WEBVTT - How Military Snipers Work 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.400 Yeah, Welcome to Stuff from the Science Lab from how 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:16.040 stuff works dot com. Hey, guys, welcome to the podcast. 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.640 This is Alison Madam, the science editor how stuff works 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.120 dot com. And this is Robert Lamb, science writer at 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:23.759 how stuff works dot com. Today we're straining a little 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.520 bit outside of our normal purview. We're going to delve 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:29.640 into the world of military snipers. Well, you know, it's 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:31.720 kind of a military science and you know we have 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.080 a lot of military stuff under the science banner at 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:38.320 how stuff works. So yeah, fair games. Yeah, yeah, so, um, 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:40.120 it was a pretty good article on our site that 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.360 I want to refer you guys to just upfront in 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.159 case I forget um and a certain bye Robert Valdez. 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:47.280 And we're gonna be talking about a lot of points 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:50.080 that he covered in Military Snipers. And it's worth pointing 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:52.360 out that this is one of the few articles that 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:55.000 has like a video game component to it, right, it does, 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:57.720 which I played this afternoon. Yeah, Um, did you try 0:00:57.760 --> 0:00:59.720 it out? No? No, I haven't tried it out yet, 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.560 but well it's it's buried. It's on one of the 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:07.480 latter pages and you have to hit ten hidden targets 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:10.000 and you're supposed to do it within thirty seconds. So 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.000 you line it up in the scope and then UM, 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:15.920 hit the hidden target and then I got a hundred points. Wow, 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:18.240 So you're you're quite the sniper. I'm I'm interested to 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:20.160 try it out. I was. I always got to kick 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.760 out of out of games that had some video games 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:25.800 that had some sort of sniper component, like like the 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.120 Metal Gear Solid games specifically the one that came up 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.319 for PS two back in the day. There was like 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:34.319 an there was one awesome level in particular where you're 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:36.039 out there among these snow banks and you have a 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:39.479 sniper rifle and there's another sniper UM, and you try 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:40.920 you have to try and figure out where the other 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:43.080 sniper is and you end up like having to identify 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.440 where they are based on UM. You can see their 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.440 breath rising on the other side of this little hill, 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.240 the sniper trying to pick off sniper. Yeah. Battle of 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:53.440 the Snipers. Yeah, it shows up in a lot of 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.000 video games. You know. It's like the sniper rifle is 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:59.520 is pretty common these days and your action oriented. So 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.200 in the video games, is there a spotter as well 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:04.440 or is it just a lone sniper? UM. I can't 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:06.440 speak for the moment. I know there's some like their 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:10.200 video games that have titles like sniper you know, but uh, 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:12.040 most of your games are going to be more like 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.440 solo type deals where you just have one dude with 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.120 and with a sniper rifle, the ones I've seen. Anyway, Okay, 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:19.960 well here we are. We're going to educate you because 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:23.480 it's not a lone gunman typically, well at least those 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:27.320 snipers who are working for law enforcement or the military. Yeah, 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.040 like think of it like chess in a way. You know, 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.840 you have all these special pieces, but they have to 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:35.040 they have to work as a team. They have you 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:37.120 have to one piece of support the other. Like you 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:38.840 don't just send a tank out and do an out 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.359 into the field. You send a tank out with infantry 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:45.280 support to cover its weaknesses and allow its strength to 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.880 shine through. Right, right, So snipers work in pairs, and 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:51.239 uh is there even the Beltway snipers. I don't know 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:53.960 if you remember that, but back in two thousand two 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:56.600 in the in the US, there was this infamous pair 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.280 of snipers. It was an older guy. It was John 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:01.840 Allen Mohammed it and he was he was actually executed 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.240 in two thousand nine, and he had a seventeen year 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.959 old accomplice Lee Melbo, and they were in the Washington, 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:10.840 D C. Area, and I think they were accused of 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:14.520 killing ten people. Yeah, it was. It was quite the stir, right. 