Blogpost # 8: Advanced Snipers

A group of snipers during Sniper vs. Sniper

Snipers are advancing and gaining new equipment and adding in numbers. Snipers are getting better and deadlier.

I read an article entitled U.S. military snipers are changing warfare by Jim Michaels it talked about how a battalion 33 well camouflaged snipers took out 185 enemies when given a mission in Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan. A lot of militants were killed by enemies they never saw. the few who got away could only spread the word. Snipers are now emerging as one of the most effective but least understood weapons in war.

"They couldn't get outside the wire more than 50 meters before it was a barrage of fire"

Seems to me those militants couldn't do anything with what was happening. If i were the militants I would have just given up knowing I was fighting against snipers.

AS-50 Sniper rifle

I read another article entitled Navy Seals Sniper Rifles by Spit Stixx about the new sniper rifle called the AS-50 Sniper Rifle capable of penetrating steel and concrete from an extremely long range. These snipers are being used by the Navy Seals as there sniper provided from President Barack Obama. The sniper is extremely accurate and has less recoil when shot compared to other snipers.

"Understanding the technology, better understanding of ballistics - that is what has changed the game."

Snipers are now getting much more advanced and being able to shoot thru wall and steal? Are you kidding? All you need now is something to see thru walls and you could be the deadliest sniper in the world.

Snipers aren't the only ones becoming advanced all weaponry are advancing especially biochemical weaponry. I just hope that it stops here because although I like snipers I wouldn't want war.

Blogpost # 7: Sniper Roles

A U.S Marine Sniper

This article is will talk about the roles of snipers in the field.

According to the article How Military Snipers Work by Robert Valdes talked about how snipers are great in stealth, camouflage, infiltration and observation techniques. This means that a sniper can do all sorts of stuff and is always handy in every mission. But the article focuses on the role of the sniper and there speciality which is reconnaissance meaning that the role of a sniper is to locate a specific enemy. Since snipers are masters of stealth they could easily get behind enemy lines while relaying vital information of the enemy's size, strength and locations. Snipers don't just kill and kill they have to eliminate a target that would benefit the team.

"You want to take out what's going to help your buddies the most"

So if you want to help out your team you should take out the problem. Its as simple as that.

A sniper holding a modified sniper rifle

I read another article entitled The Way of the Sniper by Rick Telander which explained how a sniper is given the supportive role when it comes to teamwork. Snipers are more of a supportive soldier when it comes to working with a group. They explain where the enemies are, since snipers are practically hidden. But when given the chance snipers are instructed to eliminate head generals or officials.

"When you're in the military, you have experience knowing how a commander acts. You can tell who's who by looking. Say in the field, you're sitting there looking and some guy walks by and salutes somebody and then , 'BAM' you know he's an officer, That's one of thee things you pick up on."

Snipers are really helpful when it comes to taking out the officers. Because of you think about it if you take out a general or even the officers no one would be able to tell the lower rankings what to do and would cause these lower ranks to panic because of lack of experience.

Reconnaissance is really an important tool of a sniper and never really thought much about a sniper as a support ive always thought of snipers as a carry (dota joke) kidding aside sniper are as I said very usefull members to have in a team.

Blogpost # 6: Inside the Mind of a Sniper

"Chris Kyle"

Have you ever thought what a sniper thought about? Well you came to the right place we'll be talking about the things a sniper thinks about.

According to the article The psychology of snipers: In new book, U.S. sniper calls Iraqi “savages” by Melville House it talked about the deadliest sniper in the US named Chris Kyle. Chris Kyle was just an ordinary guy, he worked as a poker dealer and met a man named Bill a former sniper from Vietnam. Chris Kyle then signed up for the military after befriending Bill. Chris Kyle also has the highest confirmed sniper kills of 255 people feeling superior he refers to these targets as "savages" and said "Every person I killed I strongly believe that that they were bad". In my opinion I think Chris is one hell of a dangerous guy. Adding that he said that every person he kills is a bad guy, I think its a bit blind of him cause he would really never know if the person he killed was actually bad or not.

