I'm sure most of you have heard the news reports about sniper attacks in Iraq becoming an increasing threat, mainly due to a video that was released by the insurgent media. It's an edited propaganda peice so you can't take it at face value. However there are definatly lessons to be learned here.

The insurgents are very aware of how to use the media against us. they are better propagandists that we are. This video was all over the net before the major news outlets caught on due to it's shocking content. It definatly delivers the desired effect of making the viewer cringe. it's frustrating to see someone get shot while out interacting with Iraqi children and trying to win hearts and minds. Still, the way it's edited gives clues as to what the insurgents are hiding. For one thing, the camera cuts away in many of the cases almost immediatly after the shot. Some of the body armor out there now is pretty good, and many of these shots are from long distances, so the bullets aren't moving all that fast and they need to aim for center mass. I doubt all of the soldiers hit in these videos were killed, and in some cases, even hit squarley. Same is true of the roadside bomb clips in the video, they cut away right after the explosion and it's impossible to tell if the actually disabled a vehicle. There are plenty of vidioes out there showing vehicles hauling ass right through bombings. The timing of this video along with the increased level of violence also shows that they are trying to effect the outcome of our elections.

As for tactical lessons, the snipers seem to usually target lone soldiers who are usually looking the other way. If you aren't alone and look alert you're probably in better shape. In one video a soldier had his helmet off and was targeted as he was trying to put it back on. Again, they go for the most vulnerable target. Keeping your kevlar on at all times is a great idea. Also, from the news report last night I noticed that in a picture of a soldier killed by a sniper, he was wearing one of the new helmets the army issues. These are almst twice as strong as the older ones and can stop a 7.62mm AK round, which would probably still knock you the hell out. The problem with these helmets is that they're designed for a different kind of fighting. Light, mobile stuff, so the back of your neck and ears are exposed for better mobility and hearing. It's defintly not a good choice for standing around gaurding  checkpoint. It's a bad idea to push this gear on all infantry. I say give it to special ops guys on missions where they need it. The marines seem to have a better approach to this, using the stronger kevlar with the old pattern helmet with more coverage. This should definatly help survivability especially with shrapnel.

The faster we learn from this stuff the better. We might as well use the information they give us against them.

Curiosity prevails.

PM link someone?

Squishey wrote: pm link please. and is it just me or would you not see the guy stickin out the window shooting, because he is not shooting through the glass. ibut then again i know nothing about war. except that it sucks.

If they were to fire out of a window and weren't retarded, they'd stay considerable back from the window, and probably in a darkened room so they'd be harder to spot. There are a whole bunch of ways to camoflauge yourself while shooting out of a building.

Snipers in Iraq are getting better mainly because the dumb ones have mostly been killed off by now. Coalition forces have killed a whole crapload of them. I remember a few years ago seeing a translation of an online training manual for insurgent snipers that presented scenarios and ranked targets in order of importance. Coalition snipers were right up there with Paul Bremer. They obviously have a healthy respect for the tactic.

On the flip side the US military uses quite a few snuff films for propaganda purposes. Mainly to instill confidence in equipment. I remember being shown one of a group of insurgents milling around and one guy with a dragunov being targeted with a .50 The other insurgents seemed just a bit freaked out that a hole the size of a basketball had suddenly appeared in the guys chest.  

pm me the link, please. Im curious

BTW

At least they're not smart enough to target the snipers usuall people, commanders, then communications guys, then manned weapons like machine guns.

It still sucks that they're killing our troops, but they're not using very effective meathods to do it.

battlefreak wrote: This is why our snipers have m107's .50, the regular round can pierce 4-6 inches of concrete, the explosive round is known to take out light armour.

Which under the laws of land warfare, cannot be used.

Update- I mean against a human target.

HOInfantry wrote: battlefreak wrote: This is why our snipers have m107's .50, the regular round can pierce 4-6 inches of concrete, the explosive round is known to take out light armour.   Which under the laws of land warfare, cannot be used. Update- I mean against a human target.

And sneaky, the online training thing went through machinegunners, officers, NCOs, and comm guys. in the video it's mostly track commanders and machinegunners being targeted.