Snipers Sniping & Countering them

[Rob Thornton]

There was a study (I think RAND did it) on the exponential increase of knowledge. The gist was that becasuse of new knowledge sharing technologies and techniques, knowledge could be modified and exploited to make new information at exponential rates as never before. The study offered up an almost unfathomable estimate of how much knowledge had been added between the years of 2000 & 2005. Of course the internet as mentioned, has taken on a life of its own. It is the multi-billion headed hydra with outlets all over. The questions are how to use it to maximimum advantage, and how will the enemy attempt to use it to his? Max Boot did an interesting piece on the Information Revolution in Sunday's Early Bird.

[SWJED]

Here is a link to Max Boot's commentary Are We the Mongols of the Information Age? that appeared in yesterday's Los Angeles Times.

[Ender]

Narrated by a man described as the brigade "commander" and subtitled in English, it claims the marksmen use a training manual written by a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer.

Here is the subtitled video of the brigade commander who interestingly enough, purports to be "Juba." (A thread of Jedburgh's also mentions him above) http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e536c3bebc&p=1 Juba has been on the net posting his attacks for at least six months that I know of, so he at least is not new. I must admit his productions have gotten snazzier. What is interesting is that if he is in fact Juba and the commander of this "brigade" (it is difficult to determine whether he is referring to himself in the third person or not) he has been promoted relatively recently because when I first heard about him even the people (non Westerners) posting his videos didn't even know who he was.

My gut tells me after watching him, studying his "methods" and reading about the D.C. style tactics used in Iraq, that this guy happened to come across the book, had some success with it and is now spreading the good word. I was given Plaster's book 14 years ago and I can not imagine a trained sniper cadre in the world that wouldn't have access to their own user friendly manuals. That they are using ours suggests to me that they are late to the game and are once again evolving their tactics in response to the ass kicking they are receiving. They may be adapting but they can't come close to how fast we adapt to them. I am not a school trained sniper and would be very interested to hear what one would say after watching this dude but my professional evaluation of the methods he uses is that he is not nearly as trained as he would have us believe. It does not take an inordinate amount of skill to implement the D.C. sniper method and while this is scary because anyone can do it, it should also be reassuring. If there were 30+ attacks in Baghdad from trained snipers there would also be 30+ fatalities and not just 8.

Not trying to minimize or trivialize the subject, only highlight a possible hype/threat disparity.

[Jedburgh]

From the Apr 07 Guns & Ammo: Insurgent Sniping in Iraq

...As Americans, we have our own opinions on what constitutes both a sniper and sniping. Our Western view demands that a real sniper be school trained in the classical sense. Equipped with a heavy-barreled, bolt-action precision rifle topped with a high-magnification optic, he has the ability to reach 1,000 yards or more. He is trained to estimate distances, read wind/mirage and drills hitting targets far beyond the range of an ordinary rifleman. In addition, his stealth and fieldcraft skills are carefully honed to the point that, properly “ghillied up,” he can move virtually unseen. The end result is a warrior with the ability to spot and engage targets at astonishing distances while remaining undetected. In the Western mind, the longer the successful shot, the more impressive the sniper.

While there is nothing wrong with this now-traditional Western view, in reality it is just one take on sniping. Keep in mind, the nuts and bolts of sniping is to merely eliminate key targets and/or demoralize and drive fear into the enemy through the use of a rifle. While sniping equipment has changed drastically over the years, the art itself is the same as it was 100 years ago. Its crux is to locate a target without being seen, eliminate it with a single well-placed shot that seems to come from nowhere, then disappear, leaving a frustrated enemy behind who does not know where/when you will strike next. The insurgents in Iraq, despite their deficiencies in equipment and training, have learned to do just that....

[kaur]

If insurgents don't have credit card to shop in Amazon, they can download counter-sniper chapter from Plaster's website.

http://www.ultimatesniper.com/Docs/U...ter_20_US2.pdf

[Jedburgh]

Times Online, 9 Apr 08: Same sniper rifle killed six British soldiers in Basra

Six British soldiers have been picked off on the streets of Basra by an enemy sniper using the same rifle, an inquest heard today.

Between the months of March and June last year, six soldiers were shot using high velocity bullets fired from exactly the same gun.....

[William F. Owen]

A new insurgent propaganda video shows how guerrillas have dramatically upped their kill rate of US soldiers with the help of The Ultimate Sniper, written by a retired US Marines major, John Plaster.

I have purchased 12 different sniper manuals over the last 5-6 years, and anyone one of them would have sufficed as the basis of some type of sniper training.

The problem/success with John's book (who is a personal friend) is that it was uniquely user friendly, and somewhat idiot proof. It demystified sniping and made it accessible, which is what it should not be, and not some "dark art" for the selected few.... which is why he had to put up with so much BS from the US Sniper community who all ran around say "but this guy wasn't a sniper."

[Jedburgh]

For those with access (AKO log-in + BCKS forum registration) the BCKS Sniper Defeat forum has posted the new GTA 90-01-13 Joint Sniper Defeat Handbook

[Tom Odom]

For those with access (AKO log-in + BCKS forum registration) the BCKS Sniper Defeat forum has posted the new GTA 90-01-13 Joint Sniper Defeat Handbook

It is a good piece of work, well recieved here.

Tom

[Jedburgh]

There was a study (I think RAND did it) on the exponential increase of knowledge. The gist was that becasuse of new knowledge sharing technologies and techniques, knowledge could be modified and exploited to make new information at exponential rates as never before...

Not sure if this is the exact study that you're referring to, but the two-volume study, Aptitude for Destruction, from RAND published last year is definitely worth the read:

Organizational Learning in Terrorist Groups and Its Implications for Combating Terrorism

Case Studies of Organizational Learning in Five Terrorist Groups

(Note: The 5 case studies are of Aum Shinrikyo, Hezballah, Jema'ah Islamiyya, PIRA and ELF/ALF)

[Culpeper]

It is not just this particular book and/or DVD. They have learned the hard way about how effective a single sniper team can be. On the other hand, Coalition snipers are breaking records because these morons still send their kids out in the middle of the street with an RPG or rifle. It is fairly terrorizing to be standing in an alley and watch one of your jihadist buddies run out into the street to send off an RPG only to see him blow apart from a single .50 caliber round before he hears the report of the rifle. So, they leave that particular alley and some other dumb group comes along and occupies it with the same results. Later on, word around the campfire puts the pieces together. No pun intended. They're learning.