Chris Kyle during the 2nd battle of Fallujah

Another article named What goes on in the mind of a sniper? by Stephanie Hegarty that talked about how snipers almost never call the people they kill targets, or animals but instead call them warriors. Most snipers even say when they are given a target they develop an intimate relationship after watching the thru there scopes after a number of days. But some snipers also tend to dehumanize there targets due to the fact that they have power over them. 

"It's killing that is very distant but also very personal"

As I said snipers are cheaters when it comes to warfare. You don't see them but they see you. And I get how some snipers would get intimate because if you were given a mission to watch over a target like for months im sure you would get to know the target if you watched him/her for months or even weeks.

Snipers are kind of weird when you get to know what they think about when they're on the job. But weird or not these guys are still pretty badass especially Kris Kyle.

Blogspot #5: Legendary Spotters

Hayha "White Death"

Legendary Spotters, you guessed it we're gonna learn about some amazing snipers.

Starting of with Simo Hayha nicknamed the "The White Death" is a Finnish marksman was an annoying sniper fighting against the Soviets. He had a confirmed kills of over 505 and thats a lot. In every battle he carried with him a Modified Mosin-Nagant. He was given the name White Death because of the camouflage he wore. He wore a white ski mask and a white hoodie "he fought during winter" he gained 22,000 square miles of territor. Based on "The Badass of the Week" by Amazing Ben Thompson. The Soviets lost 126,875 and the Finnish lost 25,904 for sure the made one hell of an impact to the soviets. This is one great example of being a sniper and the use of camo,; you're hidden, unseen and ugh hidden. "total fucking unstoppable badass." It may be cheating how he gets his targets, like there's no glory in fighting a man who cant even see you, but he got the job done.

Vasily Zaytsev

This my friends is Vasily Zaytsev  read from "Duel of the master snipers" by Vasily Zaitsev is well a Soviet sniper. You might have seen him from Enemy of the Gates

Vasily Zaytsev was a hero for fighthing during World War 2 and had confirmed kills of 242 although not as much as Hayha this man was most known for from eliminating Erwin Konig a skilled Wehrmacht sniper. They fought for 3 days om the ruins of Stalingrad. According to "Top 10 Snipers" the battle was a bit sketchy but after defeating  Konig Zaytsev got  his rifle scope and claimed it as his most prized trophy. As said in the article "for him to make this his prized trophy means that Konig must have been a tough adversary its almost like a real life boss fight." I bet it was an exciting fight for it to last 3 days. But both knew only 1 man can make it out alive.

These are some of the most interesting ones i've read about and wanted to share to all of you. I'm not one who's fond of violence but just really interested about how these men lived and the skills they've acquired to become one of the best snipers in the world.

Blogspot #4: Imposibru Shots

Sniper 3 Video Game

Well from the title you might know what we're gonna  talk about. Its all about impossible shots.

Read this from "The 5 Most Impossible Sniper Shots Ever Made" by Xavier Jackson and rpg101 check it out. The first shot that i was interested in was Carlos Hathcock shoots a guy though his scope from 500 yards away. Hathcock had to move through the dense jungle while on his stomach while making sure the sun was behind him. While crawling he saw the suns reflection and without hesitation he aimed and fired hitting his targets scope and into the eye. "It was like threading the needle at close to one-third of a mile." Its hard to imagine that someone with that skll and accuracy could actually hit a shot like that. It could either be pure skill or just plain luck.

Snipers scope

The next shot I read is about the "Longest Kill Shot" by Robert Tilford "measured the distance the bullet traveled at 2815 meter" toping of the previous 2475. The shot was recorded via GPS aids and equipment used to measure how far an object travels. Moving on hitting a shot from 2815 meters is pretty badass or yet again extremely lucky. I really cant imagine hitting a shot like that cause there are really a lot to think about again things from blog post no.1.

The last shot I read about was also from "The 5 Most Impossible Sniper Shots Ever Made" and it was about Matt Hughes curving the bullet. Oh curving the bullet? Haha nice lie you watched to much "Wanted". Matt Hughes hit this shot during 20013 Invasion of Iraq. It was a windy day and as you know bullets shot given wind can be extremely inaccurate, but it didn't stop him from hitting this hell of a shot. “I knew I only had one shot and had to get the angle exactly right” said Matt Hughes. This shot seems a little more legit to me cause I think he actually calculated how the shot would hit the target.

 There are a lot more incredible shots out there but These 3 interested me the most. 

