Xavier Lendof is founder and principal of Greystone, a training company addressing military and law enforcement agencies’ growing need to enhance their operators’ proficiency and instill confidence via realistic scenarios.

Xavier has dedicated over 20 years to military expertise, beginning his career with the USMC, where he became a Force Reconnaissance Marine and a Scout Sniper, then transitioned to the US Army, earned the Green Beret, was also assigned to a Special Missions Unit (SMU), and eventually deployed to over 20 countries around the world.

He is Greystone’s Course Director for sniper training.

Shooting 1,000 meters plus at waterborne targets

Thomas Lojek: Can you give us an update on your latest work as a sniper instructor?

Xavier Lendof: I’m one of the instructors for the Maritime Sniper Course in Greece, in Crete.

Also, I’m creating an extended-range maritime sniper course for them.

It’s basically shooting 1,000 meters plus at waterborne targets.

This is going to be for higher calibers, to be able to stretch that distance out.

Right now, with waterborne targets, we’re using 7.62 or 5.56 semi-automatic assault rifles from helicopters, from the shore, but not very far.

Well, furthest is about 600 meters.

My extended-range training allows participants to shoot out to 1,000 meters plus, so they can stretch the rifle and stretch the range.

How to stop these boats with a single, precise round

Thomas Lojek: Sounds like a challenge. But what would real-life operational deployment look like for this training?

Xavier Lendof: I will give you an example:

Narco-trafficking organizations frequently use high-powered RHIBs and modified “narco-lanchas” capable of extreme speed and maneuverability.

These vessels pose a challenge for interdiction forces due to distance, sea state, target movement, and safety considerations for boarding teams.

Through our controlled, scenario-based exercises, operators learn to:

• Apply stable firing solutions from maritime platforms, including vessels, aircraft, and coastal positions.

• Deliver accurate disabling shots to engines and critical components without escalating to unnecessary force.

• Conduct rapid target acquisition, track movement in shifting sea conditions, and maintain precision under stress.

• Integrate observation, range estimation, and ballistic data specifically adapted to maritime environments.

What we do is enabling interdiction forces to stop or disable narco-vessels safely and decisively, reducing the risk to boarding agents, maritime patrol crews, and surrounding civilian maritime traffic.

A real-life operational example would be at the Southern Border of Europe.

Spanish authorities, facing increasingly aggressive and technologically advanced smuggling routes across the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alborán Sea, Greystone’s maritime sniper program provides a practical, immediately effective capability that supports national counter-narcotics objectives and maritime security operations.

Short: We teach snipers how to stop these boats with a single, precise round — for example, by disabling their high-speed motors from a distance.

One well-placed shot from a trained sniper is still cheaper, more flexible, and delivers immediate results compared to purchasing an entirely new fleet of maritime vessels, investing in advanced technologies, and training full crews to operate them.

The role of the sniper is expanding and evolving

Thomas Lojek: It’s also interesting because it seems the role of the sniper is expanding and evolving?

Xavier Lendof: Yes, in my opinion, the battlefield looks very different today, especially with the Ukraine-Russian war.

They’ve changed the way we fight wars, I think, permanently.

Drones are changing warfare immensely.

Militaries are creating units specific to drone and counter-drone warfare.

The current sniper will need to implement those in varying degrees, and more so today than ever.

And I think having portable drones instead of ones launched from somewhere else, by someone else, will become the norm.

So, the sniper himself or the sniper team can deploy and operate at will in their area of observation or area of operations.

I think that’s going to be the norm, in addition to other technology.

Obviously, there’s the Kestrel, weapon systems are becoming more accurate, optics are clearer, ergonomics all around.

However, I think the main game changer are drones.

If the batteries die, if the power goes out…

Thomas Lojek: With the pace of technological disruption, isn’t there a risk that operators become “over-technologized” and end up relying too much on tools rather than core skills?

Xavier Lendof: You cannot beat human judgment.

You still need the sniper’s judgment to execute specific operations.

It cannot be completely left to a drone (or AI, or your tools).

But with today’s technology, I fear that some of the operators, maybe younger snipers who grow up using that technology, move away from some essential skills and natural judgment that are crucial in combat situations.

If the batteries die, if the power goes out, some of them might not know where to go or what to do.

Which is why, with my courses, I focus on the fundamentals.

One of the things that I tell all the students is:

Elite skills demand current and consistent mastery of the fundamentals.

I believe that statement to be true and applicable to most, if not all, professions.

Efficiency in a dynamic combat situation

Thomas Lojek: How do you define efficiency in a dynamic combat situation?

Xavier Lendof: Getting in the position quickly, in as little time as possible.

Identifying that you need to engage, and then actually engaging as quickly as possible. (Making quick, but efficient decisions).

As for efficiency, one shot center mass is better than one shot in the shoulder.

Sure, you hit the shoulder.

But the individual can possibly do something else.

One shot center mass, one shot, and that person should be down.

If they’re not, then they’re probably wearing some kind of body armor or something.

But they will be slowed down, stunned, or hurt; even then you gain the initiative.

That’s what I mean by efficient.

Combat stress is a different kind of stress

Thomas Lojek: How do you replicate the stress of a real combat situation in training?

Xavier Lendof: I try not to replicate combat stress in my training, because that’s a different kind of stress.

So, what I try to do is induce stress in other ways, with time constraints, with limited space available to shoot, with the types of targets that you shoot.

And most of the time, you’ll find people get stressed out enough when you make the target smaller, further away, and with less time to engage.

Then if you add a score to it, people begin to stress.

Immediately.

Participants are going to get stressed a little.

We don’t replicate a combat environment or combat stress.

Just some of the challenges they will face in most environments.

It comes with training, lots of training

Thomas Lojek: Isn’t being a sniper, in a way, a kind of “living dilemma”?

