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Jody Holeton
17th October 2002, 01:41
Dear all,

My father just told me that Carlos "White Feather" Halfcock's record was just broken by someone in the Canadian special forces in Afganistan?

ANyone have any info?
Is it the training?
Is it the ammo, or a new rifle?

scoundrel
17th October 2002, 03:58
I don't have the exact numbers, but a Canadian sniper in Afghanistan has been credited with a confirmed kill at a distance of over 2500 yards. At that range, probably done with a .50 cal Barrett. I believe that puts him over Hathcock's record shot in Vietnam.

Budoka 34
17th October 2002, 12:36
The weapon was a TAC50. The Canadian version of the MacMillon M98.
The shot was officially filed at 2,430 meters.

:smilejapa

tmanifold
18th October 2002, 17:16
Our snipers are very good. There is top notch instruction at the sniper cell.The guy who wrote the sniper program ended up got transfered to my unit and he increased my ability to shoot a lot.

John Lindsey
19th October 2002, 06:17
Ok, they got one record but the US recently set a new one in Afghanistan as well:

BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- A soldier accidentally fired a grenade at a shipping container full of Coca-Cola at the Bagram Air Base, the military said Friday. There were no injuries.


Anyhow, we can change this border sign now...

Jim London
19th October 2002, 16:06
John, Now that is a funny sign.

This factoid was first published in Soldier of Fortune magazine. If memory serves the Canadian snipers were providing supression for an American soldier that had fallen out of a helicopter. His team had, I believe, basicly jumped out after him and their was a sizable firefight going on.

Afterwards the American commander for Afghanistan attempted to give medals to the Canadian Snipers for their roll in the operation, along with the fellows who jumped after their buddy.

Unfortunately the Canadian government did not want to admit that soldiers might actual kill people while doing there job and formed a comittee to judge if the medals should be given. Anecdotaly I have heard that the American General went ahead and gave the medals anyway. The Canadian comittee is still deciding....

John, all humour aside: when our friends fight, we do not stand and watch.

Jim London.

Budoka 34
20th October 2002, 18:15
In 1991 I had the privilege of Jumping with some members of the Canadian Army. One was a SGM in charge of Sniper training(somewhere) and the other was a Capt. in PPCLI(? if memory serves).

The rest of the Canadian team was a Aussie SGM(also a sniper) and a couple of grunts.

Damn fine drinkers all!
Oh, and great soldiers to! :D

I still have the scars from those darn Canadian blood wings!(Three prongs not two!):D

:smilejapa

Cilian McHugh
21st October 2002, 15:22
There was also the story about the fellow (One of those nominated for the Silver Star I believe) who took a photo of a slain Al Qaeda member with a cigarette placed in his mouth and holding a sign saying "¤¤¤¤ Terrorism" The Canadian government wanted to Court Martial him.

I think they should have given him another medal.

jellyman
22nd October 2002, 03:42
PPCLI (Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry) is probably correct. Used to be the seed unit for the Airborne before th Airborne was disbanded. Less elite than JTF2, but that's about it.

Budoka 34
22nd October 2002, 12:10
John:
The wings he gave me are one of my favorite pair.
They have a white maple leaf instead of the red.
I just wish I could have traded berets, his had a Beaver crest.:)

:smilejapa

Jim London
22nd October 2002, 13:44
The wings he gave me are one of my favorite pair.They have a white maple leaf instead of the red.

Hi Budoka,

The white maple leaf was reserved for actual members of the Airborne unit, the red was for people who had just passed the jump course.

The ones you have really mean something to those that earned them, you must have impressed the person that gave them to you.

Jim London

Budoka 34
22nd October 2002, 19:49
Jim:

Thanks.......I hope I did. I know he impressed me!(he has the wings given to me by my Co. Commander...)
My team spent the better part of the comp and the banquet with the Canadian and German teams.

I gained a new respect for international Paratroops.

I have to admit, the Brits had the best drinking games!:D



:smilejapa

Soulend
1st November 2002, 00:13
Yep, looks like he beat Carlos for distance. His longest distance confirmed kill, I believe, was 2,500 yards (2285m) with an Unerti-scoped M2.

EMitton
11th November 2002, 08:13
Is "best sniper" awarded by the range of the kill or by how many kills? If the latter, than I think that the Finn Simo Häyhä might still have the title (over 500 kills during the Winter War with the Soviet Union). There's a short bio of him here:
http://www.mosin-nagant.net/Meeting-Legend.html

But a shot from 2500 yards is just mind-boggling. Incredible.

Eric Mitton

PeteBoyes
3rd May 2010, 20:52
It's been reported that the distance record has been broken in Afghanistan....http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Afghanistan-Sniper-Corporal-Of-Horse-Craig-Harrison-Sets-Record-After-Killing-Taliban/Article/201005115624184?DCMP=EMC-news_OBU