{"id":88629,"date":"2023-12-10T14:37:32","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T14:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?p=88629"},"modified":"2023-12-10T14:37:32","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T14:37:32","slug":"she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/","title":{"rendered":"She was told she wouldn&apos;t make it &#8211; now she&apos;s the first female sniper"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> When a close friend told her she&#8217;d never make it in the Army she got mad &#8211; now she&#8217;s the first female active-duty sniper in American history: &#8216;I really do appreciate the motivation&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sgt Macial Hay has become the first ever female active-duty sniper<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>She grew up firing guns on her family&#8217;s ranch and earned the nickname &#8216;sniper&#8217;\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Her next goal is to become a jumpmaster and she is considering attending ranger school\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Becoming the first ever female active-duty sniper was written in the stars for Maciel Hay &#8211; who grew up firing guns on her family&#8217;s ranch.<\/p>\n<p>Sgt Hay said shooting came naturally to her, and she practiced with rifles and hand guns on her family&#8217;s properties in Rocklin,\u00a0California and Medford,\u00a0Oregon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She was such a good shot that she quickly earned the nickname &#8216;sniper&#8217; as a child, saying it came from the fact &#8216;I could find things really fast, similar to how a sniper does target detection.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>But it wasn&#8217;t always easy &#8211; and when a close friend told her there was no chance she could make it in the Army &#8211; she took it as a challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She made it through basic training, qualifying as an expert with the M4 assault rifle, and graduated from airborne school as a cavalry scout with 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment (1-91 CAV), 173rd Airborne Brigade.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/10\/13\/78647169-12832539-Sgt_Hay_is_the_first_ever_active_duty_female_sniper-a-38_1702215719408.jpg\" height=\"957\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Sgt Hay is the first ever active-duty female sniper<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/10\/13\/78647171-12832539-She_graduated_sniper_school_at_Fort_Moore_Georgia_on_November_3_-a-41_1702215720247.jpg\" height=\"954\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>She graduated sniper school at\u00a0Fort Moore, Georgia on November 3, 2023<\/p>\n<p>She told the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS): &#8216;A close friend of mine told me I\u2019d never make it in the Army, and there\u2019s no way I could become a sniper.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Needless to say, that person is no longer part of my life. But now that I look back at it, I really do appreciate the motivation.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>She decided to become a sniper when she was at Sierra College, near her hometown of Rocklin.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She started off with basic training, but her sharpshooter skills caught the attention of army leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To qualify as an expert &#8211; like Sgt Hay had &#8211; snipers have to hit over 36 of 40 targets with their M4 assault rifle.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sgt Hay said: &#8216;Even though I only shot sharpshooter at first, then eventually expert later on in basic training, my drill sergeant encouraged me to pursue the goal of sniper school.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sniper school has a rigorous selection process &#8211; and candidates are usually experienced infantrymen who have demonstrated exceptional marksmanship skills.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They have to meet specific physical and mental requirements, as the demanding nature of sniper operations requires a high level of fitness, discipline and concentration.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/10\/13\/78647177-12832539-She_is_now_off_on_active_service_to_Anchorage_Alaska-a-40_1702215720191.jpg\" height=\"511\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>She is now off on active service to Anchorage, Alaska<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/10\/13\/78692627-12832539-Hay_grew_up_shooting_on_her_family_s_ranch_before_joining_the_ar-a-39_1702215720008.jpg\" height=\"636\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Hay grew up shooting on her family&#8217;s ranch before joining the army while at college<\/p>\n<p>Candidates are tested on their marksmanship, as well as\u00a0the art of stalking and concealment, observation and intelligence gathering, survival skills and land navigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sgt Hay said: &#8216;The rapid target engagement and intelligence reporting were two of the toughest areas for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I also struggled with the very last test where we had to engage long distance targets while sitting on our rucksacks. That position threw off my balance.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Her platoon Sgt, 1st Class Antwon Jones, 1-91 CAV, was amazed by her progress, he said: &#8216;Sgt. Hay is just an incredible non-commissioned officer that comes to work every day with the intention of making not only her team better, but also the entire organization.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>When she completed the training, she was\u00a0received certification as U.S. Army Snipers and became the first ever active duty female sniper.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Prior to Hay, only a female National Guardsman from Montana had completed the course but she didn&#8217;t continue as a sniper in active-duty.