Canadian Snipers in Afghanistan, Part II - SOF Article

[2RHPZ]

Sorry, I couldn´t find Part I. Does someone help with that?

Bolt Actions Speak Louder Than Words:
Canadian Snipers in Afghanistan, Part II

by Rob Krott

Last month SOF interviewed Canadian snipers as they recounted how they became a "911" unit for the American
forces to whom they were attached, for missions at the sharp edge of the Allied assault on the Shah-i-Kot mountain
range. We continue our debrief of Canadian sniper Master Corporal "Alex" as he describes a productive shooting
position, in the open on a hilltop - but with the sniper's coveted good fields of fire.
"It was unreal; I was so excited. All of us really, we were just glad to be there. There was a guy that was moving up
on the hill that an Apache was shooting at and [we] just turned around, and engaged him." According to Alex their
initial engagement lasted about two hours.
"We were there about an hour or an hour-and-a-half when Charlie Company moved out. The SF guys said they
had to catch up to them and asked us if we were okay. We still had targets so we'd keep clearing, that's our job --
we work alone. So they said if we needed help to give them a call. We were up there about another half-hour or so
and carried on the mission. Anytime something would pop up we'd take care of it. We waited another half-hour
until everything was good to go and then changed position."
It was a team effort. "'Ed' (the No. 3 man on team security) kept running back and forth through that altitude
grabbing optics, ammo, equipment. With the elevation we had there it was great that he did that because if he
hadn't we wouldn't have had the equipment that we did. The whole team worked great."
While engaging al-Qaeda forces on the Whale's Back, Alex' team was tasked to suppress some enemy mortars.
The U.S. infantrymen were in the open without cover. The enemy was protected. After airstrikes were called in to
suppress the mortars the enemy mortarmen would merely emerge from their caves and jeer before putting more
fire onto the Americans. And when they did, the Canadian snipers took them out. The Canadian snipers were
credited with saving the lives of many American infantrymen.
Alex' team spent 14 days providing sniper-support on Operation Anaconda. "We got switched between the first
and second [battalions] and I would just ask 'where's Charlie Company' and I started recognizing the CO. When
everything started hitting it our call sign was '63' and the next thing you know it was 'Canadian Snipers.' We ended
up being free agents on the battlefield going from company to company wherever we were needed. We were
more than happy with that."
The Long Shots
Somewhere in the middle of the first week of Anaconda, Alex made his longest shot. It was an elevated target at
2,310 meters. Alex was shooting from approximately 8,500 feet at an enemy forward observer at 9,000 feet
(verified by his spotter via the Leica Vector laser range-finder) with his bolt-action McMillan .50 cal (LRSW), firing
AMAX Match ammunition and mounting a 16x Leupold scope. His first two shots missed. "The first shot was high
and left, the second shot was left, and the third shot was a hit." Alex told Soldier Of Fortune that the altitude, the
cold, and the thin air might have enhanced bullet velocity. The spotter, according to Alex, "did all the work." The
snipers kept a logbook of the shots themselves, but their emphasis was on the mission: "Get the mission done,
carry on to the next mission. We really didn't want to carry that kind of information with us, in case of capture."
Afterwards, Alex put some notes down for possible intelligence information. Alex was reluctant to talk about the
extreme range of some of the shots the Canadian shooters achieved.
When I mentioned comparing this shot to Carlos Hathcock's 2,250 meter shot near Duc Pho in 1967, Alex said, "It

[scm77]

Ask and you shall recieve.

Bolt Actions Speak Louder Than Words:
Canadian Soldiers Take Out Taliban!
by Rob Krott

The abilities of Canadian snipers are well known in the international sniping community. Four Canadian Army teams won top honors at the U.S. Army Sniper School’s first international sniping competition at Fort Benning, Georgia. Canadian Army snipers have seen limited deployment on recent peacekeeping operations in the Balkans, but in Afghanistan they got the chance to go “live.”

Two teams of Canadian snipers from the 3rd Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Battle Group deployed in support of U.S. infantrymen from two U.S. Army light infantry battalions (2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division [Air Assault], and 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division), during Operation Anaconda in March 2002. The snipers are part of the 3rd PPCLI battalion reconnaissance platoon, stationed in Edmonton, Alberta.

Trained to engage targets out to at least 800 meters, Canada’s snipers — there are only a few dozen — learn their trade in the Sniper Cell of the Combat Training Center’s Infantry School at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.

The Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) officially confirmed that a team of six Canadian snipers killed several heavily armed Taliban or al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan in the first weeks of March, “taking out” machine-gun nests and mortar positions at long range — the first confirmed enemy killed in combat by Canadian troops since the Korean War. In a press briefing at the onset of Operation Harpoon, a mopping-up mission to find and eliminate pockets of resistance remaining after Operation Anaconda, Vice-Admiral Greg Maddison, the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, said Canadian snipers from the 3 PPCLI Battle Group killed enemy fighters during Operation Anaconda and they could kill more in Operation Harpoon. “These sniper teams suppressed enemy mortar and heavy machine-gun positions with deadly accuracy,” he noted.

During Operation Anaconda, Canadian snipers killed enemy fighters while defending U.S. troops that were under fire. “As the American battalion was moving down the ridge and dealing with the Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters that they were encountering, the snipers were there to provide defensive capability. As they were moving forward, they would encounter various positions in which mortars were being fired at them and at the Americans and they were able to take out some of these positions and protect the Americans as they were continuing towards their final objective,” he added. “Their skills are credited with likely having saved many Allied lives.”

He would not say how many enemy fighters the snipers killed or provide any other details of the incident, stating, “First of all, we don’t have the specific numbers from the folks on the ground. It’s a very difficult thing to ascertain. The snipers were moving forward with the American battalion. Once the Taliban had been neutralized, if you will, they carried on forward to the objective and we’re not in the business of actually counting how many folks they may or may not have indeed killed. So I can’t tell you a specific number of how many were.”

The Canadian Department of National Defence can’t (or won’t for reasons of political correctness) be specific or give numbers, but Soldier Of Fortune can.


“Without Warning, Sans Remorse”
The need for snipers became apparent to the Canadian Defence Department during the summer of 1990 when snipers from the then-Royal Canadian School of Infantry (RCSI), CFB Gagetown, NB were attached to 5e Groupe-Brigade Mecanise du Canada from BFC Val Cartier, Quebec during Operation Salon for the Mohawk Indian uprising in Oka, Quebec.

In 1992, Canadian Army sniping underwent “rejuvenation” at the School of Infantry. The Infantry School conducts the master sniper course and also oversees the three Area Training Centers governing the basic sniper courses. The master snipers are capable of instructing basic snipers and facilitate their continual training, magnifying their impact many times over. The 3PPCLI snipers train at their Area Training Center’s Basic Course at the Land Force Western Area Training Center, Wainwright, Alberta. The official motto of the snipers is “Without Warning, Sans Remorse.”

For ease of administration and training, snipers are organized as a section of the reconnaissance platoon. The section consists of a sergeant section commander, two master corporals, one of which is the second-in-command, and four corporal/private snipers. The section is organized into three detachments of two snipers each, and the section driver is also a spare sniper. When deployed, each team or detachment is organized as a sniper and an observer. Team members assist each other during long periods of observation and with range estimations, adjustments of rounds and security.

The Section Commander is designated as the unit master sniper, and is responsible for advising the Commanding Officer, usually through the reconnaissance platoon commander, on all matters related to sniping including counter-sniping. He is also responsible for sniper training and testing.
According to WO Rick Hills, OIC of the Master Sniper Cell at CFB Gagetown, “The employment of snipers will vary by the scale and type of conflict and the selection of weapons and equipment will also remain flexible and task-dependent. Canadian snipers will always operate, as a minimum, in pairs as a two-man detachment.”


Serious Body Counts
Canuck snipers supposedly had the highest number of confirmed kills in the Shah-i-Kot Valley fight. A source in Kandahar working with the Canadian sniper teams estimates “well over 20 confirmed kills at long ranges.” There is an unconfirmed, but widely circulated, report of a 2,400-meter kill (chest-shot) against the driver of an enemy resupply truck. If validated, it will be a new record for the longest shot made by a military sniper in combat (currently 2,500 yards or about 2,250 meters, held by GySgt Carlos Hathcock, USMC, near Duc Pho, South Vietnam, January 1967, with a Browning .50 HMG mounting an 8-power Unertl telescopic sight).

Two detachments of Canadian snipers entered the battle alongside U.S. units. One group of three went in with a company from the 101st Airborne’s 3rd Brigade “Rakkasans.” When the American grunts became pinned down, the three Canadians and three accompanying U.S. Army Special Forces shooters armed with M24 Remingtons went to work. Moving to a vantage point, they began picking-off al-Qaeda fighters engaging the 101st infantrymen. For more than an hour they fought it out with heavily dug-in al-Qaeda fighters. According to Master Corporal (MCPL) “Alex,” a 30-year old infantryman from Ottawa and Halifax, “As soon as we got rid of one guy, another would come up, and another one.”

