How do snipers confirmed their kills

Hall, a spokesman for the Army. Similarly, U. Special Operations Command treats that tally as "unofficial," said Ken McGraw, a spokesman for the command. And what does it mean? But Kyle's co-author, DeFelice, said the sniper routinely reported his kills to immediate commanders "because they had to know what was going on," and he "personally kept track. They had certain criteria. They basically had to see the person fall and be clearly dead," DeFelice said.

Because they were in an urban environment where those kills took place His confirmed kills are most probably not exactly clear. The same goes for modern conflicts. During the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, most of the fighters observed that their kills could never be clearly established. This is especially true for modern wars waged by global powers and its soldiers. To claim that a certain sniper has an exact number of kills is nonsense.

Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Spec Ops Magazine. Not for them the kudos, fearful glamour or mystique attached to snipers in foreign armies or the espirit d corps of belonging to an elite band.

Padmanabhan, but was withdrawn soon after, as it proved unworkable. Earning the prestigious badge required three confirmed sniper kills. But senior officers said non-snipers or part-time snipers, using assault and other rifles, frequently claimed the designated scalps, thereby becoming eligible for the insignia, which was considered improper. Training of infantry snipers remains rudimentary, he declared, adding that their skilful employment can impose caution, cause attrition and demoralise the enemy.

After all, snipers — an 18th century term derived from the game bird, snipe, that is difficult to hunt as it efficiently uses camouflage to remain undetected — can end up saving many lives with one well-aimed round by relieving hijacks, hostage situations and even apocalyptic incidents like the November Mumbai terrorist strike that claimed lives.

Through history, snipers have been grudgingly, albeit fearfully glorified, and in recent years their lethal calling has been the focus of several hauntingly successful Hollywood movies like The Deer Hunter in , which ended up as a metaphor for the Vietnam War itself. Enemy at the Gates is another fictionalised biopic of the legendary Soviet sniper Vasily Zaytsey and WW2 hero participating in the Battle of Stalingrad in And, closer home in something long forgotten, many officers from the hapless expeditionary Indian Peace Keeping Force IPKF to Sri Lanka in the late s were assassinated by rebel Tamil Tiger snipers using assault rifles.

The Tiger rebels invariably targeted Indian Army officers, confident that neutralising them would demoralise the Force. It is high time, the military analyst declared, that the Indian Army awoke to this reality.

The Indian Army treats sniping training cursorily. Two man sniper teams — the shooter and his interchangeable buddy or spotter — attend weeks elementary and inadequate training capsules at the Infantry School at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh. Unlike in India, the latter in foreign armies is an equally skilled marksman but one who specialises in target and atmospheric observation, handling location security and communications and, in some instances even directing artillery fire and close air support from forward positions.

This instruction at Mhow includes a combination of firing practice and rudimentary attempts to mentally attune the marksman and his buddy to patiently await their quarry through aerobic and yoga lessons and breathing exercises to enhance concentration. Professional snipers abroad, however, are tutored, amongst other rigours, in the art of camouflage and deception, trained to stop breathing and reduce their heartbeats to the barest minimum whilst firing, as even the minutest unsynchronised twitch or movement can prove calamitous in securing their target.

Despite a tradition of mythological marksmen like Dronacharya and Arjuna, the Army also had no nucleus of sniper instructors, as none had been nurtured as no foreign, friendly military was willing to instruct Indian soldiers in this speciality.

The handful of NSG shooters who, some years ago had undergone sniping instruction abroad in countries like Israel, were too few in number to institutionally amplify this expertise in any meaningful manner. And the first two special forces officers who, after much negotiation and persuasion, attended a snipers intervention course in France in the late s, with the intent of returning home on specialised appointment, were soon diverted to other assignments that did not require their newly acquired skills.

Crouched atop buildings overlooking the Temple complex, NSG sharpshooters with their favoured 7.