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.800 So they were operating in a pair too. Um, So 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.000 you have the sniper who gets a lot of the glory, 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:23.040 but really you have the other half, the spotter, who's 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.320 tracking the target while the person pulling the trigger has 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.200 to recover from you know, gun recoil and stuff like that. 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:30.680 And you also have the spotter who's giving feedback on 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:33.840 the wind conditions and basically any condition that's going to 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:36.840 affect the shot. Yeah, if I if I remember correctly, 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:40.320 the hurt Locker features a great scene where you see 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.240 like a spotter helping a sniper. I haven't seen that. 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:46.320 I really do. You want to see it. It's really good, excellent. 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:50.080 So yeah, it's it's a pair. Their elite long range 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.040 marksman and they're generally part of a special ops team 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:57.080 and they obviously can shoot with ridiculous precision, but they 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:58.920 tend to be even more than that. They're not just 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:01.800 pulling the trigger. They do more than just rack up 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:07.120 confirmed kills argualy. Their main role is recon or reconnaissance. 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:09.400 I feel like that a little bit of jargon I 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.200 threw in there for you. Yeah, that's nice. And so 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:14.720 they're very skilled at this thing they call the stock, 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:21.880 as in stocking stokers. Yeah. Stock. So there's even a 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:25.680 game that you play in sniper school military sniper school. 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:28.240 I assume they have the equivalent for law enforcements, some 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:32.679 sort of training program, police academy or like police snipers. 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:35.400 Yeah yeah, yeah, you need the people who would be 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:39.719 a part of a swat team. Right, So in um 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.920 in military training, the snipers learned how to stock, and 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:46.279 so it's really interesting. There's this stock training. It takes 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:50.320 place in a big, old, open grassy range, right, and 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:52.920 your sniper students are going to start at one end 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.800 of the range. They're hanging out and about a thousand 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.760 meters down you have your instructors checking out what you're doing, 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:00.440 how well you're faring, and they're city on top of 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.359 a truck or maybe a tower, and they have the 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.760 spotter scopes so they can see what's going on. They 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.200 can they have these specialized telescopes to see what's happening. 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:10.279 So they're they're trying to they're like judging them on 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:14.560 how stealthily I'm coming. So the sniper students have to 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.520 stalk toward the instructors without being seen. Right, So they're 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.560 in this grassy field and you know that the instructors 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:24.200 are actively looking for them, and the snipers are trying 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.400 to move toward them on the on the deal, you know, stealthily. 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:29.600 It's very interesting. Would you think you'd be able to 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:33.000 do that? Well, no, But but they also have some help, 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.440 you know. They they have camouflage, they have the gilly suit, 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:37.000 which we'll get into a little bit later, which is 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:40.960 a key part of a sniper's gear. It sounds pretty cool. 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:42.599 I mean when I was in I was in Boy 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.520 Scouts and we would, uh, you know, you have all 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:47.400 your sort of official boy Scout things you have to 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:49.880 do like tie knots and you know, start fires and 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:52.960 identify trees and all that kind of stuff. But we 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.680 would often like end up displaying these like games out 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.000 in these fields you know where you know, it's stuff 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.480 like you're sort of like playing elaborate hiding go seek 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:02.680 out in a cornfield in the middle of the night 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.440 or things like that. So I could see where did 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:08.240 you really play hide and seek in a corn field 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:10.000 in the the middle of night, because that sounds pretty fun. Yeah, 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.240 we'll see one group would hide in the field and 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:14.440 then the other group would have flashlights and they would 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:16.599 come in looking for you. And it was really frightening 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:18.080 at times because it's kind of like, on one hand, 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:20.200 you're like, oh, my goodness, I'm afraid I'm gonna get 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:21.760 caught by the dudes with the flashlights. And then you 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:23.839 find like a really dark corner of the field and 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.240 you're you hunker down and then there's like nobody around 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:29.840 you and it's really quiet, and then you realize, oh, 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:31.440 my goodness, sound like out in the middle of the 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:33.680 woods and it's dark, and you started getting kind of 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:36.320 freaked out about that. So it was quite the adrenaline rush. 