These elite troops have one of the military's most dangerous jobs - here's how they handle the intense stress
- Snipers have one of the toughest and most dangerous jobs on the battlefield, and the stress from that can be tremendous.
- Many snipers said they handled their job's intense pressures by quieting their worries and allowing their training to guide them.
- "This profession as a whole constitutes a difficult lifestyle where we have to get up every day and train harder than the enemy, so that when we meet him in battle we make sure to come out on top," a Marine scout sniper said.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
There are few "safe" jobs in armed conflict, but certainly one of the toughest and most dangerous is that of a sniper. They must sneak forward in groups of two to spy on the enemy, knowing that an adversary who spots them first may be lethal. Here's what Army and Marine Corps snipers say it takes to overcome the life-or-death stress of their job.
"As a scout sniper, we are going to be constantly tired, fatigued, dehydrated, probably cold, for sure wet, and always hungry," Marine scout sniper Sgt. Brandon Choo told the Department of Defense earlier this year.
The missions snipers are tasked with carrying out, be it in the air, at sea, or from a concealed position on land, include gathering intelligence, killing enemy leaders, infiltration and overwatch, hunting other snipers, raid support, ballistic IED interdiction, and the disruption of enemy operations.
Many snipers said they handled their job's intense pressures by quieting their worries and allowing their training to guide them.
"There is so much riding on your ability to accomplish the mission, including the lives of other Marines," a Marine scout sniper told Insider recently. "The best way to deal with [the stress] is to just not think about it." An Army sniper said the same thing, telling Insider that "you don't think about that. You are just out there and reacting in the moment. You don't feel that stress in the situation."
These sharpshooters explained that when times are tough, there is no time to feel sorry for yourself because there are people depending on you. Their motivation comes from the soldiers and Marines around them.
Learning to tune out the pressures of the job is a skill developed through training. "This profession as a whole constitutes a difficult lifestyle where we have to get up every day and train harder than the enemy, so that when we meet him in battle we make sure to come out on top," Choo told DoD.
'You are always going to fall back on your training.'
So, what does that mean in the field, when things get rough?
"You are going to do what you were taught to do or you are going to die," 1st Sgt. Kevin Sipes, a veteran Army sniper, told Insider. "Someone once told me that in any given situation, you are probably not going to rise to the occasion," a Marine scout sniper, now an instructor, explained. "You are always going to fall back on your training."
"So, if I've trained myself accordingly, even though I'm stressing out about whatever my mission is, I know that I'll fall back to my training and be able to get it done," he said. "Then, before I know it, the challenge has passed, the stress is gone, and I can go home and drink a beer and eat a steak."
Choo summed it up simply in his answers to DoD, saying, "No matter what adversity we may face, at the end of the day, we aren't dead, so it's going to be all right."
Do the impossible once a week.
Sometimes the pressures of the job can persist even after these guys return home.
In that case, Sipes explained, it is really important to "talk to someone. Talk to your peers. Take a break. Go and do something else and come back to it." Another Army sniper previously told Insider that it is critical to check your ego at the door, be brutally honest with yourself, and know your limits.
In civilian life, adversity can look very different than it does on the battlefield. Challenges, while perhaps not life-and-death situations, can still be daunting.
"I think the way that people in civilian life can deal with [hardship] is by picking something out, on a weekly basis, that they in their mind think is impossible, and they need to go and do it," a Marine sniper told Insider. "What you're going to find is that more often than not, you are going to be able to achieve that seemingly-impossible task, and so everything that you considered at that level or below becomes just another part of your day."
He added that a lot more people should focus on building their resilience.
"If that is not being provided to you, it is your responsibility to go out and seek that to make yourself better."