Page 43 - Light Dragoons 2023 CREST

Not many Army barracks have a swim- ming pool surrounded by palm trees.
But in the mountains of Oman, there is an artillery base with a British Mess unchanged since the 1960s. Each morn- ing the pool is cleaned and swept with palm fronds, the chef cooks up scrambled eggs with pita bread and spiced beans, and members of the British Army on loan ser- vice don their pinky-orange Omani uni- forms and apply lots of suncream. The temperature here averages 40°C. On the coast, it is 48°C.
We were there in June 2022 as a snip- ing short-term training team (STTT). Lt Digby, Cpl DuPlessis, Cpl Burnett and LCpl Withers were joined by Cpl McCarthy from 3SCOTS and LSgt Retallick from 1WG to lead the sniping cadre.
Snipers in the Royal Army of Oman (RAO), whilst qualified, suffer from skill fade. Their shooting and marksmanship skills are to a good standard, whilst their tactical and technical abilities are less pro-
ficient. The STTT was designed by the British sniping capability advisor to RAO – WO2 Morgan – to inject a cadre of their sniper commanders with enthusiasm and examples of ‘what good looks like’ so that they might run better training and sniping courses in the future.
On arrival in Muscat, we were briefly com- pounded at customs; something about our black grips full of sights and tripods made the border force suspicious. After a flurry of activity from the embassy, we were through. We signed for our vehicles and roared inland to the artillery base in Izki. Driving straight to the training estate at the top of the Jebel Akhtar mountain range, we got to work. We sat down and reviewed the training programme under Cpl DuPlessis’s management, with every- one contributing ideas about making the training novel and exciting.
Eighteen RAO snipers from Cpl to Capt attended the course. The first week was focused on tactics. We started in the class- room, rolling through lessons on sniping
theory, doctrine, and break contact drills. We moved onto the mountain to practice these skills dry, as well as working on cam- ouflage, concealment, and tactical move- ment. Midweek, we delivered orders for a simultaneous stalk across some particu- larly craggy terrain, which the snipers con- ducted, then they planned and conducted their own stalk onto our positions. At the end of the week, LCpl Withers and LSgt Retallick set up spotting positions on top of an abandoned dam, protecting their ‘high value target’ (Lt Digby in a dish- dasha). The snipers stalked onto the dam with the rest of the team observing and were scored for their efforts.
The second week was spent on ranges. We zeroed the .308 rifles and collected muzzle velocity data using a chronograph, before delivering lessons on Kestral barometers. We set up a shooting competition based loosely on the .338 annual combat marks- manship test, then moved onto ‘interest shoots’: shooting watermelons through car windscreens, loophole shooting, angle shooting and low-profile shooting.
The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
Sniper STTT, Oman. June 2022.
End of course photo
Thinking hard about training serials whilst relaxing in the pool
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Preparing to practice contact drills