The NY Times Strikes Again!

[Dragon Lady]

The following appeared on the NY Times website. I cannot believe that they have been given what should be held classified and personal information AND published it. You might as well place a bounty on these men's head as well as that of their families!!

I'm so mad, I've made myself sick!


January 2, 2004

In Iraq's Murky Battle, Snipers Offer U.S. a Precision Weapon
By ERIC SCHMITT

(I removed the picture because I don?t agree that it should be circulated. DL )

Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Sgt. Randy Davis, 25, left, and Specialist Chris Wilson, 24, are a sniper team at a forward operating base near Samarra, Iraq. The Army is increasingly relying on snipers to protect patrols and head off guerrilla attacks.

AMARRA, Iraq, Dec. 28 - The intimate horror of the guerrilla war here in Iraq seems most vivid when seen through the sights of a sniper's rifle.
In an age of satellite-guided bombs dropped at featureless targets from 30,000 feet, Army snipers can see the expression on a man's face when the bullet hits.
"I shot one guy in the head, and his head exploded," said Sgt. Randy Davis, one of about 40 snipers in the Army's new 3,600-soldier Stryker Brigade, from Fort Lewis, Wash. "Usually, though, you just see a dust cloud pop up off their clothes, and see a little blood splatter come out the front."
Working in teams of two or three, Army snipers here in Iraq cloak themselves in the shadows of empty city buildings or burrow into desert sands with camouflage suits, waiting to fell guerrilla gunmen and their leaders with a single shot from as far as half a mile away.
As the counterinsurgency grinds into its ninth month, the Army is increasingly relying on snipers to protect infantry patrols sweeping through urban streets and alleyways, and to kill guerrilla leaders and disrupt their attacks.
"Properly employed, we can break the enemy's back," said Sergeant Davis, 25, who is from Murfreesboro, Tenn. "Our main targets are their main command and control elements and other high-value targets."
Soldiering is a violent business, and emotions in combat run high. But commanders say snipers are a different breed of warrior - quiet, unflappable marksmen who bring a dispassionate intensity to their deadly task.
"The good ones have to be calm, methodical and disciplined," said Lt. Col. Karl Reed, who commands the Stryker Brigade's Fifth Battalion, 20th Infantry, Sergeant Davis's parent unit.
In the month since he arrived here on his first combat tour, Sergeant Davis already has eight confirmed kills - including seven in a single day - and two "probables."
He and his partner, Specialist Chris Wilson, who has one confirmed kill, do not brag about their feats. Their words reflect a certain icy professionalism instilled in men who say they take no pleasure in killing, and try not to see their Iraqi foes as men with families and children.
"You don't think about it," said Specialist Wilson, 24, of Muncie, Ind., speaking at an austere base camp near here after a late-afternoon mission. "You just think about the lives of the guys to your left and right."
Sergeant Davis nodded in agreement: "As soon as they picked up a weapon and tried to engage U.S. soldiers, they forfeited all their rights to life, is how I look at it."
All soldiers are trained to destroy an opponent, but snipers have honed the art of killing to a fine edge. At a five-week training course at Fort Benning, Ga., they learn to stalk their prey, conceal their own movements, spot telltale signs of an enemy shooter and take down a target with a lone shot.
To qualify for the school, a soldier must already be an expert marksman, pass a physical examination and undergo a psychological screening ("To make sure they're not training a nut," Sergeant Davis said.) The rigorous course fails more than half of its students.
The demand for snipers is great enough that the Army has sent a team of trainers to Iraq to keep churning out new ones for the war effort here and in other hot spots.
As the Army faces more conflicts in which terrorists use the tight confines of city blocks and rooftops to stage hit-and-run strikes, the sniper school has placed increasing emphasis on urban tactics. That makes sense in places like this city of 250,000 people, a hotbed of Saddam Hussein supporters 65 miles northwest of Baghdad.
The training paid off on Dec. 18. Dusk was setting in here, and Sergeant Davis was wrapping up a counter-sniper mission when he spotted an armed Iraqi on a rooftop about 300 yards away. He said he knew the gunman was a sniper by the way he sneaked along the roofline to track a squad below from Sergeant Davis's Company B.
"The guy made a mistake when he silhouetted himself against the rooftop," said Sergeant Davis, who has 20/10 vision. "He was trying to look over to see where the guys were in the courtyard."
As the gunman rose from the shadows to fire, Sergeant Davis said he saw his head and then the distinctive shape of a Dragonov SVD Russian-made sniper rifle. The sergeant drew a bead on the shooter with his weapon of choice, an M-14 rifle equipped with a special optic sight that has crosshairs and a red aiming dot.
"I went ahead and engaged him and shot him one time to the chest," he said, matter of factly. "I watched him kick back, his rifle flew back, and I saw a little blood come out of his chest. It was a good hit."
Three days earlier, Company B walked into an ambush in downtown Samarra in which gunmen on motorcycles used children leaving school as cover to attack the patrol. Sergeant Davis, armed this time with an M-4 rifle, shot 7 of the 11 attackers that American commanders say died in the 45-minute skirmish.
"We don't have civilian casualties," the sergeant said of how he avoided the schoolchildren. "Everything you hit, you know exactly what it is. You know where every round is going."
In city or desert, Army snipers spend hours planning and setting up their positions, often under cover of darkness. "We don't have the capability to survive a sustained firefight," the sergeant said. "We use surprise and stealth to accomplish missions."
Army snipers generally choose from four different weapons, depending on the mission. The standard M-24 sniper rifle is simple in design. It has an adjustable Kevlar stock, a thick stainless steel barrel, a mounted telescopic, day/night scope and is bolt action, rather than semiautomatic, like other sniper rifles. It sets up on a bipod and fires 7.62-millimeter ammunition, hitting targets up to 1,000 yards away.
In the desert, snipers wrap plastic bags or condoms over the gun muzzle to keep the sand out. They carry their weapons in padded green canvas bags. "We baby the hell out of them," Sergeant Davis said.
Most snipers are familiar with firearms even before joining the armed forces. Sergeant Davis and Specialist Wilson grew up on farms, and both owned their first rifles before they were 10. They fondly remember hunting deer as youngsters.
Both men are married and have children, and say they do not talk much about their work outside their tight-knit clan. "We try to get away from stereotypes that you're a psychotic gun nut running around, like the guy in D.C., or like in the movies, a cool-guy assassin," Sergeant Davis said.
There are not many targets these men dread, but in the shifting battlefield of Iraq, where seemingly everyone is armed, one candidate emerges. Would they ever shoot a child who aimed at them?
"I couldn't imagine that," said Specialist Wilson, a father of five.
But Sergeant Davis had a different view: "I'd shoot him, otherwise he'd shoot me. But I wouldn't feel good about it."