With the pressure off them, the company of 101st infantrymen quickly moved into their assigned blocking positions. The Canuck snipers were in their element. They continued their long-range shooting with their McMillan Brothers .50-cal. Tactical Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle System. This is the new bolt-action, Long-Range Sniper Weapon (LRSW) that was only introduced to Canadian Infantry Battalions in April 2000. The LRSW is modified for Canadian Army use with a moveable cheek piece and shortened bipods, and is fitted with a 16x Leupold optical sight. It has a five-round magazine, weighs 12 kg./26.4 lbs., and is 145cm/58 in. in length. The Canadians push AMAX Match .50-caliber ammunition through it.

The spotter (secondary) or team commander, uses a C3A1 7.62mm Sniper Rifle — a Parker-Hale M82 modified to Canadian specs with a six-round detachable magazine, extended bolt handle, strengthened receiver, new trigger safety and a new match-type barrel. The C3A1 is fitted with a Unertl 10x optic (same as USMC-issue), and its usual fodder is Norma Match 7.62mm ammunition loaded with the Sierra Match King 168-gr. HPBT(M) bullet. The LRSW is fitted with Gen III and the C3 Gen II Simrad image-intensification devices for low-light work. For back up they both have the Canadian-made Diemaco C-8 5.56mm Carbine (analogous to the U.S. M4) and 9mm Inglis GP (M1935) Hi-Power pistol using standard service ammo. The teams also have 20-power compact spotting scopes, a Leica Vector binocular with built-in rangefinder, compass and inclinometer functions and a GPS uplink, in addition to normal field gear, camouflage, and ghillie suits: The Canadians put it all to use.

The LRSW, however, is the primary weapon for the sniper team. When employing the LRSW, the usual two-man team of sniper and spotter will normally be increased to three and will then be designated as a sniper team. The team will consist of the No. 1, (primary sniper) employing the LRSW, the No. 2, (team commander) employing the C3A1, and the No. 3, (team security) employing the Canadian-made Diemaco C7 5.56mm M16A2 type rifle. With the weapon systems complementing each other, this allows for a maximum of flexibility of tasks within the team.


Into The Fray
The American infantrymen, flown in by CH-47 Chinook helicopter and forced to hump over bare ground from their two mountain LZs, were taking heavy fire from the enemy. They were easy targets for well-prepared heavy machine-gun and automatic-weapons positions on the 10,000-foot ridge known as the Whale’s Back on the West side of the valley, and the commanding 10,000- to 12,000-feet heights of the Shah-i-Kot mountain ridge on the East side, and even the village, Sherkankel, in the valley. The American grunts came under immediate and intense enemy fire from these prepared defensive positions sited above and all around them. American infantrymen in the fight said the enemy fire consisted of everything from small arms to mortars and heaving machine guns, firing with interlocking arcs from both the top of the Shah-i-Kot mountain range, and across the valley from the Whale. Many were pinned down by the heavy fire and needed help taking out the enemy machine guns and mortars that were inflicting casualties. The Canadian snipers were on the job.

A recent Canadian newspaper article by Canadian Press photojournalist Stephen Thorne interviewed some of the snipers. MCPL Alex recalled, “The six of us suppressed fire and neutralized the enemy. They were either dead or they ran away.” Kitted-out in British desert DPM uniforms (the Canucks haven’t issued desert brown uniforms yet) they were so well camouflaged they were nearly shot up by Apache attack helicopters. They heard the Apache firing and looked behind them to see great spouts of dirt in two rows. The rounds stopped only a meter from their position. MCPL Alex said, “I don’t know how the .50 didn’t get hit. We laughed after that. You got to.”

The team had cached their 110-pound rucks. Under fire, they needed additional optics and, a testament to the amount of shooting they were doing, ran low on ammunition (the other Canadian team eventually resorted to using U.S. Army .50-caliber ammunition as they’d depleted their supply of AMAX Match ammo). Corporal “Ed,” 25, of Manuels, New-foundland, volunteered to run down into the valley and up the opposite ridge 100 meters away to get more ammo and equipment. With the air thin at 11,500 feet CPL Ed was ready to pass out after his sprint back and forth through enemy fire, but still managed to return fire with his M203 40mm grenade launcher. His rounds must have found their target, some al-Qaeda firing from a nearby streambed.

“We don’t know what happened. All we know is their firing stopped,” said MCPL Alex. The Canadian snipers also came under heavy mortar fire. MCPL “Warren” said, “They were bracketing us. We’d move and they’d adjust fire. Eventually they either ran out of rounds or they just gave up. I don’t know. You could hear the fins rotating as they came in. It’s a sound I’ll never forget.”

There are undoubtedly some al-Qaeda who will never forget the sound of a Canadian sniping rifle echoing over the Shah-i-Kot valley, as well.


Interview With A Sniper
MCPL Alex, the “shooter” on his three-man team, is back at his unit’s home base in Edmonton, Alberta. He recently talked for three hours with Soldier Of Fortune about his experiences in Afghanistan. For their personal security, SOF has used the nom de guerre as given to the Canadian media for the Canadian snipers.

