Koolendong heightens Scout Sniper’s precision shooting

Photo By Cpl. Joey Holeman | Lance Cpl. Mina S. Gadelkarim engages upon targets using a M107 .50 Caliber Special Application Scoped Rifle as part of an unknown distance qualification range August 18 at Bradshaw Field Training Area, Northern Territory, Australia, during Exercise Koolendong 14. The range focused on increasing scout sniper’s long range precision firing capabilities. The Marines challenged themselves with the M40 A5, M110 SASS and the M107 SASR. The SASR is used as an anti-material weapon, which can shoot effectively from up to 1,000 meters away. Marines are with Scout Sniper Platoon, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment and are currently deployed in part of the Marine Rotational Force Darwin. The rotational deployment of U.S. Marines affords an unprecedented combined training opportunity with their Australian allies, and improves interoperability with their forces. Gadelkarim, a Campbell, Texas native, is a rifleman assigned to the platoon. (Marine Corps Photo by Lance Cpl. Joey S. Holeman, Jr./ Released)  

BRADSHAW FIELD TRAINING AREA, NT, AUSTRALIA

08.18.2014

Story by Lance Cpl. Joey Holeman 

Marine Rotational Force - Darwin

BRADSHAW FIELD TRAINING AREA, Australia - Scout Sniper Platoon with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines conducted an unknown distance qualification range August 18 increasing their long range firing capabilities at Bradshaw Field Training Area, Northern Territory, Australia during Exercise Koolendong 14.

The range consisted of two courses of fire, with the Marines using their sniper rifles to engage multiple targets from 200 to 1,000 meters away.

The Scout Sniper Platoon tested their abilities using the 7.62mm sniper rifles that are organic to the Marine Corps; the M40 A5, a bolt action rifle, and the M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System, according to 1st Lt. Jacob A. Zalewski, a Phoneix, Arizona native, and the Scout Sniper Platoon commander for 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.

“What this training focuses on is our ability to shoot long range,” said Sgt. Tyler J. Fox, a Winamac, Indiana native, and chief scout with the platoon. “The teams are working in pairs in the shooter-observer dialogue. We are also working in tight spaces. We are in simulated hide sights to improve our overall operability in different terrain.”

The Australian outback offers Marines a training area they have unlikely seen before, but it will help increase their overall mission readiness in harsh environments.

“This particular area gives us a really unique training opportunity,” said Zalewski. “With it being three times the size of 29 Palms, California, it gives us incredible flexibility with what we are able to do out here.”

The Marines are assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment and are currently deployed in part of the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin. The rotational deployment affords an unprecedented combined training opportunity with our Australian allies, and improves interoperability with our forces.

Koolendong 14 is a training evolution within MRF-D, which focuses on bilaterally training with our host nation’s military increasing our ground combat efficiency in austere conditions.

“We got to work with the Australian snipers, which broaden our capability,” said Fox. “When we learn how they conduct business, and they get to learn from our ways, we both benefit significantly.”

MRF-D exercises the interoperability and combined capability of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) and our Australian allies. Defense ties between the United States and their allies and partner nations are critical to regional security and cooperation.

The Marines were able to effectively train their long range precision shooting, along with constructing a larger foundation for follow-on exercises in Australia.

“We are out here doing something for the first time,” said Zalewski. “We are proving a full battalion can operate at Bradshaw Field Training Area and that we can do sustained operations here.”

Marines understand that training is a continuous act and to sustain mission readiness they must challenge themselves physically and mentally, but working with allies and learning from them are

“Building a partnership with the Australians, coming out here and working and learning from them and then conversely teaching them what we can do, it’s just building greater integration between the two forces,” said Zalewski

The Marines ended the range firing the M107 .50 Caliber Special Application Scoped Rifle, or SASR, which is used as an anti-material rifle that is capable of engaging targets from 1,000 meters away.

“(Koolendong) is a good training exercise for the Marines,” said Fox “We are knocking out a lot of good training events from missions, to live-fire and to the culminating event of supporting the battalion on the final objective.”

• Date Taken: 08.18.2014
• Date Posted: 08.21.2014 03:06
• Story ID: 139997
• Location: BRADSHAW FIELD TRAINING AREA, NT, AU
• Hometown: PHOENIX, AZ, US
• Hometown: WINAMAC, IN, US