This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Staff Sgt. Phillip Cho, a US Army sniper in the 11th Airborne Division based in Alaska. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
What I’ve preached for years now is that in order to be a successful sniper in the Arctic, you have to have imagination.
We take a lot from the World War II Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä, nicknamed “The White Death.” He was responsible for over 500 deaths during the Winter War, and he operated in environments very similar to Alaska.
That’s where we get a lot of our ideas from, like wetting the surrounding of your firing point so when you fire, a plume of smoke doesn’t give your spot away, or like putting snow in your mouth so when you breathe, you don’t see your breath frosting in the air.
We’ve built many of our tactics, techniques, and procedures off of Häyhä’s experience in that real war.
There are definitely differences between concealment in other environments and in the Arctic. We use different procedures in the Arctic versus the jungles of Asia or the deserts of the Middle East. We’re obviously trying to stay warm because we may be sitting stagnant for hours. I think my longest Arctic position was probably 10 hours.
Courtesy of US Special Operations Command North
And then you have to maintain your weapon systems and make sure they’re optimal. You even have to be careful with your breath because if you breathe on your equipment that adds condensation onto your equipment and could freeze and prevent it from working properly.
Some principles of concealment remain the same in all environments. You want to blend in naturally to your foreground and background, eliminating any contrast, weird lighting, shine, odd shapes, out of place colors, and inconsistent textures all while not moving.
In the Arctic, we just use additional layers to stay warm enough to be stagnant for those extended periods of time.
Fieldcraft is what makes the difference between a marksman and a sniper. Things like a ghillie suit, and everything that supplements it, are what allow a sniper to be unseen in their operational environment.
Even if they don’t have a ghillie suit on, the surrounding concealment can be enough to be effective. It’s about mastering disappearing in depth and shadows in your environment. That’s something we have to learn as snipers that sets us apart.
Everything else, like range estimation and being able to detect targets is trainable. And we can practice that at any time. But being good in the field and being self-sustainable is probably more valuable than just being able to pinpoint a distance, for example.
And now, with drones, our main job is to train to remain hidden from all adversaries while still maintaining freedom of maneuver and eyes on the objective. So that’s why fieldcraft is so important, that’s why we harp on it.
Felt like we needed to earn our spot
U.S. Army photo by Spc. Wyatt Moore / 28th Public Affairs Detachment
I joined the Army because I am a first-generation American. My family’s from Korea, so I felt like somewhere along the lines, we needed to earn our spot in the country by serving.
When I enlisted, I thought being a sniper was more of a pipe dream than anything. A lot of the snipers that I saw as a junior enlisted soldier were the rock stars of our battalion. I never thought I could be part of that.
But then after a training rotation overseas, I was invited by my former team leader to try out for recon. And then, I got first-hand experience, and realized I could do it. Then I tried out for sniping and was picked. The opportunity just kind of presented itself.
I deployed to Iraq in 2019 in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the international fight against the Islamic State. We were primarily attached to our scouts and partook in a variety of operations, mainly overwatch, key leader engagements, dismounted operations, and base security. It was pretty standard stuff.
Staff Sergeant Phillip Cho
Now, serving in the Arctic, the terrain presents a unique set of issues for which snipers have to be prepared. Any failure in planning could cause cold weather injuries, or worse.
Like other environments, water is a priority. But you can’t just eat snow because it will lower your body temperature, and you can’t always drink glacier water because it isn’t necessarily clean. So we have to lug fuel around with us to heat the water, and we usually carry a tent, just for safety from the elements. All of this is packed into a sled, and we pull it for miles and miles.
When I was in the Middle East, there were challenges. We had to have water there too. But our vehicles were constantly working. They didn’t have to work harder like they do in the cold. Our equipment wasn’t failing. The conditions were not slowing us down. The time it takes to move in the Arctic is always about twice as long as anticipated.
As snipers, we have to carry a ton of extra equipment. In the summer, our stuff — observation and communication equipment, extra batteries, and the actual weapon and ammunition — is roughly around 60 to 80 pounds. In the winter, we need our bunny boots, different layers to keep us warm, and other extreme cold weather equipment that adds to that. Snipers are typically carrying anything from 90 to 120 pounds of extra weight in the cold.
The Arctic can be an insatiable beast and chews up some of the strongest soldiers that I’ve seen. But you can thrive in it like any other environment.