Alex, a 10-year veteran, has been a sniper for two years. He went to Croatia in 1993, joined the Canadian Airborne Regiment in 1994, then returned to the Balkans for duty in Bosnia in 1997 and 2000. Trained at the Wainwright sniper course, he was a sniper in Bosnia in 2000. During that tour he and other Canadian snipers completed a British Army sniper course as well.

Alex and the five other 3 PPCLI snipers deployed to Afghanistan with their unit. After initial duty at Kandahar on observation posts and some work with Northern Alliance troops, both of the three-man 3 PPCLI sniper teams were attached to the 3rd Brigade (Rakkasans), 101st Airborne Division. Alex and his team were with C Co, 2d Bn, 3rd Bde of the 101st (he proudly showed me his Rakkasans challenge coin). Alex was the “shooter,” or No. 1, armed with a McMillan Brothers .50 caliber. Three U.S. Special Forces shooters, known only by their first names, joined them for Operation Anaconda. The solitary shooter armed with a Remington 700 (M24) and backed up by two team members armed with M4 carbines, he also laid down effective fire on long-range targets.

As soon as the Canadians were attached to the 101st they received a bit of culture shock seeing the wealth of gear and support the U.S. Army receives, in contrast to Canadian Army. They also experienced the U.S. infantryman’s unique Hooah attitude and esprit. From Bagram Airfield they staged with the Rakkasans for Operation Anaconda.

On 2 March they deployed at first light via CH-47 Chinook. Unlike some other units, they took no ground-fire on the way in. However, 15 minutes after landing on the cold LZ they were in contact, receiving small-arms fire from enemy forces. They moved to a position looking toward the Whale, east of the village of Sherkankel. Alex told SOF, “I said to Joe, one of the SF snipers, ‘shouldn’t we put a gun up here?’ He told us ‘Let these guys, they’re regular infantry, just let them do their thing, if the **** hits the fan, we’ll sort it out.’ Next thing you know it happened, and we started moving to high ground. We were carrying C-8s, Brownings — the Americans had M4s — and I had the .50 on my back in a drag bag. My spotter had a C-7 with M203 grenade launcher and the radio.” Alex and his team set up a firing position and began supporting C Company.

“We helped them by taking out certain positions so they could carry on with the primary task. Our engagement distances that day were from 777 meters to 1,500 meters.” The U.S. and Canadian teams’ spotters engaged al-Qaeda much closer than that, though. “We took fire from the rear, maybe 10 meters away from us; we looked at each other like ‘What the hell is that!’ and one of the spotters turned around and covered us.” Alex’s team also came under fire from an RPG from the rear. This definitely got their attention. Spotters (both Canadian and Amer-ican) used their M203 40mm grenade launchers (the Canadian spotters carried 5.56mm C-7A1s with Elcan low-mount optical sights and M203 grenade launchers) to suppress enemy fire from a nearby wood-line. “We had debated taking the M203 with us. We were taking fire from a treeline (to our front) and we couldn’t see where he was and I wasn’t going to waste a shot there. So he (the Canadian team’s No.3) came up and just started pumping-out rounds along with one of the SF guys with a grenade launcher. So I used it to mask the sound of my firing.”

Next month: “Bolt-Actions Speak Louder Than Words,” Part II, with confirmed kills at 2,310 and 2,400 meters from a .50 BMG McMillan LRSW.
---------------------------
woot

[Falco]

Cool article woot

[Minjin]

When I mentioned comparing this shot to Carlos Hathcock's 2,250 meter shot near Duc Pho in 1967, Alex said, "It

Do you have the rest of this part of the article?

[2RHPZ]

Thanx Minjin, I didn´t notice before that this part is missing! Here it is:

