These Marine snipers disappeared right in front of us, vanishing into a field as top sharpshooters

[rangerrebew]

These Marine snipers disappeared right in front of us, vanishing into a field as top sharpshooters hunted for them
Ryan Pickrell
Dec 3, 2019, 12:06 PM



    An expert US Marine scout sniper, no matter how precise their marksmanship, has to be able to do two things: hide and move stealthily.

    Insider recently visited Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia and observed stalking training, an exercise where snipers in training attempt to slip past instructors undetected.

    During the training, we watched about a dozen snipers vanish into a field. We wouldn't see them, most of them anyway, again for about half an hour.

https://www.businessinsider.com/these-marine-corps-snipers-disappeared-right-in-front-of-us-2019-11

[sneakypete]

These Marine snipers disappeared right in front of us, vanishing into a field as top sharpshooters hunted for them
Ryan Pickrell
Dec 3, 2019, 12:06 PM



    An expert US Marine scout sniper, no matter how precise their marksmanship, has to be able to do two things: hide and move stealthily.

    Insider recently visited Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia and observed stalking training, an exercise where snipers in training attempt to slip past instructors undetected.

    During the training, we watched about a dozen snipers vanish into a field. We wouldn't see them, most of them anyway, again for about half an hour.

https://www.businessinsider.com/these-marine-corps-snipers-disappeared-right-in-front-of-us-2019-11

There is a HELL of a lot more to being a sniper than being able to shoot well. Shooting well is just a basic requirement. You will never meet a stupid sniper,or one lacking in self-confidence,either.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

These Marine snipers disappeared right in front of us, vanishing into a field as top sharpshooters hunted for them
Ryan Pickrell
Dec 3, 2019, 12:06 PM



    An expert US Marine scout sniper, no matter how precise their marksmanship, has to be able to do two things: hide and move stealthily.

    Insider recently visited Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia and observed stalking training, an exercise where snipers in training attempt to slip past instructors undetected.

    During the training, we watched about a dozen snipers vanish into a field. We wouldn't see them, most of them anyway, again for about half an hour.

https://www.businessinsider.com/these-marine-corps-snipers-disappeared-right-in-front-of-us-2019-11

Damn -- I recognize that treeline.  Obviously spent way too much time in the field at Quantico.

[sneakypete]

Damn -- I recognize that treeline.  Obviously spent way too much time in the field at Quantico.

@Maj. Bill Martin

Yeah,but can you feel the ticks and redbugs crawling around under your clothes? 

[Maj. Bill Martin]

@Maj. Bill Martin

Yeah,but can you feel the ticks and redbugs crawling around under your clothes? 

@sneakypete

You must have been there too....

I once (apparently) put my hand on a nest of seed-ticks.  I pulled 27 off one just one of my forearms.  So yeah, well acquainted with those little bastards - and the full-grown ones as well.

But still, I'd rather deal with ticks than chiggers.  Got one really horrible case one time there in lovely Quantico.  Ended up scrubbing my lower leg with a wire brush until it was bleeding, them pouring alcohol on it.  Still didn't help much, but the pain was better than that maddening itch.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

You must have been there too....

I once (apparently) put my hand on a nest of seed-ticks.  I pulled 27 off one just one of my forearms.  So yeah, well acquainted with those little bastards - and the full-grown ones as well.

But still, I'd rather deal with ticks than chiggers. Got one really horrible case one time there in lovely Quantico.  Ended up scrubbing my lower leg with a wire brush until it was bleeding, them pouring alcohol on it.  Still didn't help much, but the pain was better than that maddening itch.

@Maj. Bill Martin

I put that one sentence in bold to inform people who are not yankees or some other brand of foreigner that the proper name for "chiggers" is "redbugs".

I know you are a yankee because all southern boys know the best and quickest way to kill redbugs is with fingernail polish. They breath through your skin,and the fingernail polish suffocates the little bastards.

Redbugs had to be hell on earth for people before fingernail polish was invented,though. I am guessing people used paint or varnish,but that was before my time.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

@Maj. Bill Martin
I know you are a yankee because all southern boys know the best and quickest way to kill redbugs is with fingernail polish. They breath through your skin,and the fingernail polish suffocates the little bastards.

@sneakypete

Well, about that....

It's a myth that chiggers actually burrow into your skin.  They don't, and suffocation/killing them doesn't apply.  They just inject you with an enzyme that keeps working for a few days, and itches like hell.  Once they have injected you, the itch is there and isn't going away.  But that's due to the enzyme that is decomposing your skin, not the chigger still being alive.  Tons of articles on it.

The Marine Corps is about 50% southern boys, so fingernailnail polish was something we all learned about very early on, along with about 20 other supposed remedies.  Most of them, like the polish, are basically just a placebo.  I of course tried it, and it really didn't do anything.  You might get some tightening/drying of the skin that helps a little bit, but there are other things that can do that better.  The real reason the fingernail polish seems to "work" is that by the time you know you've got the bites and they're itching like hell, and so put on the polish, the itch will start to diminish is a couple of days on its own anyway.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

Well, about that....

It's a myth that chiggers actually burrow into your skin.  They don't, and suffocation/killing them doesn't apply.  They just inject you with an enzyme that keeps working for a few days, and itches like hell.  Once they have injected you, the itch is there and isn't going away.  But that's due to the enzyme that is decomposing your skin, not the chigger still being alive.  Tons of articles on it.

@Maj. Bill Martin    And they are obviously wrong because fingernail polish will kill the itching within minutes.

 

[Maj. Bill Martin]

@Maj. Bill Martin    And they are obviously wrong because fingernail polish will kill the itching within minutes.

 

Just saying that wasn't my experience.  My rashes/bits laughed at fingernail polish.

Anyway, I don't think the biologists who study the things are wrong about what they do/why they itch.  The stuff you get in the military from other guys, or even in society, is sometimes just folklore.

[sneakypete]

Just saying that wasn't my experience.  My rashes/bits laughed at fingernail polish.

Anyway, I don't think the biologists who study the things are wrong about what they do/why they itch.  The stuff you get in the military from other guys, or even in society, is sometimes just folklore.

@Maj. Bill Martin

I actually used it to kill redbugs.

[rangerrebew]

It's too bad all the BS that comes out of politicians mouths can't be turned into some kind of bug killer.  The natural advantages are there could be a continuous and plentiful supply of it.