It was a day that rocked the sniper community — a shot heard round the world..On June 22, 2017, the Globe and Mail reported that two snipers assigned to Joint Task Force 2, Canada’s elite special forces unit, had shot an Islamic State fighter in Iraq at a distance of 3,540 meters, or 3,871 yards — that’s more than two miles..The sniper team was stationed on top of a highrise building when it took the shot, which took almost ten seconds to reach its target..The sniper and his spotter had used a McMillan TAC-50 .50 heavy-caliber sniper rifle. According to the Globe and Mail, the kill was verified by video “and other data.”.The kill surpassed British sharpshooter Craig Harrison’s, who shot dead a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan in 2009 from 2,475 metres..But here is what you need to take into account — although a .50 caliber sniper rifle bullet can fly as far as five miles, a host of factors including gravity, wind speed and direction, altitude, barometric pressure, humidity and even the Coriolis Effect act upon the bullet as it travels, The National Interest reported..Even worse, these effects increase the farther the bullet travels. A successful sniper team operating at extreme distances must do its best to predict exactly how these factors will affect the bullet and calculate how to get the bullet back onto a target that is merely twenty-four inches wide..In other words, sniping is weaponized math and Canadian Armed Forces snipers are among the best in the world..And one of the best of them just arrived in Ukraine to fight the Russian invaders..The veteran sharpshooter, who goes under the nom-de-guerre “Wali,” said he wanted to help Ukrainians who did not deserve to be bombed “just because they want to be European and not Russian,” UK news website LBC online reported..“A week ago I was still programming stuff,” said the veteran, who was part of the Canadian Royal 22nd Regiment..“Now I’m grabbing anti-tank missiles in a warehouse to kill real people … that’s my reality right now.”.This is a man who can pick off Ivans at great distances and if I was a Russian commander I would not feel safe anywhere, or anyplace, especially on that convoy outside of Kyiv..A .50-caliber rifle can pretty much take your head or your arm off. There is no wound. There is only devastation. It’s not a nice way to go.. a.50-cailibre rifle. Courtesy facebook .Kinda like that old AT&T media slogan, “Reach out and touch someone.”.But for a nation that is bombing maternity wards they have it coming. .Wali left behind his wife and one-year-old son to travel to Ukraine after Kyiv announced it had created an “international legion” for foreign volunteers to join and fight against Vladimir Putin’s invasion..His wife said stopping him from leaving to join the fight would be like keeping him in prison, LBC reported..Among those to sign up are reportedly four British soldiers who have gone AWOL to take part, with media saying that one of them is a teenage soldier in the Coldstream Guards who has left his ceremonial Queen’s Guard duty to sign up..The UK Ministry of Defence warned British soldiers that they are banned from going to Ukraine..Wali, which means “protector” or “guardian” in Arabic, is a veteran of Canada’s Afghanistan campaign in Kandahar province..He previously volunteered with the Kurdish resistance against ISIS in Iraq, CBC News reported. The corporation left out his name to protect his family..He was joined by three other ex-Canadian military servicemen and said they were embraced with hugs and handshakes upon arriving in Ukraine..“They were so happy to have us. It’s like we were friends right away,” he said..“I want to help them. It’s as simple as that.”.The 40-year-old computer programmer said he missed his son’s first birthday, the “hardest part” of his decision to travel to Ukraine, according to CBC..He told Canada’s French language La Presse newspaper that he refuses to watch an “all-out invasion” before his eyes..Since crossing into Ukraine, he and the other veterans have taken shelter in a partially renovated home, CBC reported. .They are going through the final steps of linking up with Ukrainian authorities who want to place them with the army’s territorial battalions — the recently reorganized reserve unit of citizen-soldiers, a force the country had hoped eventually to build up to 10,000 officers and 120,000 volunteers..There is a law in Canada that dates back to 1937 — called the Foreign Enlistment Act — which was designed to discourage Canadians from fighting in the Spanish Civil War. It would not specifically exclude people from signing up to fight for Ukraine, CBC reported..It prohibits people from fighting with a foreign country against an ally of Canada..According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, more than 20,000 people from 52 countries have volunteered to assist Ukraine against Russian forces following President Zelenksy’s call for “anyone who wants to join the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world” to “fight side by side with the Ukrainians against the Russian war criminals,” the Independent reported..Almost one week into the invasion, Wali described to The Daily Mail how there was a very positive mood among Ukrainians and describes how a farmer took matters into his own hands..“A heroic atmosphere reigns here. We no longer count the stories of fighters and ordinary people defying the Russian Army. In one example, a farmer waited for the Russians to disembark their tanks during a break. He then towed the tanks with his tractor! Imagine that!”.Wali also described hearing from other soldiers also fighting in the field and how the forests were also said to be full of Ukrainian fighters, waiting for the arrival of the Russians. .“Ukrainians will go down in history as a people of warriors!”.Dave Makichuk is a Western Standard contributor. .PTacitus27@gmail.com
