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As the President of the USMC Scout Sniper Association, one of the main questions I get asked is …you guessed it, “Why did the Corps do away with Snipers” My Answer: I don’t fucking know, I’m not active duty, I’m not a General officer, I got no dog in the fight!  A lot of people have their conspiracy theories and their own opinions about the demise of the Marine Sniper program. One big topic that I hear often is the question surrounding “Drone warfare”. Has the technology and advanced use of drones made the made the traditonal sniper’s mission obsolete?  Here is my rebutal to that that topic…Snipers on the batle field have the following advantages:

• Precision targeting: While drones can provide aerial surveillance and strike capabilities, snipers offer unparalleled precision in taking out specific high-value targets with minimal collateral damage. This precision is crucial in certain operations where collateral damage must be avoided.
• Concealment and stealth: Snipers can operate covertly and remain undetected, which is difficult for drones that are more easily detected by radar and air defenses. Snipers can gather intelligence and engage targets in areas where drones cannot operate due to air defenses or terrain.
• Close combat support: In urban environments and close-quarters combat, snipers can provide direct fire support to ground forces, a role that drones cannot effectively fulfill.
• Cost and payload limitaions: Drones have limited payloads and are more expensive than sniper teams for certain missions. Snipers can carry more ammuniton and sustain operations for longer periods.
• Human decision-making: Snipers can make real-timeme decisions based on situational awareness and context, which is crucial in complex environments. Drones, while offering a bird’s-eye view, may lack the nuanced understanding of a human operator on the ground.

In summary, while drones offer advantages in reconnaissance and strike capabilites, snipers remain essential for precision targeting, stealth operations, close combat support, cost-effectiveness, and human decision-making in certain scenarios. Both capabilities complement each other in modern warfare.

In the public imagination, a sniper’s confirmed kills are often dramatized, misinterpreted as a measure of prowess or success. However, this perception is far from the internal reality and sentiment within the sniper community. For the snipers themselves, there is no scoreboard.

The sniper’s role is profound and multifaceted. It transcends beyond the act of pulling a trigger to encompass a broad range of responsibilities that require acute mental sharpness, unwavering emotional discipline, and a deep sense of duty. Confirmed kills are not badges of honor or topics of bravado; they are sobering components of a necessary role that, while critical, is just one aspect of their broader mission.

In various battle spaces, the process to confirm a kill varies significantly, reflecting the complexity and fluidity of modern warfare. To snipers, these numbers don’t define their worth or success. Their commitment is to the larger objective – the safety of their fellow soldiers and the successful execution of their assignments. The gravity of taking a life is felt deeply and is never taken lightly.

Conversely, the civilian view often glorifies the concept of confirmed kills. This perspective is fueled by a mixture of media portrayal and the human tendency to sensationalize. There’s a mythical aura that equates high numbers with being ‘badass’ or superior. This fantasy overshadows the stark realities faced by those behind the scope.

By shedding light on these contrasting views, we seek to deepen understanding and bridge the gap between civilian perceptions and military realities. It’s essential to recognize that the mark of a great sniper is not found in a tally but in the intangibles: judgment, intention, and the quiet professionalism that governs their actions.

A sniper’s true calling is paradoxical – it’s to save lives, not take them. Their skill set, often used to neutralize threats, can prevent larger conflicts and minimize casualties on all sides. In the heart of every mission, they carry the heavy knowledge that the preservation of life is their ultimate duty.

Since 1918, when the first USMC Scout Sniper course rolled out 75 non-commissioned officers and 375 privates to serve in France, the place of Marine Scout snipers ebbed and flowed during and between the country’s wars. These elite precision marksmen remained loyal as they witnessed their units activated and deactivated and their MOS designations eliminated, while they consistently adapted to the evolving demands of modern warfare.

However, one constant challenge remains: representation at strategic command and policy levels during peace time, which has been a consequence of the small number of commissioned officers, gunners, and E-9s who had received formal Marine scout sniper training and who were thus able to follow career paths forward from formal training.

This policy-level omission means that Marine Scout Snipers often lacked informed representation at the highest levels of Marine Corps command. A dearth of senior leaders who experienced Scout Sniper training firsthand, at best, ensured that the unique needs and perspectives of Marine Scout Snipers were rarely represented adequately both when gearing up for, and winding down from war.