When I mentioned comparing this shot to Carlos Hathcock's 2,250 meter shot near Duc Pho in 1967, Alex said: It was also a different weapon, a different environment so you can´t ceirtanly compare it, no one can take anything away from Hathcock's accomplishments. His was an awesome shot. Everyone's talking about these 'long shots'
but you know what? I could get yourself down behind it (the McMillan in that situation) and as long as you've got a
great spotter, he's the one who makes the shot; then you could make the shot." Technology certainly has pushed
the envelope and Alex agreed with that. He's modest about the shot and would rather avoid any discussion on it.
It's obvious that Alex and his fellow snipers were not interested in statistics or records, just completing the mission.
"We were just so glad that we could be a part of that operation," said Alex.
The other three-man sniper team from 3 PPCLI made the longest shot of the operation: 2,400 meters. Alex
confirms the shot was made, as the team members confirmed the shot and the range was verified by the Leica
Vector laser range-finder - the Vector is great piece of kit - but he doesn't know for certain if it was a one-shot hit. "I
was talking to them about that. The two guys running the show there, they confirmed it. It [the account of the
2,400-meter shot] didn't just come from one guy. They did confirm that [the hit]. I don't know exactly where they hit. I
don't know if it was on the first shot." Alex did confirm that this extremely long shot was made against an enemy
combatant in a Toyota Hilux pickup truck.
2,400-meter shot] didn't just come from one guy. They did confirm that [the hit]. I don't know exactly where they hit. I
don't know if it was on the first shot." Alex did confirm that this extremely long shot was made against an enemy
combatant in a Toyota Hilux pickup truck.
Alex refused to indicate actual numbers of confirmed kills but did agree that several enemy were successfully
engaged and the comment from a U.S. Special Forces source claiming the Canadians confirmed well over 20
"kills" was essentially correct. "We decided as a group that we won't disclose how many we got. We know what we
did; we'll leave it at that. We never expected all this press [media attention]. We did our job and we had a great
time doing it."

Gear, Terrain, Altitude, And Load
After Anaconda the Canadian snipers were flown back to Bagram Airfield. There they did a refit to fight and went
out the next day on Operation Harpoon with their parent unit, 3 PPCLI, for five days. The Canadian snipers were
well-respected and admired by the American units they worked with.
An American general Alex talked to in Kandahar after Operation Anaconda was quite interested in how accurate
the McMillan was and how it performed in battle. Alex is effusively laudatory about the weapon. "It's a great piece
of kit. Accuracy -- it's bang on. As soon as you get your dope -- it's bang on." When pressed to evaluate the
McMillan, Alex commented that "at first the ammo wasn't that good, but we fixed that. There was a slight problem
with the magazines. The magazines could be better. Other than that the weapon itself was working good. It didn't
seem to be knocked off [the optics] from day one to the end of the operation. I carried it in a drag bag on the back
of my pack and it was always 'max protected.' For all the stuff we were doing it was right on all the time. There's no
major adjustments that we can see."
Alex, a bodybuilder with a solidly muscled physique, is 6 feet, 220 pounds. SOF wanted to know how the snipers
coped with their soldier's load in the rugged Afghan mountains. "Honestly, we were low on food. Because of the
situation out there, the birds couldn't get in because of the weather. As a team we worked really well. I mean,
yeah, there were a couple of guys out there going hungry, but every time we were asked to do something all three
of us were 'carry on.' The terrain was desert, rocky, and rolling hills and, of course, the altitude; it made us tired,
and the mountains, of course. Some guys were 'how do you carry that heavy pack' -- you just gotta do it."
According to Alex their rucksacks weighed approximately 100-110 pounds.
The snipers were carrying some heavy equipment: "We had our own 40-power Leupold spotting scope that our
spotter used." They did everything they could to lighten their load and improve mobility. "We were the only
Canadians who didn't wear helmets or flak jackets. We tried that during rehearsals but it did not work. It took two
guys to lift my rucksack, so I could slide into it. The guys that lifted it asked us 'How are you guys going to carry
that?' Well, we have to. The 'other guy' had a radio and extra ammo, and the third guy had an M203 with 33 rounds
[40mm grenades] on him, so that's what we were looking at." In addition to their normal webbing and sniping
equipment the snipers were issued Blackhawk chest webbing (bought from unit funds) to carry eight extra
magazines for their C-7s, plus extra pistol magazines.
"I was usually leading. Unless we were in a bad situation or in a valley or something. Usually I'd be up front with
another guy and would set the pace because I had the heaviest ruck. We had another guy covering our rear. So it
was pretty much up to myself to set the pace." Alex's team spent the entire two weeks on foot except for one time
when they got a ride on a John Deere ATV cargo carrier because his team was needed quickly somewhere else.
"As a Canadian I'm not used to seeing that stuff -- you know when a Chinook drops off a John Deere. The way the
Americans treated us was great. It was just unreal; anything we needed, if it was in their power to get it to us, it
was there."
The weather was subject to drastic change. Alex showed me photos of the snipers bivouacking in the snow and
ice with just ponchos or tarps in hasty shelters. They were all smiling. It wasn't that much of a challenge to the
grunts from Alberta. "Some guys need all that Gore-tex stuff and we had stealth suits underneath, but sometimes
you have to leave that nice comfortable stuff behind when you go on operations. You've got to carry that stuff. And
you know what? You're not going to die. So, don't suffer - take care of yourself, but there are different ways of
staying warm than carrying all that stuff."
On 9 March, a week after Operation Anaconda commenced, the 3PPCLI was ordered to clear the Whale's Back
mountain on the western side of the Shah-i-Kot Valley of an estimated 60 to 100 enemy holdouts, dug-in or hiding
in caves.
The 3PPCLI launched Operation Harpoon, a battalion-strength air- assault against the Whale's Back, shortly after
first light (0730 hours local time) on 13 March. Inserting via CH-47 Chinook helicopter into a single-ship LZ at the
northern end of the mountain, the Canadians' mission was to destroy all remaining Taliban and al-Qaeda on the
Whale's Back and then search all detected caves and enemy fighting positions on the mountain. There were few
enemy left on the Whale's Back, and the Canadians promptly engaged them with anti-tank rockets (the Canadians
issue the LAW, TOW and Eryx) and small-arms fire, killing three. They searched more than 30 caves and captured
tons of enemy weapons, equipment, and intelligence materials. They spent five days clearing enemy positions on
the Whale's Back and finding large caches of ammunition and equipment.
During this operation, the 3PPCLI snipers continued their mission "to interdict enemy fighters and suppress any
heavy-weapons positions." For their outstanding performance while in combat when attached to the Rakkasans
[3rd Bde., 101st Airborne Division], the Canadian snipers have been recommended for the American Bronze Star
Medal for Valor.
A sniping advocate, SOF Chief Foreign Correspondent Rob Krott was equipped with an M21 sniping rifle during a
tour of duty with the 2nd Infantry Division (Korean DMZ). An account of his KNLA sniper training mission appeared
in "Long Range Revenge," in January '97.