Blogspot #3: Snipers and Videogames

Call of Duty Ghosts Sniper

Well this would be my favorite topic to tackle. I honestly love war games, well what guy wouldn't? But in every online war game I would always, always pick a sniper as my weapon of choice whether it would be Battlefield, Call of Duty, Teamfortress, Counter-Strike and even Dota 2. But out of all the weapons you could possibly choose from why pick one of the hardest weapons to use? Its simple, I like how difficult it is to use. I rather have a weapon that takes skill rather than a weapon a 4 year old can use (in game. not real life).

I read a very interesting topic about sniper and video games entitled Sniping in war and videogames: Why it's hated, why it's loved, and why we do it by GamesRadarTylerWilde. It talks about the brief history of sniping, and he talked about how real life sniping differs from in game sniping. Snipers in real life take time to aim at there target usually less than 5 at a time, while measuring the wind speed, positioning and range from the target. But in video games its completely different, and when i say different its very, very, very different. Videogame snipers are one of the most hated people in online gaming. Have you ever heard of quickscoping? Well its when you match up the crosshairs of your sniper with your target and shoot when you see a glimpse of your target in your scope. Its like being a shotgun user who could hit closerange and longrange with a single shot. "I would like to see those quickscoping kids got to Afghanistan and try quickscoping." Quickscoping is really impossible in real life cause theres so much more to sniping than just aiming.

A pretty accurate picture

Another interesting article I read about is called Don't judge me, but I love sniping games by Charlie Brooker which talked about how he would always play as a sniper, which I can easily relate to. According to him he liked the skill level it took to play as a sniper, and how fun it was to play as one. He also discussed how snipers were unpopular with soldiers during the world war, mainly because it was unsportly, mainly taking an enemy out while he's unarmed and pissing on a bush. Which is true, now that I think about it its kinda bad that a sniper can hit a target while he just lays down from a far "he camps until he see's a threat and pop goes the weezle." It may be cheating and all online players hate a camper, but in real life its actually there job.

Overall videogame snipers and real life snipers are far different in terms of aiming and logic. Hope you guys get the picture to the left, cause I find it hella funny.

Blogspot #2: Accurate Gals

Guevara "The Female Sniper"

There may be a lot of male snipers but did you know there are female ones too? According to "I will not forget my children’s blood" by National Post. There is a woman who lives in Allepo located at Syria. She's well known by her nickname Guevara by her comrade, not to be confused with Che Guevara but to many residents she is simply called "the female sniper" she waits patiently at her hideout holding her Dragonov sniper while she peaks through a fist sized whole, while she watches the enemy government soldiers as she and her comrades fight to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

Following the incident where in a government air strike hit the neighbourhood of Ansari, Guevara watched as innocent people lost there lives. Now she helps in protecting her home town against invaders. According to Guevara holding a sniper and watching her comrades die, she feels that it is her responsibility to avenge them. She is dressed in green khaki pants, a grey sweater dress, tight-fitting hijab and a camouflage combat jacket, the 36-year-old woman cleans and loads her gun all while sitting in a half-demolished building. Despite the war, her eyebrows are perfectly plucked,wears blush and a little eyeliner, wears small leather boots with heels and a gold bracelet. While not following the Muslim norms she still manages to gain command and respect of her fellow fighters, some of which are men as young as 16.

It is not easy to be a sniper, she explains. "You have to be quick, careful smart not to let them shoot you. And you have to be patient. I wait for hours at a time." She has to be one badass chick to have fought against the government.

Male and Female Soldiers

Have you ever asked yourself who has more accuracy? Men or women? Well according to Men are more accurate than women in aiming at targets in both near space and extrapersonal space. by PubMed.gov that men are more accurate in aiming at targets. Men posses different motor skills than women enabling them to react faster. A test was given to 18 men and 20 female 2 tasks of aiming acuracy performed in near space, and a task of fine motor skill. Men outperformed women in both tests.

"Males have an advantage was observed for one of the aiming tasks performed in near space, suggesting that the male advantage for aiming accuracy does not result in proximity." Although males are much more accurate im sure that women are just as good as there male counterparts.

To sum it all up women are as dangerous as men and you better watch out, you might be under the sights of a gal yourself.