Arron Perry
Encyclopedia
- For the U.S. Congress member, see Aaron F. PerryAaron F. PerryAaron Fyfe Perry was a U.S. Representative from Ohio.Born in Leicester, Vermont, Perry attended the public schools and Yale Law School. He was admitted to the bar of Connecticut in 1838. He moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he was admitted to the bar in 1840 and commenced practice...
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Arron Perry is a former Master Corporal
Master Corporal
Master Corporal , in the Canadian Forces and the Royal Canadian Army Cadets is an appointment of the rank of Corporal in the Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Airforce...
in the Canadian Forces
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
who supposedly in March 2002 briefly held the record for the longest recorded sniper kill
Longest recorded sniper kills
Reports regarding the longest recorded sniper kill that contain information regarding the shooting distance and the identity of the sniper have been presented to the general public since 1967. Snipers in modern warfare have had a long history since the development of long distance weaponry...
in combat at a range of 2310 m (2,526 yd). This shot exceeded the previous record of Carlos Hathcock
Carlos Hathcock
Carlos Hathcock was a United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant sniper with a service record of 93 confirmed kills. Hathcock's record and the extraordinary details of the missions he undertook made him a legend in the Marine Corps...
set in 1968 by 24 m (26.2 yd).
Perry's record was surpassed in March 2002 by another member of his sniper team Corporal Rob Furlong
Rob Furlong
Rob Furlong , is a former corporal of the Canadian Forces, who held the record for the longest confirmed sniper kill in combat, at 2,430 metres...
, who shot a Taliban fighter at a verified range of 2430 m (2,657 yd).
Perry was a member of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is one of the three regular force infantry regiments of the Canadian Army. The regiment is composed of four battalions including a primary reserve battalion, for a total of 2,000 soldiers...
, but began his military career with a Halifax Militia unit, the Princess Louise Fusiliers.
Military career
Perry was a member of a five-man team of snipers as part of Canada's contributions to Operation AnacondaOperation Anaconda
Operation Anaconda took place in early March 2002 in which the United States military and CIA Paramilitary Officers, working with allied Afghan military forces, and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization and non NATO forces attempted to destroy al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the Shahi-Kot...
in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
during 2002. The Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
sniper team consisted of MCpl Graham Ragsdale
Graham Ragsdale
Master Corporal Graham Ragsdale of the Canadian Forces was the commander of the Third Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry sniper team attached to the 101st Airborne of the U.S. Army during Operation Anaconda in the Shah-i-kot Valley, Paktia Province, Afghanistan in March, 2002...
(Team Commander), MCpl Tim McMeekin, MCpl Arron Perry, Cpl Dennis Eason and Cpl Rob Furlong
Rob Furlong
Rob Furlong , is a former corporal of the Canadian Forces, who held the record for the longest confirmed sniper kill in combat, at 2,430 metres...
from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is one of the three regular force infantry regiments of the Canadian Army. The regiment is composed of four battalions including a primary reserve battalion, for a total of 2,000 soldiers...
(PPCLI). Ragsdale's team received praise from United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
colleagues for killing a significant number of Taliban and al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
combatants. When the operation ended, each of the five were recommended for the Bronze Star
Bronze Star Medal
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
. Among the team's accomplishments was a 2,430 metre shot fired by Corporal
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
Rob Furlong
Rob Furlong
Rob Furlong , is a former corporal of the Canadian Forces, who held the record for the longest confirmed sniper kill in combat, at 2,430 metres...
that killed an al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
soldier carrying an RPK
RPK
The RPK is a 7.62x39mm light machine gun of Soviet design, developed by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the late 1950s, parallel with the AKM assault/battle rifle...
. The shot was fired from a .50-caliber McMillan Brothers TAC-50 rifle
McMillan Tac-50
The McMillan Tac-50 sniper rifle is produced in Phoenix, Arizona in the United States by the McMillan Brothers Rifle Company. This long-range anti-materiel/anti-personnel weapon is based on previous designs from the same company, which first appeared during the late 1980s...
.
This record was, in its turn, broken when, using an Accuracy International
Accuracy International
Accuracy International is a specialist British firearms manufacturer based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England and best known for producing the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare series of precision sniper rifles...
L115A3, British Corporal Craig Harrison
Craig Harrison
Craig Harrison is a retired lecturer, author, playwright, and scriptwriter probably best known for novel The Quiet Earth. Harrison's output has ranged widely, from science fiction to junior fiction, to comedies parodying academia...
killed two Taliban with consecutive shots at a distance of 2.47 kilometres (8120 ft) in Helmand Province
Helmand Province
Helmand is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the southwest of the country. Its capital is Lashkar Gah. The Helmand River flows through the mainly desert region, providing water for irrigation....
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
in November 2009. He then fired a third shot and hit the Taliban's PKM machinegun in perhaps the most prodigious feat of marksmanship in military history. Although it took him nine initial shots to range his target.
Controversy
In 1993, while a member of Op Harmony Roto II with 2 PPCLI, Perry wrote a letter to his mother back home, claiming he and his partner had discovered a group of Serbs raping a woman. After sending his partner to get help, he had single-handedly killed four Serbs in hand to hand combat while rescuing the woman, and then given her first aid until help arrived. His mother went to the news media, asking why they were not covering acts like her son's bravery. The media went to DND, requesting information on this action and permission to interview Perry. Subsequent investigation by DND and 2VP determined that the supposed action never occurred. Perry was required to write letters of apology to the news media, and removed from his section and reassigned back to the rear with support personnel. He remained there during the fighting at Medak Pocket shortly afterwards and for the remainder of that tour.Later in 2002, Perry was accused of discreditable conduct by the Canadian Armed Forces. Forces personnel investigated allegations that he had desecrated a combatant's corpse by removing a finger, putting a cigarette in its mouth, and placing a sign reading "Fuck Terrorism" on its chest. Military police
Military police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
also suspected that Perry had defecated on another corpse. After a ten month investigation it was determined that there was not enough evidence to successfully prosecute criminal charges.
Rumours of the record-setting shot began to circulate while the investigation was ongoing, leading some to speculate and later claim that the shot had been made by Perry. In its May 15, 2006 issue, Maclean's
Maclean's
Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...
Magazine, a Canadian weekly news journal, revealed that it was Furlong and not Perry who fired the shot. While public speculation was ongoing about Perry making that shot, he never said anything to refute those allegations. Just prior to Cpl Rob Furlong's longest recorded sniper kill, MCpl Arron Perry supposedly recorded the second longest recorded sniper kill in history from 2,310 metres. This surpassed the previous record of 2,286 metres set by U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock
Carlos Hathcock
Carlos Hathcock was a United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant sniper with a service record of 93 confirmed kills. Hathcock's record and the extraordinary details of the missions he undertook made him a legend in the Marine Corps...
during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
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In April 2005, Perry left the Canadian military to pursue his own interests.