Fieldcraft Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

Domn

Private
Minuteman
Mar 24, 2009
2
0
Hello everyone I am new to the forums and wanted to see if anyone could answer my questions. I am currently running a 5:56 mile, I haven't tried to run a timed three miles yet though. I can do about eighty situps in two minutes and I can do four pullups, hands facing towards me. I am working on running and pull ups currently. I was wondering if hands facing towards me is a correct pull. I was also wondering if it's easier to become a scout sniper through force recon or if it was better not to try for force recon. Thanks for any and all help.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

I would say it is easier to become a sniper from the standard infantry. Easier to stick out, if you can hold a sub 6 minute mile pace for the full three and get up to 20 pull ups, you'll stand out enough that as long as you shoot expert you'll have a decent chance to go to s/s school. If you do go into reconnaissance Its harder to get deployed as a sniper, but the best snipers are in recon.

I had the opportunity to be trained by some of these men and was blown away by the caliber of warriors they are. I also had the misfortune of deploying with a grunt unit and seeing what a mess their snipers were. Bad deployment...

Anyway learn to swim, keep working on the PT, and try to be the elite. That's my advice.
 
  • Like
Reactions: armydog
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

This has been beaten to death if you search the forum you will find about a dozen threads of people who are in bad shape asking what they need to do to become an elite warrior.

You have obviously read the indoc requirements I'm guessing so that's a starting point.

There's plenty of websites that even offer highly regimented exercise plans to get you to the indoc standards.

However there's a lot more to it than that and you'll find that out if you read through the prior posts.

Physical requirements are only the starting point.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

Thanks Viking. Also i have heard stories of people signing up for a certain job but getting a completely different job. Can this happen? And if anyone knows what is a UV contract?
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: rogers0311</div><div class="ubbcode-body">aroth...you have no idea what you are talking about and you are making yourself look stupid....take a lap </div></div>

That just made Makers come out my nose. Thanks dick!
laugh.gif
 
  • Like
Reactions: armydog
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

No,No,No, you just got it all wrong. Come on down to the Navajo Indain Reservation. Spent at least 3 months hearding sheep on foot. Mutton meat,fry bread,coffee or water are the food staples. Try the 100 dergrees heat and the cold nights.sweat while going to sleep only to wake up in the morning freezeing. Lose your sheep and you will have Grandma chasing you with a stick! 20 pull -ups?......
 
  • Like
Reactions: armydog
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

A 5:56 mile is a great run time. 4 pull ups is dismal. Marines do a max set of crunches now for score and not sit-ups anymore and since I got out they have also added a timed O-course run. My suggestion to you is do speed training at a track (basically more sprinting and get used to running 4 miles or you will condition your body to run 1 mile and when it comes time to do three you will die trying the other 2. Hit the pull-up bar every chance you get and do push ups when your not close to a bar. I knew guys that were doing 20 pull-ups witha 90lb. anvil hanging from their waist. If you want to be a sniper listen to the PMI's when you go to the range, as the fundamentals of marksmanship you'll learn will only help you (don't think you know everything there is to know about handling a rifle). To be a sniper you'll need just as much brain as braun (Lots of Math and I don't mean Math for Marines MCI). If you try the RECON indoc you will want to find yourself an Olympic swimmer and do everything he does. If you have any fear in the Water the weakness will be exploited. Get a training partner and not one that you have to lean on, one that is better than you at everything and they will push you to be better. Good luck.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

So much hype by the outlaws....

What a bunch of crap with your sprint speeds and olympic swimming and calculus skills!

Somehow, with a background in farming and a union father, I was a scout sniper and passed the recon indoc and ARS and WSSI and undergrad and OCS and TBS and IOC and AWS and Command and Staff and graduate school.

The hype you hear is ok if told in a bar; otherwise, it comes from people without experience.

Do your best, man. It is life that is hard; this and that obstacle ain't nothing but a thing.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

I forgot to mention being SRO and war criminal #8 in a camp. These things sound so damn cool in print.

You need a good 1st class PFT score Domn, palms out or palms in. A lot of triathletes have failed the scout sniper school because spiders scared them and they did not understand using an attack point while orienteering toward the ammo boxes that grow on stakes in the wilderness.

