FORT BENNING, Ga., (Oct. 29, 2014) -- After four days of competition, two Soldiers from 1st Special Forces Group were crowned the winners of the 14th annual International Sniper Competition.
Sgt. 1st Class Travis Croy and Staff Sgt. Rudolph Gonsior bested a full field of 35 other two-man teams from around the world and were recognized during an awards ceremony Oct. 24 at Long Hall on Harmony Church.
Those 36 teams included teams from the Army, Army Reserve, National Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, Department of Homeland Security, Pentagon Emergency Response Teams, Department of Justice and the Covington, Georgia, police department, as well as international teams from the United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany.
Maj. Gen. Scott Miller, commanding general of the Maneuver Center of Excellence, said the international participation brought an opportunity to share information, which was key for the U.S. Soldiers who competed.
"A great exchange of information is what makes this thing even more special than just being able to get out here and show off your talents and your contributions to the Army," he said. "What is absolutely important is bringing this together and when people walk away from here, they take something home. ... They take home some new friends and some new relationships, and they stay in touch with those new relationships."
The competition consisted of nine events held on firing ranges across Fort Benning Oct. 20-23. The events were intended to test the competitors' physical fitness and mastery of sniper skills, including target detection, stalking, land navigation and marksmanship.
Events included a "forgot my ammo" event, a limited visibility combat outpost defensive shoot, an Army Marksmanship Unit pistol event, a "know your limits" event, a combat outpost defensive shoot, a positively identify movers event, a night movers event, a night-into-day stalk and a last chance target interdiction.
Spc. Robin Poole of C Troop, 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, said the competition was a good representation of the real-life skills snipers need in the field, especially the defensive shoot.
"If we were deployed, this is what we'd be doing," he said. "If we came under attack, we'd have multiple targets at unknown locations, so this is trying to simulate that."
Poole's partner, Spc. Bryan Coslett, said the competition's challenge came largely from the uncertainty competitors had coming in.
"We wake up each morning and show up to the compound not knowing what to expect an hour from then," Coslett said.
While teams were uncertain about what to expect, decisions on equipment did help overcome some of that.
Sgt. Austin Kelley of 3rd Brigade, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, said he and his partner, Spc. Jeffrey Speck, had a big advantage during the night mover's event thanks to their choice of optics.
"A lot of people use night optics, which basically enhance ambient light during night hours," Kelley said. "We decided to use thermal optics, and so when the targets were heated to 100 degrees roughly, instead of worrying about fog or how much ambient light there was, we were able to see every target perfectly. It worked out really well."
In addition to Croy and Gonsior in 1st place, Sgt. 1st Class Terry Grower and Sgt. 1st Class Neil Hudspeth, representing 3rd Special Forces Group, finished second. Master Sgt. Sean Wiseman and Staff Sgt. Stephen McAuley, of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, rounded out the top three.
2014 International Sniper Competition Results
Overall results
1st Place: Sgt. 1st Class Travis Croy and Staff Sgt. Rudolph Gonsior, 1st Special Forces Group.
2nd Place: Sgts. 1st Class Terry Grower and Neil Hudspeth, 3rd Special Forces Group.
3rd Place: Master Sgt. Sean Wiseman and Staff Sgt. Stephen McAuley, U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Event winners
Event 1 -- "Forgot my ammo": Master Sgt. Sean Wiseman and Staff Sgt. Stephen McAuley, U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Event 2 -- Limited visibility combat outpost defense: Master Sgt. Sean Wiseman and Staff Sgt. Stephen McAuley, U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Event 3 -- Army Marksmanship Unit pistol: Master Sgt. Sean Wiseman and Staff Sgt. Stephen McAuley, U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Event 4 -- Know your limits: Master Sgt. Sean Wiseman and Staff Sgt. Stephen McAuley, U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Event 5 -- Combat outpost defense: Spc. Cameron Singletary and Pfc. Dylan Stacy, 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
Event 6 -- Positively identify movers: Sgt. Cameron Pope and Spc. Preston Daigle, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
Event 7 -- Night movers: Staff Sgt. Andrew Duncan and Sgt. Karch Chancellor, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division.
Event 8 -- Night into Day Stalk: Sgt. 1st Class Travis Croy and Staff Sgt. Rudolph Gonsior, 1st Special Forces Group.
Event 9 -- Last chance/target interdiction: Sgt. 1st Class Travis Croy and Staff Sgt. Rudolph Gonsior, 1st Special Forces Group.
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