British Army Rifles Training Courses

Infantrymen on operations do extraordinary things in difficult and dangerous circumstances. The commanders that lead them are all trained at IBS, and the training they undertake is linked to current operations.Training for high-intensity, light-role war fighting is the way soldiers and officers are prepared for any operational situation they may face – conventional war, counter insurgency, security sector reform, peacekeeping or supporting civil authorities.IBS delivers competent and confident commanders for the Field Army by running command and leadership training, infantry tactics training, weapons training, and live firing range qualifications. It also provides specialist training teams to assist foreign forces in their development, and allocates some places on courses to overseas students. Platoon Sergeants’ Battle CourseThe Platoon Sergeants’ Battle Course (PSBC) is a promotion qualifying-course, to Sergeant, for Rifle Company Platoon Sergeants.

The course is run in January, April and August each year, and is broken down into two independent phases: Tactics and Live Firing Tactical Training (LFTT).The Tactics phase of the course is seven weeks long, and delivered by Senior Division Instructors. The course is split into platoons with Colour Sergeant Instructors with each section. An Infantry Captain oversees the platoon’s training. How to find usBy carThe easiest way to travel to Brecon is by road. The postcode for satnav users (which should not be solely relied upon) is LD3 7RA.By trainRail travel to Brecon is difficult. However, the nearest railway station is Abergavenny – from the station you will then need to travel by road to Brecon which takes about 25 minutes.By airThere are two international airports close to Brecon – Cardiff and Bristol. London Heathrow and London Gatwick are approximately 3½ to 4 hours travelling time from Brecon.Postal addressInfantry Battle SchoolDering LinesBreconPowysLD3 7RA.

Taken from a post on OAMAAM from one who knows what is involved.The basic Sniper course is run centrally by the Joint Sniper Training Establishment (JSTE) or 'Sniper School' based alongside the School of Infantry's Tactics Wing at Sennybridge in Wales. In order to be considered for the course the candidate must normally be a sharpshooter within his parent unit and be considered suitable by the Master Sniper and Senior Sniper Instructor. This usually means that snipers are experienced infantry soldiers with on average 5 years of service, although sometimes exceptional young soldiers are accepted.

Instructional ability and the capability to pass on the sniper training are also considered important.The majority of the training is undertaken on local training areas, covering temperate and urban sniping. On successful completion of the course a further four week course can be undertaken which covers sniper employment within a range of different environments and is mostly conducted abroad. There are two versions of the Sniper course. The general one run by members of the Army's Infantry Weapons Corps and taken by members of the Army, RAF Regiment and RN Brigade. The Royal Marines, long the leading agency in British sniping, run their own specific course which covers much the same ground.JSTE also runs the Sniper Commanders course which produces Master Snipers and Senior Sniper Instructors for all of the services. Other courses include those for Territorial Army snipers and one for police marksman (one Metropolitan Police SO13 officer is on permanent secondment to help administer this syllabus).

JSTE is also responsible for the trailing of new equipment and weapons and the development of UK Sniper doctrine. It maintains close liaison with UK Special Forces and is responsible for the maintenance of links with foreign centers of excellence such as the USMC Scout Sniper Instructor School at Quantico.

Lastly personnel from JSTE are on secondment with Britain's colonial militaries. JSTE is run by a Major of the Royal Marines with an equally ranked IWC deputy.The CourseSniper courses run for 6 weeks. The first week is largely taken up with testing to eliminate personnel who do not have the aptitude to be a sniper. Some highly recommended sharpshooters prove unsuitable on every course, sniping is as much about temperament as simple shooting skills. This first week involves rifle range, basic stalks and navigation.Naturally the course involves a great deal of range work and a large proportion of the shoots are undertaken using the highly visceral Mark 8 targets. The course is notable for the high percentage of shoots done on real, rather than simulated ranges (although sim ranges are available to the students to do extra practise). Throughout the course the students will fire thousands of rounds from a variety of shooting positions and be expected to maintain the highest standards in day and night shoots.The second week introduces basic sniper skills such as hide construction, and the ghillie suit.

