I used to play this game called Counter Strike: Source, and now has evolved to Counter Strike: Global Offensive, and because of this game, it inspired to try out for the Marines, as well as apply video game tactics towards real life situations, where gamification (in moderation) could be useful for cognitive flexibility, which further research will be done for this topic in future articles.

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Shensen Gao
Professor Hyon
ENGL 1102
30 April, 2013
What it takes to become “One Shot, One Kill”
Snipers are the most deadly soldiers in the battlefield. They must be masters of stealth
and marksmanship, and they carry out the most dangerous missions with superior self-discipline
and cunning. Snipers will do whatever it takes to get to their targets or designated areas to collect
intelligence, such as crawling through a nasty swamp and staying stationary for a long period of
time. Therefore sniper schools are highly selective and one of the toughest in the military. For
instance, the Marine Scout Sniper School emphasizes combat readiness at all times, which
demands outstanding physical fitness as well as the ability to perform under extremely stressful
environments from every Marine sniper candidate. The course is consisted of three phrases in the
duration of three months. During these phrases, each candidate is trained to be proficient at
marksmanship and capable of concealing themselves in order to ensure higher chance of survival
in combat.
Due to increasing popularity of sniper portrayal in movies and video games,
misconceptions are formed and people started to believe snipers roam around and fire shots
randomly, while in reality they do not shoot non-combatants, such as livestock, windshields,
houses, woman and children. In addition, marksmanship only makes up ten percent of a sniper’s
mission and he is taught to be extremely patient, in order to wait for the perfect opportunity to
strike ("Marine Corps Scout Sniper Training."). Consequently, taking shots at target not worth
shooting only increases the risk of a sniper being discovered, captured, or killed. Unlike its
portrayal in popular media, the reality for a sniper is that of a man under constant pressure,

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requiring inhuman dedication and the mindset of team accountability, as well as the very real
potential to suffer terrible consequences such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and
therefore it is important for the general public to realize what they perceive through the media
does not even come close to the reality of what is required.
Nowadays, snipers have been portrayed through a variety of medium, and for teenagers
and young adults, they are often exposed to video games in which their perceptions about snipers
are formed. Video game snipers and real life snipers share common characteristics by the use of
telescopic sight in order to reach the target in long range; however, sometimes close quarter
combat situations are inevitable in both reality and video games, which forces the sniper to
switch to a secondary weapon, such as back-up a assault rifle or pistol to confront enemies
within close range. Games like Battlefield 3 and Sniper Elite attempts to incorporate in-game
sniper rifles with real life natural barriers that would affect the outcome of a shot, such as taking
bullet velocity, elevation and scope leading for moving targets into effect, which makes the
sniper game play more similar to real life combat. Particularly for Sniper Elite, the game claims
itself to be the best simulation for military sharpshooting (“Sniper Elite V2”). These similarities
prove the reality for a sniper must take several natural and environment variables into account
before firing a shot and must always be ready for situations where a sniper rifle might not be the
sniper’s first choice.
Even so, regardless of how much video game developers attempt to synchronize
militaristic games like those previously described with real life combat, emotional strains such as
the feeling of being threatened and compassion for injured fellow soldiers, as well the possibility
of developing PTSD are absent in these games (Thang). In addition, video games are primarily
intended for entertainment, and thus they do not show physical effects such as fatigue and

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boredom for having to lie still in one area for prolonged period of time and wait for the enemies.
Also, it is important to realize that these gamers are behind gaming controllers instead of sniper
rifles. Games like Sniper Elite automatically calculate wind and distance adjustment, so gamers
know where exactly to place the bullet in order to guarantee a kill, while in reality there are
limitations to every sniper rifle, and often times snipers are forced to use the technique
“Kentucky Windage”, which according to Merriam-Webster, it is “a windage correction made by
aiming a firearm to the right or left of the target rather than by adjustment of the sights”
(“Kentucky Windage”). Finally, as mentioned before, sniper schools are highly rigorous and
selective, and because of this factor, even gamers who are also civilian hunters must go through
basic military training and relearn everything they know about rifles in the “civilian way”, before
they can qualify for sniper candidates.
In addition to media portrayal of a sniper through video games, movies play an important
role as well. Often times, movies depict snipers being the ones who possess high vantage points
by engaging their opponents in concealed positions, and thus making the general public believe
snipers suffer less from physical effects as well as emotional strains than soldiers who fight in
the frontline. In fact, snipers are highly advantageous when engaging targets over distances in
reality. From shot distance of 2,657 yards by Canadian sniper Rob Furlong in 2002 to 2,707
yards by British sniper Craig Harrison in 2009, these longest confirmed kill shots demonstrate
that a sniper’s survival is heavily depended on the distance he creates from his target, as well as
how he positions himself to minimize the risk of detection (Lynn). As shown in the movie Act of
Valor, a Navy SEAL team is on a mission to rescue a CIA operative. While soldiers of the team
who engage close quarters may have higher risk of getting wounded or killed, the snipers wear
camouflages and position themselves in a concealed area to provide support for their team