[revwardoc]

DL,

The History Channel did the same thing on an episode of "Mail Call". R.Lee went that sniper school where they showed the training, the trainers and the trainees. I don't think this qualifies as classified information.

But congratulations to those guys for a job well done!
Kill 'em all,
When in doubt.
Let God
Sort 'em out!

[Dragon Lady]

I know it's not considered classified, but I think that they should not be allowed access to names, hometowns, and personal family info.
If I gave out any info like that on any of our employees I could be sued!
I am surprised that some bleeding heart liberal hasn't latched onto Sgt Davis' comment. Although I think Sgt Davis is perfectly in his right to take whatever steps necessary to see to the safety of his teammates and himself.

[Keith_Hixson]

Back in the early eighties I was very involved in county politics and in my own town's politics. Our town was only 15 miles from Olympia, WA. The Seattle Times and P.I. had reporters based there as well as all the major TV stations. I learned the hard way to be very careful and guarded just what you say to the press. I also learned the press can and will interpret anything also any negative they can. That is why I always take it with a grain of salt when some writer blasts the a politician. The press believes that freedom of the press gives them literary license.

Now I said all that to say this:

Part of the problem exists with our military. The imbedded reporters, allowing the press to have almost unlimited access to the military. The idea is that this new openedness will make the press a little more friendly to the military. However, the military was quite naive. They didn't realize that press would take advantage of this new found liberty.
They military should train its soldier very carefully on how to talk to the press. What to say, and what not to say. Part of the problem is with the military not recognizing the problem and preparing the men for it.

Even though the military wants to be open it must recognize the press is not always responsible and prepare its soldiers for their tainted ways.

Keith

[HARDCORE]

KEITH, DL, REV, et al -

Yes indeed, the press often goes overboard! And for the sake of a juicy story, lives are often lost, reputations destroyed, and our nation assailed!!



VERITAS

[Keith_Hixson]

Rick,

The Military should have a class on how to deal with the press. Much of the leak problem lies with the Military allowing the press to have information and not acknowledging the irresponsibility of the press. It the press wrong? YES but military should take steps preventing the press from doing what they do. Responsibility runs both directions.

Keith

[reconeil]

I fully understand you concern about disclosing personal info to the enemy, and especially a murderous and clandestine worldwide enemy whom has no compuction whatsoever at killing non-combattants or defenseless families and/or civilian men women and children. So, putting those brave warriors families at risk isn't too far-fetched. "The devil is in the detail".

Regardless, and in general I also agree with all others here, in that most disclosed regarding snipers is pretty-much common knowledge and not classified material to most Americans, whether from The History Channel or from Hollywood.

Still,...what's: "Not classified material to most Americans" is what draws me back to D-Lady's way of thinking. Why give out details (personal and tactical), actual locations of actual events, and even unit designations TO THE ENEMY, since "They" quite easily get the very same information The American Public gets?

Besides, and since Our People have to go out and chance being killed to attain such intelligence about the enemy,...why-the-hell make it so much easier for the enemy. All "They" have to do is either go out and buy a paper or watch TV,...so as to know what better to do (or not) on their very next mission.

Don't believe that such is FAIR to: "America's Finest",...nor to their families or America. Does ANYONE (even Fairness ABOVE ALL ELSE Nuts) think such FAIR???

Neil