First Female Army Sniper

| November 12, 2021

Several of our usual suspects have sent in the story of the first female Army sniper. The unnamed infantry soldier from the Montana Army National Guard has graduated from the grueling U.S. Army Sniper Course, taught at Ft. Benning.

“The Soldier met every standard required to graduate the United States Army Sniper Course,” said Capt. David Wright, the sniper school’s commander.

Can’t ask for more than that.

First woman to finish Army’s sniper school is Montana Guard soldier

By Davis Winkie

It’s one of the most grueling, individually focused schools in the Army, meant to produce soldiers capable of infiltration, advanced marksmanship and more.

And, for the first time, a woman has graduated from the U.S. Army Sniper Course at Fort Benning, Georgia, Army officials said on Monday. The service won’t be releasing the soldier’s name.

The soldier who graduated is an infantry soldier from the Montana Army National Guard, according to an Army release. She joined the Guard in December 2020 and earned a slot at sniper school while at infantry training due to her “superior performance” and marksmanship, the release added.

“We’re all incredibly proud of her,” said Capt. Joshua O’Neill, who was the unnamed soldier’s company commander during her infantry training. “She epitomizes what it means to be an infantry Soldier and there wasn’t a doubt in our minds that she would succeed in the U.S. Army Sniper Course.”

She began the seven-week course in September, shortly after completing her infantry training, the release said. The course is only open to enlisted soldiers in infantry, cavalry or Special Forces roles, according to a description available online.

Thanks, gentlemen.

Yahoo

Congrats, young lady. Keep ’em in the 10 ring.

Category: Army, Bravo Zulu, Guest Link

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Hatchet

Very proud for this un-named but obviously VERY motivated women!
Bravo Zulu!!

KoB

If Big Army isn’t going to release her name, then how are we going to see her featured on the Sunday TAH FGS Gunz Girls segment?

BZ Ms Thang!

Poetrooper

Touché…😜

Sapper3307

How to not be seen.

KoB

Nice ghillie suit there girlfriend. Those green mesh thigh highs bring out the color of your eyes. I like the vine bodice too.

Hatchet

No fair!! You’ve already got DANA!!!! In your head..

Roh-Dog

Everyone’s gotta have a badge, that way moar betterz!

Slow Joe

What are they calling “infantry training”?
Are they saying she went to Snippery School right after graduating basic training???

Slow Joe

The title of this thread rocks.

“Frist” has to have some secret meaning, I bet.

ChipNASA

I’m going to start yelling “FRIST!!” on the WoT. (and maybe elsewhere)
Watch.
😀

Sapper3307

Just like RANGER school , no standards were lowered just removed?

Roh-Dog

No physical standards other than Ranger Physical and PUHLES, 70% or better on PT test was the old standard. Also anyone that met those standards could technically attend but preference was to Infantry/SF, then it was opened to Cav (why, I have no idea)…
But only Infantry primary MOS could be awarded the ASI B4.
USASS does conduct a ‘final mission test’ FTX that was graded go/no-go but that was really a formality.
But since there can be Infantryladies now I guess it’s all moot. One thing that concerns the hell out of me the PT test was supposed to be graded neutrally, with the intended purpose of sand bagging the chicks, which also would prohibit weakbodied dudes, sooo….
I’d bet dollars to donuts they still use gendered test requirements which IS a blatant violation of standards.

On a great note: none of this bullshit is my problem and good luck to the Military Industrial Complex on the next war.
I’ll be at the house!

Green Thumb

I wonder how much train up time she got in the NG?

Not knocking her, but AD folks usually are afforded very little if any.

I remember when I went to Ranger School. Had to train (PT, knots, toughen up, etc.) on my own time. I was also told not to show my face again if I did not pass. Was only allowed a recycle to boot.

Been kinda cool to see everything beforehand and get a year and a half train up time beforehand plus unlimited recycles.

Graybeard

Some of the best shooters I’ve seen are of the female persuasion.

If – as it appears – she met all standards without someone fudging, good for her. Until proven otherwise, I’m gonna accept that she did.

nobunny

It’s our obsession with precision – everything has to be PERFECT. 😉

I agree though, I hope the standards were the same.

NEC338x

The top 3 spots in the NCAA small bore rifle championship this year were all female. Unlike the Olympics were there are male and female events, the NCAA championship is co-ed.

Roh-Dog

shooting isn’t sniping.

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

BZ Young Lady. How about that Russian Young Lady Sniper with the high German body count during WW2

ChipNASA

I was *just* looking at her info yesterday because my son and I spent the entire day playing Call of Duty, Vanguard.
SO, you’re thinking of 300+ kill count…
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/565151/retrobituaries-lyudmila-pavlichenko

NEC338x

I love this part.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/eleanor-roosevelt-and-the-soviet-sniper-23585278/

To prove that she was as skilled with a rifle as she claimed, a Red Army unit held an impromptu audition at a hill they were defending, handing her a rifle and pointing her toward a pair of Romanians who were working with the Germans. “When I picked off the two, I was accepted,” Pavlichenko said, noting that she did not count the Romanians in her tally of kills “because they were test shots.”

Slow Joe

That’s communist propaganda.