The good guys will teach you that perfection is the arch enemy of good enough.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Pennethorne</div><div class="ubbcode-body">So much hype by the outlaws....

What a bunch of crap with your sprint speeds and olympic swimming and calculus skills!

Somehow, with a background in farming and a union father, I was a scout sniper and passed the recon indoc and ARS and WSSI and undergrad and OCS and TBS and IOC and AWS and Command and Staff and graduate school.

The hype you hear is ok if told in a bar; otherwise, it comes from people without experience.

Do your best, man. It is life that is hard; this and that obstacle ain't nothing but a thing. </div></div>

Look all I'm saying is that you have to be a pretty well rounded individual with some above average intelligence and the ability to learn, comprehend-and apply the knowledge taught to you. If you think you are going to show up there without the highest expectations for yourself and the highest degree of preparedness you have just set yourself up for failure. You don't go to RECON Indoc and ARS and WSSI, Undergrad, OCS, TBS, IOC, AWS Command and Staff and Grad school and have success without a little prep work. He won't even be considered without a first class PFT because there is too much competition for spots. Physically you can train to do anything but your mind can give up on you long before your body will example the guy who was afraid of a spider. The obstacles you speak of will be much greater to overcome without excellent mental capacity to problem solve and physical toughness to beat the obstacle. I don't know of any commander that has graduated Command and Staff College that I ever served for that wouldn't advocate being as prepared for a school, mission or task as humanly possible.

 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

i'll leave the military aspects of this to the guys in the know... but if you want to increase your pullups... you can do that by cycling in weighted pullups or heavy lat pull downs. soon enough, you'll be at 20. alot quicker than just working up to 20, with bodyweight. in my experience anyway
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

Ok, being prepared is good, but as of late there have been helpful advisors that recommend that you get up to 198 miles a day and try to swim across the Atlantic Ocean at least 4 times before you even think of joining the military. This makes me laugh. My prep work consisted of 4 years of football and wrestling, and 6 years of haywagons and tobacco barns, although I did have a big egg and bacon sandwich followed by a big pinch of snuff and some Led Zepellin the morning my recruiter took me away.

Do a search here for PFT. Get to at least 10 pullups before you go or you will have trouble with other events right away that involves rope. You'll gain the pullup numbers during training. Run whatever you want. Your first month of running will be hard because you have to stay in step and yell at such a slow pace. If you really want to train, pack up everything you have into a small bag with uncomfortable straps and then hike over to the next state and back. I found long walks with my friends or alone to always be the telltale sign of intestinal fortitude.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I found long walks with my friends or alone to always be the telltale sign of intestinal fortitude.</div></div>

Perhaps that is the reason that the British SAS, our CAG/Delta/whatever-the-nom-de-jour-is, and other elite units use long ruck hikes in selection.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Pennethorne</div><div class="ubbcode-body">... an attack point while orienteering toward the ammo boxes that grow on stakes in the wilderness.</div></div>

HAHAHAHA!!! Great imagery +1 to the creative use of the engrish language
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lindy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

Perhaps that is the reason that the British SAS, our CAG/Delta/whatever-the-nom-de-jour-is, and other elite units use long ruck hikes in selection.
</div></div>

Not to steer the conversation to far off base but a good read is the "SAS Survival guide" by John "Lofty" Wiseman. The preface is pretty telling he describes some of the necessities of grueling long marches with no resupply deep in questionable territory. Pretty interesting stuff. More than one way to skin an iguana though
wink.gif


It's pretty amazing what some people have accomplished though. I like to read about it sometimes while sitting in a comfortable chair.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

This is what you were trying to find Rancid.

<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1w3evmb-z4Y"></param> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1w3evmb-z4Y" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"> </embed></object>

 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

I think its pretty obvious that the host of that show is making fun of that Girly Man.. I wish there was atleast subtitles. Maybe she rolled over his skin plums with her chair
laugh.gif
?
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

like lonewolf says youngman.make it off the island or pendleton.Walk the yellow footsteps,beware ot the sand fleas and most of all be a good marine.
Everything else will come if its meant to be.
semper fi
I wonder if the island still has the motovation ditch
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: StealthMode223</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> I knew guys that were doing 20 pull-ups witha 90lb. anvil hanging from their waist. </div></div>

Sweet! I bet that decompresses the lumbar spine too.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

I'm sure I'll get flamed for this, but I gotta agree with StealthMode.

