‘He’s the legacy now’ — Meet the Army’s father-son sniper duo
“I grew up playing in the ghillie wash trench and stuff like that ... It was always a dream of mine."
BY HALEY BRITZKY | PUBLISHED APR 6, 2022 8:57 AM
L: Larry and Ryan Davis in 1996. R: Larry and Ryan Davis recreating the original photo, after Ryan's sniper school graduation in 2017. (Photos via Larry Davis).
FORT BENNING, Georgia — Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Davis was not even 10 years old before he could do something that some people twice his age struggle with. He could spot trace, meaning he could watch a sniper fire at a target downrange, follow that bullet through a scope, and determine how far off the shooter was from where they meant to hit.
It’s not a talent most kids pick up — but then again, most kids’ dads aren’t Army sniper instructors.
“Ryan grew up around a lot of the competitors, and being up at the schoolhouse, I brought him out every chance I had,” said Larry Davis, an Army sniper veteran and Ryan’s father. “I mean he was probably seven or eight years old, and he could spot trace. We’d get kids coming through that are 19, 20, 21 years old, can’t spot trace … Somebody would shoot and I’d go, where’d it go Ryan? He’d go, ‘About that far!’”
From the moment Ryan was born, it seemed he was destined for a career as a sniper like his father. Now he’s the primary instructor at the U.S. Army Sniper School for target detection, and on Monday he was running an event he created called “Know Your Limits” at the International Sniper Competition at Fort Benning. The competition drew 30 three-man teams from throughout the U.S. military and around the world. By Monday morning, they’d been up for more than 12 hours when they arrived at Maertens Range for Ryan’s event, where two shooters from each team attempted to win points by shooting various sized targets for score based on their size.
https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/army-snipers-larry-ryan-davis-father-son/
