Marine snipers in Iraq
The New York Times has an interesting article about snipers in Iraq, the challenges they face, and how they’ve had to change their tactics due to the long nature of this war.
And, despite the liberal whining about how the military doesn’t armor up the troops sufficiently, the snipers say they have to wear too much armor and that it hinders their operations. They also complained that the efforts at force protection, by worried commanders, also hinder their efforts. For example, snipers are trained to operate in pairs. In Iraq, they are forced to move in groups of six.
Snipers argue a counterintuitive point, saying that even though two-man teams have less firepower and fewer men, they are safer because they can hide more effectively.
Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin, the leader of the battalion’s First Sniper Team, said the sniper community was suffering from an overreaction. “It’s sad that they got killed, but when you think about it, we’ve been here three years, going on four, and we’ve only had two teams killed,” he said. “That’s not that dramatic.”
He said snipers were willing to assume the risk of traveling in pairs. “It’s a war,” he said. “People are going to die, and the American public needs to get over that. They need to get over that and let us do our job.” (emphasis mine)
Snipers also say that other force-protection issues are limiting their operations, including requirements to wear helmets and flak jackets, which slow snipers down and make hiding more difficult.
“You go to a 10-week sniper course and never in that course are you in Kevlar and a helmet,” Sergeant Jones said. “Then you come to Iraq and immediately you’re in your flak jacket and helmet, and you’ve got a huge pack of gear.”
Sergeant Chamblin agreed. “We are carrying way more stuff than we can be tactically sound with,” he said. “My arms are numb because my pack is so heavy. Sometimes, on my missions, my pack has weighed more than I have, and I weigh 150 pounds.”
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