FORT CHAFFEE (KFSM)-Some of you may know the box office hit American Sniper directed by Clint Eastwood. This week some of the best in the world are squaring off at Fort Chaffee. The snipers come from Denmark, Germany, Canada and all over the U.S.
“When I was young I was watching war movies and army things. I knew that that kind of job I wanted to do,” Olivier Guénette said.
Guénette is a sniper from Canada. He’s on one of the 23 teams competing in this week’s 44th annual Winston P. Wilson Sniper Championship. Each team has a shooter and a spotter.
“I'm in my third year, but I've been in the army since 2007, so I have eight years of service,” Guénette said.
He said the film American Sniper is inspiring, but not necessarily a realistic way to understand what snipers do.
“There`s a lot of difference,” Guénette said.
“It`s a very good portrayal of course we can nitpick it all apart, but for the American people it`s pretty good, especially when you know they come back home it`s a lot different once you go [overseas] and come back,” Jon Plummer, Sniper School Instructor at Army Guard said.
Plummer said the competition has a greater purpose in mind.
“Our main goal is for training,” he said. “A lot of guys don`t get good training back at home. It`s a competition number one, but mainly we`re focused on training.”
The instructor hopes when the snipers return home, they have the training they need to better their unit.
The teams are participating in a total of 18 events. It will wrap up on Friday (April 24).