Are Snipers the Ultimate Cool Soldier?

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 3/21/2017 | J Hines

[lacrew]

Interesting. I’ve read that snipers used to be looked down upon...not enough chivalry for the era. Now, they’re ‘cool’.

[Frederick303]

As a kid in the 1970s I recall that none of the service man of my fathers generation (WWII) had anything good to say about snipers, friend or foe. I seemed to recall hearing a few of the guys chuckling over lighting up one Jap sniper with a flame thrower and watching him in this death throes as he burned to death, a gruesome and horrid end. The comment was, not one would waste a bullet to end his misery.

Now I asked my father about that, as it seemed rather barbaric at the time. His response (paraphrased) was that snipers shot men when they could not strike back, were professional killers, not soldiers and as such could “expect no quarter”. He and his generation viewed them as sociopaths or quite close to such.

Most of the American vets I recall were combat support roles, not front line soldiers, the few guys I seem to recall that were combat types were Germans, but they did not like snipers either. The few combat vests were from the pacific and they were by no means at all kindly disposed to the Japs at all, but they were the ones with the harshest things to say about snipers. Take it for what you will.

[PLMerite]

“.........but those little guns are cute.”

Like the snipers say, “you gotta get out of the tank to use the can eventually.”

[central_va]

The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

[Delta 21]

You’ve obviously never been on one for an extended stay.

Thats just one and two of many reasons you dont go ripping open every ‘empty’ .50cal can you find just layin around.

[vladimir998]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzCOFER-4hI

A song dedicated to her by a fellow commie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHKjOl9ocR0

[Lumper20]

One of the MACVSOG recon types who was KIA and posthumously awarded the CMH told a senior officer I knew well -”you have never really killed a man until you have looked into his eyes.” I don’t think there is a coolest or a best as it takes all MOS’s to win. This recent glory seeking by certain SPECOPS types goes against what we were taught. I was always proud to be a quiet professional.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

[Farmer Dean]

Snipers can break down the other side’s morale.NVA troops refused to go out on patrol when Hathcock was working the area.

[Poison Pill]

while putting a half dozen rounds into her target for fun, “Lyudmila, Stop playing with your food.

Sounds like psychopath

[archy]

We are on the exact same page, though when I started out in the treadhead biz, the MOS designation was still 11-Educated.

When a couple of local sheriff's department SWAT team riflemen and I were discussing equipment recently, one asked me what kind of rifle I preferred. I told him my favourite was the M68 rifle with a 10x telescopic sight, but that the 52-ton bipod could be inconvenient....

On the waaaay!

[VietVet876]

My service wasn’t anything to talk about. Just a cog in the Big Machine. I was lucky because I was a week away from being drafted when I enlisted in the USN for 4 years. On the day of my induction, every other Army draftee was drafted into the USMC and proceeded directly to Parris Island. That was in December of 1967.

[archy]

This is a man who led from the front.

Irish Guards Commander Tim Collins addresses his men before they enter Iraq.

There were some damned fine men and women in that bunch then, from the man at the top to the bottom. There still are; they took him at his word, and they lived up to it.

[mad_as_he$$]

Every cog has a place and a purpose, all necessary for operation of the machine.

Thank you for your service!