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:39.160 So I could see where one of these stalking events 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.400 and sniper academy could be, uh, could be pretty exhilarating. 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:45.279 So while they're stalking, they're they're trying to be these 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.039 masters of stealth, and they're doing stuff like reporting on 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:51.000 the enemy's size, their strength, their location, and this is 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:55.720 all pretty helpful and radioing that back to the commanding officers. Yeah, 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:57.440 you've got a guy who can get in there close 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:01.119 without being seen. So I mean the the reconnaissance value 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.320 there is immense, perhaps yeah, generally, perhaps more so than 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:09.280 his ability to take out a key component of that enemy. Yeah, 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:11.240 so let's talk about that. Who are they trying to 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.800 take out? Not the average soldier, That's the thing, because 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:16.520 I think that's another thing about video games. There's some 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:18.280 games where you kind of have a sniper rifle, but 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.200 you're basically just killing everything in sight. And that's not 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.480 what this is about. This is about a precision um strike. 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:29.400 This is about identifying key person and important aspect of 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:33.200 the enemy's forces and removing it from play and maybe 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.080 striking a little terror in the process. So who makes 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:37.960 you think who would you think might be one of 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:42.160 those key people that you'd want to um, the cook 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:45.720 because of the cook's gone to know um, well, the 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:49.000 obviously any kind of command, um kind of in an 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.040 individual in command would be a key target. Uh, somebody 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.040 that has you know, um like a communications officer, you 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.960 know that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, pilots um Veldes 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:03.680 also talked about drivers and your communications operators stuff like that. 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.280 So here's something that I hadn't really thought about. Um, 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:09.800 there's a famous movie scene or maybe many famous movie 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:13.520 scenes in which the enemy's location is disclosed by say 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.200 the flare of a cigarette, you know, the little orange 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:19.480 no at the end of a cigarette or the match right, 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:22.480 you know, and they light up and it's say goodbye. 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:27.560 So snipers are ultra ultra observe it. That's something they're 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:34.480 superbly taught in sniper training school. So a sniper is 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:36.280 gonna see you know, a sniper is gonna be able 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.719 to discern who's who in the battlefield. They're going to 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:40.920 pick up on all sorts of subtle cues. You know, 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.600 they're looking at the way you know, body language, they're 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.360 looking at say you make the mistake of saluting your 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:50.840 commanding officer in the field, Well, then what's going to happen? Right, 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.560 And this is actually like becomes more and more important 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:57.000 as we move farther away from like the the the 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:59.360 outdated vision of a military where like the guy in 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:01.920 charge it has a fancy hat, you know, I mean 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:04.280 you have you have you have combinants who do not 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.520 have uniforms, uh, you know, especially in the field, you know, 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:09.840 and they probably don't have uniforms at all. You know, 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.520 like if you're insane a situation like in Afghanistan or something. 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.280 To figure out who's in charge, you're gonna have to 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:19.320 observe and see based on their social interactions and the 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:22.120 way they carry themselves. You know which guy is the 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:25.480 is the command unit, right, and so you don't have 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.319 these key people. So a sniffer is going to look 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:32.439 for something called a target of opportunity. So this could be, uh, 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:35.240 somebody like an officer taking a break to smoke cigarette, 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:39.000 or maybe a pilot who's flight checking his helicopter, or 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:43.880 you know, a guard who's patrolling the camp or the base. Yeah, 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:46.880 somebody who just suddenly they're an easy target to pick off, 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:51.680 which in taking that guy out might not actually like 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.000 it's not like, oh my goodness, Doug's gone, so we're 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.080 just