US Marine Scout Sniper Documentary

September 20, 2016

John Buol ConventionalShooter, MilitaryMarksman , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Here’s a summary: Take what you learn by attempting to win shooting matches and apply that improved skill and knowledge to the field environment.

Carlos Hathcock:
“What I used when I was sniping, I learned when I was competing.”

Chief Warrant Officer Arthur Terry originally started the program in Hawaii at the Pu’uloa Range Training Facility near ʻEwa Beach and Pearl Harbor (now Joint Base Harbor-Hickam). Gunner Terry’s sniper program trained Carlos Hathcock.

Gunner Terry served as a sniper in Korea. More accurately, he used his competition shooting experience with an accurized service rifle to engage specific targets. Upon returning to the States, he was assigned to Marine Corps Base Hawaii, running a shooting team and starting a formal sniping program in the 1950s. This began being known as the Scout Sniper program as scouting was required to first find a target and high level shooting skill was required to get hits.

Terry had officially retired after Korea, however, Major General Alan Shapley, then-commanding general of the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, “reacquired” him for a single purpose: Developing a sniper program, starting with the shooters from the Marine Rifle and Pistol team in Hawaii. Shapley was preparing for future conflicts after Korea. Terry was given a new service number and “unretired” into a Warrant Officer position with the mission of turning shooters into snipers. Given his sniping experience in Korea, Gunner Terry was directed by FMF brass to start this program. It wasn’t unusual for Shapely or generals from 1st Marine Division dropping in to Terry’s office for updates.

Arnold Vitarbo and John Verhaal were among the skilled competitive shooters on Gunner Terry’s cadre. Jim Land and Carlos Hathcock were some of their first students.

Another interview of a Viet Nam era sniper:

Jack Reacher on Marksmanship

January 15, 2014

John Buol rant and rave , , , , , , , , , , , , , 7 Comments

 

Civilian marksmanship was appalling, for a population obsessed with guns.

– Jack Reacher

Lee Child (pen name for author Jim Grant) is the creator of the Jack Reacher series of novels, which inspired the Hollywood movie of the same name.

I can appreciate Reacher/Child/Grant’s sentiment, but I’d drop the civilian descriptor as military marksmanship can be frightfully poor as well.

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Reacher is a claimed winner of the Wimbledon Cup, described as “the only non-Marine to win the U.S. Marine Corps 1000 Yard Invitational rifle competition.”

In reality, The Wimbledon Cup is an open civilian match and is but a part of the NRA Long Range Championships. All the trophies and events of the NRA Long Range Championships are described here:
http://competitions.nra.org/nra-national-trophies.aspx#hplr

Why is it incorrectly thought to be a Marine match? And why the fixation on one single match instead of the overall aggregate? Probably because Carlos Hathcock won it back in 1965 with a score of 100-17V (yes, this was before the smaller, more difficult decimal target was adopted.) Hathcock’s later exploits in Viet Nam as a Marine sniper garnered him some fame.

Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter revolves around a former Vietnam War sniper named Bob Lee Swagger. The book was later made into the film Shooter with “Marky Mark” Wahlberg playing Swagger. Says Hunter,

I wanted to write a novel about a sniper. I’d read a biography of Carlos Hathcock, a Marine sniper. … Carlos Hathcock lost a spotter in Vietnam. So, I had Bob lose a spotter in Vietnam. Of course, the movie has been updated, so Vietnam hasn’t figured in it.

What the sniper fanboys, wannabes and novelists seem to forget is that modern sniping doctrine was created by competition shooters.

In September 1966 Captain Jim Land arrived in Vietnam. He had come specifically to train and organize Scout/Snipers for the First Marine Division which would soon replace the Third Marine Division near Da Nang.

Land faced a number of challenges. Like Bob Russel before him he was left to his own resources in acquiring equipment and personnel for his new sniper platoon.

“I had no guns, no instructors, I never had an office. But the one thing I did have was that I knew the location of just about every Distinguished Marksmen in Vietnam.” Distinguished Marksmen were top scoring marksmanship team competitors. One such marksman, who was assigned as a military policeman, was Carlos Norman Hathcock.

Of course, like Reacher, Swagger had to win the Wimbledon Cup because Hathcock did. Not the whole aggregate, just the Wimbledon. Apparently, it’s some sort of rite of passage for super macho tough guys.

Then there is the reality. Starting as a teenager, Michelle Gallagher has won the Wimbledon Cup five times. Her mother, Nancy, has won it as well. Not even fictional tough guys (never mind those in the real world) can make this claim.


http://www.womenshooters.com/archive/old1104issue/feature1104.html

History of Sniping Marksmanship Skills

March 11, 2009

John Buol MilitaryMarksman, Shooting , , , , , , , , 8 Comments

There is a good five-part series of videos on the history of sniping and marksmanship skills for snipers entitled “Sniper – One Shot, One Kill” available for free on YouTube.

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