MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII -- Concealed within an urban, graffitied mass of crumbling concrete and overgrown brush, the sniper awaits his prey. He’s been motionless for two days, giving him ample time for strategy, preparation and adjustments. Finally, his target comes in view. Before the insurgent leader can say another word, his world is stifled amidst the crack of the M40A3 sniper rifle he never hears.
The Marine scout sniper is “highly skilled in field craft and marksmanship who delivers long range precision fire, on select targets, from concealed positions in support of combat operations,” said Sgt. Brandon A. Standridge, an instructor with the Scout Sniper School, School of Infantry West, Detachment Hawaii.
These warriors, designated as the secondary military occupational specialty 0317, boast a storied past and play an important role in today’s combat operations. Nonetheless, this grit and proficiency comes from months of intense training, beginning in the taxing Scout Sniper Basic Course.
Infantry and reconnaissance Marines attending this course executed an unknown distance qualification course at Range Training Facility Kaneohe Bay on Marine Corps Base Hawaii Aug. 3-6.
Following a known distance course, the UKD qualification was part of the course’s second phase of marksmanship and proved challenging to even the most skilled marksmen in the class. Instead of using laser range finders on their scopes, the students used the scope’s mil-dot reticle pattern, or “crosshairs,” to measure the target and approximate its range using the range estimation formula.
“Snipers have to be able to calculate unknown distance without a laser range finger so they know the basics and are still able to function if it isn’t working,” said Standridge, of Haslet, Texas.
While the sniper instructors observed impacts, the students moved through three lanes of fire, shooting ten rounds at targets of varied distances while in the prone position. During the four-day qualification, each of the three lanes was shot on five times for a total of 15 lanes.
With two possible rounds to engage each target, the students earned 10 points by hitting the target with the first shot, eight points with the second and none with another miss on the second. After dropping their five lowest lane scores, the students needed to maintain an 80 percent average on the qualification to continue in the course, Standridge said.
“The qualification is fast-paced and involves putting a lot of rounds down range,” said Sgt. Justin Leibach, a sniper student and recon Marine with Company A, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, from Camp Schwab, Okinawa, Japan. “Everything in this course is high stress and high speed. This makes snipers an asset to the infantrymen and provide a baseline for the battalion commander as his eyes and ears on the battlefield.”
But the students who manage the course’s physical and mental demands and pass the UKD qualification can’t breathe easy yet — it comes only five weeks into the challenging, 10-week course.
“We’re expected to learn things very quickly in this course,” said 1st Lt. Robert Christian, a Scout Sniper School student and sniper platoon commander with Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. “The training is physically and mentally demanding but it’s for the purpose of helping us function under this stress,” the Huntsville, Ala., native added.
Following the UKD range, they’ll spend the remainder of the course bolstering a variety of core sniper skills. They’ll utilize stalking to learn how to get into a firing position undetected and become proficient with close and long distance communications platforms. In the last leg of the course, they’ll be trained in small-team patrolling to project minimal signature and learn to blend into their environment by constructing urban and “green-side” hides.
Amidst these training blocks, the students will focus on building their recon and scout abilities through land navigation, camouflage techniques and observation exercises.
Following the course, the new snipers will attend the Scout Snipers Team leader course, where they’ll build advanced skill sets, conduct further patrolling and mission sets, and learn advanced shooting. “The Marine Corps is devoting a lot of time to making sure the quality of the sniper remains high,” Standridge said.
With their training, discipline and tenacity, these ‘silent but deadly’ Marines will continue to further the Corps’ success as they move from the training area onto the battlefield. “The Marine scout sniper is one of the most deadly weapons on the battlefield in [Operation Iraqi Freedom] and [Operation Enduring Freedom], and the best sniper in the world,” Standridge said.