gonna give up the war now, you know, we're 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.840 just gonna completely surrender. But but everybody else in Dougs unit, 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.160 it's gonna be like, oh my goodness, Doug just bought it, 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.160 you know, going out to smoke a cigarette. It like 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:08.240 it breaks down morale, yeah, absolutely, And then it's not 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:12.440 just people thereafter, it's also material things too, stuff like 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:19.360 a generator or radio transmitter or um a fuel tank exactly. Yeah, yeah, 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:25.320 something of gray importance to the force there. Yeah, And 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:27.959 you were just talking about how a single hit can 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:32.680 really demoralize the enemy, and so snappers are called force 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:36.880 multipliers by army strategists, and so it's all that means, 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.680 as you guys could probably guess, is that sniper teams 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:42.400 can do much more damage than you'd think an individual 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:44.520 would be capable of causing. Yeah, they can kind of 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:48.600 spread chaos, you know. So let's get to the other 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.640 half of the team, the spotter. The spotter tracks the 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:55.280 shots fired, right, Yeah, and you can tell this by 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.320 um And we were talking about these high velocity, long 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:00.000 range rounds and a lot of times they're gonna lea 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:02.880 a vapor trail. Yeah. The main way I could relate 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:04.480 to this because I don't know that I've played a 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:06.640 video game that had a vapor trail after you fired 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:09.000 a sniper rifle. And maybe I'm just playing the wrong games, 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:11.680 but but one game does come to mind, a little 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:15.720 iPhone um app that everybody plays these days called Angry Birds. 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.200 It's like everybody, like my wife's addicted to it, and 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:21.640 I've played that. Something's pretty phone addicted to angry birds 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:25.360 bring up angry birds among iPhone owners, and it's like 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:27.520 people go crazy for it. And it's like a game 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:31.000 where you sling shot little birds at little pigs that 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:36.200 are in fortresses. It's silly, it's cute, but slingshotting birds cute. 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:38.840 Well they're cute birds. Yeah, So you sling shot the 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:42.480 bird right and you miss right, But after you fire, 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:46.160 you can see the trajectory of the shot tracked little dots, 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:47.840 and so you can then you can sort of correct 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:51.520 your shot based on that trail. So it's not as 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.640 simple as that with sniper rifles obviously, but it reminds 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:56.160 me of that. It's it's like, oh, we can see 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.320 based on the vapor trail how the last shot went, 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:02.480 and we can kind of wrecked based on that. Yeah, 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.960 so Vel does um he interviewed an Army Ranger sniper, 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.160 which is pretty cool. Yeah he went after a Yeah, 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:12.160 yeah he did. And uh, the sniper that Vell does 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:14.880 quotes says, um kind of just looks like mixed up air. 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:17.000 You can see through it, but you see the distortion. 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:19.040 I think of it as if you're ever looking at 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.079 a grill. You're grilling something outside and you can see 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:25.280 the distorted air kind of rising off the grill, kind 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.680 of like waves and yeah, or if you look across 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.800 asphalt on a really hot day, right yeah, same sort 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:32.680 of thing, or at least I would think it would 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.520 be the same story. That's that's my interpretation too. In 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:37.400 the spot are also is going to help your sniper 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:43.280 to factor in the condition, so you know your wind, weather, visibility, pressure, humidity, 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:47.800 because remember we're talking about pretty long ranges, and the 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:49.679 farther you get away, the more precise you have to 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.000 be when you're aiming your weapon, right right, Yeah, and 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:53.599 you have to account for the changes they're going to 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.480 take place over all of that a long distance, be 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.840 it wind or just gravity, yeah, planel gravity can affect 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:04.079 your shot. So perfect conditions according to sniper, yeah no wind, 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:06.680 mild weather, clear visibility. But that's not going to happen. 