Annual Warrior Competition ~ Trail of Victory

The sun was still just below the horizon when the first team crossed the start line at 07:00 prompt, but when the Saudi Navy SOF team departed 12 minutes later it was rising fast [© Bob Morrison]

Monday 6th October saw all 38 Teams participating in the ‘Trail of Victory’ phase of the 14th Annual Warrior Competition at KASOTC in Jordan, reports Bob Morrison.

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Monday commenced for yours truly at 06:30 out on KASOTC’s Unknown Distance Sniper Range and morphed into Phase Two around 21:45 that evening, following the end of the two hour long Team Captains’ Briefing for Tuesday’s two events; at which point I returned to my accommodation to catch up on a mountain of admin work for the website. As I need to be inside the Close Quarters Battle complex before 07:00 on Tuesday, I suspect the opportunity for a reasonable amount of sleep will once again escape me but at least I have a kettle in my room and a good supply of coffee sachets.

Iraq’s Rapid Response Force spotter and sniper preparing to engage their first target of the day [© Bob Morrison]

The ‘Trail of Victory’ event basically involved the teams sprinting around the north-east quadrant of KASOTC, at 12-minute intervals, to first engage long range targets with a .308 sniper rifle, then take out medium range targets with 5.56mm assault rifles, before dropping close range targets with 9mm pistols. The course was run against the stopwatch and there were rather draconian time penalties added for any missed targets or rule infringements.

Qatar Joint Special Forces Team 2 sniper and spotter [© Bob Morrison]

The accompanying photos should give a rough idea of what the event, held under a cloudless sky with the thermometer nudging 30°C, involved for the competitors and provide a brief glimpse of some of the military and police Special Forces and Special Operations Forces currently vying to win the ultimate Warrior Trophies.

United Arab Emirates Special Task Force team members provide security for their sniper and spotter [© Bob Morrison]

Iraq 1st Special Forces Division sniper and spotter [© Bob Morrison]

Sniper and spotter from one of two Brunei RPK teams participating [© Bob Morrison]

Rwanda SOF Team 2 loading their magazines on the rifle and pistol range [© Bob Morrison]

Rwanda SOF Team 2 engaging targets around cover on the rifle range [© Bob Morrison]

Brunei RPK team member on the pistol range [© Bob Morrison]

Romanian SR1 Counter-Terrorism Brigade team approaching the Finish Line [© Bob Morrison]

Armenian Special Forces team learn their score from the Range Officer and sign the accompanying paperwork [© Bob Morrison]

To be continued…

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