Peace Through Superior Firepower

If you want to make peace,
you don't talk to your friends.
You talk to your enemies
--Moshe Dayan

If I listened long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
Knowing that you lied
straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe
--Reason to Believe, Tim Hardin

Whatever gets you to the light 'salright, 'salright
Out the blue or out of sight 'salright, 'salright
Don't need a gun to blow your mind oh no, oh no
--Whatever Gets You Through the Night,
John Lennon

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This is a re-visitation of Sniper School prompted by reader Blackhawk's cogent comments.

Ranger saw a car decal yesterday which featured a B-52 aircraft laden with bombs configured as the Peace symbol with the caption, "Peace -- Through Traditional Means", which means bombing people into the hereafter. On the same window was the Jesus fish.

The stickers were diametrically opposed, but that person had integrated them in an attempt to make meaning in a world of conflicting messages. At least, that's my best-case assessment.

So it is with Blackhawk's position vis-a-vis mine. It is possible we are saying the same thing. I am saying we must maintain our "humanity", but really I mean our "sanity". We protect our humanity by preserving or clinging to threads of sanity. This is a often futile effort as sanity and humanity are rare qualities in our conflictual society.

Our histories are often exercises in self-deception and delusional thinking for the purpose of forming a cohesive story, one with purpose, direction and intent. Like the person sporting the opposing stickers, believing in both antithetical ideas separately would lead to conflict; however, if he can wed the ideas, he can create a new thing -- a cohesive tableau in which one idea supports or results in the other. We feel sensible once we make that synthesis, no matter what contortions.

Slavery -- exploited by both the North and the South -- also did not jibe with the Christian imperative, but we justified it by pro-rating the value of men of color. The same juggling was performed with the idea of pirates.

Early pirates were sanctioned as Privateers. We then built an economy based upon slavery and piracy, yet now we kill pathetic Somali petty pirates doing what we once did as a matter of policy. It is situational ethics: Sometimes a bad thing can be called a "good", especially when it furthers our own agenda. People do not do what they should do or have to do -- people do what they WANT to do.

The point is that we have two standards of conduct which breeds irrationality and riven thinking which permeates all aspects of our lives. When Ranger says we must retain our humanity even in war, perhaps he too has succumbed to the insanity, for killing is not humane.

We all do what we must to get out of bed in the morning. We all have personal survival techniques, and mine is the belief in humanity despite evidence to the contrary. It's a loose grip, at best.

Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Sniper School

Twenty years from now
you will be more disappointed
by the things that you didn't do
than by the ones you did d0
--Mark Twain

"For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
the saddest are these, "It might have been!"
--Maude Muller,
John Greenleaf Whittier

God Woodrow it ain't dying
I'm talking about… it's living
--Lonesome Dove (1989)
_____________________

This may be hard to swallow but it's true. After 40 years of digesting the lessons, the truth has hit my X-ring.

Sniper school is not about killing, but rather about living. The things that you do to stay alive as a sniper are also the [s]kills that will enhance your life in any environment.

[1] Rule #1: Do no harm. Keep your fire within the range markers and only apply your skills to legitimate targets. In war, as in life.

[2] Have empathy even for the target. Army Leadership FM 6-22 states, "All Army team members, Soldiers and civilians alike, must have a basis of . . . Empathy."

Tao Tan's paper, "The Nobility of the Warrior" cites Mencius who said that the quality of empathy made a warrior noble, which led to a sense first of shame, next propriety and ultimately, a sense of right and wrong.

Tan continues, empathy restrains a warrior from mindless violence by appealing to his emotion; eventually, this evolves into a sense of right versus wrong by appealing to his wisdom. By maintaining his nobility and civility even in the backdrop of combat, "a soldier may carry on the search for his own humanity."

Ranger had a friend (a Special Forces Medal of Honor recipient) who would laugh about gut-shooting soldiers, which he did often. This means they suffered before they died, as opposed to receiving a chest shot. This is not soldierly conduct, and it has no place on the battlefield. Compassion must be present even in combat.

[3] Be technically and tactically proficient.

[4] An extension of #3: Fancy gear is not necessary. A simple, well-built bolt gun will do the trick if you know its capability. Many a Vietcong sniper killed with an antiquated 1891/30 rifle. What is important is the maintenance of your equipment. Care and cleaning is necessary, as well as a total familiarity with its performance characteristics. Always have an auxiliary weapon.

[5] Care extends to the maintenance of one's person. A sniper neither consumes stimulants nor depressants. He does not wear products with scents -- soaps, after-shave or insect repellant. He does not smoke.

[6] Technical proficiency also means controlling your fear and adrenaline response, as calmness is required for precision shooting. Stay calm in the pursuit. Surveil your target in depth and detail. Be patient and realistic. Know the situation's -- and your --limitations.

[7] Tactically, never move unless necessary -- movement is your enemy. Stay low and subdued. Move slowly, blend; use cover and concealment. When you move, always approach your target directly. Do not be ambivalent. Do not move laterally, thereby exposing yourself to detection and hostile fires.

[8] Always have an escape route.

[9] Always use worst-case planning. If you plan for the worst, then all else will fall into place. Be prepared for any eventuality.

[10] Travel light. (Our photojournalist friend Zoriah recently wrote a nice piece on this one HERE.)

All points may seem to indicate restraint, but they are all in preparation for the main activity: You will never make the kill unless you take the shot. You must pull the trigger. Every shot is the center of your existence. All shots require equal concentration, even the close shots. Everything comes down to making a successful shot.

Disregarding this last rule leads to failure at every level. It is not the shots that you miss but the shots that you do not take that will lead to mission failure. It's the shots you did not take that will haunt you.

Those are my life lessons and they are equivalent to 28.7 grains of IMR 3031 pushing a 168 gr Sierra out of match-grade barrel. Ranger is thankful he never had to put cross hairs on a man.