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:10.560 So given them, you know, there's a rare days a 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.440 snipery team has to correct for things like that. So 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:14.959 they have to correct for the way, you know, the 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.880 bit of bullets are going to spin and drift, and 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.679 they do that with this thing called MOA or a 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.920 minute of angle. I hope they call it MOA. Maybe 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:27.080 they call it m o A. I don't know. Snipers 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:28.800 right in and tell us MOA makes me think of 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:33.520 like a giant flightless bird, but in m o A 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.400 sounds a little more like military, you know. So this 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.400 is the unit of measurement that snipers use. They rely 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:41.960 on to to measure accuracy, and their spotters are going 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:43.280 to help them with figure out how to get the 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:45.840 best shot and and factor in MOA there or m 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:49.000 o A right now, the spotter is not just you know, 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:52.400 along for the ride. I mean, he's armed as well, 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.640 so he's there to provide supporting fire if suddenly the 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:59.880 sniper becomes the target or they have to you know, 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.920 eat a hasty retreat and uh you know and fire 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:05.440 some shots along the way. Yeah, he's going to have 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:10.400 typically like an assault rifle in automatic assault rifle, I mean, 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.839 because remember his his main duty is to protect the 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:18.600 sniper and thus the unit. Essentially. Here's the other thing 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:20.960 that I'm not sure spotter is like too much. I 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:22.840 was reading that being a spotter is kind of like 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:27.080 being a sniper apprentice. Um, you know, I'll be like 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:29.560 an extremely valuable one though. We're kind of like a 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:35.360 golf caddy, right I would I would take extreme offense 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:36.880 to that if I were, Well, that's what kind of 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:39.200 what like when you make ca I mean, obviously it's 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:41.800 not the same thing, but but like calling him apprentice, 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:43.800 it's kind of like this what he's learning, he's learning 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:45.000 in the field, And how better are you going to 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:47.160 learn if you're not out in the field practicing these skills, 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.800 because eventually a lot of spotters will wind up, you know, 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:54.120 picking up all the knowledge and maybe leading their own team. Well, 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:59.280 in Caddyshack, the caddies all played golf, and well, anyway, 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:01.600 I hope not make any more points based on caddy 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:05.480 shot And this is a podcast, but ultimately it is 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:07.200 the sniper. He's going to get to make all the calls. 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.320 He's going to get to have the final say. He's 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:11.600 the one who's gonna be coordinating with command to put 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:14.080 together the mission, and when they're out in the field, 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.200 he's gonna have the final word in determining stuff like 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:20.480 root your position, um, you know, rendezvous points and even 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.200 how they're going to escape the scape route. Cool. So, yeah, 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:25.880 he's calling the shots. He's a dudent. He's a guy 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.160 calling the shots. He's the guy making the shots and 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.400 the spotters, the guy helping him make those shots. Indeed, 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:33.600 so what kind of gear are these guys carrying? Some 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.880 pretty pretty high tech stuff at time? Right, Well, if 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.280 you're going for one shot, one kill, you gotta your 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:43.520 equipment really matters. So a sniper rifle. But that's kind 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:46.000 of an ambiguous term because sniper rifles can be all 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.280 sorts of there's no set model of sniper rifle. They 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:52.640 can be uh, they can be a bolt action, so 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:58.400 that that just means for non gun knowledgeable people like myself, 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:01.400 a bowl action just means that you have to reload 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:06.200 after every round fired. Yeah, so what's the disadvantage of that, Well, 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:09.640 that you have to reload after every shot fired, right, 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.520 and then of course you're that movement, that reloading movement 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:16.600 could give away your position, right right, and petty much 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:18.960 anything can give away your position. You know, if you 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:21.000 have a semi automatic, which is another option for a 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:25.240 sniper rifle, Um that that also comes with it's you know, 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:28.080 own special ways of being detected by the enemy. Yeah, 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:29.760 I mean, and all these things are most of these 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:31.840 weapons are gonna make a lot of sound. I found 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:34.680 it interesting that these were sniper rifles were often referred 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.920 to as crew served weapons. Yeah. Yeah, the idea that 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:39.920 it's a it's you know, it's a big gun, but 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.800 unlike all your video games or most of your video games, 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:46.440 