Sharpshooter training prepares defenders for demanding AF course

Published Oct. 17, 2013
By Tech. Sgt. Parker Gyokeres
621st Contingency Response Wing

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- A truckload of insurgents rolls slowly toward the back side of an airbase where an American cargo plane has just landed to unload food and medical teams. They figure this little dirt road will allow them to sneak up undetected, so they can probe for weaknesses and a find way to stop the relief supplies.

In a patch of vegetation at the edge of the airbase almost a half-kilometer away, two men lie prone. They've been in this spot since well before the sun came up, and are well hidden. One has a radio and a spotting scope, the other, a powerful rifle. The insurgents don't know it yet, but this attack is over before it even started.

"Defender control, this is Shadow," the observer quietly speaks into his throat microphone.

"Go ahead." Replies a slightly garbled voice over his encrypted radio.

"We have six military aged males in a light truck approaching the back fence line. Advise you send a quick response force to their location."

"Copy that Shadow, please observe and keep us posted."

Without a single shot being fired, the 621st Contingency Response Wing's close precision engagement team was able to identify a threat and direct a visible response. If the situation required it, this team of expert sharpshooters would be able to stop the truck in its tracks, and if need be, engage the men in it.

This scenario is fictional, but these airmen's skills are put to the test every time a CRW team needs to establish a security perimeter around one of its operations in a dangerous environment.

"The further out we can see people that may want to hurt us, the more opportunities we may have to discourage them and prevent conflict," said Staff Sgt. Bryan McMullen, close precision engagement team leader assigned to the 818th Global Mobility Readiness Squadron. "The CPE mission is to deliver long-range precision rifle fire, enhanced observation and reporting in support of air base defense and continuous airfield operations. Our skills make us a force multiplier for the defense force commander."

With only a half dozen trained marksmen assigned to the East Coast-based units of the CRW, CPE teams are a valuable resource. The U.S. Air Force only conducts two of the 220-hour, 19-day CPEC courses each year at Fort Bliss, Texas. And class size is limited. There are usually no more than 40 Airmen in each class.

With so few chances to build a vital capability for the CRW, McMullen teamed with the other CPEC graduates in the CRW to create an indoctrination course for sharpshooter candidates.

"When I went to CPEC, my class started out with around 30 students and only graduated 14 of them," he said. "Of these, nearly everyone had attended some type of qualification course before they had arrived at the schoolhouse."

With this in mind, McMullen created a 160-hour, 10-day CPEC preparation course for 621st defenders interested in attending the full CPEC in Texas.

"Every aspect of our curriculum is based on the actual course," he explained. "It educates and familiarizes the candidates with everything they will encounter at the schoolhouse, such as target detection, stalking, range estimation, observation, memory games, physical training and firing."

The unit was also able to accomplish this training at zero cost to the CRW.

"We didn't have to spend a dime to put these Airmen through this training," said McMullen. "Our only expenditure was ammunition, and it was already in our training allotment for the year."

Security forces members in the CRW who were interested in becoming Air Force sharpshooters were encouraged to attend. This year's class was held from Sept. 30 to Oct. 11 and had seven students from the 817th and 818th GMRS.

"I feel pretty drained," said Staff Sgt. Jordan Whitlock, CPEC candidate with the 817th GMRS. He and the other candidates had just run through a known-distance firing exercise where they engaged a target at 100 meters, then ran in full combat load to stations every additional hundred meters back to 600 meters.

"Running with the rucksack and the weapon makes your arms and shoulders cramp up. But the most physically draining part wasn't the running, it was the shooting. My neck and eyes got very tired from looking at the target at such long distances. It's a lot of work to maintain your focus and deliver accurate fire in a fixed time limit."

After 10 days of drills, the students found something unexpected on the other end of their 10x Leopold scopes - confidence.

"This training is awesome and I'm learning something every day," said Airman 1st Class Nicholas Zinner, a CPEC candidate from the 817th GMRS. "This class has definitely prepared us for the main course, and I feel it's even a little bit more rigorous than what we've been told to expect."

McMullen chuckles when he hears this.

"The real course is going to be brutal," he said. "But these guys are ready. I'm proud of what they have already accomplished."