Traditionally the first competitive event at the Annual Warrior Competition at KASOTC in Jordan is the individual soldier TOP SHOT shoot-out, writes Bob Morrison.
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All Special and Special Operations Forces teams participating in Annual Warrior Competitions, this year there are 38 of them from 23 countries, go head-to-head with all other teams on three events over two days before the top 15 fight it out in KING’S CHALLENGE on the Wednesday. However to ramp up competitiveness before the first main event commences just after dawn on the Monday, on the Sunday afternoon once the Opening Ceremony and Special Operations Forces demo are out of the way the pack of around 300 international Tier 1 and Tier 2 operators (plus their supporters) gathers on the edge of KASOTC‘s 50-metre ranges to watch the guy they selected as being their probable best shot goes into action.
TOP SHOT sees competitors paired off by ballot to tackle three different types of target at varying ranges using their assault rifle before swapping to their close-protection weapon, their pistol, to take down a bank of falling plate targets. Not only is this a high adrenaline range dash against the stopwatch, with only one round issued for each target, but as operators compete in pairs over mirrored courses with only the fastest going through to the next round of the tournament, the final two pairs will have to repeat the course four or five times (dependent on luck of the draw) before the deciding shoot-outs to determine the top three places.
By the end of the afternoon the strain of extreme competition, where speed and accuracy are trade-offs that must be taken into consideration, is usually beginning to show! Specific instructions issued beforehand, as range safety considerations, also need to be strictly adhered to if the score is the be considered valid, so it’s definitely not simply a case of movie-style Run, Spray and Pray!
At the end of the afternoon, the Jordanian Royal Guard shooter narrowly beat the Royal Omani Police SOF individual competitor to claim the TOP SHOT Trophy and one of two Rwandan SOF team members took third place under a cloudless sky. Roll on Monday morning, when the Armoury opens at 05:30 for weapons issue ahead of the TRAIL OF VICTORY event commencing at 07:00 somewhere out in the wilds…..
[images © Bob Morrison]
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