you need two people to operate it correctly. Yeah. I mean, 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:48.600 like we're talking about before, if you come under fire 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:50.520 and you've got to get out of there fast, you're 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:52.360 not really going to want a sniper. Yeah, the sniper 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.280 rifle just becomes luggage at that point totally. I imagine 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.280 ditch it, although I don't know that for sure, but 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:00.040 if you're if you're beating a history treat I you 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.800 really take in your gear with you. Soldiers abandon their 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.720 gear in the field. Well, I think the general idea 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:09.520 is that as pricey as gear is, its yeah, it's 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:13.560 generally pricier to to train the individual, you know, to 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:15.480 use that equipment. So it's you know, it's kind of 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.200 like the whole ejection seat in an airplane thing, right, 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:23.160 like a fighter jet. No, no, keep going with us. Well, 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:25.560 well it's not a perfect analogy, but but like with 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:27.720 the fighter jet, you have the objection seat because if 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:29.919 there's something's going wrong with the plane, so you know, 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:31.600 you'll reach a point where it's better to save the 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:34.720 pilot than to you know, further endanger the pilot to 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:36.640 say of the point, okay, okay, I got you. There's 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:38.600 I mean, there's there kind of comes like a line 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.639 you know that you right, right, So maybe they're ditching 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:44.360 the sniper riffle, but I imagine they're encouraged to bring 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.560 it back if they can. But yeah, well, the sniper 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:49.920 riffle is going to be more than your average gun. Obviously, 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:52.320 it's it's match great, right, So it's it's gonna be 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.520 fine tuned, probably by a professional gun sniff to ensure 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:58.959 accuracy and reliability. These are the kind of things that 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.080 you know, somebody who would be participating in a professional 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:05.880 like gun shooting competition, which these are high grade weapons. 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:10.439 And they were also talking about sniper rifles having this 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:12.960 free floating barrel and that's going to make sure that 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.400 the barrel touches the least amount of the weapon possible. 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:17.680 And the idea here is that it's going to help 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:22.160 with cutting down on vibration from the recoil. They're expensive, right, 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:24.199 you'd guess that. I mean, they may cost as much 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.520 as fifteen dollars and up, I would imagine and on 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:32.000 the lower edge, maybe you're looking at eight thousand, and 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:34.720 of course you're gonna need a sniper scope, and that's 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.040 what the spotter man's. This is the this is the 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:41.359 scope that like you look through to see what you're targeting. Yeah, 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:44.919 it's specialized, you know, specialized telescope. And we do have 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:47.080 an illustration on the site in case you guys are curious. 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.960 It's pretty cool that we did a while ago. Here's 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:56.080 my favorite part of sniper equipment. What's that? They're kind 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.520 of hilarious looking. Yeah. Yeah, if you've ever seen it, 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:00.280 it's kind of like when you see a soul that 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.280 looks like he just spent the night in a swamp, 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:04.919 or he kind of looks like swamp thing. You know. 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:07.760 It's got all this liked definitely, you know, foliage hanging 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.560 off of them, and sticks and branches and bramble, and 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:13.359 it can look a little comical. Yeah. I kind of 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:15.640 think of it like Chewbacca. But I think of Chewbacca 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:19.200 a lot these days. Apparently Chewbacca with like leaves cotton 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.119 his fear. Yeah, that's the exact kind of thing it 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:26.160 looks like. Yeah, so it's just camouflage because The overriding 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:28.680 point here is that I mean, clearly you don't want 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.320 to be spotted by your enemy, but also you're gonna 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:33.440 want to blend in with nature. And the important thing 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:35.520 here is the angle of your gun, you know, the 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:39.720 straight line of whatever equipment you're carrying. Um, anything out 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:43.120 of place is going to be spotted by the enemy. Yes, 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:47.080 I mean especially so this is interesting. Um rifles. They 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:49.680 make little Gilli suits for their rifles even Yeah, I 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:51.159 think I've seen those. Yeah, it's kind of like a 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:56.159 big camouflage sock that gets pulled over the the the barrel. 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:59.720