The absence of commissioned officers, warrant officers, Sergeant Majors, and Master Gunnery Sergeants within the Marine Scout Sniper backgrounds led to catastrophic disconnects in understanding the critical roles these warriors played on the battlefield. Marine Scout Snipers were not only precision shooters with devastating firepower, as measured by their performance in both world wars, Vietnam and, most recently, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, they provided immeasurable strategic value as battalion-level infantry intelligence assets.

Bottom line: Marine Scout Snipers saved lives. Integrating commissioned officers with Marine scout sniper training early on may have enhanced decision-making over time at the top, ensuring that the voices of Marine scout snipers were heard and their contributions more fully recognized as they themselves moved up in the ranks over the duration of careers.

In the high-stakes realm of military operations, Scout Snipers face unique pressures that go beyond the battlefield’s physical demands. Central to their role is the immense responsibility of precision, where the success of a mission often rests on their ability to make split-second decisions under extreme conditions. This brings us to one of their most profound fears: mission failure.

Mission failure for a Scout Sniper is not just about a missed shot; it’s about the cascading effects that could result-compromised safety of the team, failed objectives, or unintended consequences in complex conflict zones. The psychological weight of these potential outcomes can be as challenging as the physical demands of their tasks.

This fear, however, is also a testament to their commitment. It drives them to rigorous preparation, constant skill enhancement, and a mental toughness that is unparalleled. Understanding this aspect of a Scout Sniper’s professional psyche helps us appreciate not just the skills they bring to the field but also the mental resilience required to operate in such high-pressure environments.

This post aims to stimulate a broader discussion on the complexities of a Scout Sniper’s duties, highlighting the need for comprehensive strategies that support both their tactical abilities and mental health.

Good Friday, 2006, my second deployment to Iraq and my first as a Sniper Team Leader with 1/2, my team found itself in a fortunate position to be able to make our first confirmed enemy kill on insurgents transporting weapons from a cache across the Eurphates River.

An AO near ours was being controlled by an AAV unit that had been transitioned into provisional infantry. That unit had been taking fire from an area across the river from them and knew something was fishy in that area. My Battalion decided to send my team to assist the unit with trying to locate and eliminate the threat that was hindering their operations.

I worked up a mission with the Company Commander and got my team set in place. On day 3, we were planning to extract, when all of a sudden we saw some activity.

By the time we had positive PID of the weapons, calculated our data, I had to make an on the fly 926yrd shot from a ridgeline, shooting across a village and a river. Knowing that my gun had been through the ringer over the last couple of weeks with our op tempo so high, jumping in and out of trucks, falling down wadis, banging my gun around like crazy, I was not certain I could hit anything. Tracking the individual through my scope as he walked down the riverbank, I was getting nervous that he would keep walking out of my view. Then suddenly he stops to meet with another guy, as he reveals the weapons to the other individual, I take my shot.

The first thing my spotter Mike said when I pulled the trigger was, “holy sh*t, you f***ng hit him” as I then re-engage and hit him a second time. Taking a life or the loss of life is never a thing to be celebrated, but I was very content in knowing that shot made and impact that would prevent another Marine from being killed. That mission led to a huge shift in insurgent movement and activity in that AO for the next month. They decided to lay low for a while.

“The sound of the round leaving the muzzle was muffled by the suppressor. The target within my scope fell to the ground before the   “crack” of the supersonic round or the muffled report from the rifle could reach him. “You got him”, reported Eric, my team sergeant. We were sitting on a roof top in southern Afghanistan, smoke billowing around us.

It was almost 15 years ago, but I vividly remember the smell, the sweat, the dirt, and the emotion. At the time, I was a Green Beret in the US Army Special Forces and was a Scout Sniper in the United States Marine Corps before that. With nine years of military service and five deployments behind me, this was not the first time I had engaged the enemy, nor would it be the last – but this one was different. There are very few feelings in the world similar to knowing you have mastered something.

The shot I had just taken was only around 675 meters away and I had taken longer shots in combat (although not by much). But this day was different for some reason.

Earlier that morning, the 160th had inserted us via MH47 into a hostile village. It was one of the larger scaled assaults for special operations. The reason we were there was to secure a large enemy cache of HME, weapons, and heroin (used to finance their war). A SEAL platoon, who had inserted along with us, controlled a portion of the village to the north.

Meanwhile my team of around 8 Green Berets, along with a few enablers, our CCT, and our Partnered force Afghan commandos from the 6th Kandak took the majority the rest of the village to clear. We had done many missions similar to this where our MO was to land very close to the objective and immediately assault. Similarly to the other missions, there was a short firefight and aided by our AWTs and AC130, we were able to kill a few enemy right after infil.

