Fighting around Fallujah a Marine sniper's 'dream'

LA Times via Omaha World-Herald ^ | April 17th, 2004 | Unknown @ LA TIMES

[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.

[Hat-Trick]

A Marine Scout Sniper in a "target-rich environment". Keep your powder dry, young warrior, and come home safely.

[Hat-Trick]

Long-range BANG!

[cripplecreek]

"In negotiations aimed at ending the standoff in the city, the insurgents have demanded that the Marines pull back their snipers."


The terrorists don't know where the snipers are, uhh sure we pulled em out just like you asked.

[68skylark]

Good post. I'm glad our guys aren't hampered by overly restricitive rules of engagement. Snipers are the original precision-guided weapon.

[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.

[68skylark]

"As a sniper your goal is to completely demoralize the enemy," he said.

I'm sure that getting shot by one of the guys is very demoralizing!

[TheEngineer]

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.

What a difficult job!.... Since they all look like the enemy! ;-)

[Reeses]

A terrorist turkey shoot

[McGavin999]

I hope this young warrior gets a clean, clear shot at Zaqwari.

[wingster]

In negotiations aimed at ending the standoff in the city, the insurgents have demanded that the Marines pull back their snipers.

OHHHH....LMAO....

I needed a good joke this morning!

[11Bush]

Old sniper saying...

If you run, you'll just die tired.

[wingster]

Yessir Mr. masked, unidentified, dressed as a civilian, terrorist man! Sure, we'll just create a national policy tailoring our military strategies to only the least effective things. Of course it'll have to go thru Congress, and while you'll get many of the dim votes immediately, it'll take a little while on the other side of the aisle, so please, we ask you for your patience in the matter.

Signed,

W

P.S. Kiss my ass!

[Jack Black]

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.

Up here in the the Pacific Northwest I am happy to report we are doing so as well.

[LibKill]

I'm sure that getting shot by one of the guys is very demoralizing!

Yep, and the effect on his buddies is pretty strong too. They get the willies. They can't make a move without thinking about Achmed keeling over before the sound of the shot arrived. It preys on their minds and makes them less effective.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Snipers? What snipers? We don't have any snipers around here...

[OldCorps]

In negotiations aimed at ending the standoff in the city, the insurgents have demanded that the Marines pull back their snipers.

lol, had there been a democrap in the whitehouse, they would have complied...Just as did Clinton, Johnson and Carter when in similar situations. Kenedy was just as bad: when the Cuban freedom fighters needed air support at the Bay of Pigs on the beach, he told the navy to pull the plug on the operation...leaving thousands to be killed or captured.

[5050 no line]

Its not a cease-fire, as we in the West understand it, with all the obligations that that entails. In the minds of the enemy it is a hudna - a time to rest and restore yourself and reposition to best advantage for when you can resume the action. Let us not get our terms confused here. The Marines have read the Muslim warfare handbook (The Quran) and got it right.

[uncbob]

For ragies who best tactics are spray and pray with an Ak47 shoot off a rifle grenade accurate aimed fire must seem like a super weapon

[A.A. Cunningham]

Silent souls leave .308 holes.

[no-s]

While official policy discourages Marines from counting the people they have killed, the custom continues. In nearly two weeks of conflict here, the corporal from a Midwestern city has emerged as the top sniper, with 24 confirmed kills. By comparison, the top Marine Corps sniper in Vietnam killed 103 people in 16 months.

"As a sniper your goal is to completely demoralize the enemy," he said. "I couldn't have asked to be in a better place. I just got lucky, to be here at the right time and with the right training."

The military has asked that sniper names not be published. Insurgents were said to have placed a bounty for the killing of any Marine sniper.

"If you're going to be a sniper," said the corporal, "you just have to accept the things that come with it."

Gee, I wonder where the "insurgents" are getting the money from? I bet most of them getting shot are the idiots who think dancing about waving an RPG confers godhood, when in actuality it's targetdom...talk about demoralizing...

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

In between shots of espresso and a snack of granola I'm sure...:0

[11Bush]

I'm kinda partial to the .50 version, 'reach out, reach out and touch someone'

[RichardW]

Now this is extremely good news. For too long in our history we demeaned the importance of snipers. Truly, they can change the course of the conflict. These Muslim gangsters can't afford to show their faces for fear they will be picked off. They are instead cowering in their holes. This is the way it should be fought. Just keep up the seige, take your time, and eventually these vermin will come up for air. They have no choice. In this instance, time is on our side. Let's use it.

[taxcontrol]

mil-dot bump

[Walkingfeather]

As a sniper I would be very tempted to hit one of these rpgs while it was carried by achmed in a confined enviroment.....

[Lurker]

One shot, one kill.

Semper Fi.

L

[jocon307]

Just keep killing them. The American People support you!

[taxcontrol]

Agreed, but would you still get credit for the kill? Remember, it only counts if the death results by direct action of the sniper.

Personally, I would drop back to the tactics the Vietcong used. Wound a guy, leave him screaming, and then when his buddies come.......

[Hat-Trick]

Aim for the dot in the middle of Achmed's forehead, then blowup the RPG as his buddy's come to claim the body. I have to imagine that today's sniper is is able to deploy some pretty nice gear & technology.

[Future Useless Eater]

Pay to the order of: George W. Bush for President     $2000.00

Two Thousand and 00/100         Dollars


For: 911 Commission WitchHunt/GORE-lick/
    & Florida DEMs death-threat on Rummy                           John   Q.   Public

[RichardW]

Personally, I would drop back to the tactics the Vietcong used. Wound a guy, leave him screaming, and then when his buddies come.......

I hope they are doing exactly that. A shot to the kneecap ought to get them screaming. And then pick off the rest when they come to drag him off.

[norraad]

"vermin will come up for air. They have no choice. In this instance, time is on our side. Let's use it. "

Only way to do bizniz here, also a way to advance the art (experiment with better imaging & targeting tech.).

Plus, they are most afraid of this, no better way to "psych them out"(which is what war is all about).

We are in the future, they are not, let's use our advantage!

[lewislynn]

The military has asked that sniper names not be published. Insurgents were said to have placed a bounty for the killing of any Marine sniper.

22 posted on 04/17/2004 8:42:02 AM PDT by al baby (Hope I don't get into trouble for this)

For being a moron?

[Mark17]

The terrorists don't know where the snipers are, uhh sure we pulled em out just like you asked.

Yes Abdul, we pulled our snipers back. BANG. Oops, sorry Abdul, one of our young Marines must not have gotten the word. Oh well, rest in peace anyway.

[chuknospam]

Glad they are getting some trigger time, punching paper gets pretty boring.

[Dave S]

I'm sure that getting shot by one of the guys is very demoralizing!

I imagine it does an even better job on the Jihadist next to him who gets the guy's brains splashed in his face.

[UltraKonservativen]

First Defense International Group introduces the brand new model .50 Cal. Effective range 3,000 yards "

[Momaw Nadon]

In between shots of espresso and a snack of granola I'm sure...:0

[Future Useless Eater]

a) find some entepreneur who can make a pig-parts coating
for your bullets!

b) until then, dip-em in pig's blood.

[Redcloak]

The version in the LAT is much more complete.

link

[samadams2000]

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?

[Polybius]

"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.

[Redcloak]

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.)

[RichardW]

"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.

[Benrand]

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.

[Keith]

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...

[MindBender26]

>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.

[Jack Black]

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.

[Polybius]

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".