Croat Mercenaries Joining Iraqi Insurgents

[ChuckMK23]

An excerpt of an email from a collegue - he is former USMC Scout/Sniper. This is chilling stuff..



"Oh man, you are not going to believe this - one of the other Dad's that was at camp is a sniper with Clovis PD (Clovis is the next town outside of Fresno and is where I live). Anyhoo, he had all this scoop on Marine snipers in Iraq. He said that many of them had 200+ kills!!! Ducks in a barrel. He said the wind sometimes got so bad there that shots past 300 yards were impossible with the 7.62mm so they had to use .50cals (awww darn) - blew the **** out of their targets.....

Get this - the Marine Corps lost like 8 sniper teams (spotter and sniper both -
16 guys). The Iraqis hired Croatian mercs to counter snipe the Marine teams - they never thought about counter snipers. Apparently the Croats were heavily funded. They had electronic sights with microprocessors that lased the target for range, figured wind, barometric pressure, temperature, etc and automatically adjusted the reticle of the sight to point of aim/point of impact. All they had to do was laser the target, point, and shoot. Very high speed - $20-30k per weapon system!!!!

So the Marines eventually figured out what was going on, found where the f--
ers were holed up and LGB'd their asses. There were two local kids from Clovis that joined the Corps together, became snipers together and died together..... One of the kid's dad is a sergeant on the Clovis police force.

Anyway, this guy I met is going to take me to the range with his partner and
let me shoot his rifle - it sounds pretty sweet. I'll let you know the details
when I get my hands on it - should be in the next couple of weeks."

 

[Taildragger]

Damn, any verification on that? I don't care how much they're paying you, but if you go to work for the towelheads you are signing your own death warrant.

 

[ChuckMK23]

I would consider this pretty reliable..

 

[Fly Navy]

I assume they're Croatian Muslims? The same muslims we tried to protect?

Those guys had sniping as a way of life in that Bosnian conflict. Good to see they're dealing with them effectively.

 

[A4sForever]

I assume they're Croatian Muslims? The same muslims we tried to protect?

And their skin is white. And their hair is blonde. And many speak English just as good as you or I. Makes it tough to I.D. them when they're amongst us .... with our porous borders and all. Makes looking for "Middle East male" -types less effective (maybe moot) when screening at airports and elsewhere ....

The entire "modern" Croatian history has boiled around strife, genocide, terrorism, and a general bad attitude.

Sometimes we SHOULD judge people by the company they keep .....

Haj Amin el Husseini and Adoph Hitler (1941) and Bosnian-Croat muslim soldiers el Husseini recruited for the 13th Waffen SS "Handschar" Division -- 21,065 men (sometimes spelled Hanjar) -- which conducted operations against Communist partisans in the Balkans from February 1944. The division trained in Germany and was led by German SS officers. The descendants of these soldiers are what populate modern, muslim Croatia, today. A thoroughly disagreeable lot.

 

[Fly Navy]

Oh yes, this I know. They're not easily identifiable if they're hidden amongst us.

 

[Match762]

I am a USMC Scout/Sniper that just returned from Iraq a couple weeks ago and this was not my experience. While the number of available targets is accurate, we never encountered any worth while opposition. The foreign sniper merc rumors run pretty rampant, even in country, but after working all over central Iraq I can say the most we ever ran into were the occasional Dragonov with an illuminated reticle. The Sniper community is pretty tight. I know of the two deaths you speak of and few more, but none of them were a result of a Marine losing a sniper on sniper engagement.

 

[A4sForever]

I am a USMC Scout/Sniper that just returned from Iraq a couple weeks ago .........The Sniper community is pretty tight. I know of the two deaths you speak of and few more, but none of them were a result of a Marine losing a sniper on sniper engagement.

"Match 7.62" huh?? Good gouge, and from the horse's mouth, yet. It's not my place to say this, but welcome aboard the forum, Marine. I, for one, an glad to have the "real deal" input on this stuff ......

 

[Match762]

Thanks A4sForever. I came across this site looking for info on flying and I think its great. After dropping some serious CAS over there I thought I would look into Marine Aviation to see if I could bring even more fire power to the fight.

 

[Schnugg]

They had electronic sights with microprocessors that lased the target for range, figured wind, barometric pressure, temperature, etc and automatically adjusted the reticle of the sight to point of aim/point of impact. All they had to do was laser the target, point, and shoot. Very high speed - $20-30k per weapon system!!!!

