But most of all I have lived times others would say were best forgotten. All this on a mission that may last for days, in any weather, against an enemy trying to kill you like a pesky varmint. It is a bizarre way to make a living, and the men who do it are strange birds. The overwhelming psychological impact of the sniper helps to explain why the Corps invests so much in maintaining this capability. But the truth lies in the crosshairs.
Snipers are a breed apart.
They possess a primordial stalking and killing instinct, one couched in a true loner's diposition. It is the sniper team that strikes out alone, depending only on itself, employing its imagination and hard-earned skills to the ominous task of taking out key individual targets in a sea of enemy troops. They are as close as good guys can get to being half human, half animal. For all these reasons and more, I am one. They serve as a combination of things - as a scout, and, within that function, as a sniper.