Caption Time! (Army Sniper)

Yahoo! News (AP) ^ | 11/22/2004 | n/a

[Pyro7480]

A happy face smiles back from the scope of a U.S. Army sniper's rifle, during a mission searching for insurgents in Mosul, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 22, 2004. U.S. and Iraqi forces in Mosul have been working put down an uprising launched by guerrillas who seized police stations and other sites. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)

[PA Engineer]

When you care to send the very best.

[Mark]

I can envision this guy seeing his target and using Clinton's recent comment, "You don't want to go there..".

[bDubya]

Standing on the beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the arab on the ground
I can see his open mouth
But I hear no sound

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab

/Cure

[itsamelman]

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

I have seen a lot of pictures where soldiers/Marines had M-14s, and not all were for sniper work. Surely the current variant of the M-16 works well enough in the desert

I just guessing, but better ballistics at long range (.308 Vs .223)? Deserts are largely lots of wide open nothing, making long range shooting commonplace.

Regards,
GtG

[eyespysomething]

Loved it! That's where the Zot pic comes from!

[roamincadillac]

Smile at them heads explodin',
Smile at them mosques implodin',
Turbans all askew, cap a pinko reporter or two.
Smile at them windows breakin',
Nissans and Toyotas shakin',
You'll get much more done
With them pinko reporters on the run.
Smile at all the mindless "insurgin'",
Send 'em off to hump them "virgins",
Then hang out at the Green Zone a while
And smile, darn you, smile!

[Plutarch]

M-21

Nope in that configuration it is known as an xm-21

Okay, several posters have identified the rifle as an M-21. From the photograph, how does one tell if it is an M-1 Garand, M-14, or an M-21? And what is the difference between an xm-21 and an M-21?

[Americanwolf]

Yes.

[68skylark]

An M-1 Garand looks substantially different from the M-14 family, and M-1 Garands haven't been used in combat by U.S. troops since the 1960's. The weapon in the picture is clearly an M-14, or a very close variant of the M-14.

[punster]

SMILE!

This is Pick a Target, and you're it!

[Nightshift]

ping

[Hoplite]

I was kind of hard pressed to tell it from my M1, what with the upper receivers being similar, but if you look below the rifle, you can make out that the guy's got his fingers around the magazine, which an M1 doesn't have. The two rifles are easily distinguishable when viewed in their entirety, however.

M1 Garand, M-14 family.

[helen crump]

It isn't any trouble just to S-M-I-L-E.
It isn't any trouble just to S-M-I-L-E.
Whenever your in trouble
It will vanish like a bubble
If you'll only take the trouble
just to S-M-I-L-E!

[x1stcav]

XM-21 rules!

Carried one in the Nam. Oh, do I wish I had it today.

Got to get with the Springfield Armory folks.

[helen crump]

Isn't there a song called
Smile and the World Smiles with You
or something like that?

[tet68]

Oh there's a mile between the two Ss in smile.
But Achmed it's not far enough for you.
Achmed, meet Mr. Happy.
Aw, he doen't LIKE you.

[Professional Engineer]

Tag. You're it!