I once had the chance to take an Estonian Infantry NCO and his boss (an 0-6) to Maryland on an OTT. Maryland is Estonia's Partner State and still is today.

Once at Aberdeen they were offered to try various weapons on the range and at the end of the day, both seemed to favor the M-14 over any other weapon. After several rounds we headed to a local watering hole to discuss the day's events and a little history about long rifles.

Turns out, one of the NCO's distant relatives was part of an Estonia sniper unit trained by the Germans in the early 1900s. The unit then and today is know as the Kuperjanov Single Infantry Battalion. Formed as a partisan troop in 1918 by 1LT Julius Kuperjanov, their enemies (the Russians) referred to them as a death squad, and rightfully so. Kuperjanov's men were responsible for more Russian officer casualties than that of 25 years of war.

Also known as Forest Brothers and lacking sufficient ammo to sustain a long firefight, they would simply wait hiden in a dense growth of trees for an adorn officer and use a single 7mm round (per officer).

On 06 JAN 1919 and so proud of her husband's success, Alice Kuperjanov embroidered the battalion's first sleeve patch. Skull and crossbones with a black background and gold border.

The Kuperjanov battalion still wears this patch today, but now use US-donated M14s and continue to practice the one-round rule.

Regards, Stan