[mack pl]

Holly **** CAG, you made ****in big job here in last days(many good threads) ;) :) Zdarec mate :)

[scm77]

Go Canadian Snipers! woot

[2RHPZ]

Mack Pl, thanx a lot. I hope that everybody are happy with that as you :) and not upset. I have more articles, I will post them soon.

[Dennis G]

What ever happened to that Canadian Sniper the put the sign on the body of a dead Taliban and then had taken a photo of it?

Sign read “**** Terrorism”

[Dennis G]

Canadian Sniper Hero Faces Court Martial
The London Daily Telegraph ^ | April 25, 2002 | David Rennie in Washington


Posted on 04/25/2002 11:32:28 AM PDT by Slam


THE Canadian military has been accused of excessive "squeamishness", after recalling a sniper hailed for his bravery in Afghanistan to face a court martial for shouting at a chaplain.


Master Cpl Arron Perry is one of five Canadian snipers nominated for a Bronze Star by American commanders for saving the lives of US troops during missions to root out die-hard Taliban and al-Qa'eda fighters in mountains.

Cpl Perry has been sent back to Canada to face, instead of a hero's welcome, a court martial on discipline charges, reported to be in connection with threatening remarks he is alleged to have made to the Canadian chaplain during a "stress debriefing".


The sniper is also under investigation in connection with a photograph showing the corpse of an Afghan fighter with a cigarette in its mouth and bearing a sign reading "F*** terrorism". He denies responsibility for the photograph, which was taken during combat.


Cpl Perry is now confined to the city of Edmonton, forbidden from carrying a weapon, and working in a supply role.


"Look at what they did to me," he said. "This is how they show their appreciation to me, by sending me back to Canada."


Military experts yesterday denounced what they called Canada's culture of disdain for its armed services, despite their courageous record in two world wars, as well as in the Korean war and numerous peacekeeping operations.


Canadian commanders have been unusually sensitive to any hint of misconduct since a scandal involving Canadian commandos serving as peacekeepers in Somalia, who beat a teenager to death while he was in their custody.


American plans to award Bronze Stars to all five Canadians have now been delayed.

any other updates?

[Dennis G]

Never mind

:cantbeli:

Canadian sniper cleared of desecrating al-Qaeda body
National Post ^ | February 8, 2003 | Stewart Bell


Posted on 02/08/2003 10:11:24 AM PST by Clive


A Canadian sniper up for the Bronze Star medal for his combat role in Afghanistan has been cleared of allegations he desecrated the body of a dead al-Qaeda fighter, the Defence Department said yesterday.

Military investigators lacked evidence for charges against Master Corporal Arron Perry and another Canadian, following allegations soldiers cut the finger off an enemy combatant and staged a "trophy" photo of the body.

The investigation also examined claims a soldier defecated on a second body. Master Cpl. Perry had been suspended pending the outcome of the probe, but was returned to duty yesterday in Edmonton.

"After a thorough investigation by the National Investigation Service, the evidence wasn't sufficient to support charges in that case," said Captain Mark Giles, a Department of National Defence public affairs officer.

Master Cpl. Perry, a member of Edmonton's 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, said he was relieved the investigation had concluded.

"I'm glad finally it's done," he said.

