Shadow Men

A Scout Sniper’s reflections on the Marine Corps latest decision to kill the 0317 MOS

Early on in my Marine Corps career I was taught “America doesn’t need a Marine Corps, it wants a Marine Corps”.  This idea was quite literally drilled into us at Boot Camp. We were charged with bearing forth the legacy of the titans that came before us, honoring their sacrifice and victories. Wear the dress blues, get the haircut, stay in shape, chest out shoulders back. Look and act like a Marine, represent the Corps with pride and win the nations battles. If you do, this country of ours will want to keep you around.  No one ever taught us what happens when the Marine Corps itself no longer wants you around.

Whispers of the USMC doing away with the scout sniper community have been commonplace for more than 10 years now. Leading up to the latest announcement the rumors increased in volume and specifics but even still, it was hard to believe. The news left me reminiscent of my days in the Marine Corps, thinking about how infantry battalions will never be the same. Sure they will still exist and be recognizable but they will be diminished. like driving by your childhood home to realize that another family lives there and has let things fall apart. Unkept yard and fading pant, items littered across the porch, sure it’s still a house but it’s not what it was. That home shaped you, is part of you, but that new family has no idea the stories those walls could tell. 

Much like leaving that childhood home behind to pursue your life, something had to change for the MOS of 0317 ( formerly 8541) to take its proper place on the battlefield. Objectively there were two options and the Marine Corps has made its choice. 

To understand this decision you have to understand both the Marine Corps and the Scout Sniper community so I will attempt to summarize. The Marine Corps as a whole and to a fault, fancies themselves the primer war fighting organization on the planet. SOCOM (Special Operations Command) was stood up in 1987 and it took the Corps until 2006 to entertain the idea of having a SOF unit, even then it was on a 2 year probationary basis. Seems crazy right? Well not if you’ve spent any time around Marine Officers, who’s main argument was that EVERY Marine is elite and there is no need for a “special force”. 

Up until the establishment of MARSOC in ‘06 the Marine Corps relied on its two SOC (special operations capable) units, Reconnaissance or ‘recon’ Battalions and Scout Sniper platoons. In a Recon Battalion everyone from lance corporal to battalion command is a recondo, thoroughly trained in conducting missions from deep reconnaissance to maritime direct action and everything in between. In order to be a reconnaissance marine, you needed to enlist on a recon contract or re-designate from another MOS, attend infantry training battalion, run a recon screening process, spend time in a pre-BRC washout, then upon graduation of the 3 month Basic Reconnaissance Course you are awarded the  primary MOS of 0321 and given orders to a Recon Battalion.

Unlike Recon, Army Ranger, Green Beret or any other specialized unit, Scout Snipers really don’t have a defined pipeline into the community. The primary catalyst of this is the Marine Corps designates scout sniper as a secondary MOS. Scout Sniper Platoons are organic to infantry battalions so the path in is ambiguous, varying  and requires a little luck. If you happen to hit it right, your battalion’s platoon will have a few open slots and put out a notice asking for volunteers. You have to meet the minimum requirements with a rifle, ASVAB and PT scores, then pass an internationally run “Indoc” or screening process. The indoc usually lasts 1-2 weeks and culminates with a verbal review board and the platoon selecting its new members. Then you enter a probationary period where you receive formal on the job training on everything sniper related. During this time you are considering a pig (professionally instructed gunman) and usually deploy in a sniper team. Once you’ve proven yourself you will get sent to Scout Sniper Basic Course. If you survive the 3 months and make it to graduation you become a hog (hunter of gunman) and have earned the title Scout Sniper. This odd pipeline and specifically miserable and demanding mission attracts the most deranged, mentally tough and proficient Marines from an infantry unit.

I stepped into the scout sniper community early in my career at the tail end of 2013. The war was winding down, combat deployment’s were much less common and budget cuts resulted in down sizing and training restrictions. It was a confusing and trying time in the Marine Corps. Combat Experienced guys who learned lesson in blood and sand were being forced out and denied reenlistment over things like their tattoos being too violent or not having completed enough online education classes.  Still, I found solace in being part of a scout sniper platoon. We were respected and held in the highest regard when it came to Marine Corps infantry units. Most of the Hogs and senior Pigs in my unit were Marjah Afghan vets and they had such high expectations of us junior guys. There was no hazings without purpose, stupid working parties or video games in the barracks, our work days were filled with formal training and field ops. We were treated like adults by our command, it was always big boy rules. We were conducting a different mission than the rest of the infantry. Their job was to locate, close with and destroy the enemy. Ours was to engage targets from concealed positions and report on enemy activity. It was different and we all thought it was special. We lived in the shadows but I never thought I would see the community fade into them forever. 

The biggest problem that Scout Sniper Platoons faced, and what I believe has lead to their inglorious death, is that outside of their platoon no one is trained on their employment. Inside an infantry battalion you have five companies; three line companies that are home to your rifle squads, one weapons company commonly comprised of a combination of machine gunners, anti tank missilemen and assaultman to form a CAAT (combined anti-armor team) platoon, a platoon of 81mm mortars, and formerly a Scout Sniper Platoon (SSP), finally a Headquarters and Support Company that houses intel, motor transport, supply and other support and admin. The Scout Sniper platoon is the eyes and ears of the battalion, tasked with providing precision fires, reconnaissance and surveillance as well as the controlling of close air support and indirect fire. Ideally you have a scout sniper team operating in support of each company, receiving their tasking from a company commander or the battalion commander himself. The issue is that Scout Snipers have no representation above the rank of lieutenant or staff sergeant because it’s was not a primary MOS. Without anyone to advocate on their behalf SSPs become an afterthought. 

