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A ROYAL Marines sniper told yesterday how he felled an Iraqi gunman in a strong wind from more than half a mile..... The 7.62 calibre round from Matt’s L96 sniper rifle was aimed 56ft to the left to allow for the wind, and 35ft high to allow for the distance..... Matt said: “Sam told me I would have to fire exactly 17 metres to the left of the target for the bullet to bend in the wind and take him out.

And there are never any fluctuations in wind speed - - it always blows at exactly the same speed. Okay.

"Is this story for real?"

Good question. It really, really strains credibility.

I take it as the one incontrovertible fact in this article that the shooters hit their targets. After that, the specifics are subject to "adjustment" and/or faulty communication between the shooters and the reporter. It seems to me that the 35' of elevation would be a mite excessive, as just one example.

I have no idea what the extent and magnitude of record keeping is these days, but it is natural for some exaggeration to creep into these feats after the fact ... kind of like how that big bass gets bigger each time the story is told.

But who cares? What is important is that two shooters got two verified hits "over near the horizon". That should be enough.

Or two kills at point-blank range, for that matter. That's the only thing that counts in combat. All the rest is for the war story sessions afterwards for those who will buy the beers to hear it. :)