For a convenient minute to fire, you frequently gotta wait for hours or even days. At the same time, there is not always a anticipation to sit comfortably on a carimate and observe a flat area like a table – says Slash, the leader of a squad of sharpshooters from the 17th Wielkopolska Mechanized Brigade.
I hear your occupation isn't about shooting, it's about waiting?
There's no way to disagree. The training of the sharpshooter involves primarily conducting exploratory and reflection activities. Of course, we're besides perfecting shooting skills, but pulling the trigger is the last chord of the task. The culmination of frequently long-term and exhausting work. It's a cherry on the cake.
Good. So let's just say you're being parachuted somewhere...
...it's not our specialty. In the designated area we get first and foremost on our own feet.
You arrive, you take your position, and you wait for the opportune moment. How long can this take?
Hours, days... Very different. We usually go in pairs.. The shooter is accompanied by a spotter, which gives him data on the location of the target, atmospheric conditions, and after the shot, confirms the hit. but a couple like that can't be on work forever. According to the rules of the tactical action at our disposal, it should be changed after 72 hours. It's hard to last longer in full concentration., in constant readiness to fire, with a virtually zero margin of error. The shooter and the spotter conduct observation, listen, and make notes, sometimes send them by radio, all in silence and tension. It's exhausting. Of course, the time spent in the position may be reduced. It all depends on how large a group we will operate – whether a couple will go into the field, or a section or a team, but besides on erstwhile the convenient minute appears to push the trigger and neutralize the target.
I realize erstwhile you're lying down and conducting surveillance, you can't just stand up to long your bones, walk around?
No, of course not. First of all, you gotta do everything you can to minimize the hazard of tracking your position, second of all, you can't miss the right time... Furthermore, the verb “to lie down” in this case should be treated with a certain reserve. The shooter does not always have the chance to spread out in a comparatively comfortable position, on a soft carimate. Sometimes you gotta observe standing, sitting, kneeling. Nor can you always set up a position in a perfect place. Sometimes it is located on a hill, located on an elevated platform, on the roof of the building, but it is besides possible that reflection should be conducted from inside, sometimes through 2 rooms. Plus, there's ants all the time. It's different...
And what is the primary mark for the marksman? It's not always a man...
Definitely not. In general, we are trained to destruct high-cost targets. Under this name can hide anything – radar, communication strategy panel, a suitcase in which individual carries valuable electronic equipment, of course man too.
What kind of weapons do you use?
Very different. Today, I'm firing an SAKO M10, 7.62 mm. The effective scope of this weapon, depending on the ammunition, is 800–900 m. But we frequently give shots at far more distance.
Today, however, the targets are closer – they were located at a distance of 300, 500 and over 600 m, but in an different setting. We talk on the occasion of shooting workshops organized in the Gulf of Gdańsk. You're moving fire from the ORP fregata "Gen. T. Kościuszko". With what effect?
Not bad, though the challenge is big. Here everything works against the shooter: An unstable platform from which we fire, a mark remaining in motion. I had the chance to fire from a watercraft, but smaller, and not on specified a large watershed. An interesting experience in general. Not bad, though the challenge is big. Here everything works against the shooter: an unstable platform from which we fire, a mark remaining in motion. I had the chance to fire from a watercraft, but smaller, and not on specified a large watershed. An interesting experience in general.
How did you even become a marksman?
I've served in the military for 20 years. In 2005, I finished my junior advanced school and received 2 positions. I could have been head of the exploratory section or commander of the marksman team. I bet on option number 2 due to the fact that it was completely fresh to me, and I like challenges. It shortly turned out that I made 1 of the best decisions of my life. What I do gives me megasatisfaction, I meet large people, I constantly face fresh challenges, I invest in myself, and specified workshops as present only further fuel me. Long-distance shooting is simply a planet that has completely consumed me.
Speaking of challenges, which was the biggest 1 during your service?
Such a question cannot be answered unequivocally. In fact, everything I've faced so far has affected where I am right now. But if I had to choose 1 job... Okay, until today, I've got an exercise in my head. in the German hotel Hohenfels. We went out in the field on the first day, and we returned to the base after 2 weeks. We had guns, all the equipment, food rations. We became completely self-sufficient and... we had to deal with it. All this time, speaking colloquially, we practically slept in a backpack. Incredible experience.
What about the shooting? How far distant were you from?
From what I remember, it was 1860 m. Of course, with the selection rifles available to the Polish army, an effective shot can be fired at an even longer distance, but first, at distances exceeding 2 kilometres, it is hard to verify the accuracy of the hit, especially if the mark is simply a tiny device, and secondly, the Polish camps have limitations. It would be large if we had an object designed specifically for sniper shooting. For us, it's almost like a Christmas wish...
Finally, the sacramental question – sniper or sharpshooter?
In the authoritative nomenclature – a sharpshooter, although in fact in land troops, soldiers of our specialization execute sniper-specific tasks. But first things first. For decades each infantry squad had in its ranks a soldier a small more armed than the others, who was most frequently equipped with a russian SWD selection rifle. Just as the others were moving the BWP, and erstwhile needed, he could precisely neutralise the mark indicated by his direct superior or platoon commander. In 2006, however, there was an thought to equip the marksman with somewhat different competences. Change the rules on which he works, train him so he can do more complicated tasks. The task was powerfully promoted by the then commander of 17 WBZ, Gen. Mirosław Rozański. The strategy has begun to evolve. Today, marksmen do not work for a single team, they have large autonomy, they carry out risky and frequently time-consuming missions that require them to be very creative. In a word: they act a small like snipers in Anglo-Saxon armies, although that's not their name. But it's not over. I late had the chance to participate in the work of the working squad set up by the MON, which developed guidelines for training and equipping soldiers of the fresh speciality. If we can implement all the assumptions of this concept, then we can say that we have a full army in Poland, qualified snipers.