What I mean is: as a deployed sniper you often spend long periods waiting — sometimes nothing happens at all — yet you must remain on constant high alert.

How do you shift from that mindset of watching and waiting into immediate action while still maintaining sound judgment in those critical seconds of transition, especially in a dynamic situation?

Xavier Lendof: A lot of times, as with a reconnaissance element for example, there’s gonna be lengthy periods of zero activity.

You’re just sitting there recording, or looking, observing, and nothing will happen.

Then all of a sudden, a few actions would take place, and you gotta get up or run and do your job.

That comes with patience and experience.

That patience has to be instilled.

You have to be disciplined and have the patience to lay there or sit there and observe for hours, however long it takes, until you have to withdraw or until something happens.

But it is difficult to sit there and look at nothing.

Nobody wants to sit in an OP and look at nothing.

It’s boring, but you have to train it.

Over and over again, just to get used to how you’re going to operate when you’re in a final firing position, or in your firebase, in your hide site, whatever the case might be, and you have to stay there for a long period of time.

If you train that over and over again, you start to understand:

How are you gonna operate?
When are you gonna eat?
Where are you gonna sit?
How are you gonna observe?
How are you gonna take turns observing?

Because you’re not gonna be alone, you’ll most likely be with your team.

When maintaining security, who’s gonna eat and when?
What if you gotta go to the bathroom?
How do we work through that?

So… it comes with training, lots of training.

That’s how people start getting used to that type of boredom.

Because if you’re observing a target, nothing’s happening, you’re going to be bored, but you have to stay there and observe until something does happen.

So training is absolutely essential for that.

A solid foundation for being a sniper

Thomas Lojek: How does an operator know that they’ve developed the right balance between patience and decisive action — that they can confidently handle the operation, its challenges, and its unknowns?

Xavier Lendof: So, when you’re observing, you are most likely in a sniper team.

And you’re observing a target, you’re anticipating someone’s arrival, or you’re waiting for some kind of trigger event to happen.

Now, if you do see something, you will communicate that.

And the spotter should see it too… you both should be looking at the same thing.

And they’re in communication with each other, talking; “Okay, something is happening. I see a guy with a blue shirt, he’s moving toward”…

Now, in this particular situation, the sniper team would already have a range card.

They would already have their distances to wherever the potential targets are.

Their elevations, they’re accounting for wind.

Wind is constantly changing, but sometimes it’s a consistent direction and velocity.

However, they will have that information laying out, ready to go.

So, if there’s a target at the third house we’re looking at: “Okay, on my range card, that’s at 530 meters. My elevation for that is…”

As you’re observing, somebody’s also recording it, writing it down, in an activity log, and all of that will be happening simultaneously.

Once you learn to be comfortable with all these aspects and actions happening while being confident and prepared to act, then you’ve built a solid foundation for being a sniper.

You have to train that.

Is a sniper’s success is also a team success?

Thomas Lojek: What procedures ensure that a sniper’s transition from observer to a use-of-force decision remains effective — and isn’t negatively influenced by long periods of observation or by a fatigued mind playing tricks on him?

Xavier Lendof: Let’s say you are waiting in your sniper position for a certain individual.

We’re not sure when he’s gonna show up.

But we do expect him to show up because he has a meeting at this particular time early in the morning.

But sometimes they’re late because they’re stuck somewhere having coffee.

So we’ve sent two teams to observe from different angles.

Recon the area and as soon as you have positive identification of the target, confirm, and then eliminate the target and withdraw.

The sniper teams go in and observe the target.

For however long it takes.

They’ll have periods, hours, with nothing happening, but the snipers are still observing, still in place, in their position, making sure they catch whatever happens.

Now, they’ll have shifts as well.

Because your eyes can also get tired.

You can also get complacent, so it’s important to have some kind of relief in place.

Because it can get tiring.

You want to keep your guys as fresh as possible, because once we start we don’t know when we’ll be able to stop.

So, you switch them out to make sure they get a little bit of rest, get a little bit of food, they’re comfortable for a minute, maybe catch a nap, depending on the security posture, and then when it’s their time to observe again, they go back up, and vice versa.

Training these types of unit exercises are necessary, and they give sniper teams a good idea of what it’s like sitting in a hide site and looking at nothing for hours, maybe days.

Thomas Lojek: So, in the end, a sniper’s success is also a team success?

Xavier Lendof: Yes, yes, absolutely.

In my opinion, it’s never a single job.

You need other people, your team.

The sniper’s role: Things have changed drastically

Thomas Lojek: I’m thinking about the broader operational environment.

All the years of the war on terrorism have also changed the entire sniper universe, right?

With so many lessons learned, years of urban warfare, and thousands of missions — to what extent has this reshaped the sniper and his role?

Xavier Lendof: Things have changed drastically.

There’s a lot more emphasis on urban environments, on urban sniping.

Bigger now than it was, maybe 30 years ago.

Plus all the advances that we’ve made in ballistics, weapon systems, optics, calculating ranges, the rounds themselves.

Rifles are more accurate now than they were, you know, 30 years ago.

That all plays a role.

With our training at Greystone, I typically focus on urban sniper training.

But it also depends on what the unit wants to do.

Say they want to work specifically on long-range sniping… I’ll develop and design a training event with their input, of course, because I want to know their aims so I can meet their objectives.

I look through my library of past after-action reviews and how we can implement case studies and after-action reports into that specific training.

When it comes to tactics, techniques, and procedures, countering enemy snipers, that’s one thing.

But first and foremost, before we even get into those, I solidify the foundational aspects of sniping.

And every little thing counts when we’re shooting long range.

It’s less forgiving the further out you go.

This never changes.

That’s why fundamentals matter.

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