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Fighting around Fallujah a Marine sniper's 'dream'
LA Times via Omaha World-Herald ^
| April 17th, 2004
| Unknown @ LA TIMES
Posted on 04/17/2004 8:15:10 AM PDT by Hat-Trick
FALLUJAH, Iraq - Taking a short breather Friday, the 21-year-old Marine corporal explained what it was like to practice his lethal skill in the battle for this city.
"It's a sniper's dream," he said. "You can go anywhere, and there are so many ways to fire at the enemy without him knowing where you are."
The role of snipers has become a significant tactic for Marines in this "Sunni Triangle" city. Marine experts say Fallujah is among the most "target-rich" battlefields for snipers since the World War II battle for Stalingrad, during which German and Russian snipers dueled for months.
In negotiations aimed at ending the standoff in the city, the insurgents have demanded that the Marines pull back their snipers.
A shaky truce exists between the Marines who surround the city and the fighters within the circle.
But the cease-fire allows the Marines to carry out defensive operations within the city, which, among other things, they define as allowing fire on insurgents who display weapons, break the curfew or move their forces toward U.S. troops.
(Excerpt) Read more at omaha.com ...
TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: banglist; fallujah; iraq; longrangegreetings; marines; marinesnipers; muslims; scout; scoutsniper; sniper; war
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To: Hat-Trick
The version in the LAT is much more complete.
link
41
posted on
04/17/2004 9:07:01 AM PDT
by
Redcloak
(*This tagline out of service*)
To: Momaw Nadon
Lets give them something to remember us by. In the end they will have their sandlot back..but we should at least cull back the ones holding guns high and screaming for allah. Is the gatling gun still military issue?
42
posted on
04/17/2004 9:08:13 AM PDT
by
samadams2000
(Liberalism is communism one drink at a time)
To: Hat-Trick
"It felt good to do my job, good to take a bad guy out." Yesterday, I chatted with a patient that was a 15 year old in Holland during World War II. She told me how they had hidden two Jews in the house for a time and later had German troops quartered in their house against the family's wishes.
I jokingly asked her if "the Germans were nice" and she unexpectedly answered me that, yes, the German soldiers quartered in her house were actually very nice boys who had been drafted and didn't really want to be there unlike the SS who were pure evil.
One "good" thing about the Battle of Fallujah is that our Marine snipers will not have any future pangs of guilt about having to have killed two or three dozen "nice boys". The people being killed in Fajullah by our Marine snipers are definitely "bad guys" that need killing and our Marines feel good about their job.
43
posted on
04/17/2004 9:10:28 AM PDT
by
Polybius
To: taxcontrol
Personally, I would drop back to the tactics the Vietcong used. Wound a guy, leave him screaming, and then when his buddies come....... This young Marine says (in the less severely edited version in the LAT) that he uses a similar approach. He lets a wounded target scream for a while to demoralize his comrades before using a second shot. (It sounds like the brave Jihadis don't try to drag their fallen comrades to safety.)
44
posted on
04/17/2004 9:12:42 AM PDT
by
Redcloak
(*This tagline out of service*)
To: Polybius
"One "good" thing about the Battle of Fallujah is that our Marine snipers will not have any future pangs of guilt about having to have killed two or three dozen "nice boys". The people being killed in Fajullah by our Marine snipers are definitely "bad guys" that need killing and our Marines feel good about their job."
Indeed and I wonder if this is part of the "flypaper" military strategy. If so, it seems to be working.
45
posted on
04/17/2004 9:15:04 AM PDT
by
RichardW
To: Tennessee_Bob
What do you mean snipers? We never HAD any snipers, maybe YOU'RE the sniper, ever think of that? You might have a gun hiding under your turban right now waiting to shoot me when I go to the restroom, maybe you should think about yourself rather than us.
46
posted on
04/17/2004 9:17:42 AM PDT
by
Benrand
To: UltraKonservativen
One of my former students did some sniper work in Iraq...he's airborne. This is the weapon he used...he was telling my class about one shot he took one day...his spotter started laughing..."what are you laughing at...is he still on the roof?"..."uh...well, half of him still is."
The trooper kinda chuckled, I smiled, my students sat with their mouths hanging open...it reminded me how much they have been brainwashed with political correctness...he let them no in no uncertain terms, that that was one less guy who was going to hurt or kill his buddies...
