Hello, everybody! Every day we see fundraising for a wide variety of military items. Sometimes it may seem that they are raising funds for absolutely everything. However, this is due to the fact that the military needs literally everything. Despite the fact that they buy most of them on their own, there are so many needs that it is impossible to close them. Therefore, our task is to help them, making the service on the battlefield as easy as possible.
So today we want to lift the curtain a little and show you a small part of the expenses “behind the scenes”. Let’s look at the example of the “haze-covered mystery” of the sniper profession.
The information was shared with us by Dmytro Finashin (Fin), who in 2015 started his service as an operator of an aerial reconnaissance platoon in the operational battalion named after hero of Ukraine Major General Serhiy Kulchytsky and subsequently retrained as a sniper.
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Despite the fact that the Armed Forces provide weapons by government, its type depends on the unit. For example, there are a number of formations, such as Special Operations Forces, that are under special support from the state.
According to Fin, earlier after graduating from sniper school, the UAR-10 was issued — a semi-automatic rifle of Ukrainian production, which is an analog of the American AR-10 automatic rifle.
“A good weapon, like what the state gives you,” Fin said.
However, in any case, it is necessary to buy a number of additional components. After all, usually the state allocates a purely complex for shooting — a rifle with a sight.
“In fact, the rifle is a metal stick with a trigger mechanism — a trigger and a barrel,” Fin explained.
Now there are many opportunities to buy a rifle yourself better than the one given by government. Its choice depends on the goals, skills, and financial capabilities set.
“Everything should work like a Swiss watch. From a mechanical point of view, that is, without taking into account the wind, each of your next shots, if you do not make an error, should fly to the same place as the previous one,” Dmytro stressed.
After trying to calculate how much the minimum “sniper kit” can cost, which will work properly, we established the following:
– Optical sight ~ $5,200
– Optical mount ~ $800
– Rifle ~ $2,600
– Rifle case ~ $500
– Rifle stand ~ $400
– Range finder ~ $500-900
– Anemometer (wind meter) ~$900
Each person determines additional equipment, the amount and type of ammunition and ammunition individually.
“Everyone immediately imagines snipers in costumes made of sticks and leaves, which will definitely make them invisible. But in fact, they are not always needed,” says the sniper.
The minimum cost of the most popular cartridge among snipers, the 308-caliber, starts at $2.60, which is good for shooting from a distance of 200-400 meters. But the price of longer distance ammunition, like the 338-caliber cartridge can average $7.50. Other kinds of cartridges can range from $13 to $18 apiece. And during training, you need to take thousands of shots, Finashyn said.
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And this is not all the expenses that can be. Each military profession has its own nuances. However, do not forget about the total cost of expensive equipment and at least a tactical first-aid kit, the price of which starts from ~150 dollars(this is if we are talking about high-quality). And winter is still ahead, and this is warm clothes, sleeping bags, means for heating and etc.
So let’s take care of our defenders together expressing our gratitude and respect to them for the opportunity to continue living under the Ukrainian sky.
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The photo shows a Fin from the rifle case that we helped buy.
Last spring, during the evacuation of a wounded man in the Donetsk region, a Fin was injured. As a result, his left arm and finger on his right were amputated.
In the same year, Dmytro was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine with the order of the Golden Star. Although at first his brothers applied for the award with the order “posthumously”.
(But you can read about this and more in future posts)
Today, Dmytro serves in the National Guard as an intelligence officer, doing analytics in unmanned aircraft.