FORT MOORE, Ga. — As the world’s potential hot spots change and technology evolves, America’s fighting force constantly seeks new ways to remain both lethal and effective. Nowhere is this more prevalent than at Fort Moore, Georgia, the home of the United States Army Sniper School.
Established in 1987 at what was then Fort Benning, the United States Army Sniper School is part of the Army Infantry Center. Its mission is to train snipers from around the Army to be the best in the world and be familiar with the most cutting-edge technology, techniques, and tactics.
That means studying everything they can about contemporary long-distance precision shooting, not just from U.S. operations around the world but also from places as far as Ukraine and as close as Pennsylvania. Earlier this month, a 20-year-old Pennsylvanian unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.
Although the shooter was unsuccessful, he did strike Trump with one round in the ear before being killed by U.S. Secret Service counter-sniper teams. Shooting from a rooftop a mere 150 meters from the former president, Thomas Matthew Crookes, of Bethel Park, managed to elude the Secret Service’s elite Presidential Protection Detail, FBI personnel, and local police to find his perch and attempt to change history.