Team from Ireland wins 2015 Sniper Competition at Fort Benning

An international team from Ireland was recognized Friday as the winner of the 14th annual International Sniper Competition at Fort Benning’s Long Hall.

The two-man team who didn’t want their names or photos used emerged as the winner in a field of 36 teams from around the world. A team from the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at the post was second, and a U.S. Marine Corps School of Infantry-West took third place in the four-day competition that pushed soldiers mentally and physically for 96 hours.

Col. William Thigpen, commander of the 316 Cavalry Brigade, pointed to consistency as the key to success for the Ireland team over the course of 16 events. Teams were tested in long-range marksmanship, observation, target detection, stalking, reconnaissance and reporting and the ability to move with stealth while concealed.

“They demonstrated the most consistency across the board,” Thigpen said.

The statistics haven’t been reviewed yet, but Thigpen said the Ireland team may be the first international team to win the sniper competition.

“I’m almost positive this is the first international team to win the competition,” the commander said. “We are fair in everything we do. That’s how the numbers registered. They were the best team in 2015.”

Over the years, consistency in shooting has been key for winners.

“We found out that over the last couple of years teams that stay within the top five in each event tend to have a better chance in winning the overall competition,” Thigpen said. “That’s a consistent trend at least over the last three years.”

The efforts of the Ireland team were noticed by Staff Sgt. Steve Curry and Sgt. Emmanuel Velayo of Camp Pendleton, Calif., who came in third place.

“The international teams were quite impressive,” Curry said after the ceremony. “The Ireland team did extraordinarily well. They were consistent, they were accurate and they did all the basic things right.”

Curry also said teams have to complete different tasks under a tight timeline.

“You have that stress and physical fatigue that puts the screws to you,” he said. “It forces you to focus on fundamentals. Out here, it’s the smallest mistakes that’s going to dock you points. Before you know it, you do the little things right, you are going to be on top. If you do the small things incorrectly, you’re going to be on the bottom.”

If a team is thinking of the competition next year, Curry suggests the shooter and spotter start working on communication. “If you start working on communication two ways, you can shoot two ways,” he said. “It’s going to lead to an accurate shot.”

Curry improved on his last competition — he placed seventh last year. It was the first contest for Velayo.

Other international teams included the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark and Germany. The state of Georgia had teams from the Columbus and Covington police departments and the Atlanta FBI. The Army also had teams from the National Guard.

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Team from Ireland wins 2015 Sniper Competition at Fort Benning ."