Were American snipers in the Vietnam War very important?

Snipers do more than provide one shot one body results. They often go in with or before the advance party on a forward movement and act as scouts gathering information. On a withdrawl they act as rear guards covering the troops as they pull back. Its amazing how much the loss of a senior enemy officer to a sniper can slow the advance of a unit.

Genious

You're right. I just wanted you to know last Friday night I saw an excellent documentary on the Vietnam War. It also went into modern day snipers and it was all very amazing. This part started out with just a large area (fields) of hay and there was one signal and suddenly the whole area moved! I was shocked to see how camouflaged the men were and there were many of them and that they just change their camouflage to suit the scenery around them. I also was amazed to learn that these men were hated by many on their own side and certainly that of the enemy. Since George Washington's time the "Sniper" was considered "low life" and didn't fight a war fairly. In those times I could understand their protests, but now, snipers are in demand for a good reason. These men that go into training are treating harshly and over 100% is expected of them so only approximately 50% make the grade (as I am sure you know.) There were other things that I didn't realize (made sense when they mentioned it) that snipers couldn't use soap, aftershave, lotions (even for mosquitoes, etc.) and were actually discouraged from bathing, no smoking and eating certain foods because the sweet or acrid smell may come out in their sweat. One sniper said it was tough being down-wind from another guy. LOL It was an excellent program and once again I learned something. In ways one has to feel badly for these men as they are in limbo in life, don't fit in anywhere and past snipers have become their own best friend and find it difficult to meld into society once again. Few talk about it to anyone.

Marcy

Every American soldier was important. The snipers were no different. As it tuned out, they had little effect on the ultimate outcome. It was all political and a political war is a no win situation.

Snipers had very little impact,infact none of our soldiers had much impact against the hit and run tactics of the vietcong. Vietcong would send in children to say "i love you americans" hug them, and then detonate the hand grenade they were holding. How are you supposed to fight that? Shoot kids who say they love you?

By:Genious

Answer

To the poster that disagreed with me. This is off a Military document that I got this information re snipers. It is also a noted face that the Vietcong had plenty of snipers and the American soldiers were unprepared, but later had to resort to snipers of their own. School or no school the young American soldiers were just not prepared for this kind of war.

Marcy

Even before the Civil War their were trained snipers (then called "sharp shooters"), but unfortunately, by the time the Vietnam War came the training schools had ceased, so there were no actual American snipers. The employment of snipers in Vietnam primarily involved individuals who were not trained properly for this particular position. Often more than one man would go with the other ahead of the platoon and simply "do the best they could."

The 2nd man in the team would also be a sniper, assigned a battle rifle to protect the bolt gunner in the event of contact during insertion or extraction or discovery in their hide.

The money and support to develop the high-capable sniper teams that emerged in the armed services in the late 1970s and 1980s was a result of the lessons learned in Vietnam.

Hope this helps.

Marcy

Sorry but I don't belive you are correct, Marcy. During Vietnam they combined scout school with sniper school. So you were well trained in both. We did learn what a sniper could do during vietnam. Take Carlos Hathcock a Marine sniper during Vietnam, he had a toltal of 93 confirmed kills, imagine that count including not confirmed kills.

Answer

Yes snipers were very important

Answer

Yes i do believe they were very important. american snipers in vietnam at the end of the war killed over 10,000 VC/NVA soilders at the cost of under 20,000 bullets.

First answer by ID0000000000. Last edit by Gouch53. Contributor trust: 814 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 85 [recommend question]