To Be a Military Sniper - Softcover

This book lays out the details of training and traits of character that make for success in one of the most challenging and mysterious jobs the military has to offer. Author Gregory Mast offers a clear and closely illustrated account of what it’s like to be a sniper, required to stay in one position for days at a time, calling upon extensive training in camouflage and concealment, stalking and observation, precision marksmanship in a variety of operational conditions, and all those skills that, along with aptitude, turn a trainee into the deadliest of marksman.

Military snipers are made, not born, and To Be a Military Sniper takes you through all the required drills with informative text and highly compelling photos. Initial training in the complex art of sniping takes five hundred hours over five weeks. This physically and mentally demanding schedule tests soldiers’ judgment and maturity in adverse conditions. As military snipers, they will have to make life or death choices while operating under the stress of exhaustion, hunger, isolation, and physical discomfort. All the field-craft skills they must master are covered: stalking, target detection, range estimation, recon and surveillance, survival, and many others vital for success and survival. Also covered are the marksmanship skills, such as evaluating distances, moving targets, elevation, and windage. But it takes more than accuracy; it takes teamwork. They will learn how to work in teams of shooters and spotters, the spotter being the most senior and experienced member of any sniper team. If students make it through the training, then they are ready for the real education, that which takes place in combat. They won’t know if they are really snipers until the first target presents itself under the rules of engagement and they are required to send a bullet downrange. After all, the essence of the military sniper’s mission is to precisely kill the enemy, one target at a time. To Be a Military Sniper covers how the military screens for and then trains those soldiers capable of shouldering the physical and psychological burdens of this truly unique form of warfare.