Marine Scout Sniper By: Jake Willeford

Introduction To Marine Scout Sniper A Scout Sniper is a Marine highly skilled in field craft and marksmanship who gives long range fire on chosen targets from hidden positions in support of combat operations.

Basic Training/Enlistment Marine Basic Training is one of the hardest training camps in the world, you have to give everything you got, and have the heart and desire to make it. Then you go to what is called AIT which is where you pick your M.O.S.

Sniper School Marine Corps Scout Snipers are trained at one of the four school house locations. The motto of the Marine Scout Sniper is “One shot, one kill.” Scout Snipers must earn the rank of Lance Corporal and be selected by their battalion in order to move into this specialty.

Purposes A main purpose or THE main purpose for a Marine Scout Sniper, or my personal favorite , is to take out high enemy personnel like, commanders, messengers, radio operators or other high personnel. They may also take out hard targets such as communication equipment, armored vehicles, generators, etc. Sometimes Marine Scout Snipers have to shoot high personnel from 1 mile or more than 1 mile away. Do you know what it takes to make a shot like that? You need a high class scout sniper (which the marines have) to make that shot. Wind direction, temperature, if the target is moving or not, Coriolis Effect, the spin of the earth, everything comes into play when making a shot from that range.

Platoons Scout Snipers are part of the Scout Sniper Platoon (SSP). Each SSP is made up of 8-10 2 man Sniper teams. A Scout Sniper team consists of: Scout Sniper Leader-typically equipped with a M40 rifle for taking out enemy personnel. He will also carry a high power spotting scope Scout Sniper-typically armed with a large cal. Anti-material rifle such as the M82A3 SASR.

Future Job I think in the future a Scout Sniper will be a much more advanced job with better scopes on rifles and for spotting, some guns might be remote controlled, I think the main thing that will increase is weaponry.

The Spotter Once a shot is taken, the spotter watches the shot to help the sniper readjust his aim or his position in the unlikely event that he misses his target. The way the spotter watches his shot is amazing. High velocity, long range rounds like the kind used in a sniper rifle actually leave a vapor trail as they fly through the air. The spotter can track the shot by watching for that vapor trail.

Extra Equipment After the rifle itself, the second major part of the sniper-rifle weapon system is the sniper scope. A sniper scope is basically a specialized telescope containing components that lay a targeting “t” or cross (crosshairs) over the enhanced image. Marine Scout Snipers also wear many different outfits. It all depends on terrain. You can’t wear white camouflage if you are in a place that is all sand, the same thing the other way around.

The Few. The Proud. The Marines. As you can see it takes everything you have to be a Marine Scout Sniper, you have to give your heart and never give up. If you do that you may be able to be a Marine Scout Sniper. The job has changed a lot from weapon technology, spotter scope technology, regular scope technology, camouflage, armor, etc. Everything is getting more advanced. Good Luck Marines.

Glossary Marksmanship: Skill in shooting. M.O.S. : Military Occupation Specialty Personnel: People employed in an organization or engaged in an organized undertaking such as military service. Coriolis Effect: An effect whereby a mass moving in a rotating system experiences a force perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of the Earth.

Works Cited http://www.marines.com/main/winning_battles/roles_in_the_corps/ground/infantry/scout_snipers http://science.howstuffworks.com/sniper8.htm http://usmcscoutsniper.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scout_Sniper