Posted on 06/13/2015 4:58:11 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
It was the summer of 2011 in southern Helmand province, Afghanistan, and mission after mission, Sgt. Ben McCullar of Third Battalion, Second Marines, would insert with his eight-man sniper team into the berms and dunes north of the volatile town of Musa Qala.
Sometimes they would fire at a group of enemy fighters, sometimes the enemy would fire at them first, but almost immediately, McCullar explained, their team would be pinned down by machine guns that outranged almost all of their sniper rifles.
“They’d set up at the max range of their [machine guns] and start firing at us,” McCullar said. “We’d take it until we could call in [close air support] or artillery.”
The story of McCullar and his snipers is not an isolated one. For 14 years, Marine snipers have suffered setbacks in combat that, they say, have been caused by outdated equipment and the inability of the Marine Corps to provide a sniper rifle that can perform at the needed range.
They trace the problem to the relatively small Marine sniper community that doesn’t advocate effectively for itself because it is made up of junior service members and has a high turnover rate.Additionally, snipers say that the Marine Corps’ weapons procurement process is part of an entrenched bureaucracy resistant to change.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
DHS has the same budget as the USMC and twice the people.
Yup. We spend over $90 Billion on one give away program - Food Stamps. There are over 65 welfare programs alone. The budget of the entire US Marines is less than $25 Billion.
The priorities of rainbows and unicorns child mentalities at work.
It’s got nothing to do with their ‘sniper’ weaponry.
It’s got everything to do with Rules of Engagement.
About 6 years ago I was at a bar-b-que with an LTC of field artillery. He was back from his 3rd tour of the arm-pit. As we talked, he was quite proud that the last unit he commanded got some sort of an efficiency award for being able to consistently put fire on atarget within 20 minutes.
I said, ‘excuse me, but don’t you mean 2 minutes’? He said, ‘No, 20 minutes’.
I said, ‘In my day, if the maps were accurate, etc. I could bring fire within 2-3 minutes’.
He said, in so many words, ‘That was your generation. We get a fire request and it has to go up through the JAG types and then be approved by a least a General grade’.
Hell of a way to fight a war.
I think we need to give them snipers rifle vouchers let them get what ever they want
And the quality of their people is much less than half that of the USMC.
really? out of 600 billion? we should have a staggering war machine for that yearly amount. and the marines should have top notch weaponry.
good lord. Taliban had weapons with longer range? thank goodness for air support.
The M-40 7.62x51 is only really good out to 800 meters and 1000 meters is a push. The Remington is old and poor on it’s best day. Step up to the Desert Industries in .338 Lapua and you get 1600 to 2000 meters. Step up to the .416 and 2200 meters is the shit. If all else false use a .50 BMG and lobe 660 gr. rounds down range. The USMC needs to get in gear with the new world of weapons and gear.
Your tag line also reminds me of Pat Schroeder.
She always had the look that said either she just sucked on a lemon, or a man asked her for sex. Same difference to her.
Hell of a way to fight a war.
No kidding. It was the same when we were in Beirut. We had to call up the chain just to lock and load. Most people do not know that the corporal of the guard was on the hood of the suicide bomber’s truck trying to load his side arm when they blew up BLT HQ.
What a difference from WWII. A father of a buddy of mine in the Corps was company gunny on Iwo at 19. He was a PFC and the only one with any time in grade left alive in his company.
She was a smarmy b!tch.
MG’s with more range than a combat sniper rifle?? What are they using, slingshots?
TOO MUCH FEDERAL Givernment effects every one BADLY from rich to poor 24/7/365... black, white, mulatto, latin, asian, eye rollers, sodomists, bully’s, wimp’s, man, women, the confused, religious, atheist, smart, dumb.. or almost dead..
Even the SUPER-Equal with license to commit crime are effected..
The absolute LAST THING the federal givernment needs is MORE MONEY..
The patriotic thing is to HIDE EVERY SHECKLE you have.. from being taxed.. liened, penalty-ied, attached, stolen, permited, licensed, or purloined in some other fashion....
MONEY is drug to the feds.. and their HIGH as Moonbats on it..
And will PimP Lady Liberty as a whore to get MORE..
Uncle Sam is an ADDICT...
I wonder what keeps them from just buying off the shelf Barretts in .338 Lapua?
The M40 is built by Precision Weapons Section, a component of the Marine Corps that is contracted by Marine Corps Systems Command and is primarily staffed by Marine armorers. It exists solely to build and repair the Marines’ precision weapons.
Chris Sharon, a former chief sniper school instructor in Quantico, says that there has been a reluctance to cut the M40 program because it could make Precision Weapons Section redundant.
“Nobody wants to be the one who kills PWS,” said Sharon, who is also a former contractor for Marine Corps Systems Command, noting that killing the rifle would significantly downsize one element of the Marine Corps.
It sounds like the Marines are their own worst enemy on this one. It's not a matter of funding or lack of viable alternative but internal bureaucracy that is standing in the way.
Do you remember how long it took to do a quick fire with a 155?
It seemed to me that we could stop the truck, detach the gun, drop the spades, and get a round into the air in seconds, but I just can’t remember (my artillery days were more than 40 years ago).
It seems like it was done so quickly though, that it was hard to believe, do you know?
When I say seconds, I mean only a couple or 3 or 4 minutes.
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