How Marine snipers train to kill from helicopters

Logan Nye
Updated onJun 28, 2022 5:35 AM PDT
1 minute read
Marine Corps photo

SUMMARY

Marine scout snipers are often described more like a force of nature than a group of warfighters. The Corps has recently had just a few hundred of them at a time, but a massive mission rests on their shoulders. They’re true scouts, acting as the co…
Marine scout snipers are often described more like a force of nature than a group of warfighters. The Corps has recently had just a few hundred of them at a time, but a massive mission rests on their shoulders. They're true scouts, acting as the commander's eyes and ears, but they're also trained to take careful shots at foes. And they even train to hit targets from moving platforms like helicopters.
[html5_video https://s3.amazonaws.com/roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/runner%2F12831-Marine-welcome-to-the-31st-marine-expeditionary-unit-aerial-sniper-helicopter.mp4 url="https://s3.amazonaws.com/roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/runner%2F12831-Marine-welcome-to-the-31st-marine-expeditionary-unit-aerial-sniper-helicopter.mp4" shortcode_id=1560875991411 videoControls=true feedbacks=true mime_type="video/mp4" expand=1 ] The big difference between scouts and scout snipers is right in the name. It's also in the Corps' definition of the job:
The scout sniper is a Marine highly skilled in fieldcraft and marksmanship who delivers long range, precision fire at selected targets from concealed positions.
But the Marine Corps is very specific that scout snipers are shooters, even going so far as to define the snipers' primary mission as that "precision fire" and the secondary mission as "gathering information for intelligence purposes." So, they're really highly observant snipers rather than scouts who have become more lethal. And being a top-tier sniper requires a certain amount of flexibility, especially in the Marine Corps where they pride themselves on their "Semper Gumby" mentality. And so these Marines train on not just riding into battle on helicopters, but on shooting enemies from them with their precise fires. To practice, the Marines hop into Super Hueys and spit fire at targets floating in the ocean or staged on land. The shifting helicopters provide an increased level of challenge, but also allows the snipers to take out threats while inserting into the battlefield or while providing cover for infantrymen hitting the deck. The two-man teams work together to watch over friendlies, engage enemy forces, and send targeting data and other intelligence back to the headquarters, whether they're working from a helicopter, a ship, or a secluded ridge or rooftop on the battlefield. A video from the aerial sniper training is available above.

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