The sniper was part of a small group of Canadian soldiers who directly engaged the Taliban and al-Qaeda during a tour in Afghanistan. He has been credited with helping save soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division pinned down by enemy fire in Shah-i-Kot Valley.

The Canadians' sharp-shooting on al-Qaeda machine-gun nests and mortar positions were chronicled in Soldier of Fortune magazine. U.S. commanders have since recommended the snipers for Bronze Stars recognizing heroic or meritorious service.

But a few weeks after that triumph, Master Cpl. Perry was sent home under a cloud of suspicion. Allegations surfaced in mid-March that he had interfered with a body and there were reports of a photograph showing a dead enemy fighter with a cigarette in his mouth and a small sign on his chest reading "f--k terrorism."

But the investigation centred on claims a soldier had taken a finger from the body.

"The photos, while being perhaps inappropriate, that was not the main focus of the investigation. The main focus was the allegations of interfering with the dead body," Cpt. Giles said. "It's as much moral as it is legal. We always want dead bodies, whether they be enemy or friendly, to be treated with dignity."

Military investigators dug up the corpse and searched tents at the Canadian military base, seizing a knife. DNA tests were conducted to see if the knife could be tied to the body, but no link was established.

[scm77]

This may sound, weird, but you wouldn't happen to have that photo would you? The **** Terrorism one. woot

[2RHPZ]

[quote="CAG 147"]

Bolt Actions Speak Louder Than Words:
Canadian Snipers in Afghanistan, Part II

by Rob Krott

If you are interested to get original colored 3-page article from Soldier Of Fortune with pictures (Adobe format .pdf, 270kB) send your request either as PM or email to cag147forum@yahoo.com

Regards

[scm77]

Are there any colour picturs in it?

[2RHPZ]

No, there are not any pictures unfortunatelly. BTW, I ma trying to find an article with statement of CAN Govt. as to this matter. It is pretty strange when they discuss the term "confirm kill" as improper in democratic military! I hope to find it and post soon.

[2RHPZ]

Here is another article on this story:


Mar. 9, 2002. 01:00 AM
Canada's ace snipers right in the thick of battle

ROSIE DIMANNO

TAMPA

CANADA'S ACE snipers are in the thick of the bloodiest battle since coalition
ground troops were deployed in the war against terrorism, taking the fight into
the caves, bunkers and mountain redoubts of eastern Afghanistan.

"The Canadians have come under fire and they've returned fire, they've come
under mortar attack and they've returned mortar attack," Commodore Jean Pierre
Thiffault told The Star in an interview yesterday. "There are bullets flying
both ways. If the enemy comes into their crosshairs, they'll take the enemy
out."

The U.S.-led offensive, in the high-elevation area around Gardez, capital of
Paktia province, is now into its seventh day, with coalition troops encountering
fierce, even maniacal resistance, from Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who are
well-entrenched in the mountainous terrain and ? contrary to original American
intelligence ? numbering well in the hundreds.

Not anticipating such ferocious resistance, the coalition forces ? including up
to 20 specialist marksmen from the Third Battalion of Princess Patricia's
Canadian Light Infantry, integrated into two forward-deployed companies of the
U.S. 101st Airborne ? have been waging combat on a frigid battlefield, between
2,400 and 3,350 metres up, in temperatures so harsh that water in canteens
freezes and soldiers are in danger of frostbite.

An unspecified number of commandos from Canada's top-secret Joint Task Force 2
(JTF2) unit are also fighting in the snow-capped mountains. But Thiffault,
commander of Canada's contribution to Operation Apollo, which has its
headquarters at the MacDill Air Force Base here, would provide no information
about these crack troops.

"Who?" Thiffault asked, disingenuously, when the subject of JTF2 was raised,
following a 24-hour visit by Canada's top soldier, Gen. Ray Henault, during
which he met with the United States' Operation Enduring Freedom commander, Gen.
Tommy Franks.

Canada's military is loath to provide any information about the commando unit,
which arrived in the war theatre long before the deployment of the Patricias in
January. But it has been confirmed that JTF2 commandos have been participating
in this messy ground offensive. "They don't come under my command," said
Thiffault.

As of yesterday, according to U.S. military briefings, at least 100 of the
"remnant" Taliban and Al Qaeda troops had been killed in the fighting, which has
seen B-52s, B-1s and carrier-based jets dropping 185 bombs over one midweek 24-hour
period alone, while AC-130 gunships and AH-64 Apache helicopters pounded enemy
positions. But with the battle still unfolding, up-to-date information from
commanders on the ground has been scarce. The Pentagon has given no further
details on U.S. casualties since confirming that eight Americans had been killed
and at least 40 wounded in the early phase of the battle, when soldiers from the
Army's 10th Mountain Division were bombarded upon bounding out of their choppers
by intense small arms fire, mortar and rocket-propelled grenades, delivered by
enemy troops dug into the cliffs above the Shah-e-Kot valley. Two hulking Army
MH-47 Chinook helicopters were disabled by enemy fire and the U.S. infantrymen
had to sweat it out through 18 hours of relentless bombardment, with hardly any
place to take cover, before being evacuated.