This was still very early in the morning and we still owned the night.  However, after the initial firefights, the enemy did what they always (and anyone on the receiving end) would do, they buttoned up and they waited until daylight to help level the playing field where they could actually see us. So we begin clearing as much as we could in the dark to kill/capture as many people as possible and also to gain a foothold.

Unlike when I was a marine sniper when my mission was singularly focused, as a green beret I had to wear many hats, such as urban close combat, and at any time may have to switch to a sniper or overwatch role. However, clearing buildings with a sniper rifle is not optimal. I had experimented with carrying my broken-down sniper rifle in a backpack. Carrying two different upper receivers with one acting as a “long range” upper and the other a “short range clearing” upper. Unfortunately, each option had its own logistical problems. And in urban combat the best thing for you is to be fast and agile. And carry lots of grenades.

Therefore, I just had my 5.56 with a 10 inch barrel and a variable one-to-four power Elcan Spectre scope, which was the standard SOPMOD kit that also had clip on NVGs and thermal sights. We spent all morning clearing until we finally reached our LOA which was at the south eastern portion of the village. We had cleared out an old brick factory and myself, three of my ODA team members, and about 10 Afghan commandos set in a defense on the roof of this very hardy brick factory building.

Multiple earthen slopes were also present on the roof, which provided an excellent protected, yet also raised, vantage point. As the sun came up, loudspeakers from the local mosques begin transmitting a message that asked all the women and children to leave the village so that they would be safe when [the insurgents] would eventually attack us. Which was fine. We wanted to fight.

Around 9 AM the heat of the sun was starting to make us lazy, as we had been up all night. However, we started noticing more activity surrounding the outskirts of the village. I was scanning the area with my four power scope and noticed an insurgent walking towards the village with a rifle. It was obvious that he did not know exactly where we were, and he needed to move closer to recce our positions. It was not uncommon to see insurgents walking openly at times when they thought that no one could see them. I had my rangefinder as I also used it for calling for fire and lased him at around 680 meters. Although this was certainly not the longest shot that I had taken, there was a lot working against me.

The Elcan scopes, like most other battle rifle scopes, have calculated bullet drop reticle (BDC) specifically made for 5.56 or whatever caliber rifle they were supposed to be paired with. Unfortunately, the BDC along with the Elcan reticle did not really allow for much precision and the round itself would lose quite a lot of velocity at  500 and 600 meters due to its light weight and corresponding poor ballistic coefficient. There was also a very light wind, which had started to pick up and I held into the wind at an instinctual adjustment that only really comes with long hours on the range.

I knew that my 10 inch barrel would hinder me by decreasing the muzzle velocity. Coupled with this was I was also using a non-sub MOA round and a non-sub MOA battle rifle. However, I had practiced with this rifle quite a bit and had engaged training targets much farther, sometimes at ranges exceeding 1100m even though the reticle ends at 1000m.  I went through my normal mantra before each shot. I’m not sure if everyone has one, but I always talk to myself through each fundamental in my mind. I say each fundamental out loud in my mind, and then perform it.

I start with my base and position, followed by my cheek weld and grip, which I do that with my eyes closed. I then open my eyes and check my eye relief and scope shadow. I then find my natural point of them by closing my eyes, breathing, opening my eyes, and adjusting my position until the center of my reticle rests on the target after I exhale. After this I focus on site alignment by quartering or halving the target and site picture by staring at the reticle. Following this, I tell myself “squeeze, squeeze, squeeze,…” Until the trigger breaks. I do this the same way every time whether I am firing live rounds or dry firing. This was no different. The shot broke and he fell. Emotionless and remorseless. And I began scanning for the next target.

Later, this would become one of the largest and longest firefights of my career. We destroyed tons upon tons of HME, weapons, and drugs those few days.

And killed/captured many enemy. And For whatever reason, in that snapshot described above, It felt as if all of the obstacles I had faced, all of the rivers I had crossed, all of the blood, all of the training seemed to have culminated in that moment. Fighting was no longer instructions learned from a manual but a creative process sculpted by experience.

Ernest Hemmingway once said “There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted  armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.” I found this to be true. There is an honesty and respect that one finds in combat which is difficult to replicate in civilian life. I respect my enemy for meeting me on the fields of Battle, which is a tradition that has happened for thousands of years before us. We are warriors.

