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On the final day of range fire the students conducted a stress shoot where they must engage targets after physical activity and noise and other distractions challenge their concentration and their control over their breathing and heart rate.
Blackanthem Military News, FORT INDANTOWN GAP, PA. - As the hot summer sun beats down on an open range at Fort Indiantown Gap, Spc. Krystal Ginter squeezes the trigger and puts her mark in the history books.
Ginter, Lancaster Pa., became the first female in the U.S. Army to graduate the Squad Designated Marksman Course. She graduated June 16 along with 18 others at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa.
“It’s an honor to be the first female soldier in the Army to graduate the course,” said Ginter, who serves as a Counter Intelligence Agent for Stryker.
“The best part is just having the chance to improve my skills and take what I have learned back to my unit and share what I have learned. We all need good marksmanship skills in combat.”
The course was developed after lessons learned in the early part of the Global War on Terror. The idea is to train one Soldier in each squad to engage targets at twice the normal distance of qualification.
“The current conflict taught us that being able to engage beyond our 300-meter qualification can be required at times,” said Maj. James Fluck with the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the Pennsylvania National Guard.
The Soldiers are trained up to 600 meters and at that range wind can have an affect on the trajectory of the round as well as target elevation and light.
“They are taught at what clock direction wind can have the strongest affects and then they must judge how strong that affect will be,” said Fluck. “On a bright day a target will appear closer and on a dark day farther away. If a target is on a higher piece of ground than the shooter, it can appear closer. If it’s located down hill, it will appear farther away.”
Ginter’s natural ability and upbringing may have helped her through the challenges of the course.
“My father, Sgt. Maj. William Ginter, has served in the Army since 1987,” said Ginter. “He would take me to the range and we would fire pistols. I always had fun doing that with him.”
Fluck said that the Stryker Brigade is glad to have as many Soldiers as possible qualified as Squad Designated Marksmen. Fluck was quick to point out that Stryker has more sniper slots then any other brigade in the army and that this is one of the most intense shooting courses. It helps to prepare those who wish to serve as snipers in the brigade.
“The Soldiers who graduate this two-week course will put approximately 1,200 rounds down range over that time,” said Fluck. “That’s a great deal of shooting and really makes them highly skilled.”
The Pennsylvania National Guards 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team will hit its operational readiness sometime late in 2008. Until that time, the Soldiers of the Brigade continue to train hard for a possible deployment.
“Being in Stryker provides us with the latest equipment along with a number of challenges,” said Ginter. “I feel lucky to have the opportunity to attend this course and look forward to the other challenges that are still out there.”
