Lol...talked to a "Marine sniper"

[280PLUS]

Yup, pretty good thinking on the Col's part to move the landing laterally when he saw the first waves get hit so hard. probably saved a lot of lives with his quick thinking. Including my friend's. I guess that's a good example of what they mean by fluidity in battle.

 

[confed sailor]

You wanna talk about touchy?

Try wearing dolphins in a navy town when you dont rate em. When i was in HS i put a pair of fish on my letterman jacket that my grandfather gave me (WWII Vet) because i was joining up and wanted submarines. I wasnt the first person to do something like this, a few other people who were headed into the army wore corps insignia on their jackets. My chemistry instructor saw me and politely told me to take them off, as i did not rate them. after i did, i asked why, he said "They will mean alot more once you qual the boat, and you get pinned for real."

He was on the Bonefish SS-582 when she burned, real quiet fellow, i had to pull hard to get him to talk about it.

 

[Dravur]

I knew

a gentleman in Bozeman MT that owned a coin shop. He was old even then and this was in the mid 80's. I talked to him quite often and never really knew he was a WWII vet. I found out through lots of chatting with him that he was one of the first guys on Guadalcanal.... Ouch. He never got into specifics much and I never pried. I did get to see photos of him in his uniform and on the ships.

One of the best stories was when they would wrap hand grenades in meat and toss them to the sharks that followed the transport ships. Not sure if that is true, but darned if it ain't funny.

 

[Aggie's Revenge]

The best stories vets tell aren't about combat but what happened when on liberty/leave or while in the rear. My Dad was in Vietnam from 65-66. He was a payroll clerk and apparently there had been a Mess Sgt. that was giving guys a rough time when they got assigned KP duty. Dad decided to do a payroll audit on this Sgt. and found out he had been pulling $5 more per check than he was supposed to. (This was back in the day when a months pay was $200 with combat pay) Dad said the second happiest day in Vietnam was when this Sgt. stepped up to get paid and was told "NPD (no pay due) move along." Incidentally the happiest day was when he got on the plane leaving.

 

[TomFromTheShade]

I knew a guy who was a marine sniper in Nam. He was always telling me how much better he was at shooting than I am and one day we were hanging out and he decided to show me LOL. He shot at a flying bat with a pellet rifle. Obviously it was almost dark out, but he insisted that he hit it. So he made me and his son look for it for about 45 minutes and sure enough we found it dead LOL just like he said. I never doubted anything he said ever again LOL.

 

[mustanger98]

Aggie's Revenge, Your father's story leaves me wondering how long that guy went between paychecks, or rather how long he'd been skimming that extra $5. $200 divided by $5/month is 40 months... figure how long he'd been at it, which we don't know at this point... I figure he went at least 2 months without a paycheck if not longer.

 

[280PLUS]

I recall a few guys off another ship in Yokosuka were on Shore Patrol. These guys were just miserable SOBs all night and harassed a LOT of people abusing their authority on the way. Well, old 280 has an interesting habit of hooking up with just the right people. Turns out I had made the aquaintance of the top dog over at the the regular SP office and was walking back to the base with him that night when along come the three guys. None of them wearing their hats which made them out of uniform. I mentioned to my new friend what buttholes these guys had been all night and he says, "Oh yeah? Watch this!" He proceeded to go over to them, presented them with his credentials, explained who he was and put all three on report for being out of uniform.

All I could say was nyuk nyuk nyuk...

 

[Stand_Watie]

Carebear

The Recon BN mission was "to provide pre-assault and deep post-assault reconnaissance in support of the Division commander". Everything from beach surveys to jumping in 30-40 klicks behind enemy lines (about our doctrinal limit). Each Bn's Recon companies were typically assigned to an infantry Bn or a MEU and then were broken up into their discreet teams as required to support individual units or elements. We uniformly operated well behind the FEBA, typically outside the arty fan and thus emphasized comm and call for fire (especially air). Comm failure is mission failure. Route Recon, point recon on particular targets, locating possible LZ's and HLZ's, demo missions on bridges and the like. All sorts of fun stuff. Usually involving lots of climbing of hills with redundant batterys

I'm pretty sure that was what it was that he did then. That segues perfectly into his first Air Guard assignment of ROMAD
(Recon Observe Mark And Destroy) - they were the shop my command/control unit worked most closely with - and then we were both in munitions after a reorganization.

