History Channel episode on Snipers last night

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

was pretty good and interesting. But oddly enough, what struck me the most was this fact....

When showing the sniper school soldiers (or were they Marines?) at Fort Benning training, all lined up at the 1K yard range, lying in the prone position, using rifles with a short bipod (looks like about 6 or 8 inches tall), the grass all around them on the firing line is short & smooth as a baby's bottom, almost like a golf course green. Of course this irritates me, since this creates a training condition which is nothing like any shot they would ever take as a real sniper in combat (unless they are taking out an enemy officer while he's golfing). Those short bipods, and indeed the entire shooting position and technique are gonna be as useless as teats on a boar hog, and a waste of training time, with ANY any sort of flora or terrain features close by. I don't think a silent lawnmower is standard issue to the sniper or spotter. Why the unnatural focus on the prone position? (as opposed to sitting with tall bipod, etc.)? You ain't gonna hit anything but weeds or dirt in a real scenario. /end rant. As I said, good show, though!

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

Actually they were just doing that for the show. Just to prove they could do it. Now, what would make it a real challenge is making that an actuall scenario with people walking all around down range and they have to hit the target without giving away their position. Oh, and they're bi-pods can extend too.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

So you're telling me that ordinarily, the grass is not mowed, but they just mowed it for the show - is that what you're saying?

If the bipods extend, great, but why not "practice like you play"? Leave some natural flora around to simulate realistic conditions, so that the appropriate extension of the bipod must be switched to, to practice shooting from different heights?

 

[Cougfan2]

I would recommend some Rhodedendrons or quite possibly a few nice Azaleas. Yes, that would be nice.

 

[hksw]

Hmmm. Have you ever seen any of the documentaries of the military sniping schools? There are different venues for different aspect of sniper training. In the case of the well manicured range, actual shooting skills, wind doping, spotting, etc. are focused on and refined. Another portion of the training is the stalking where they do go out in the Guillie suits, slow crawl for hours, try to set up without getting spotted, etc. (It was shown during the show.)

You really don't think the military trains the way it will be in the real world? Try to get ahold of some of the shows focusing on sniping from the Military, Discovery, and History channels.

 

[Eric F]

Perhaps these guys are "new" and they start off this way and progress to shooting in the weeds???

you didnt start off shooting 458 win mag when you first started shooting did you? No you likely started off small like a 22 then worked your way up.

 

[Sergeant Sabre]

Those short bipods, and indeed the entire shooting position and technique are gonna be as useless as teats on a boar hog

The U.S. Army Sniper School knows what they are doing.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

OK, I guess I sit corrected.