Reaching out and grabbing hold of his rifle Nierkerk nervously checked it for damage. There, embedded deep in the cheekside of the butt of his L96A1 sniper rifle, was the Taliban round that had so nearly hit him. “I had to get back up and get on with it,” says Nierkerk. “We were in the middle of a contact, there was no choice.”
Assuming a fire position at the edge of the compound roof Nierkerk quickly scanned the surrounding buildings for his would-be-assailant. Within a few seconds he observed a lone Taliban gunman close by, took aim and fired – the insurgent dropped instantly.
As for the round that might so nearly have cost Nierkerk his life? The sharpshooter later dug the bullet out of the butt of his rifle and decided to keep it, “as a wee memento” he said switching to a faux Scottish accent.2
It now hangs around his neck as a stark reminder of how
close he came to injury or death that day in August 2009. Looking back, he recalls how “it could have been a different ending for me”.
behind him. The guy just panicked and dropped the leader and ran away.”
Later identified by ISAF as a local warlord known as “Mula”, this commander, it is understood, had been responsible for instigating multiple attacks against both American and British forces since they had entered Afghanistan in 2001.
At a little over 6,080 feet in distance (1.1 miles), Reynold’s shot was listed as the longest “kill-shot” of the entire Afghan campaign – until the record-breaking effort of Corporal Craig Harrison in November that year, that is (see Briefing Room, Issue 38).
“I was quite proud of that shot” enthuses Reynolds. “I amgoing to use that fact as a chat-up line in the pub, ” he subsequently told reporters.4 Dave Hatton, his spotter, grudgingly admits that “he did a top job that day”, immediately joking, however, that the unit is “sick of himgoing on about it all the time and telling us what a great shot he is”.
NOTES 1. The Scottish Sun, 7 August 2009. 2. The Daily Record, 7 August 2009. 3. Quoted on The Mail on Line, 15 August 2009. 4. The Daily Express, 9 August 2009.
At the same time that Nierkerk had been providing foot patrol cover for ‘A’ Company,
his colleague, Corporal Christopher Reynolds, had taken up a classic sniper position on the roof of a shop that overlooked the town’s bazaar. For three days, along with his spotter Lance Corporal David Hatton, he had been “camped” on the rooftop – just waiting for that perfect shot.
That moment would finally present itself when, down below in the bazaar, an intense fire-fight developed between 3 SCOTS and the local insurgent forces. Reynolds himself was taking fire as he scanned the horizon through the telescope of his newly-issued L115A3 sniper rifle, searching for the Taliban commander he knew must be in the area coordinating his forces.
He soon spotted his target – one of a group of five Taliban standing just over a mile down the valley in which Babaji lies. “I identified one straight away as the commander” said Reynolds “because [as] I watched himthrough the ’scope, and when he spoke on the radio, the other one would do what he said.”3
Reynolds concedes that his first attempt missed its target, but added that the Taliban commander was “so far away he didn’t even realise he was being shot at”. Reynolds and Hatton recalculated wind and bullet trajectory for the second shot. Reynolds fired – this time the round found itsmark, hitting its target full in the chest. “My scope was actually aiming at the top of the doorway,” says Reynolds, adding that the Taliban commander “dropped straight away into the arms of a fighter
AUGUST 2010 39
ABOVE and BELOW: Corporal Christopher Reynolds of 3 SCOTS with his spotter Lance Coprporal David Hatton. A veteran of both the Iraqi and Afghan campaigns, Reynolds is one of the British Army’smost experienced snipers. His record shot that day in August 2007 brought his tally in Afghanistan to thirty-two.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112