Claw

Just throwing this name around for semantics about being the Frist (Army or Air Force) Female Sniper:

Senior Airman Jennifer Donaldson of the Illinois Air National Guard graduated from the NG Sniper School at Camp Robinson, AR in April 2001.

Berliner

Congratulations on her achievement. Assuming she grew up in Montana she might have grown up hunting, which helped.

Mike W

Good for Gunny Swagger to have a daughter follow in his footsteps.

Blaster

As an infantry dude in my younger years, I wouldn’t care what “junk” was carried between the legs of the person providing over-watch for me!

We adopted a girl when she was 8, and I taught her to shoot and handle firearms. I’d put her muzzle and trigger awareness against any basic trainees.

I am absolutely comfortable with female snipers.

Roh-Dog

shooting isn’t sniping.

Blaster

Agreed!

Didn’t say it was. However, there is an element of people out there that think that women can’t handle firearms, shoot or snipe. I don’t know this female Soldier, but I’ll just bet that she handled firearms long before becoming a sniper or even a soldier for that matter.

My point is that the ability and capability do not reside within the male gender only, and as long as she can successfully accomplish her mission-Drive On!

Prior Service

After I ETS’d as an 11B, I got a job teaching rifle marksmanship in college (wow they pay me for this?). At the end of the semester, both me and my fellow instructor (another former 11B) invariably had, as our best shooter, a female who had never shot before but was ready to learn. Least growth was always some guy who thought he was already a good shooter.

Roh-Dog

shooting isn’t sniping.

Prior Service

I didn’t claim it was. But sniping is, first and foremost, shooting.

Prior Service.

I’m not even making the case for female snipers. I’ve been an infantryman for five years and armor/cavalry for 27 years. I’m personally opposed to women in any of those branches. But, again, trained females are excellent shooters. I don’t disagree with any of your below points.

Roh-Dog

“…sniping is, first and foremost, shooting.”

You are incorrect. In fact the role of a Sniper has little, if anything, to do with shooting. The main task is to report battlefield information. This requires the ST (Sniper Team) to maneuver into a position where they are able to observe.
The decisive engagement of key leaders and targets is only within guidance of the OPORD and in support of Commanders’ Intent.

“Getting there” is the main task of a ST. How would a female, even the ‘best of’ be as capable as an average man? And how would their marksmanship facilitate that task, and the function of a ST?

I’ll save you the morally dubious calculus and fallacies: women have no place in two-man teams.

Roh-Dog

There is a bunch of you, way too many I’d add, that conflate Sniper-ing with marksmanship. Not a single person is arguing that some woman can shoot, but there is a huge set of differences between the sexes if you haven’t noticed.

Roh-Dog’s Battlefield Aughtahs of Fighting:

Rule 1: you have to get there.

Rule 2: you *should* survive.

Rule 3: the enemy is attempting to stop you from 1 &2.

To my knowledge, there is no smaller unit that moves to contact than the Sniper team; one shooter, and one spotter.
By doctrine they maneuver under observation of the enemy, therefor require the highest levels of physical fitness and endurance.

Putting ladies in those positions, no matter how many times they score 40/40, is insane and worthy of scorn if not for the simple fact they are robbing critical training and skill from an individual that will actually apply those skills in a combat environment (read: not a woman).
BUT LETS BE ABUNDANTLY CLEAR: even tho once or twice women in combat have shown bravery, there are MANY MORE stories to the negative.

But what the fuck would I know?

Slow Joe

But hey, its a Brave New World

Roh-Dog

It’s a retarded world, run by science-denying arsonist children who won’t see the iceberg, even after the ship sinks.

nobunny

I agree with all four of your statements that shooting is not sniping.

Poetrooper

Sniping is an infantry tactic and therefore, skill, through and through. Fifteen years ago, ol’ Poe visited the sniper school at Benning and spoke with some of the cadre. They did not come across as politically correct types.

But, then again, that was before eight years of Obama as CinC…

nobunny

I agree. I can’t opine on much more than “shooting isn’t sniping” – it would be purely academic and not worth very much.

And political correctness, coupled with social media, is going to be our downfall.

Roh-Dog

I like you.

nobunny

Ditto, Roh-Dog.

nobunny

But I can shoot the center out of the [stationary paper] 10 ring. 😉

Prior Service

Dude. Give it a rest. No sniper can’t shoot. But show me where I said anything but that trained women can shoot. That’s called an anecdote. There’s nothing ambiguous about any of my statements. I’m not advocating for female snipers or even debating your points. Hell I even said I agree that they shouldn’t be in combat arms. I propose you brush up on reading without making assumptions about what you think you are seeing and just stick to the actual words I wrote. And again I will say yes, snipers conduct surveillance (even though your previous comment derisively said that cav scouts -who exist for recon- shouldn’t have them) but if you can’t shoot, you don’t snipe. Ergo-the first requirement is to be a proficient shooter and all else stems from that.

Prior Service

Love it when a reply goes in the wrong spot….

Dr Baker

“First Female Army Sniper”

This country has completely ceased to be serious. At least we should be seeing a lot less stolen valor because no one in their right mind would want to fake that they were in America’s complete joke of a current military.