re: desert snipers and camofalge

[OiSkout]

Good thing about deserts(sans vegetation) is there is little cover so you just get some remotely-high ground. And then if anyone actually comes you can shoot them. Or if you miss, you can pin them down and have them starve out. Or air/arty strike!

Might be hard if its an entire battalion chasing you though haha.

[Liquid_Cow]

First off, why would a sniper want to be in the second picture? 2nd rule of sniper school is be invisible. If you can't be invisible you should not be there. There would be no reason for a sniper to go to a place like this. Snipers rely on stealth, a place like that needs blunt force as it would be impossible for a sniper to sneak in and out of the target area even with the biggest baddest long gun around (1st rule is to stay alive).

A ghillie suit would be constructed to help keep the sniper cool in such an environment. Think about it this way, would being partly buried under any amount of sand be any cooler? The sun would heat the sand and you would not get any breeze... Even vs. just cammies, you'd probably be better off in a well made ghillie. As for hydration, everyone uses camel backs today for this very reason. The desert is hot, and it sucks. When I was there I'd drink someting like 5 gal a day and still not pee more than twice.

Shooter was a pretty good movie. If you get the DVD check out the behind the scenes stuff, the tech adviser for the film was a USMC sniper and he talks about what was real and what was hollywoodized. Like the shot where the bishop gets capped, IRL a .50cal would have blown his head and most of his upper body into pulp at that range. There's also a great deleted scene where they are shopping for supplies and the FBI kid asks if he should grab some cammies (as he holds up a set of woodland BDU's) and the sniper replies "Are you going to those woods?" After a second of dumb looks he continues "camouflage is made to match your environment, we'll make our cammies when we get there."

[El_Vikingo]

Wouldn't they use some sort of blanket instead of a bushy type of ghillie suit?

[[R-MOD]Wasteland]

Gara, you get points for saying "ghillie suited".

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]Jaymz

And Jaymz you get extra points for posting an apt Scrubs clip.

[Tweaky]

/me bombs Jaymz

[[R-DEV]Jaymz]

Originally Posted by Tweaky

/me bombs Jaymz

and then saves his ass from an APC full of chinamen!

[jackal22]

lol at scrubs clip. thanks for explaining, as i said before this question just came out of no where.

edit: oh yeh i was referring to the second picture-that kind of environment, as i said i dunno what they would be doing there

[BlackwaterEddie]

I always believed that snipers when put in that situation would dig a small hole for them to lie in, dumping the sand a couple hundred metres behind them, well, *coughs* thatswhattheydidinjarhead *coughs*

[WNxKenwayy]

Originally Posted by FSgt.Lang |3-5|

Speaking from experience, I'd dig out a spider hole for myself and my spotter. This serves 2 purposes; first it gets us off the crest line making us that much harder to locate and second, it gives us shade relief from the sun.

Ditto. Entrenching tool ftw. The is the usual when outside a city/overwatch on a MSR, etc. None of us and I've never heard of anyone using a ghille suit in Iraq, in Afghanistan yes, Iraq no.

[P3teR.K]

I guess it just comes down to the sniper and the environment.

Also covering yourself with sand doesn't work that well because how on earth would you cover yourself with enough sand for it to make any difference at all and also making shore sand doesn't get into your weapon and jam it.