Never hurts to be prepared, and while I am not a former scout sniper, I can say that selection to schooling from the fleet is VERY competitive.

Can you survive Paris Island with minimum physical training and a good attitude, absolutely. I did. Can you do okay in the grunts without being a 1st class PFT, expert rifleman and good swimmer...sure plenty do.

Are you going to be selected by your command for schooling if you're not an exceptional Marine (PT, leadership and overall proficiency) not likely.

I think Domn's question is about what he needs to set as a goal if he expects to be exceptionally qualified and have the best shot possible, not where he needs to be to be an average Marine. Personally I think Stealthmode's advice is generally spot on....allright, the Olympic swimmer comment is over the top.

"Good things do come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hussle." - Abraham Lincoln.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

It will be extremely easier to become a scout sniper by going to a regular grunt mos, 0311, 0331, 0351 and such, also they have done away with force recon, they only have one company that is "force recon" everything else falls under MARSOC. Getting a school slot would be easier being recon or marsoc, just because those guys take precedence over regular grunts. Becoming a scout sniper would be easier doing it from a regular grunt battalion than it would be from a recon mos. Hope that this helps, by the way you need to work on your PFT, you need a 1st class. 225 or higher, so you should strive to do at least 15 pull ups, 100 crunches in 2 minutes, and run a sub 22 minute three mile. Hope this helps and good luck. Also its not just about physical portions, i know that when we run indocs, we look for physical strength as well as deisre and heart, brains, and will power to make yourself do something that you dont want to do when you are tired, hungry, wet, and flat out exhausted.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

Do the Marines not have a push-up standard really anymore? Is it not required in the PFT? I don't know about you guys, but there is just something about push-ups that really gets to me! I find it rather easy to push myself in anything else, but push-ups just annoy the crap out of me!!
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

Marines do Pullups instead of push ups during the PFT's. If pushups annoy you then you better keep it a secret becuase Drill Instructors will make you plenty of them for incentive training. We did pushups in Bootcamp until the DI's were satisfied with the size of the sweat puddle beneath us.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: former0302</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Personally I think Stealthmode's advice is generally spot on....allright, the Olympic swimmer comment is over the top.</div></div>

I didn't really mean he needed to train with an Olympic swimmer to survive. The point I was trying to make is that if you want to be successful at recon indoc if that is the route he takes he had better feel comfortable in the water.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

Domn, in aggregate I see a lot of good advice here. And I will highlight.....Get your PT in order for sure. I would aim at the perfect PFT score of 300. 18 min 3 mile, 20 pulls, 100 crunches. Then Shoot as you are instructed (I PMI'd for 6 months) and score high. Basically rock out the scores and they will put you in the best pecking order for indoc's. Also as mentioned above, take it one step at a time. Before you are having wet dreams of bad guys in the crosshairs, earn your first set of EGA's.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

LMAO!!!

Memories of Parris Island, our junior DI read a letter to my girlfriend I'd left on my footlocker when I was in the head (never mind the privacy issues, lesson learned...lock your shit up) where I described him as a cross between an evil Elmer Fudd and a sadistic Mr. Rogers.

For the rest of boot camp I spent more than my fair share of time on the quarterdeck.

 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

It would seem that Domn posted just twice and then was scared off by all the talk about Olympic training. I must admit that I keep coming back hoping to learn something. If only there were a thread where snipers could give advice about admin and avionics.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: mattyboy72</div><div class="ubbcode-body">lmao, give the guy a break lol. </div></div>


