Rifleman's Skill (or woman)

[Hardball]

Marksman, Sharpshooter or Expert:

Do these classifications really mean anything in combat? When the enemy is returning fire; do the above classifications really matter? Would you be uncomfortable if your squad was full of marksmen? What about your Bunker--how is your comfort level when going into battle with someone who is only a marksman? Are Sharpshooters and Experts really that much better in combat?

[Tant01]

I'll take a good shooter that has the balls to kill over an expert that can't.

I get a bit hot when I hear about soldiers that don't have the constitution to take the shot.

So what if he has to shoot twice? If he has the determination to finish what he starts he can watch my back...

[Tom Yum]

I'll take a good shooter that has the balls to kill over an expert that can't.

I get a bit hot when I hear about soldiers that don't have the constitution to take the shot.

So what if he has to shoot twice? If he has the determination to finish what he starts he can watch my back...

What are the statistics for those in combat that can't shoot?


You overcome by practicing and doing, I suppose.

[Makkhatter]

imho, reflexive fire is a lot more important than the rifle range. Sure, my entire squad shoots expert, but thats a combination of good training and experience. I stress accuracy over volume, but it all comes down to pulling the trigger. The sniper attached to my unit only got one shot throughout our deployment to Iraq - he missed. Half of my squad and I had to hunt the guy down, and put up with return fire because he messed up his one shot on this guy. We never took him back out - he might have gotten over his jitters with a little more experience, but I wasn't willing to take that risk.

On the other hand, a lot of people freeze the first time they take fire. It's why stressing reflexive fire in training is so much more important than how they qualify on the rifle range. It's a lot like martial arts - you repeat motions until they become your bodies natural response to violence, and practice them in as realistic an envirement as possible to condition yourself to respond that way.

In vietnam, they estimated that 10,000 rounds were fired for every enemy KIA. I don't know the exact figures in Iraq, but I know my squads averages were a lot better. (Although warning shots put a hurting on our percentages)