|
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. – In a combat zone, any
hillside, vehicle or building could be used by a sniper to remain
unseen even with constant enemy troop presence.
To prepare
for their upcoming combat deployment, Marines with Scout Sniper
Platoon, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, sharpened their field
craftsmanship by building multiple variations of hide sites during
Weapons and Tactics Instructor course here, Sept. 25 to 28, 2013.
|
Marines with Scout Sniper Platoon, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, lay inside a hide site after constructing it to test its capacity during Weapons Tactics Instructors course here, Sept. 25, 2013. Hide sites are used as positions for Marines to observe and, if needed, fire from. Their structure provides 360 degree concealment, maximum fields of observation and protection from weather. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Joseph Scanlan)
|
A hide site is a structure that provides 360 degree
concealment, maximum fields of observation and protection
from weather. By building it with the surroundings of where
the site is located, a Marine can remain undetected forward
of friendly forces and provide reconnaissance, long-range
precision fire and adjust indirect fire for days, or weeks,
at a time.
“A scout sniper is a Marine highly skilled
in field craft and marksmanship who delivers long-range
precision fire on select targets from concealed positions in
support of combat operations,” said Sgt. Louis Wood, the
chief scout of the Scout Sniper Platoon. “Building hide
sites is part of field craft. It's part of being able to
blend into any environment you operate in seamlessly so
you're not a shift in the baseline. We call that a target
indicator, so it's vital for a Marine in a Scout Sniper
Platoon to have that skillset so they can go into any
environment, blend in and operate undetected so they can
observe a battlefield and stay alive.”
Hide sites are typically built during
night after a long trek to a location with a full combat
load and can take hours to construct. To build an optimal
site, Marines may have to dig with a pickaxe and shovel to
have a visually small hide from ground level. Hide sites can
vary in structure and size depending on a Marine's mission.
“Hides can vary from a two-man belly scratch to a
permanent hide,” said Wood, a native of Fort Worth, Texas.
“A belly scratch is basically two guys in minimal gear who
only have a weapon, optic, radio, food and water. Then from
that you can build anything up to a permanent hide where you
can rotate teams through a week at a time with full combat
loads.”
The goal of camouflaging a hide site is to
blend into its background. To do this, hide sites are built
from their surroundings.
“Any time you emplace a
hide, you always need to be aware of 360 degrees around your
position,” Wood said. “If you're in a rocky environment,
you're going to want to look like rocks. You want to use
whatever you have around your position to camouflage
yourself and break up your outline.”
Lance Cpl. Ryan
Pettis, a team leader with Scout Sniper Platoon, said the
three things that will result in getting an individual or
team compromised is shine, outline and contrast of
background.
Every optic and piece of gear that
contains shine is painted a camouflaged matte color to
prevent shine. Marines must also prevent outlines around
their hide because straight lines typically do not exist in
nature. To break up straight lines, Marines place vegetation
and other nearby objects on and around their hide site. To
prevent a contrast of background, Marines camouflage their
site to whatever is behind them.
Scout sniper teams
can be tasked with multiple missions once they construct a
hide site. One of the missions they can be tasked with is
providing overwatch for an area. If there is a choke point,
terrain feature or historical improvised explosive device
strike in an area, they can observe the area for a given
period of time prior to a convoy moving through and provide
overwatch as they travel to see if enemy forces are trying
to maneuver on U.S. servicemembers.
Teams can also be
sent forward of friendly lines to gather reconnaissance. If
troops are planning to move to an objective and the area
between them and the objective is unknown, a scout sniper
team can take pictures of the area and send them back to a
ground commander to better prepare the servicemembers for
their mission.
Pettis, a native of Colorado Springs,
Colo., said Marines in a scout sniper platoon are relied on
to be proficient not only in their job, but in all aspects
of the infantry.
“We have to understand infantry
tactics so we can better support from an observation point
and so we understand what ground troops are doing below or
in front of us.” Wood said. “We can also be used as forward
observers who adjust indirect fire or call in close air
support if needed.”
After constructing multiple hide
sites over the course of a few days, the platoon is slated
to put their skills to the test when they support
company-sized attacks in the days ahead during WTI.
The battalion is slated to continue predeployment training before
deploying to Afghanistan next spring.
By USMC Cpl. Joseph Scanlan
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2013
Comment on this article |
