Billy says: The author is attempting to give Snipers a bad name at a time in our history when we desperately need more of them. – Sensetti Snipers have always had a bad name, my friend. That goes back a long, long way before this author was even a twinkle in his daddy’s eye. I shall briefly explain, if you care to listen. With the advent of the rifled barrel – and the long range accuracy that came with it – the sniper was born. Or rather, the long range marksman. Up until he came upon the scene, getting shot on the battlefield was regarded as more-or-less “bad luck”, since at that time, if you took a flintlock musket and actually hit the person you were aiming at – and that person was farther away than say, 50 yards, it was regarded as pure luck. You could, literally, aim a rank of men +/- 50 yards from you and pick out a guy You could shoot at him on purpose and hit a guy several feet to either side… or it could sail harmlessly over his head… or do what’s now referred to as a “worm burner” and dig into the dirt… hitting him intentionally was as much luck as anything else. The rifled barrel came along and finally made true “rifles” that could hit a man sized target – on purpose and repeatedly – at 400 yards or better. The downside was that they were slow to load. Unsuitable for the battlefield. But, perfect for the Sniper, who would – and did – take intentional aim at high ranking officers, etc, and grease them in an effort to impact the other side’s ability to fight effectively. Thus, the sniper gained a reputation as something of an assassin. Not an honorable soldier. He hid, picked his target, fired from cover – killing his target – and then ghosted away. Snipers fell out of favor for some time. Both sides had a few during Mr. Lincoln’s War, most notably Confederate Sergeant Grace, 4th Georgia Infantry, who killed Union Maj. General John Sedgwick cleanly with a headshot from a British Whitworth target rifle. Distance = 800 yards. Open sights. The General’s last words were “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance”. Seconds later, he fell dead with a bullethole in his face. Snipers didn’t make another showing until WWI. The Germans, ever on the cutting edge of warfare, deployed them in great numbers. The Allies didn’t even know they existed at first, writing off thousands of lone-bullet kills as “accidental” before realizing what the hell was going on. They then had to play catch-up and deployed their own. Still, it didn’t change the reputation of the sniper as a stone killer and assassin. Even amongst their own side, such reputations endured, and snipers – while not ostracized by their fellow grunts – kept to themselves mostly. This reputation endured all the way up until my own time in the service. If it endures still, I don’t know. It’s been 15 years since I wore a uniform. By the way, Kyle has been hailed as “the greatest sniper” in history. I heard these very words on Da N00ze the other day. People who say things like that are simply pig-ignorant of history. Kyle had 160 confirmed kills, and probably many more unconfirmed (a sniper has to have his kill verified by his partner, and documented in his “Shot Book”. The shot is literally written down as it happened, then both shooters sign off on it. If this does not take place, then it will likely be an “unconfirmed” kill, unless the shot was witnessed by some other 3rd party). 160 kills is no slouch. But it pales in comparison to who is arguably the “best” in history – Simo Häyhä of Finland. Known as “The White Death”. 505 Confirmed kills within a 3 month period. (Some sources credit him with 542 confirmed kills). He used an iron-sighted Mosin-Nagant Model 28, reportedly to keep a lower profile. This worked to his advantage, because he shot and killed the Soviet snipers sent to kill him, personally, by the glint of light off the Soviet’s scope. He was eventually wounded and fell into a coma, waking up on the day Finland and the Soviets signed a peace agreement. He passed on not long ago. Age: 97. All that said, I don’t know why Kyle would lie to embellish his reputation… just being a SEAL is enough to stamp respect on you right there. But, apparently he felt the need to have his reputation match his ego. The guy’s dead now, so I’m not gonna run him down… all “Heroes” have feet of clay… they are seldom – if ever – the people that the media make them out to be. It’s just a matter of if the skeletons in their closets are found or not…
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 19:53:46 +0000