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through reconnaissance and elimination of enemy guards, and thus render lower risk of getting
detected.
Nevertheless, other movies such as Shooter provide more details of a sniper’s role during
a mission by showing calculations one has to make in order to make an accurate shot as well as
levels of danger involved. The movie depicts a two-man sniper team providing surveillance for
its command post or parent unit, and it suddenly receives multiple enemy fires on the ground.
Although the two snipers have advantages by positioning themselves up on the hill and wearing
ghillie suits for camouflage, they leave themselves vulnerable to enemy artilleries as well as air
support that eventually killed one of them. Therefore, distance does not always guarantee safety
to a sniper, and often times he is being placed deep into the enemy’s territory, whether for
reconnaissance or assassination of a target, the sniper is putting his life on the line because the
next mission might be his last. A prominent example dates back to 1967, when Marine sniper
Carlos Hathcock undertook one of the deadliest missions in history. The mission was classified
and details were not given until his acceptance. “I did not want my people dead,” said Hathcock,
“so I took the mission myself, thinking I was a little bit better than the rest”. Ethan Place, a
Marine sniper who served in Iraqi War, remarked “He had no backup, so if you get caught,
you’re on your own. It’s a suicide mission. (McPherson et.al 20:51 – 21:11)” By infiltrating a
heavily guarded territory with dozens of patrols and machine gun nests, Hathcock had to crawl
1,300 yards inch by inch to reach his final firing position (FFP) and eliminate a North
Vietnamese Army (NVA) general with one shot over distance of 700 yards. It took him three
days to finally reach his FFP, with no food or sleep, except for the water in his canteen and the
occasions to take catnaps when patrols weren’t around. Even worse, he almost once got stepped
on by one of the patrols and nearly got bitten by a bamboo viper (McPherson et.al 23:22 – 24:06).

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What made Hathcock exceptional in such no-man-could-survive situation was his method of
“getting into bubble”, meaning one has to give complete, utter concentration to a given situation,
that every breeze and smell would mean something (Thurber).
Throughout his military career, Carlos Hathcock had a total of 93 confirmed kills of
North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Vietcong (VC) soldiers. Triggered by fear and hatred, the
NVA once put a bounty of $30,000 on the sniper’s head and sent its counter-sniper as well as
interrogator known as “Apache” to hunt down Hathcock, who was infamous for her torturing
method of captured Marines, letting them bleed to death. Not allowing anger or vengeance
consuming their mind, Hathcock and his spotter Edward James Land began to search Apache and
her fellow troops near Hill 55, the firebase from which Hathcock was operating. With the help of
U.S. air support, the NVA soldiers were surprised and dominated and Hathcock successfully
ended Apache’s reign of terror with a single shot through her chest.
Relating above, Hathcock would not have succeeded the mission if he let vengeance or
anger consume his mind during the sniper hunt, as that kind of emotion would likely make him
reckless and get him killed. By eliminating the Apache, Hathcock prevented the loss of further
U.S. troops. This embodies the sniper’s role as a live saver in combat. Soldiers work together as
a team and protect each other in combat, and snipers are not exceptions. Although snipers
operate independently, they value saving a comrade’s life in the face of a dangerous mission. For
instance, in 2005, Marine sniper Steven Reinchert received a bronze medal for his valiant act
during a mission where he conducted surveillance for friendly patrol and discovered an
improvised explosive device (IED) being planted inside a dead animal. Before the situation could
be remedied, a routine patrol in the street became a sudden, devastating battleground. As the
Taliban fighters fired rocket propelled grenades at the Marines, Reinchert took immediate action