Welcome Match762...is there really a sight like this out there? I shot 500m with a match grade rifle at a Camp Pendleton match and did okay. But you had to deal with the wind all the way down the range to the target.

Fill us in please.

r/
G

 

[Match762]

Unfortunately, a sight like this does not exist, though if it did it would make my job a lot easier. As you said, wind is something that must be accounted for throughout the entire trip of the round. Even if a sight were to account for wind at the location of the sniper it would not be able to account for the various wind speeds and directions down range. This is almost a moot point, however, as shots taken in the capacity described above would most likely be from concealed positions inside buildings or hides constructed in the field where wind would not be measureable from the initial position to begin with. A rangefinder built into the scope is also unavailable and impractical for two reasons. Most often, shots taken in defilade have several objects obstructing partial vision of the target (i.e. grass, leaves, etc.). If the range finder were built into the scope, the sniper would have to break position and expose himself to accurately determine range. Additionally, range to a target is flat line distance only. This means that if you were to range a target from an elevated position, you must also account for the angle so that you can determine the actual horizontal distance traveled. The best sniper rifle over there is the one the USMC Scout/Snipers are currently using (although I'm not a big fan of the current A3 style). Even with the most tricked out after market scope, the value of the rifle could never exceed $6,000. The FBI has also just adopted this rifle for all of their precision marksmanship.

 

[A4sForever]

.........the one the USMC Scout/Snipers are currently using (although I'm not a big fan of the current A3 style).

Again, good gouge , 7.62 --- are you refering to the M40A3 when you say "A3" ??? ... I would suppose so, but a Gunnery Sgt long ago told me not to "assume" anything. If so -- how do you like the stock, McMillan I would "assume" (ouch - sorry, Gunny) as I am thinking about buying one?? Re: the pix --- do you guys use supressors in-country?? Something I read said "all" M40A3's would be supressed, but I wonder, in actual conditions?

(edit: Uh-OH ..... did I just twist this thread into the dreaded -- not yet appeared --"GUN THREAD" ... ???

 

[Match762]

are you refering to the M40A3 when you say "A3"

Yes, the M40A3. There are still a few A1s left, but they are all being swapped out for the A3.

how do you like the stock, McMillan

I have always been a fan of the McMillan stock, but I do not like the mold of the A3. My chief complaint is that it is cut like a square, so the ability to make slight elevation adjustments by pushing the rifle forward or back is lost. I prefer the A5 stock. It takes all the good qualities of the A1 stock and improves upon them including an adjustable cheek piece, a thumb catch and a more comfortable grip.

do you guys use supressors in-country?? Something I read said "all" M40A3's would be supressed

Originally, all A3s were suppossed to be suppressed. One of the guys in my platoon even got to fire with one during the development phase. Sadly, though, a consensus could not be reached on which suppressor to go with, so the idea was scrapped. My platton attempted to purchase them with unit funds during our work up. We received initial approval, but still could not get all the necesary sign offs before deploying. There are 5.56 suppressors in country, but none for the one that would be most beneficial.

 

[ChuckMK23]

I am a USMC Scout/Sniper that just returned from Iraq a couple weeks ago and this was not my experience. While the number of available targets is accurate, we never encountered any worth while opposition. The foreign sniper merc rumors run pretty rampant, even in country, but after working all over central Iraq I can say the most we ever ran into were the occasional Dragonov with an illuminated reticle. The Sniper community is pretty tight. I know of the two deaths you speak of and few more, but none of them were a result of a Marine losing a sniper on sniper engagement.

Match - forgive me if I'm passing on bad gouge. I know it's second hand stuff - and it sounded credible. Thank you for sharing your experience!

 

[A4sForever]

Roger that -- thanks for the gouge --- guess I'll go ahead with the McMillan purchase then, I have not talked to anyone who has used one -- just gun articles and they always have an axe to grind -- it's going on a Remington 700 action ......

I have long been a collector of USGI -- in general -- and USMC sniper rifles -- in particular ... some representative pixs of the collection ....

M1903-A4 with M73B1 4X Telescope ..........................................M1D GARAND with M84 scope ​

USMC M1903-A1 with Unertl 8X scope .....................................Springfield M1903 with Warner-Swasey M1913 scope​

USMC Springfield M1903 with Winchester A-5 scope .....................................M1C GARAND with M82 scope (lousy pix)​

OLD SCHOOL ............