How Would You Amend the Constitution of the United States?

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Gentlemen; on the topic of military sniping some of you seem to be singularly misinformed. Historically, the primary purpose of the true sniper, not the designated marksman, has been information gathering due to his abilities in concealed movement and position far forward of friendly lines. His occasional value in removing high value targets such as officers and artillery or machine gun crews pales in comparison to his value as a forward artillery spotter and a source of intelligence on the enemy.

Today, there is a whole new school of sniping with the rise of the anti-materiel rifle, a high caliber weapon designed not to kill enemy personnel but instead to destroy costly equipment such as radar installations, aircraft on the ground, and command and control structures that may be cost millions of dollars to replace.

Even traditional anti-personnel sniping however is by far the most discriminating of military weapons systems, it looks downright humane when compared to bombs, missiles, artillery and automatic weapons fire. The trait looked for in a good sniper is not a disregard for human life but calmness; anyone can learn to shoot but not everyone can learn not to. Strength of character is important as well, as the sniper often sees the enemy more personally than do others members of the military. Dropping bombs from the air, firing an artillery piece, or snapping off shots at a vaguely human shape are far different than viewing a person through a telescope as they go about their business and seeing them as a human, so pulling that trigger is much harder than most appreciate. It doesn't take a damaged or immoral individual, but it does take one with a strong sense of the rightness of their cause.

Right, because regressive taxes are always a good idea.

It doesn't take a damaged or immoral individual, but it does take one with a strong sense of the rightness of their cause.

actually, skafather84's right. you have to pretty much not care about human life to be a military sniper. maybe police snipers get to be certain that their target is actually a criminal that needs to be shot to prevent further loss of innocent life but that's not the job of the military sniper.

while i was in the army, i had a few friends that went to sniper school. only one actually got his tab. several failed physical trials (sniper school is apparently harder than ranger school). the one who got his tab wasn't the only one to complete the school. two others completed the entire school and were rejected. of those two, one immediately signed up for OCS (officer candidate school) and the other deserted. both said they were told they didn't "have the testicular fortitude to follow orders you're not smart enough to understand."

modern combat infantry units have designated marksmen that do not go to sniper school and are not considered "snipers." neither designated marksmen nor qualified snipers reduce casualties, friendly or civilian, more than any other component of an assault.

all that said, you pretty much have to be anti-social to qualify, mentally, to be a sniper.

also: unless they tightened their requirements in the last few years (which is the opposite of what has been happening), your recruiter lied to you. i was in infantry school with a guy who washed out after repeatedly trying (and failing) to get out because he had been diagnosed with an ASD and ADHD and had been on medication prior to joining. none of us believed he was autistic because we didn't understand that autism didn't just mean the nonverbal stereotype. he eventually washed out because he wouldn't train. it terrified me because his problems were just like mine but worse.

we used him in a lot of our jokes about recruiters just going for quotas. whatever recruiter told you that you couldn't sign up because of an ASD or ADHD diagnosis or medications you were previously on was lying to you. though, he may have had your best interests in mind.

war-movie "sniper" and real-world "sniper" are two different things. whereas war-movie "sniper" is a heroic life saver, real-world "snipers" are more easily described as murderous killwhores. the missions aren't "shoot that guy in the general hat" or "shoot the enemy soldier on that rooftop our soldiers are about to pass by so he doesn't shoot them with his RPG." the missions are "shoot the guy in the dirty robe talking on his cell phone. he could be relaying our soldiers' position" or "shoot that kid on the roof who keeps peeking over the wall. he might be relaying our position, planning to shoot us, or waiting to set off an IED."



so as much as i like to disagree with things that you write, parakeet, i definitely agree that you are too moral to be a military sniper.


besides, aren't you a biblical literalist? is my translation "thou shalt not kill" off?

Waltur, I'm not going to refute you point by point, but you have a number of inaccuracies in your post and a poor understanding of firearms. I happen to have a degree in gunsmithing, have been actively involved with firearms for most of my life including intensive studies of their history, development and use, and through those activities and training have had a lot of exposure to military personnel and their accounts of service. I've also worked directly on a number of the weapons used, including .50 caliber rifles and various iterations of the M16/M4 platform, and am in a pretty good position to speak authoritatively on them.

First, the Barret M82 is NOT nor ever has been the "standard US Army sniper rifle", they use either M24s or M110s, the former being a modified Remington 700 bolt action rifle similar to the Marine Corps M40 series, the latter a newer Knight's Armament developed accurized AR10 style weapon chambered in 7.62 Nato. M82s have been used in the anti personnel role at extreme range, but their primary use remains disabling vehicles and destroying suspected munitions or land mines.

The M16/M4 series of riles and carbines, even in stock form remain accurate and effective well beyond 300m, I've personally hit man size targets at 800m, and that was not at all difficult. The 5.56mm bullet was redesigned in the 1980's with a longer bullet and faster rifling to enable it's use at these longer ranges, at the cost of a more stable bullet that is less likely to tumble on impact and thus the loss of some of it's wounding potential.

Anti materiel rifles are not a military joke but a whole class of weapon, perhaps exemplified by the Styr AMR (guess what AMR stands for...), an advanced weapon firing an armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot projectile from a smooth bore, in plain English it shoots a big tungsten dart designed to punch holes in armor (incidentally, Halo fans would recognize it as the sniper rifle from the first game). Such a projectile is incredibly unsuited for anti-personnel use, it would be like stabbing someone with an extremely expensive ice pick, yeah it could kill someone but there are much easier and better ways of doing it. The whole idea is that special forces teams could be dropped behind enemy lines carrying the weapon, use it do inflict millions of dollars in damage to vulnerable infrastructure, and then simply abandon the weapon and ex-filtrate, exchanging a $5000 gun for destroyed aircraft or other expensive hardware.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point.

Well, there is the school of thought that suggests that the First Amendment should be amended by deleting from the sixth word until the end.

who thinks that?

The trait looked for in a good sniper is not a disregard for human life but calmness;

It requires a psychopath to remain calm while shooting a man in cold blood. This is not "strength of character." It is disregard for the value of human life.

I suppose the U.S. Armed Forces aren't demonized enough? You might make an excellent journalist.

It's not a demonetization; it is a fact of life. Like I said: I know people who have made it as snipers. I've never given them sh** for it because I understand the level of stresses that they have to endure and I'm not going to judge them for something that I have no clue what they've done (not to mention it's rarely their call).

But I am the kind of person who has walked on my own for 7 hours just to get to work for the next 14 hours

I really hope they had a shower at your work.