The lessons learned were many, but some stand out and became essential in how I approached being a sniper. Use no emotion in combat as emotion is the enemy of logic. Do not hate your enemy. For that is emotional. Do not dehumanize. To dehumanize is a weakness which leads to underestimation of your human enemy and his capabilities. Treat everyone with respect. Always change positions and assume someone knows where you are after the first few shots. Cover is better than armor. Don’t rely too heavily on air, learn to maneuver. Always seek improvement, never become complacent with how good you think you are. Love your brothers, love your family, love your life, but be comfortable with death and practice how you will die in your mind everyday.”

Two months into our deployment, December 2010, Marjah, and Route Jaguar was already earning a grim reputation. Seventeen IEDs in two months. After a Marine lost his leg, the Colonel called us in the south to head to the Northwest side of Marjah. “Sergeant, what do you need to make this threat go away!” The Colonel had a unique trust in me and my team. He’d seen the good we could do if given the chance- I told him we needed two days at the FOB, and that we were in route.

I remember the urgency in the air when we arrived. We didn’t waste any time. We huddled with S-2, EOD, and Signal Intelligence, gathering intel on the enemy’s tactics and weaponry. We all had friends up in this AO- we took the mission very seriously. First question to EOD was how deep are the IEDs buried? They said very shallow. Depth mattered-hastily buried IEDs meant they were watching, hunting us, anticipating our movements.

The parts found in those deadly traps were chilling-car parts, nuts, bolts, spark plugs, heaps of metal, even glass which cant be seen in x-rays. Easy question for S2- “Wheres the mechanics shops in town.” We had all the intel figured out- now we had to get out in the AO to find a hide site. We blended in with the Infantry Platoons as much as possible and got in with patrols. I carried a pistol which attracted a little attention. They hadn’t been seen by the locals in a while- Pistols over there are viewed as a symbol of power, and violence.

With our intel strong, and a hide site discovered, we set up a plan of deception. The day before the mission we’d have the GbOSS, a big surveillance camera, pulled down from its tower to make it look like it was under maintenance. We’d also bring all the ANA together near by for a made up briefing, just so they could see the equipment was down- we suspected some of them were moles, giving away patrols positions and routes. I asked the Company Commander to move all patrols to the North and East for a few days- I wanted the enemy to think they had freedom of movement. The Company Commander agreed, and we brought the intel and the plan back to the Colonel- green light.

The night before the mission, we moved out under the cover of darkness. I had found a hide site on our patrol- it was a roof overlooking the mechanic shops and the route the 03’s would take. The village was using this roof to store firewood, so I hid in that pile of branches. I suspected they would set the IED about 650 yards away from my position. When the patrol set off, something was immediately not right. 6 men, acting too casual and kid like stepped outside the mechanics shop. I sensed our plan coming to fruition. They began walking together and, oddly avoided two areas of the path, which I figured we’d have to check on later.

As the patrol ventured out around 0800, the enemy’s intentions became clear. As I hear the patrol request to leave the wire over the radio, I see a man in the group I’m watching take a phone call. All the sudden, that man started barking orders, pointing out positions, getting his men ready- we had them.

One ran out to the road and quickly dug a hole with his hands, another came up from behind him and placed a bomb. I called the squad leader, a friend, and let him know what was happening. I had my PID- weapon off safe, slow steady squeeze, I took my shot. Missed- it happens. The round went inches over his left shoulder, and the group ran scared, but not for long. Our plan called for the 03’s to flank their position once I let my buddy know they had placed the IED, and all 6 ran right into a squad of Marines. Not a shot fired except mine- all 6 captured.

After we rolled them up, we needed to revisit the two spots they avoided on their walk. I successfully walked my buddy within 1 foot of 2 more IEDs. It wasn’t a sick game we had to play- it was trust. Sure enough, two more IED’s found.

When we got back to base we noticed a lack of ANA support- several had ran, and we never saw them again. Surly one of them was our mole. We did chemical testing on all 6 of them- one only had 3 fingers, so it started to become pretty clear we had our guys. All 6 hit for HME. It was the entire cell everybody had been looking for two months- we grabbed all of them in 2 days with the help of a good squad leader. I walked by my target to get a good look at him- he never knew how lucky he was that day.

Though the fighting continued in the area, the IED threat was drastically reduced by our mission. We were proud of that accomplishment, and headed back south to run a few more missions we’d been planning.