Scout Sniper Platoon - Overview

Overview

Scout Snipers provide close reconnaissance and surveillance to the infantry battalion. By doctrine, a Scout Sniper is a Marine highly skilled in field craft and marksmanship who delivers long range precision fire on selected targets from concealed positions in support of combat operations.

Scout Snipers in Marine infantry battalions fell under the Surveillance and Target Acquisition (STA) units initially, and now, more formalized, they belong to the infantry battalion's Scout Sniper Platoon (SSP), usually within the headquarters and service (H&S) company. Marine Scout Snipers are trained at one of the four school house locations. The motto of the Marine Scout Sniper is "One shot, one kill."

The term "Scout Sniper" is only used officially by the Marine Corps but it does not imply a differing mission from the U.S. Army Sniper. An Army Sniper's primary mission is to support combat operations by delivering precise long-range fire on selected targets. By this, the sniper creates casualties among enemy troops, slows enemy movement, frightens enemy soldiers, lowers morale, and adds confusion to their operations. The sniper's secondary mission is collecting and reporting battlefield information, Section 1.1 FM 23-10 Sniper Training.

The Marine Corps is unique in its consolidation of reconnaissance and sniper duties for a single Marine. Most other conventional armed forces, including the U.S. Army, separate the reconnaissance soldier or scout from the sniper. In the U.S. Army, the term "Infantry Scout" refers to a specially selected and trained infantrymen that functions in a reconnaissance and surveillance capacity while "Sniper" refers to a specially selected and trained soldier that primarily functions as a sniper. Most military forces believe that the separation of reconnaissance and sniper capabilities allows for a higher degree of specialization.