Story and Photos courtesy U.S. Special Operations Command South

GOIANIA, Brazil -- The first events for Fuerzas Comando 2009, the U.S. Southern Command’s sixth annual Special Forces competition and hosted this year by Brazil, began Thursday.

Four tasks awaited the participants of the 21 countries throughout the day—a range estimation, sniper stalk, rifle and pistol qualification, and swimming. These challenges tested various aspects of their physical and mental skills in a tactical military setting. 

Thursday morning, the snipers evaluated targets at varying distances from the firing line. The teams of two relied on only their eyes and experience to determine the distance to their respective target. Then they were allowed to utilize the help of either scopes or binoculars.

A perfect score of 100 is allotted to those teams who were correct on all 20 targets. They may also achieve a less-than-perfect score by being within 12% for the naked eye exercises and 6% with optical aid.

After the teams completed this task, they progressed into the sniper stalk. Under cover of Ghillie Suit and shadow, the two-man sniper teams tracked through vegetation to sight and engage targets. They were required to make two shots within 200 meters away of the target without being seen by judges observing from a set distance.

A perfect score of 100 was attained by avoiding detection by the judges and finishing the event in the fastest time.

Meanwhile, their assault team counterparts qualified on a shooting range with their rifles and pistols.  This event evaluated their basic combat assault techniques and weapons proficiency.

For the rifle qualification, individuals could earn a maximum perfect score of 400, with a combined team score of 1600. Points were lost with missed or non-observed shots on the target.

The maximum perfect score for individuals on the pistol qualification was 200. Therefore, the team perfect score was 800.

In the end, the team with the highest sum of points received a final score of 100. All other teams were computed by interpolation.

In the evening, competing teams entered the water and tested their aquatic skills in a giant Olympic size pool. The teams of six negotiated over two log obstacles and swam underneath a wooden grill a total of six times during the 300 meter swim.

The perfect score of 100 is awarded to the team with the fastest time.