That horrific episode was part of Operation Anaconda, the ground offensive now
pitting 2,000 U.S. and allied troops against the strategically entrenched,
battle-hardened Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. For the United States, this is
the largest military operation since the 1991 Gulf War and the biggest light-infantry
battle since the Vietnam War.

But it's also an initiation by fire of the small Canadian delegation ? including
snipers and vehicle specialists ? attached to the 101st Airborne.

"There will be fear, there will be bravery," said Thiffault, who has been at
central command headquarters here since mid-October, when he arrived on two
hours' notice. "They'll be scared, but that's what soldiers are trained to do."

Both Thiffault and Henault said there have been no reports of Canadian
casualties, although that remains a possibility, with U.S. Defence Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld indicating this battle might go on for another week, although
the outcome is certain ? a victory for the coalition forces over the far
outnumbered and far outgunned enemy forces.

"The operation is proceeding as planned and it's going very well at the moment,"
Henault insisted following his confab with Franks. "We have (Canadian) sniper
teams and some support elements involved there. But the situation is quite
fluid, it changes daily.

"The resistance was vigorous, it was significant," he continued, refusing to
address suggestions from some military observers that the U.S.-led initiative,
aimed at clearing out pockets of Al Qaeda and Taliban troops, was unprepared for
the breadth and obstinacy of the opposing forces. "It's always difficult to
predict how strong the resistance will be. This is a very difficult and
dangerous place. Some of the more difficult parts of this undertaking are yet to
come. This is where you are in contact with the enemy, face to face. But it's
not something that was unexpected."

Asked whether the Canadian public had the stomach to accept the possibility of
Canadian casualties, Henault said: "I don't think there's a stomach for
casualties anywhere. We're very saddened by the losses but it's a reality of
conflict."

But the Canadians have definitely been directly involved in the fighting now
taking place across a battlefield of 150 square kilometres. Said Thiffault:
"Mortar arms have been lobbed at them. Machine-gun fire has been aimed at them.
And they've responded in kind, I'm sure."

There are some 3,400 Canadian personnel involved in Operation Apollo, about
2,500 in theatre, including those aboard five ships in the upper Gulf, and 880
troops ? the Patricias ? responsible for security at the Kandahar airport, with
a further company having just arrived after being on standby for nearly two
months. Canada has also contributed a dozen Coyotes ? high-tech surveillance
vehicles ? to the effort. Seven Canadian helicopters have flown 800 missions ?
1,200 hours of flying time. A Canadian Polaris air bus has moved 4.8 million
pounds of coalition freight on 100 missions.

Henault said Canada generally rotates troops on a six-month basis but there's no
definitive agenda for when the Patricias will come home or whether they will be
replaced in theatre by another regiment. "We may need to adjust our
contributions, perhaps have a different mix in the field. As some (coalition)
nations pull out, others put it."

Henault pointed out that Canada's contribution in Afghanistan has been straining
our military's assignments elsewhere in the world, with Canadians now present in
14 different operations, largely peacekeeping efforts, with a particularly large
presence in Bosnia. "At the moment, we don't plan on a rotation (of troops)," he
added.

Thiffault said the objective of Operation Anaconda was to shoo the remnants of
enemy fighters, and their leadership, into a contained area ? "squeezing them
into a pocket" ? where they could be taken prisoner or killed, if they resisted.
But the Al Qaeda and Taliban have been stubborn, willing to fight to the death,
and apparently on their terms. "These are guerrilla warriors, operating in their
own backyard. It's cold and wet and windy. There's ice and snow, making it very
difficult for flying and for the troops on the ground. It's steep, it's rugged,
there's no place to move. "

There's only so much that air power can accomplish, Thiffault pointed out. "If
you're going to get rid of the enemy, you have to go after those guys in the
caves and in the trenches. Yes, they have some of their leadership there. To
what extent? I can't say. They're putting up a good fight. And we're taking it
to them, certainly.

"There have been a lot of casualties on the enemy side. But it will be some time
before we come to grips with what we've accomplished."

Thiffault described the sniper units from the Patricias as "the best in North
America." And while no one will predict when this battle will end, or how high
the cost might be in coalition casualties, Thiffault said the outcome is
preordained.

"It's called Operation Anaconda for a good reason. The snake will constrict. And
that's the bottom line."