This one's for Sniper
 

A one mile kill by a marine sniper...from the history channel

YouTube - Steve Reichert Sniper 1 mile kill shot p1

SO MUCH has to go right to make a shot under combat conditions at that range. Even with an M82. The M82 is really an anti-materiel weapon.

That's one hell of a Marine right there.

I wouldn't even have tried such a shot- the chances of a miss at my skill level would have just been too great, i would have called an artillery strike, or stalked closer (or both).

I assume that was all a re-creation, hell of a job on that. Great shooting by our guy.

Re-creation, I'm sure...I mean, I doubt History channel cameras were there at the time. ;) Still, the interview with the marine was real. I can imagine the terror the insurgents felt. Their people being blown away while having not a clue where the fire was coming from....wow.

Yeah it was a recreation. At 1 mile range at 10x(the scope on the M82 is 10x) people look like well defined specs.

PWD: There is a huge psychological aspect to being under sniper fire. In a typical infantry platoon the only weapon you have that can even shoot that far (if at all, depending on range) is an area weapon, your light machine gun. This leaves only your support assets to cope with the sniper threat. Of course the RTO is either the 1st or 2nd target for any sniper. (Officer, RTO, machine gunner are the holy trinity of sniper targets when engaging a conventional enemy unit)

Trying to maneuver your fire teams into range to engage with regular infantry rifles and lacking your RTO and/or officer in the face of highly accurate sniper fire is as insane as it is futile. (terrain can obviously mitigate this fact, so it is very important for a sniper to take these things into consideration when setting up his hide(s))

I'm surprised the sniper team never called in any Arty in this encounter, i guess they must have been operating without any support, not even their organic company mortar teams. Mortar fire is really the fastest, most accurate, and often most effective fire an infantry unit has at it's disposal IMO.

Plunging VT aka Prox. fire is absolutely devastating against exposed personnel or even personnel in foxholes that lack overhead cover.

Facing a US sniper team in battle is no way to make a living.

Glad we've got the guys that can do that. I'm sure it's scary as hell for the bad guys.

This would be a bit scary too.

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The scarier the better.

I'm thinking at a mile away, it's like being in the movie "Quigley Down Under" except messier.

Seeing an AC-130 fire at night with it's twin rotary cannons is absolutely surreal.

Seeing it in person even more so. You see training videos and so on but it in no way prepares you for what its really like.

That's what i meant...

:)