Really? It died more than 20 months ago. Did you really have to resuscitate it to add that?
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers


beings that times are how they are now as in two wars your chances are most likly better , when i was in it was damn hard to get a slot in school and i made damn sure not to screw it up. i went the way of force recon and was stationad at 41 las flores and was also a pmi at edson range . the training is the best in the world but its not exactly as glam as you read about in the books or online as you are expected to do things you most likly wouldnt think you would be asked to do and you better do them fast and perfect and without puase, just becuase you are in great phisical shape means nothing its just the first of many, many many, ways to filter the earth to get to the diamond. shooting 1000 yards is the eisiest part of being a sniper trust me, anyone who thinks "hell i have made 1st round impact hits at over 10000 yards i could be a sniper" is way off base.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Forty-One</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If only there were a thread where snipers could give advice about admin and avionics.</div></div>

When in admin you should always bring a black pen, be prepared to fill out the same forms you filled out the week before, try to remember all the shit you penned in the last time. Whatever you do, don't piss off the clerk who is telling you line by line what to do.

When riding in a helo DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!! and get off as quick as you can by any means!
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

Want to be a super ninja SS? Fitness always can be better no matter what but professionalism and the ability to learn things quickly and be able to use what you were taught I think is the most important,
You can make a dummy run but don't ask him to program a radio or plot a grid.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

Come and join the Royal Marines....32 weeks of basic training and that's assuming you pass the 3-day pre course and meet the academic criteria. 32 wks also assumes you aren't backtracked a cadre or two. Once you've passed, it is then on to specialist training.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

To the originator of the post. Hard work and perseverance and a little bit of luck and good timing are the only way to become a HOG in the fleet. Your going to have to a be a combat MOS 03XX that being said I have heard of comm guys working with a STA platoon going to the basic course. The PFT standards for the corps are 18 minute 3 mile run 100 crunches 20 pullups for a max score of 300.
So once you've got a high first class PFT 270+ usually you have to try out for a STA platoon. At least thats what I've been told by my friends in the grunts. But your also competing with a larger field of candidates too.
If you end up in recon the chances are high that you will use a sniper rifle on deployment even if your aren't a school trained sniper. Since recon sends a lot of people to private civilian run courses, if they can't get guys to the basic course.
Either way in a STA platoon, recon, or marsoc are very good places to be if you'd like to learn the skills.

In the end it comes down to how bad you want it and what your willing to give to get it.
 
Re: Questions about USMC and Scout Snipers

Scout Sniper Course
Purpose: To provide Marine and other services with Scout Sniper training in preparation for duty as a Scout Sniper within a Scout Sniper platoon of an infantry battalion and within reconnaissance units.
Length of course: 42 training days
Maximum class capacity: 32
Minimum class capacity: 12
Classes per fiscal year: 3
FY-10 CLASS DATES AND QUOTAS AVAILABLE.

Basic Course:
CLASS RPT DATE CVN DATE GRAD DATES QUOTAS
1-10 06 Oct 09 07 Oct 09 15 Dec 09 32
2-10 01 Mar 10 02 Mar 10 04 May 10 32
3-10 14 Jul 10 15 Jul 10 17 Sep 10 32



Prerequisites:
Must be a Lance Corporal or Corporal, Sergeants through Captain may attend based on space availability.
Upon arrival the students will conduct a physical fitness test. In order to be joined into the course, the Marine must achieve a first class PFT.
Vision correctable to 20/20.
Twenty-four months remaining in the Marine Corps and/or deploying with his unit upon course completion date. Reservists will be available for the unit's next scheduled deployment.
Current expert rifle qualification. (Reservists can have an expert score up to three years old)
No court martial or NJP in the last six months.
Must be a volunteer with no history of mental problems or disorders.
Minimum GT score of 100.
Medically qualified for duty with no recurring injuries or problems.
No existing family or financial problems that would preclude the Marine from attending the course.
Sergeants and above must have a TD fitness report.
Recommended but not required:
MCI or distance learning equivalent requirements:
MCI #0381 Land Navigation.
MCI #0335 Infantry Patrolling.
MCI #0861 Basic Forward Observer Procedures.
MCI #03.32 Reconnaissance Marine.
Attended Sniper platoon training.
Completed an infantry training cycle or deployment.
Swim qualification of class 2 or higher for MEU SOC follow-on Sniper training.
Gear List Screening Checklist Course Message


...Just to take the speculation out of this question

source page: http://www.marines.mil/unit/tecom/soiwest/Pages/AITBn/ScoutSnipersBasicCourse.aspx