HAMMELBURG, Germany — As the snipers crept through the dense wood and rain at the German Infantry School here, one of the soldiers was not like the others.

While all 15 snipers wore the same woodland camouflage uniform, one had an American flag on his right shoulder.

Sgt. Scott Lombardi of the Schweinfurt-based 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment Airborne is the lone U.S. representative at the four-week Advanced German Sniper Course. Lombardi, a veteran of Afghanistan, said the training helped him work alongside German coalition partners and hone his sniper team skills for combat.

The training, taught mostly by German combat veterans, teaches the snipers to work as team leaders.

It also helps soldiers understand their allied partners, according to German army Master Sgt. Andreas T., who was unable to give his entire last name because of international media regulations for the German army.

"Soldiers are fundamentally the same," Andreas said through an interpreter. "Their watches tick the same way, they have the same interests. Training like this helps in understanding each other and where we each are coming from regardless of what uniform we are wearing."

Building a coalition among snipers is exactly what the advanced training is about, according to an Army Training and Doctrine Command official at the school.

"This is a course designed for leaders, who will be in charge of snipers," said Maj. Nathan Hurt. "All of the people here are trained snipers, so they know how to do the hard work. But now they have to understand how to do the leadership — the planning, the execution, the developing of a sniping plan for the unit."

Participants have to build places to hide and then face scenarios they were likely to see in combat, Hurt said. They are then taught techniques and ways to handle the situations, he said.

This is the fourth time U.S. troops have gone through the training, and the officials say they hope it will continue even though some infantry units will be leaving Schweinfurt due to transformation.

"It is difficult to say where the future of the German-American training relationship is going," said Mike Cormier, joint forces international training liaison for the Schweinfurt American military community. "The infantry units are just not in Schweinfurt anymore."