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in eliminating the enemies to save his fellow soldiers’ lives (D'Alessio). “Statistics showed every
Taliban killed is equivalent to three Marines’ lives saved” said Sergeant Gibney (Hays). Also,
when two insurgents opened fire at British soldiers in Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2009,
aforementioned British sniper Craig Harrison took them out at a distance of 1.5 miles away,
which made him the longest confirmed kill shot record holder (Sheridan). By demonstrating high
level of courage and value of team accountability, these snipers look out for their teammates and
work together to accomplish a mission.
As opposed to a sniper’s role as life saver in real life, gamers take a completely different
approach when it comes down to first-person-shooter (FPS) games. Rather than providing
support and emphasizing team coercion during a game play, gamers tend to compete for highest
individual kill scores in order to win a gaming match. This is crucial when it comes down to
decision of individuals who aspire to join the military. Since FPS games play a huge role
influencing young one’s decisions in joining the military, and many think that by playing these
games as simulation training, they can be better prepared for war, which in turns makes them
believe that killing is actually fun and war is glorious. In reality they fail to realize that video
games desensitize them to taking a life. “War is a horrible and dirty thing, people die.” said
Marine Lance Corporal Requesto (Thang). In addition, psychological effects as well as
emotional strains play a large role in it. For instance, in History Channel, Sniper Inside the
Crosshairs, Marine sniper Chuck Mawhinney recalled his experience in Vietnam:
People have asked me if I had nightmares about Vietnam. Yeah, I have, but never because
of a hit. I see a VC walking across the paddy […] and he turned around and looked at me,
and that look I’ll never forget. […] Now I have to think the rest of my life, “Who did he
kill?” That’s the one that haunts me. (McPherson et.al 26:24 – 26:58) Certainly, killing

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someone is more than just pulling the trigger, because taking another human’s life means
that the person killed would never be able to see his family again. Psychological effects
such as PTSD certainly play an important role in individuals who share similar
experiences. And in relation to that, a Marine Sergeant has a story to tell.
It was back in Afghanistan where he recalled one of the missions was to scout for
suspicious activities around the checkpoint station he was in charge of, with potential IEDs and
suicide bombers being the most prominent. One day, he spotted a fast driving vehicle with a
sinking rear, in which the driver did not heed warnings of the observation post to slow down,
thus he ordered the gunner to shoot, given that the vehicle was a good indicator of a suicide
bomber. Afterwards, he and other Marines went on investigation and found out something that
would impact him for the rest of his life: a note by the blown-up driver saying he had a pregnant
wife in the trunk and needed medical assistance. In the aftermath of the incident, he would
always be wondering for future approaching vehicles through the check point, yet he could not
become too trusting and let his guard down and put his fellow soldiers’ lives in danger. Therefore,
killing someone has no glamour in it, regardless of the methods being used. Whether is shooting
someone through a sniper’s scope, or blowing someone up through use of bomb and artilleries, it
puts emotional strain on the ones who operate it.
To conclude, nowadays mass media such as video games and movies often glorifies the
image of a sniper, which causes misconceptions among teenagers and young adults. Therefore, it
is important to distinguish fantasy from reality for the life of a sniper and realize the missions
snipers carry out are often dangerous and highly selective, which sends a clear message to those
who aspire to join the military that one must go through inhumanly strenuous training and
become emotionally and psychologically stable in order to qualify the title of “one shot, one kill.”

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Works Cited
D'Alessio, Stephen. "United States Department of Defense." Marine Sniper Receives Bronze Star
Medal for Valor. Defense.gov, 22 Feb. 2005. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.
Hays, Sean T. "ONE SHOT ONE KILL Marine Scout Sniper Kills a Taliban Sniper."
MilitaryNotes. 30 Sept. 2011. Television.
"Kentucky Windage." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.
Lynn, Brian. "8 Longest Sniper Shots in History." Gunsandammo.com. The Guns & Ammo
Network, 27 Sept. 2011. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.
"Marine Corps Scout Sniper Training." About.com.About, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.
McPherson, Kelly, Miriam Leffert, Sarah Wetherbee, and Emre Sahin, prods. "Sniper Deadliest
Missions." History Channel. A&E Television Networks. 2010. Television.
McPherson, Kelly, Miriam Leffert, Sarah Wetherbee, and Emre Sahin, prods. "Sniper Inside The
Crosshairs." History Channel. A&E Television Networks. 2009. Television.
Sheridan, Michael. "British Sniper Craig Harrison (The Silent Assassin) Breaks Record, Kills
Target from 1.5 Miles Away." Nydailynews.com. New York Daily News, 03 May 2010.
Web. 11 Mar. 2013.
"Sniper Elite V2." Gamestop.com. GameStop, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.
Thang, Jimmy. "What Do Real Soldiers Think of Shooting Games?" Ign.com. IGN, 23 Feb. 2012.
Web. 01 May 2013.
Thurber, John. "Carlos Hathcock; Sniper in Vietnam." Snipercentral.com. Sniper Central, 28 Feb.
1999. Web. 01 May 2013.