Posted on 01/16/2015 10:34:34 AM PST by Steelfish
JANUARY 16, 2015 Smearing Snipers: What Many Americans Don’t Get about Our Warrior Elite We should be proud of men like Chris Kyle, not skittish or ashamed. By Chris Mark
About ten years ago, an employer of mine had an odd request: I needed to delete an aspect of my military career from my professional biography because it might “offend” a potential client or partner. Recon Marine, infantry Marine, service-disabled veteran . . . those were a boon.
But “Scout Sniper,” one of the greatest accomplishments I had as a Marine — that had to go.
Sadly, that kind of slight is not uncommon for some of our nation’s most elite warriors.
“Murderer,” “assassin,” “heartless”: The modern sniper is an oft-maligned and largely misunderstood individual, and Hollywood has played a part. For too long, it’s wrongly portrayed snipers as troubled men struggling through a lonely life, anguished by their memories of too many “murders.”
The new biopic American Sniper, while taking artistic license and departing a bit from the book of the same name, attempts to shows a real sniper in an honest light — as the serious, patriotic professional he is.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
"Why are you dodging like this? They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." - Gen John Sedgwick
Uh...that would be the late Gen. Sedgwick.
Doesn’t seem like a good idea to talk smack about someone that could take you out from over a mile away. Maybe it’s just me.
I can think of few things that instill fear and paralysis among the enemy more than an effective sniper.
Snipers save the lives of those living in an evil regime, but not participating it it's evil.
We had a sniper in our unit when I was in Vietnam. I’m not sure why as we were a river and coastal unit, but once a month they would send him up near the Cambodian border to sit in a tower and snipe at the VC base camps in Cambodia a few miles away. His job was to make sure that they didn’t get a good night’s sleep. I don’t think he killed many of them, but they never stayed out in the open for very long.
It does not take a real combat Infantryman to pull the trigger from 2000 yards. Pull the trigger from 10 yards in and you might know what it feels like to kill someone.
HA!
I work for the worlds largest defense contractor and THEY edited my in-house resume.
From: Nuclear Weapon Specialist
To: Weapons Specialist
As for long shots:
The Mk 12 Re-entry Systems take out targets at 7,500 miles.
As a young lieutenant at that US Army Armor School, one of the more humorous speeches we were given at reception was by Col. J.W. Thurman who advised us that as tankers, “Ya’ll are hitmen for Uncle Sam, and he is about to issue you a 120mm sniper rifle.” :-)
1: Have you ever been in either of those situations? If not, then STHU.
2: In every account of snipers I've ever read, there is real emotion involved in the aftermath of taking the life on another human life. Certainly, that emotion is tempered by the knowledge that the poor b-stard on the receiving end of a trigger pull deserved his fate, but that only lessens the emotional toll it takes, not removes it.
3: Snipers are as much in danger every minute they're out there as any infantryman - maybe even more, because enemy combatants target them specifically, largely because of the havoc they can wreak on them.
Snipers unfortunately have never been well regarded or appreciated. In the Revolutionary War their skills were looked upon as ungentlemanly and not befitting the set piece rules of battle that were used at the time. Opinions were not changed all that much up through Viet Nam. It was always amazing that their skills were considered to be less than honorable and murderous even though unlike artillery, bombing, gas warfare, the sniper was often all alone and close in to the enemy. A single scout sniper can have as much effect on the enemy as a platoon or even a company depending on the situation.
It is best to realize that. You can try to educate them when they are in a responsive mood.
But on resumes you have to play to the lowest common denominator.
I spend a large segment of my career on the key turning end of the W62/Mk12 reentry system.
LOL!
Ah...yes...every shot right through the window.
If there wasn’t a window there before, there is now.
My tour was at VAFB, CA. supporting Operational Test Flights.
Did you ever launch from there?
V I O L E N C E solves PROBLEMS
I’ll be heading out on one of my rare visits to a movie theater tomorrow to see “American Sniper”.
In the final analysis, veterans of all kinds can be congratulated, because what they did is somewhat nebulous. Snipers, on the other hand, kill. No bones about it.
Psychologically, the difference is great, though hypocritical. An A-10 or bomber pilot might have racked up a hundred times as many enemy killed, but there is a psychological gap there. Likewise, a field artilleryman might splash any number of bad guys without a psychological hitch.
But a sniper put a bullet in an enemy fighter. That is very easy for the mind to grasp. And it is unfortunate, but it is a fact of life that there is prejudice against snipers because of it.
I read his book, and enjoyed it.
He had a lot of problems with his home life, but in a war, this is ABSOLUTELY the guy you want defending your country.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.