While we had it better than any other platoon in the battalion, once you staring dealing with external entities things got sideways fast. I spent the majority of my career fighting simply for the training and equipment that my platoon needed in order to successfully complete the job. I fought against leaders who did not understand our capabilities or how to employ us correctly. I sympathized with these company and platoon commanders truly, they commissioned and went through rigorous training to achieve the distinguished title of Marine Infantry Officer. They wanted the same thing we all did, to have their face painted, boonie cover on, emerging from the swamp with a suppressed weapon system hunting America’s enemies under the cover darkness. I can’t imagine the bitterness that comes with finding out most of your job is babysitting 19 year old drunk ASVAB waivers, keeping them from marrying strippers and getting arrested long enough to complete all the bullshit paperwork you’re being buried under. Still it’s no excuse for the maltreatment of arguably the largest force multipliers in the infantry. 

If tasked correctly a sniper team comprising of 4-8 men can significantly limit enemy movement in an area of operation. Once the enemy knows trained snipers are out there, all unnecessary movements seize. Snipers have possibly the largest psychological toll on the enemy. The ability of a sniper team to build target data and call in close air support, mortars, artillery, naval gun fire and TLAM strikes while remaining unseen is unparalleled outside of SOF. The information and reporting provided by teams quite literally saves lives and dictates all commanders decisions. For some reason no one wanted to hear it. When I took over as Chief Scout of my platoon I created an employment and capability brief for all command and staff. I sought out every officer and platoon sergeant to better explain how we could support them. Maybe a quarter showed up, and the ones that did expressed little interest. When tasked as a team we would be told things like “occupy this overt hide” or “go do sniper things”. When we occasionally did get tasked appropriately our reporting and advising was often ignored. 

Tasking and misemployment were not our only problems. We would show up to the range with a 23 man platoon and 200 rounds of ammo for our long guns, what are we supposed to accomplish with 8 rounds per man? In sniper school and all of the following sniper courses you are engaging steel targets out to distance. It’s really impossible and impractical to shoot paper out at 1000 yards with a .308 and expect to have any relative training value. You need to hear the ring of the steel when you impact and be able to make corrections immediately. Rather than our battalion providing the platoon with steel targets, it was suggested that we paint rocks on the range using cans of spray paint or blow up balloons and fasten them to rocks at different distances. At one point in my tenure, I was forced to do long range reconnaissance patrols using the same gear and equipment, set up in the same configuration as a rifle squad.  The reasoning for this was “snipers aren’t special. You don’t get to wear un-issued gear just because you wanna be cool”  that’s like telling a fireman that he has to go fight a fire with the same equipment cops use to fight crime.  At the end of the day, the scout sniper community WAS a highly trained, highly selective, small community of special operations capable Marines with a very specific mission set that was abused, mistreated, under funded, under appreciated and under employed. The Marine Corps couldn’t even dignify us with a primary MOS. It took me 4 weeks to earn the primary MOS of 0311 rifleman after a month of basic infantry skills. Then I complete 13 weeks of Scout Sniper Basic Course after nearly 2 years of intensive sniper training and I’m still viewed by the USMC as a rifleman, not a scout sniper. How is that acceptable? As a HOG once you reach SSGT you are essentially no longer operational. You have to go to career course and become a platoon sgt of an infantry line unit? It’s never made sense. How are you going to train someone to be a capable sniper, allow them to lead a team, go to follow-on schools, gain valuable experience and then pull them out of the community and stick them somewhere else, ensuring that knowledge does not get passed on down the ranks and disheartening the Marines for leaving their community and refined skills behind. This would never happen anywhere else. 

For some time now, the sad reality has been that scout snipers end up getting out of the Marine Corps because they see the writing on the wall or they put in a package to go Recon, Marsoc or transfer to another branch to go SOF. I have been out of the Marine Corps for only five years and during my time in I worked with countless snipers. I know of less than a hand full that are still active scout snipers within the community, and they are essentially now out of a job. 

The Marine Corps has a track record of abusing and turning its back on the scout sniper community, so I view this decision as sad and the lesser of two options. Were I in a position to make decisions I would make Scout Sniper a Primary MOS. Give them a proper pipeline, consolidate platoons into a regimental company where they would be direct attached to infantry battalions. Provide them with the equipment and training they deserve allowing them to carry on the legacy of men like Lee Marvin, Carlos Hathcock, Chuck Mawhinney and Dakota Meyer and inspiring characters like Bob Lee Swagger and Thomas Beckett. Fortunately for me I’m just a washed up Hog with two kids and a nine to five, unfortunately for the Marines their leadership has decided to put a bullet in the head of infantry sniper assets, reserving the title of Scout Sniper to only Marsoc and Recon Marines. 

I recently heard the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps speaking on the matter and he compared removing snipers from today’s infantry to the removal of flintlock muskets for rifles in military use. Someone ought to inform Sgt Maj that flintlock rifles were quite common, as flintlock is the firing mechanism and rifling refers to barrel design but I guess that’s just more useless sniper knowledge that a machine gunner doesn’t have much use for. Sergeant Major Black also says that time is a great teacher, I would tend to agree. Scout Sniper like units have been utilized since the beginning of armed conflict and I believe in time, we will learn that they are still needed. At the end of the day I am comforted that Scout Snipers will be reserved to the ranks of Recon and Marsoc. They will no longer have to beg barrow and steal to get the equipment and training they deserve and they will be employed often and appropriately. I am however sad to see the straight leg infantry stripped of capabilities. 

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