when a critically hit or a "kill" shot is registered on the system will it stay down. USISC 2023 began at 0300hrs on 10th April with a stealth inf iltration to conduct a close target reconnaissance on enemy forces located in an urban training facilit y. Sur veillance drones and an enemy hunter force equipped with thermal imaging devices made team movement incredibly dif f icult with most teams compromised by enemy aerial sur veillance. Both Irish teams successfully gathered the necessar y information and extracted from the area without being obser ved by enemy personnel during the 4-hour task. Following this event, teams moved onto 3 fur ther events during the day, "Boys in the Lab", testing the team's abilit y to solve problems, identif y targets and create f iring solutions. "Know your Limits" required teams to engage targets at various distances and make the dif f icult decision to stop and bank scores, or gamble and continue with increasingly dif f icult targets at the risk of losing ever y thing should they miss. Day time events on Day 1 concluded with the "Puzzles" event, Team Leaders ( TL) were required to complete increasingly dif f icult problems to reveal target locations, which the TL would then have to guide his shooters on to, at distances up to 1200m! Weather conditions on Day 1 were favourable, however a gusting wind created dif f icult y at stages. As Day 1 came to a close and the teams prepared for night events, the 27 Inf Bn team held f irm at 9th place. Af ter a hot meal, a ref it of equipment for night operations and no time to rest, Day 2 began at 0030hrs with 2-night shoots. Beginning with "Minute of Angle", a multi target quick engagement scenario simulating a compromise by a large enemy force, teams engaged from within buildings located on the impressive Burroughs Range training facilit y. The second night shoot "Airpor t Lounge" required teams to engage rif le targets at ranges of up to 800m, af ter which the team move to and engage close-in pistol targets. During daylight on Day 2, there were 3 fur ther events beginning with "Group In", during which the team completed a 2.2 mile run carr ying all equipment. Teams could decide to carr y additional weighted ammunition boxed of up to 30lbs each, each ammunition box carried would af ford the team 1 x round of ammunition in the competition's f inal shoot. Both Irish teams completed this task in blistering heat within the allot ted time and secured the maximum of 4 rounds of ammunition available. The excellent " Two Gun" event was a solo run by the TL, requiring him to transition between his primar y (rif le) and secondar y (pistol) weapon systems on a close quar ter bat tle range. Our 27th Inf Bn TL, Cpl Colin McQuaid recorded an impressive result as the satisfactor y sound of rounds impacting steel targets rang out across Krilling range as bleachers full of spectators watched on. To f inish Day 2, teams completed the "Know your Of fset " shoot, a combination of ver y close and long-range engagements by all 3 team members and "Myster y Box", during which the Shooter and Spot ter engaged long range targets enabling the TL to close with and engage close in pistol targets with each successful long-range hit. The 3rd and f inal day began once again with 2-night events. The f irst was "Retro", requiring teams to move to an urban complex and engage multiple steel targets at long range f inishing with a close-in pistol engagement by the TL. The second was "Exf il", during which teams extracted from a "safe house", engaging multiple close in targets simulating an advancing enemy af ter which teams were hunted by an enemy force as they moved through a number of checkpoints to the safet y of a pickup point. Covering ground at an impressive rate and showcasing high levels of physical f itness, the 27 Inf Bn team reached the pickup point placing in the top 5 fastest teams. The f inal competition event " The General" consisted of multiple moving targets utilising the impressive, robotic Marathon target system. Teams had to identif y a high value target using the rounds they had won during the "Group In" event. Despite extreme temperatures, lit tle to no rest, unfamiliar environments, and foreign weapons, the 27 Inf Bn team placed 2nd International and 11th overall, with the ARW team placing 16th out of 35 of the best Sniper teams from around the world. Their team spirit, communication, enthusiasm, and "craic" they brought to each event was the talk of the school instructor staf f throughout and at the closing banquet event hosted by the Army Sniper Association. Defence Forces par ticipation at the USISC once again highlighted the world class shooters produced by the Irish Defence Forces on the International Stage. www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 13 The team at the shooting range perfecting their skills Working as a small team where good communication was the key to success Shooting in a timed event Cpl Fitzpatrick reflecting after the event The team getting ready to start one of the events

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