How Snipers are Viewed by Soldiers: "Unacceptable to ordinary footsoldiers"

[HereSince1628]

20. The soldier's goal in war is to survive. Striking from outside the enemy's range

Last edited Wed Jan 28, 2015, 05:05 PM - Edit history (1)

represents Darwinian-like adaptability and success for militaries.

OF COURSE it looks asymmetrical and thereby unfair to strike from 1/2 a mile away, or several miles away from modern artillery or even more than a thousand miles away if operating a predator drone or cruise missle.

The operator of the drone or the sniper isn't at risk But then, no soldier in his/her right mind wants to be at risk.

Being safe from enemy fire while in range either defines either cowardice or weapons' superiority. The definition depends on whether your side is at risk.

In the war I served, some poor north Vietnamese radio operator sent to me a finger print of his transmitter, and a compass bearing of where he was everytime he acknowledged a message from his/her headquarters. Togther with similar bearings usually taken from naval surveillance that pinpointed his antenna's location...within working areas... army, navy, airforce intelligence teams worked out who was that guy's controller.

Those co-ordinates gave the B-52s locations to bomb...from the safety of many miles in the air.

Collectively, very very few of us were at risk. We were NOT snipers. We were MODERN war-fighters working on a battlefield that included radio-emissions.

We bombed the FUCK out of enemy command and control antennae sites. Were were NOT snipers, were we cowardly? Every fucking body I knew was anti-war but also pretty damned HAPPPY to be a pretty much SAFE coward.

Here is a song made up by members of my unit acknowledging our cowardice