By: Jake Willeford
A
Scout Sniper is a
Marine highly skilled
in field craft and
marksmanship who
gives long range fire
on chosen targets
from hidden positions
in support of combat
operations.
 Marine
Basic Training
is one of the hardest
training camps in the
world, you have to
give everything you
got, and have the
heart and desire to
make it. Then you go
to what is called AIT
which is where you
pick your M.O.S.
Marine Corps Scout
Snipers are trained at
one of the four school
house locations. The
motto of the Marine
Scout Sniper is “One
shot, one kill.” Scout
Snipers must earn the
rank of Lance Corporal
and be selected by
their battalion in order
to move into this
specialty.



A main purpose or THE main purpose
for a Marine Scout Sniper, or my
personal favorite , is to take out high
enemy personnel like, commanders,
messengers, radio operators or other
high personnel. They may also take out
hard targets such as communication
equipment, armored vehicles,
generators, etc.
Sometimes Marine Scout Snipers have to
shoot high personnel from 1 mile or
more than 1 mile away. Do you know
what it takes to make a shot like that?
You need a high class scout sniper
(which the marines have) to make that
shot. Wind direction, temperature, if the
target is moving or not, Coriolis Effect,
the spin of the earth, everything comes
into play when making a shot from that
range.



Scout Snipers are part of
the Scout Sniper Platoon
(SSP). Each SSP is made up
of 8-10 2 man Sniper teams.
A Scout Sniper team
consists of:
Scout Sniper Leadertypically equipped with a
M40 rifle for taking out
enemy personnel. He will
also carry a high power
spotting scope
Scout Sniper-typically
armed with a large cal.
Anti-material rifle such as
the M82A3 SASR.
I
think in the future a
Scout Sniper will be a
much more advanced
job with better
scopes on rifles and
for spotting, some
guns might be
remote controlled, I
think the main thing
that will increase is
weaponry.

Once a shot is taken, the
spotter watches the shot to
help the sniper readjust his
aim or his position in the
unlikely event that he misses
his target. The way the spotter
watches his shot is amazing.
High velocity, long range
rounds like the kind used in a
sniper rifle actually leave a
vapor trail as they fly through
the air. The spotter can track
the shot by watching for that
vapor trail.

After the rifle itself, the
second major part of the
sniper-rifle weapon
system is the sniper
scope. A sniper scope is
basically a specialized
telescope containing
components that lay a
targeting “t” or cross
(crosshairs) over the
enhanced image.

Marine Scout Snipers
also wear many different
outfits. It all depends on
terrain. You can’t wear
white camouflage if you
are in a place that is all
sand, the same thing the
other way around.

As you can see it takes
everything you have to be a
Marine Scout Sniper, you have
to give your heart and never
give up. If you do that you may
be able to be a Marine Scout
Sniper. The job has changed a
lot from weapon technology,
spotter scope technology,
regular scope technology,
camouflage, armor, etc.
Everything is getting more
advanced. Good Luck
Marines.
 Marksmanship: Skill
in shooting.
 M.O.S. : Military
Occupation Specialty
 Personnel: People
employed in an
organization or
engaged in an
organized
undertaking such as
military service.
 Coriolis
Effect: An
effect whereby a
mass moving in a
rotating system
experiences a force
perpendicular to the
direction of motion
and to the axis of the
Earth.
 http://www.marines.
com/main/winning_b
attles/roles_in_the_c
orps/ground/infantry
/scout_snipers
 http://science.howstu
ffworks.com/sniper8.
htm
 http://usmcscoutsnip
er.org/
 http://en.wikipedia.o
rg/wiki/Scout_Sniper