This is why Coast Guard snipers are the real deal

Each branch of the United States Armed Forces has their own elite troop, proficient in using a sniper rifle — and the Coast Guard is no different. Surprised? You're not alone. One of the only times troops sing their praises is when they "come out of nowhere" and beat most branches' snipers in competition, year after year.

Sure, it's always hilarious to poke fun at our tiniest brother branch for being puddle pirates, but when it comes down to it, mission after mission, the Coast Guard has continuously proven themselves as cut from the same cloth. Okay, maybe just the MSRT guys — but still.

Everyone wants to mock the coasties until they realize what the coasties actually do...

(U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Daniel Lavinder)

The Coast Guard equivalent to special operations is the Maritime Security Response Team, or MSRT. They're the front line troops shouldering the burden of the War on Drugs. And they're not just busting college frat boys who're smoking a bit of weed on their daddy's yacht either. These guys are constantly going toe-to-toe with some of the deadliest cartels in the world. These are the guys that are bringing billion-dollar criminal enterprises to their knees.

When the Coast Guard goes out to stomp narcoterrorists, they send the MSRT to interdict them. Among them are the often-forgotten snipers.

Snipers across the Department of Defense focus their training on several factors, depending on the role they play. A Marine recon sniper, for example, must train in camouflaging themselves and moving without being seen — often through miles of difficult terrain for weeks at a time. Coast Guard snipers don't worry about because that's not in their area of operations — there's no hiding on the open ocean.

There's very little technological assistance — that's all skill from the sniper.

(U.S. Coast Guard)

Instead, they focus their entire training on balancing the perfect shot — often from a helicopter or vessel, compensating for the ebb and flow of the waves, into another speeding vessel. It is an art form that they've definitely mastered.

Another key difference between Department of Defense snipers and the coasties is that they're rarely aiming for individual enemies. They are armed with a Robar RC-50 anti-material rifle and their goal is to disable the engines of speeding boats. They need to capture and imprison the drug traffickers, after all.

When the engine is disabled, the interdiction team boards, and the enemy fights back, well, the rifle is meant to disintegrate reinforced steel. Even criminals aren't dumb enough to keep fighting when they see what it can do to a comparatively squishy human being.

Last year, the snipers of the Coast Guard's HITRON (Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron), successfully made their 500th interdiction (or drug bust) since their founding in 1998. Check out the video below that celebrates hitting this milestone.