Snipers, among the most elite and critical units of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), undergo intense and rigorous training as they prepare for high-stakes international competitions.
This year, at the renowned Eğirdir Mountain Commando School and Training Center in Isparta, southwestern Türkiye, the 5th annual "International Best Sniper Team" competition took place, showcasing unmatched precision, skill and discipline.
The competition saw fierce rivalry as teams from across the globe, including Azerbaijan, Albania, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bulgaria, Georgia, Italy, Qatar, Kosovo, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Libya, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, came together to test their mettle. Meanwhile, observers from the United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, Kuwait and Turkmenistan closely monitored the intense battle of skill.
At the training courses prepared by the instructors to suit the competition, participants strive to complete courses such as helicopter shooting, training shooting, infiltration shooting, tower and boat shooting, advanced sniping, barricade shooting and combat shooting, all within a short time.
Snipers adapt to various weather conditions and non-static environments, successfully completing their missions with specialized equipment, regardless of distance.
Later, the team members camouflage themselves by wearing special "ghillie suits" that are appropriate for the vegetation and terrain and infiltrate land targets to shoot.
The teams also complete their training successfully by shooting at water targets from boats.
In the highly important field training, teams undergo training in infiltration, concealment, target detection and extraction on the terrain. Through these activities, personnel enhance their agility, endurance, and balance skills, maintaining their fitness through regular physical exercise.
Wearing their "ghillie suits," the teams become almost invisible in all kinds of terrain, thanks to their movement and cover techniques.
The personnel continue to train under various weather and terrain conditions, participating in competitions with domestic and international rifles. Within this scope, personnel prepare for competitions by training on the KN-12 and KN-76 sniper rifles.
A member of the first-place team, a first lieutenant, spoke on the training. He explained that their success in the competition was due to high adaptability and discipline. They performed their duties in the best way and effectively applied the training from the Special Mission Sniper course to the field.
He said that one of the greatest challenges was maintaining focus under high stress throughout the competition and added, "We learned to cope with such situations during our training. This gave us an advantage. Our rivals were also well-prepared. However, we managed to be more tactically flexible and took the lead with quick decisions."
"The intensity of our training and working on realistic scenarios allowed us to adapt quickly to situations we encountered on the field. Once again, we saw the importance of these processes. This success motivated us even more. We will continue to work with the same discipline and determination in upcoming missions and competitions," he added.
Pointing out that they needed to hit the designated targets in a very short time during the competition, the first lieutenant said that the team organized quickly, successfully infiltrated the target and received full marks from the observers.
He added that this experience highlighted the need to develop their tactics further, and they plan to build more innovative and flexible strategies in the future.
"This success shows how important disciplined work and team spirit are. We hope to be a source of motivation for other teams as well. This first place proved to us that we can succeed even under difficult conditions. Our confidence for future missions has increased even more."
