Basic High grad trains Koreans in sniper tactics

Dick Benoit

Thursday, July 24, 2003 | 8:44 a.m.

Former Henderson resident Nicholas Diaz proved his weaponry skills as he and fellow snipers from a Marine scout sniper platoon trained South Korean Marine snipers during a recent deployment to Korea in support of the Korean Integrated Training Program.

The Korean program is a combined training program involving U.S. and Korean Marines, designed to enhance interoperability, combat readiness through equipment and operation familiarization training.

Diaz, a 1997 graduate of Basic High School, and a member of 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, said the two weeks spent cross training with South Korean Marines was beneficial for both of the fighting forces.

"I think it's good to familiarize ourselves with one another's training," said Diaz, a sergeant. "It is important to train together since we have a military presence in South Korea. You never know when you may have to work together."

Diaz said the South Korean Marines don't have a formal school for sniper training, so he started out by showing them the basics.

"We taught them some of the basic skills that we use," he said. "We went over most of the field skills such as field sketch, observations, range cards and 'Keep in Memory' games."

The South Korean marines did well on the field skills portion of training, but they had to focus a little more in other areas, Diaz said.

"Their company gunnery sergeant asked us to help them with land navigation," Diaz said. "Their land navigation is a little different than ours. So I started from scratch and began with plotting grids. They began picking it up after a few classes.

"I showed them the basic movements of stalking, the different types of camouflage and the different things that get you caught on a stalk site," Diaz said. "Their movement on the stalk site wasn't bad. They did their stalking without any gillie (specialized camouflage) suits, and they did pretty decent."

Guard judge advocate

Lt. Col. Michael Mills, a Las Vegas attorney, has been named state judge advocate for the Nevada National Guard. Maj. Gen. Giles Vanderhoof, Nevada adjutant general, named Mills to replace retiring Col. Richard Edwards.

The state judge advocate and his assistants serve the legal needs of Guard members as they deploy and return from active duty. In addition, Mills will advise Vanderhoof on military administrative cases and courts-martial.

Mills has practiced law in Las Vegas since 1988 after serving on active duty with the Army. He is a 1983 graduate of the University of Utah College of Law.

Academy commission

Emily Vinson, Bonanza High School class of 1999, has graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy. The new officer, daughter of John and Lyn Vinson of Las Vegas, received a degree in behavioral sciences and is scheduled to attend Intelligence School at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas.

In brief