 

[RustyShackelford]

VA(Veterans Affairs) police officer/Restore Hope

I remember talking to a federal LEO(VA police) who claimed he was the USMC sniper in Operation Restore Hope who shot a Somalali bad guy who was in the process of aiming a RPG at his position, .

I didn't doubt that the event took place but I REALLY don't think this dude was there or was the scout/sniper who "smoke checked" the tango. He said he used a Barret .50(M-82A1).

I also talked to some wierdo on a public bus who claimed he was a USMC sniper. The problem is he did not no where the real Scout Sniper School was... :banghead:

Rusty

 

[carebear]

Rusty,

Did he say he went to school somewhere other than Quantico?

You do know that 1st MarDiv has a Sniper MOS school on Pendleton (Camp Margarita) and 3rd has (or had a few years back) one at K-Bay Hawaii? I don't know if 2nd's is on LeJeune or is the one at Quantico.

If I understood correctly at the time it is possible to be an MOS rated scout/sniper without going to Virginia. Other than knowing the schools exist I'm not privy to a lot of detail.

 

[280PLUS]

Rusty I recall seeing something on that Somalia shot. I think on the sniper thing disc or hist channels, hard to remember. The weapon definitely was a barret and IIRC it was an 1800yd shot. That don't mean the guy you met is the one that did it though.

 

[RustyShackelford]

Scout-Sniper School/BlackHawk Down

To my limited knowledge USMC Scout/Snipers go to the USMC base in Quantico VA for sniper training. The FBI HRT(Hostage Rescue) sends Special Agents there too for spec ops/sniper classes. I read about that in the great non fiction book; Cold Zero. Craig Roberts wrote several books about the subject of USMC snipers and Scout/Snipers. He also wrote about the "White Feather": Carlos Hathcock. Hathcock is considered one of the best snipers in US military history. He did not have the highest number of confirmed kills. A US Army sniper(whose name I can't recall) had 106 documented kills, Carlos Hathcock had only 93.

The incident were a US military sniper nailed an enemy arming an RPG was in the non fiction book; BlackHawk Down.

Rusty

 

[carebear]

Rusty,

It can't just be Quantico. I was drinkin' with sniper students at the 1st Div. school and the divisional schools have been mentioned in various articles. This was before the designated marksman concept came out, so it isn't that either. I'll have to try and track down some of my old sniper buddies and get the scoop on if there were two levels of qual or something.

I hate not knowing stuff, must be that recon curiousity.

edited to add: anybody on a conversational basis with Pat Rogers? He'd know off the top of his head.

 

[280PLUS]

Rusty, the top sniper you refer to is Chuck Mawhinney. (unless I just trashed the spelling on his last name). I think he was mentioned earlier in this thread.

I may have been thinking of another long shot where the RPG guy was just putting it to his shoulder when he was taken out. I do recall it being in some type of documentary though. Might have bee Desert Storm related.

 

[Byron Quick]

I was a light and heavy truck driver! One night on a training exercise, my convoy was hit with an ambush. They were using blanks but the tear gas was real. I don't do tear gas well at all. I needed two hands to put on my gas mask. That left no hands for the steering wheel. Next thing I know I'm bouncing the Deuce and a half through OPFORS' positions. I didn't hit anyone but I sure had them scrambling.

They made me wear my gas mask during training exercises after that whenever I was driving an assault truck. My sergeant was so freaked out he couldn't talk. The poor man was gobbling for a while there.

 

[confed sailor]

hooah byron!! Its quick thinking like that which could save lives, a flattened opponent is just as dead as a shot opponent.

If you were in the navy, i bet you could finagle a NAM outta that