The ghillie suit is provided to each sniper, modern sensors make it necessary to have the suits constructed to defeat detection methods. Snipers do learn how to add camouflage to the outside of the suit. Similarly OP's and hides must be capable of defeating modern sensors.Week 3 through 5 is taken up with training on: target recognition, observation and recording, communications procedures, mortar and artillery forward observer training, and basic forward air controller techniques. During this period intermediate training stalks are undertaken with the approach, observation and the shoot tested.Most of the students on the course are already up to speed on many of these skills but JSTE pushes the candidates as hard as possible holding them up to excellent standards. Pressure is applied increasingly throughout the course with both day and night stalks being tested. The complete saturation of the training area with sensors mean that no short cuts can be taken and the student is constantly under scrutiny.The test weekWeek 6 is the final test week, and perhaps the only major difference between the British Army and RM courses.

It tests the whole range of the sniper's skills with stress being placed on observation and forward observation skills. However no matter how impressively a candidate performs on these tests they can still fail unless they successfully complete the final stalks.The final test is a 2000 metre approach until within 200 metres of the observers (to simulate a stalk up to an outpost followed by a shoot to a target 2000-3000 metres?deep?). Sniper instructors equipped with visual and multi-spectral sensors observing the designated stalking zone. They also have access to a number of designated remote sensors covering the approach route, most of these are marked on the student's map but some are unmarked but placed according to typical doctrine. An aware student will not be caught out by these, and most successfully reach the outpost.The sniper has to observe the instructors for a 20 minute period.

Neutral sniper instructors, known as walkers, are coached onto suspected sniper positions via one way communications. The instructors have two attempts to detect the sniper. The walker will not assist the observer in any way, with the observer having to direct the walker to place his hand on the suspected sniper.

After the 20 minute period, the observer will instruct the walker to move to within 10 metres of the sniper position. The observer will then monitor the area, again attempting to walk the neutral observer onto the sniper position. Again after a set time period the observer will instruct the walker to point directly at the sniper position. The sniper fails if the observer can detect them. If not the observer will hold up a letter or number on a board, to prove they have line of sight to the observer. The sniper then must fire a blank round, if observed at this stage they also fail. The sniper rifle sight will record the shot, the walker will check the range and wind setting.

If all is well, the sniper passes.An Army sniper is awarded the coveted sniper qualification badge, crossed rifles with the letter?S? On the left arm of the dress uniform. A RM sniper has the same badge and the Platoon Weapons 3 (PW3) qualification. The ultimate difference between the courses is the RM allow one attempt, the Army two successful stalks out of three in the final test.Rover. Interesting read.I watched a television show about an American Sniper Course, which sounds very similar to this, in fact the test week sounds exactly the same with the directing of neutral instructors to where they think a recruit is.What made me laugh in the television show, was that at one point you see a potential sniper stand up rather obviously, and the instructors instantly spot him, thinking he had quit - at closer investigation, he was crawling across the ground when he came face to face with a rattlesnake!Thankfully he was allowed to relocate and carry on the test. After struggling for about 50 seconds to open the door (the buzzer sounded and the door wouldn't open) I picked up a Globe & Laurel from the AFCO yesterday (annoyingly the army recruiter who opened the door gave me a November 2011 copy!) and there's an entry from a 40cdo Sniper about the High-Angle Sniper Course he'd just done with the USMC out in NV/CA border regions, correct me if wrong but was just prior to Black Alligator with all of 40. It put into perspective how technical sniping can be!

British Army Rifles Training Courses For Sale

Went into a fair bit of detail on the changes because of elevation/altitude relative to range, bore, windage, temperature, the effect on bullet-drop when firing down hill, and how the USMC Scout Snipers train for 'OSOK - One Shot, One Kill' whereas RM confessed they weren't used to OSOK and as such it took them some practice.Meh, I hated Pythagoras Theorem in school. Click to expand.Your mate seems a bit mad. I think it was Rossi uploaded a video and linked it to us of him and his troop on a.50, and they certainly have their place, but according to the new 'Army' magazine (I signed up years ago and it's free so never bothered cancelling it), which has a feature on snipers, they use the.338 as standard now.

British Army Basic Training Pay

The British sniper weapon of choice was apparently the AI Arctic Warfare but now AI has shut down they may use something else.Read 'American Sniper' by SEAL Chris Kyle, it's a bit gung-ho but he goes in depth on rifle choice and says you can't just use 1 rifle. He'd use a 5.56 or 7.62 day-to-day but used a.338 in most overwatches, and hated the.50 with a passion.