U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. James R. Skelton
A U.S. Marine assigned to the Scout Sniper School, Weapons Training Battalion, looks through the scope of his rifle during a final exercise aboard Quantico, Va., Jan. 19, 2017.
- 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.
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US military snipers have a talent for hiding in plain sight, a talent developed through high-stakes games of hide-and-seek known as stalking exercises.
Insider recently had the opportunity to observe Marine Corps snipers during concealment training on a stalking lane at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.
Ryan Pickrell/Business Insider
A view of the stalking lane through a high-powered monocular optic used to hunt snipers who slip an expose themselves.
We watched Marine sharpshooters disappear into a field while their instructors hunted them with high-powered optics. Their mission was to slip into position and put two shots on a target without being detected.
This was a daunting task for those in training given that some of the instructors "on glass" searching for them were seasoned combat veterans.