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Her family traveled from California to visit her at Fort Moore, Georgia, for the graduation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/10\/13\/78647165-12832539-Her_unit_is_the_U_S_Army_s_contingency_response_force_in_Europe_-a-37_1702215719353.jpg\" height=\"957\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Her unit is\u00a0the U.S. Army&#8217;s contingency response force in Europe &#8211;\u00a0providing rapidly deployable forces to the United States European, African and Central Command areas of responsibility<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/10\/13\/78647167-12832539-Her_graduation_was_the_first_time_her_family_had_seen_her_in_uni-a-42_1702215720248.jpg\" height=\"427\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Her graduation was the first time her family had seen her in uniform after Covid travel restrictions<\/p>\n<p>It was the first time they were able to see her in uniform, Hay said: &#8216;Due to COVID travel restrictions, they weren\u2019t able to make it to my basic training or advanced individual training a few years ago.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Then, I went straight to Germany to join my unit. So it was really nice to see them and I\u2019m grateful for their support.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Now she is qualified, she is off to Anchorage, Alaska, with the 1st Squadron (Airborne), 40th Cavalry Regiment.<\/p>\n<p>Her next goal is to become a jumpmaster &#8211;\u00a0the expert paratroopers in an airborne unit who train and teach\u00a0 &#8211; and said people keep telling her to take the ranger training.<\/p>\n<p>She said: &#8216;It&#8217;s great to hear stories about paratroopers doing great things.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But especially when it\u2019s a female defying the odds and proving women are just as capable to do anything when they have the motivation and drive to win.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12832539\/When-close-friend-told-shed-never-make-Army-got-mad-shes-female-active-duty-sniper-American-history-really-appreciate-motivation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When a close friend told her she&#8217;d never make it in the Army she got mad &#8211; now she&#8217;s the first female active-duty sniper in American history: &#8216;I really do appreciate the motivation&#8217; Sgt Macial Hay has become the first ever female active-duty sniper She grew up firing guns on her family&#8217;s ranch and earned the nickname &#8216;sniper&#8217;\u00a0 Her next<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>She was told she wouldn&amp;apos;t make it - now she&amp;apos;s the first female sniper - Celebrity Tidings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"She was told she wouldn&amp;apos;t make it - now she&amp;apos;s the first female sniper - Celebrity Tidings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When a close friend told her she&#8217;d never make it in the Army she got mad &#8211; now she&#8217;s the first female active-duty sniper in American history: &#8216;I really do appreciate the motivation&#8217; Sgt Macial Hay has become the first ever female active-duty sniper She grew up firing guns on her family&#8217;s ranch and earned the nickname &#8216;sniper&#8217;\u00a0 Her next\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Celebrity Tidings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-10T14:37:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna Scheid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/She-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Donna Scheid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/\",\"name\":\"She was told she wouldn&apos;t make it - now she&apos;s the first female sniper - Celebrity Tidings\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-10T14:37:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-10T14:37:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"World News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/category\/world-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"She was told she wouldn&apos;t make it &#8211; now she&apos;s the first female sniper\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/\",\"name\":\"Celebrity Tidings\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"Donna Scheid\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Donna Scheid\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"She was told she wouldn&apos;t make it - now she&apos;s the first female sniper - Celebrity Tidings","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"She was told she wouldn&apos;t make it - now she&apos;s the first female sniper - Celebrity Tidings","og_description":"When a close friend told her she&#8217;d never make it in the Army she got mad &#8211; now she&#8217;s the first female active-duty sniper in American history: &#8216;I really do appreciate the motivation&#8217; Sgt Macial Hay has become the first ever female active-duty sniper She grew up firing guns on her family&#8217;s ranch and earned the nickname &#8216;sniper&#8217;\u00a0 Her next","og_url":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/","og_site_name":"Celebrity Tidings","article_published_time":"2023-12-10T14:37:32+00:00","author":"Donna Scheid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/She-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Donna Scheid","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/","url":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/","name":"She was told she wouldn&apos;t make it - now she&apos;s the first female sniper - Celebrity Tidings","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-12-10T14:37:32+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-10T14:37:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/she-was-told-she-wouldnt-make-it-now-shes-the-first-female-sniper\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"World News","item":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/category\/world-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"She was told she wouldn&apos;t make it &#8211; now she&apos;s the first female sniper"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/","name":"Celebrity Tidings","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"Donna Scheid","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Donna Scheid"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}