Transcript MARINE SNIPER SCHOOL - Hunter`s Mill Estates

MARINE
SNIPER SCHOOL
The 32 elite students who enter the course need almost perfect physical
fitness (PT) scores, expert rifle qualifications, and superior
intelligence test
Here is where Professionally Instructed Gunmen (PIG),
become
Hunters Of Gunmen (HOG)
For the next three months students build their 'ghillie' suits that
actually become a living piece of camouflage made from plants native
to the location.
The first big test is on the nose - as much as it is the mind - as
students drop down to the legendary Pig Pond
The Pond is a festering hollow of stagnant water and all manner of
rotting vegetation - their boots pull up mud and slime that helps
'deaden' their new suits and keep light from reflecting off its surface
Still dripping wet they drop to dirt - grinding in the organic
manner in some life-or-death version of stone-washing - a
fresh-looking ghillie suit will get a sniper killed
Because they're Marines there's always reason to crank out push-ups
while the whole crew screams - "Scout .. Sniper" as they rise and fall
Then they run home, still wet and weary from the day's activity
Almost a month of this preparation before they finally get
to the shooting
Known distance, or the KD Range, pits Marines against targets
ranging from 300, 500, and 1000 yards - the better part of a mile
In total, they'll take 35 shots at stationary and moving targets, and
for the first time they'll operate in pairs, a shooter and a spotter
Accuracy and precision are only part of the challenge as both must be
accomplished under strain and exhaustion. Students sprint with full
gear in between stations, set up, and shoot between ragged breaths.
All the shots are painstakingly recorded, and each shooter
needs at least 28 hits, out of 35, to qualify
Moving targets are toughest. Snipers need to lead, or shoot
where the target will be when the bullet arrives, while factoring
in wind, air density, and even the curvature of the earth
Instructors give as much help as they can, but they are not allowed
to "spot" targets for the shooters. Everything must be done by the
two-man team.
But in the end, it's the shooter who is responsible for the shot and
after the day's through, the target-pullers report scores over the radio
to all the students. There's no hiding from a bad day's shooting.
Only the best shooters are kept; and now a few students lighter, the
class heads to the next level of training: the stalking course
With a fully ripened ghillie suit potential Scout Snipers are given three
hours to inch several hundred yards undetected upon a target
With a few last adjustments to their suits, the class takes off, each
individually stalking the same target - a group of instructors on a
truck, with binoculars, trying to find them in the brush
At one point the instructors catch the unnatural movement of a tree
So they send out a "walker," guided via radio who cannot give any
indication if he sees the sniper
If the instructors guide the walker right to the stalker's position, that
student fails the test
At Pendleton, it's not just the instructors that stalkers have to
beware of. One student nearly crawls into a rattle snake.
Eventually, when within a certain distance, stalkers take a shot. If
instructors still cannot find the student, he will take one more shot.
Then instructors flip up cards. If he reads one of the cards, the
student passes the test
The next and most difficult part of the course is the Unknown
Distance range
PIGs will shoot at 10 targets of varying distance, using only a
spotter and their scopes to judge distance
Again the range is scored - 10 points for a hit on the first shot,
8 for hits on the second, none after that. Passing is 88.
If students miss, they have five seconds, counted down by
instructors, to adjust and fire again.
Instructors watch each target real-time, and immediately
inform shooters of a hit or miss.
Students who pass do the traditional push-ups with their
instructors, yelling, "I ... made it ... I ... made it”
The final test is one of endurance and sheer will. Because snipers
train in teams, they have to take care of each other - teams of 16 have
to extract four 200 pound dummies
The exercise simulates snipers caught deep in the field with
an injured buddy - in all, the test spans 23 miles
Those who move too slowly must carry a 170 pound log which states
simply, "Suffer patiently ... patiently suffer," one of the sniper mottos
Finally, after eight hours of hiking and running, the Marines make it
Ragged, dirty, and exhausted, they top a hill at dawn and get
into formation - graduation commences on the spot
Newly-minted HOGs are presented with a "Hog's Tooth," a single
round with 550 nylon cord through it to wear around their neck. It's a
memento scout snipers have worn since the school was established.
You got your chance to go stalking with
Marine Scout Snipers ...
"Military Snipers -- Masters Of Camouflage”,
Can You Spot Any Of These 14 Tactical Snipers That
Are Hidden In Plain Sight?
These pictures show how well these snipers blend
into the terrain.
What they don't show is the hours, maybe even
days they spend creeping an inch at a time to reach
their hide sites for that one shot, one kill.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
The end