It was a Kodak moment...
47
posted on
04/17/2004 9:23:47 AM PDT
by
Keith
(IT'S ABOUT THE JUDGES)
To: kittymyrib
>Thank you, all you Southern and Texas boys, for learning to shoot so well from your dads and grampas. We are raising another generation to follow you.
Interesting think about the best shots in RVN. I don't mean the bullet sprayers, but the real shooters.
The best were those "early shooters" from the South and West, especially those with real world hunting and firing range experience as opposed to just range experience.
The second excellent group where the kids with absolutely no weapons experience. They had no bad habits to unlearn. Saw a number of trainees who had never held a weapon before (literally never even having touched a firearm before) shoot 60/60 on the qual course, then go on to do very well at Advanced Marksmanship school.
One was a Boston rabbi's son who had been taught that weapons were an abomination. Ended up a great LRRPer. Routinely killed at 600+ meters on Nui ba Den. Could have shot further, but no way to see beyond that range in that area of III Corps.
48
posted on
04/17/2004 9:24:34 AM PDT
by
MindBender26
(For more news as it happens, news first, fast, 5 minutes sooner, stay tuned to FReeper Radio!)
To: ItisaReligionofPeace
In between shots of espresso and a snack of granola I'm sure...:0 Yep! Long wet mornings at the range followed by micro-brews at the local brewrey that evening have made many a Saturday. In between is time to clean the weapons.
To: RichardW
Indeed and I wonder if this is part of the "flypaper" military strategy. If so, it seems to be working. Yep. Unfortunately, it seems that many on FR consider anything less than the old fashioned "Hey diddle, diddle. Straight up the middle!" Marine infantry tactics to be a sign of U.S. weakness.
We are fighting smart in Fallujah and we are winning.
As Fallujah get progressively depopulated of civilians, only the "flies" will be left on the Fallujah flypaper and we will be turning Fallujah into not only a sniper's "target rich enviornment" but also into an air power and artillery "target rich enviornment".
50
posted on
04/17/2004 9:28:59 AM PDT
by
Polybius
To: samadams2000
Is the gatling gun still military issue?
51
posted on
04/17/2004 9:31:34 AM PDT
by
Momaw Nadon
(Goals for 2004: Re-elect President Bush, over 60 Republicans in the Senate, and a Republican House.)
To: Hat-Trick
ping for later pong
52
posted on
04/17/2004 9:33:46 AM PDT
by
InvisibleChurch
(I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it)
To: Momaw Nadon
thanks for that. I believe the war against "radical islam" is the perfect application for ole Billy!
53
posted on
04/17/2004 9:40:55 AM PDT
by
samadams2000
(Liberalism is communism one drink at a time)
To: MindBender26
Routinely killed at 600+ meters on Nui ba Den. Could have shot further, but no way to see beyond that range in that area of III Corps. what kind of weapon did he use?
54
posted on
04/17/2004 9:44:17 AM PDT
by
OldCorps
To: RichardW
"Wound a guy, leave him screaming, and then when his buddies come....... That's illegal where we hunt..
It's called Shooting Over a Baited Field....
Don't you just wish you could be there, just for a few hours of course!
Semper Fi
55
posted on
04/17/2004 9:45:18 AM PDT
by
river rat
(You may turn the other cheek...But I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
To: Hat-Trick
BUMP
56
posted on
04/17/2004 9:46:40 AM PDT
by
GrandMoM
(GOD is working in secret, behind the scenes even when it looks like nothing will ever change! JM)
To: Hat-Trick
anti-terrorism bump
57
posted on
04/17/2004 9:51:56 AM PDT
by
miltonim
To: Hat-Trick
They don't hear the shot until they are already falling into the dirt.
I think they should let all the marine snips in the whole service come there for some target practice.
After all, these terrorists like the snips so much they put a price on their head.
58
posted on
04/17/2004 9:53:14 AM PDT
by
dila813
To: dila813
Exactly, bring them all in big time.
They'll start behaving like angels very quickly, and peace will prevail.
59
posted on
04/17/2004 9:56:46 AM PDT
by
norraad
("What light!">Blues Brothers)
To: Momaw Nadon
That guy looks like the former Governor of Minnesota
60
posted on
04/17/2004 9:57:16 AM PDT
by
Rome2000
(Foreign leaders for Kerry!!!!!)
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