Sniper platoon trains to spot clues, targets in the desert sands. 
Specialized training for sniper platoon

John Koopman, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tactical Area Coyote, Kuwait -- Through the lens of a spotter's scope, a fingernail clipper looks enormous from 60 yards away.

And it shouldn't be there. That's what the man behind the scope is looking for, as he scans a collection of 55-gallon drums, some food boxes and an old tent. He's looking for minute details of something amiss.

He spots the clippers, a paint stick, a set of Marine chevrons an inch across and the point of a bullet sticking out of the sand.

If this were a real battlefield in a real war in, say, Baghdad, the guy behind the spotter's scope would be looking for a human target. As it is, he's training with the rest of the sniper platoon, which is part of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, a combat unit normally based in Twentynine Palms (San Bernardino County).

They're all good shots, but it's not about rifle scores. It's about one shot and a human target. One shot, one kill.

"Most of this work is about patience and observation," said Sgt. Eric Meeks of North Vernon, Ind.

To that end, the sniper platoon practiced observation in the sand of Camp Coyote, under a hot Kuwaiti sun. One two-person team sanitized an area, then placed 10 objects in plain sight. From a distance of 50 to 70 yards, none of the objects could be seen by the naked eye.

Snipers work in two-person teams. One looks through a tripod-mounted spotter scope and the other looks through the scope on the sniper rifle. The teams switch over between shooting and spotting.

Snipers work in two-person teams. One looks through a tripod-mounted spotter scope and the other looks through the scope on the sniper rifle. The teams switch over between shooting and spotting.

For this exercise, everyone had a spotter scope. They did hasty scans to pick out the obvious items, then slowly and meticulously scanned back and forth to find the smallest things.

A couple of teams found all 10 items. One found 11.

"Hey, they're all legit," explained Cpl. Jason Delgado, of the Bronx.

Meeks, however, was unimpressed. "They'll do anything to fill out their 10, " he said. "Even find stuff we didn't plant."

SPECIALIZED TASKS

The exercise really is training for specialized kinds of sniper work. It's good for spotting an enemy sniper who might be targeting U.S. troops. In that scenario, it can be a bit of a sniper versus sniper duel, which might become a reality if the U.S. military engages in street-to-street fighting in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.

It also can be a way that snipers go about finding specific targets, such as enemy commanders. The target is probably hiding, and the sniper must find clues to where he is. Often this means looking at the obvious and finding the little clues left behind, things that don't belong there.

Hence the fingernail clippers on the drum and the chevrons stuck to a tent line.

Sniper training has not always been so specialized, nor glamorous among U.S.  troops. In past wars, a sniper was a pest who killed from afar, often from behind a building or in a tree.

NEW IMAGE

For the Marines, that image changed during the Vietnam War, when a gunnery sergeant named Carlos Hathcock terrorized the enemy with his deadly accuracy and taught the troops that snipers can save U.S. lives by keeping the enemy at bay and killing the other side's leaders.

The sniper platoon is a tightly knit squad, and there's a lot of friendly banter as the men compete to see who can spot the most items.

"Waaaaaaah," said one, as his buddy complained about the exercise. "Would you like a Waaaahmburger and fries? Should I call a Waaaaambulance?"

ELEVATION NEEDED

Snipers usually work best in urban environments, or from trees -- someplace they can get some elevation and a greater ability to spot targets. But Northern Kuwait, and southern Iraq, are flat, desolate stretches of nothingness.

The platoon commander, 1st Lt. Tim Coughennower of Des Moines, Iowa, said that if infantry Marines are engaging the enemy, his seven two-person teams will most likely set up atop armored vehicles that are 7 or 8 feet tall to give them a bit of a height advantage.

The snipers are trained to hit a man-size target from 1,000 yards. If their grunt brothers are in a firefight within that range, the snipers can work targets in the rear, to devastating effect.

But snipers are not chosen, necessarily, for their skill with a rifle. That can be taught, Meeks said. It's more about cover and concealment. Making sure the enemy cannot see you. Sneaking into enemy territory, making the kill and sneaking out.

"That's why they call it snoopin' and poopin'," said one Marine officer.