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

[haele]

56. I'm a retired Vet. SEALs aren't snipers unless they absolutely have to be. Nor are Rangers.

Sniper is a Marine or Army infantry MOS, not a Special Forces MOS. Now Special Forces members are required to be qualified as a Sniper in cases like "our position is blown, and we have to take out the oncoming platoon's leader to make our escape", but they are not expected to be assigned to a platoon to act as look-outs and path-clearance for a typical patrol.

Special Forces hate, hate, hate to be used in operations like the first battle of Fallujah. That's not their job. Their job is to go in unseen, do one (or at most two) specific operational tasks, then get the F*** out without being noticed. And killing, especially indiscriminate killing, gets you noticed really damn quick.

Reservists I work with who were in Iraq and Afghanistan don't generally consider the unit snipers as part of their "comrades in arms". The problem many infantry soldiers have with snipers is that the sniper doesn't operate on the same level as the rest of the unit does. There's also competitive "glory" that some snipers cultivate because they're better shots and get to set themselves up out of the way to be the savior of the unit if something goes down, far different than the corpsman who has to get covered with blood and bone and risks the same IEDs and attacks the rest of the unit does. The average grunt also hates watching two or three buddies being picked off by the opposing sniper they didn't know was there before the unit sniper reacts quickly enough to take the enemy out (if he can) before more soldiers or marines get shot.
On edit - I'm not saying the reservists complained about the snipers in their units for doing their jobs, nor did they call them cowards - but the snipers were not "part of the unit", and not generally trusted much past their ability to snipe at the enemy.

As far as I know, Kyle was an average grunt blessed with good shooting skills who's job was to position himself out of the way where he could get a clear view of the operation and pick off any threats to his unit. A lot of his claims are typical of a young man who begins to believe himself to be the difference between success and failure of his mission; such boys begin to think of themselves as Superman; above regular people.

BTW, as a military historian, you know there difference between SEALs who actually earn that NEC or Special Warfare rating and someone who went through BUD/S training; just as there's a difference between Snipers and someone who went all the way through Ranger training for that MOS.

Haele