- published: 08 Dec 2015
- views: 800182
A sniper is a highly trained marksman who operates in one to two man teams which maintain close visual contact with the enemy and engages targets from concealed positions or physical distances exceeding the detection capabilities of the enemy personnel, without being detected. These sniper teams operate independently, with little combat asset support from their parent units. Snipers typically have highly selective and specialized training and possess high-precision rifles, optics and many times, sophisticated communication assets to feed valuable combat information back to their units.
In addition to marksmanship, military snipers are trained in camouflage, field craft, infiltration, reconnaissance and observation. Snipers are especially effective when deployed within the terrain of urban warfare, or jungle warfare.
The verb "to snipe" originated in the 1770s among soldiers in British India where a hunter skilled enough to kill the elusive snipe was dubbed a "sniper". The term sniper was first attested in 1824 in the sense of the word "sharpshooter".