Today we will share with you the story of a Fin from the operational battalion named by Hero of Ukraine Major General Serhiy Kulchytsky about what affects shooting, What sniper work looks like on the battlefield and what changed in the work during the full-scale invasion.
What factors should you consider when pulling the trigger?
The flight of a bullet is affected by air temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, the location of a person on the globe, distance, gunpowder temperature, barrel heating and wind, and so on.
During the “hunt”, you need to monitor what is happening around you, as well as the wind picture. The weather station will help you do this. If you put it on a tripod with a weather vane and connect it to a smartphone, it will show the strength and direction of the wind. Now the procedure is simplified, because technologies allow you to calculate the correction that is necessary at a certain time.
But the weather station will only show the wind that is near the sniper. While the target can be a thousand meters away. Since the bullet is flying on a parabola, while it is flying, you need to calculate what kind of wind will be in the corridor along the road, and what at a height of six meters.
“The bullet will carry with different forces depending on the height and distance. And the wind is not static, which significantly complicates the situation. It is not possible to determine this, skills come with experience,” said Fin.
In addition, the wind affects the vision of the image through optics, creating mirages.
You also need to take into account the fact that if you shoot for a long time from one place, sooner or later it can “fly in response” (it means that enemy can shoot you by artillery and so on — ed.)
What happens on the battlefield?
The sniper group is divided into defense or offensive sectors. Depending on the situation, snipers work in pairs.
In war, tasks depend on the activities carried out. For example, if there is information about the work of an enemy sniper, then the military conducts counter-sniper activities. Searches for the most likely location of the enemy and begins a “mutual hunt”.
“Before full-scale war we used to come to positions and look for targets. That is, there was a personal area of responsibility from one locality to another,” the Fin said.
What changed in sniper’s work during a full-scale war?
“In fact, during the invasion, I was a marksman. The longest distance I’ve worked with 250 meters, and the smallest is 60,” Fin recalled.
Now, because of the distance, it’s hard to be a sniper. This is either in the landing, where you can work with the AK-47 or, for example, in the Zaporizhzhia direction, where the distances are exorbitant. At the same time, an attack drone which costs 300 dollars can fly to any area and destroy everything that will be nearby.
“Unless it’s reasonable somewhere in the city. And then it’s more psychological pressure. The enemy will be afraid to walk, because they will know that snipers are working somewhere,” says Fin.
Cinema has played a role in the public imagination of this profession. In addition to the fact that sniping in general is “very romanticized and in general the nature of sniping is a positional story.”
There are a number of other mostly false statements, such as “a sniper can stay in the same position for several days without being able to eat or use the toilet.”
According to Fin, in fact, snipers pre-equip positions in the landing, making themselves a window between the branches. So it allows you to take care of your daily needs. In addition, snipers work in pairs, which allows you to change each other. And also an important component is to think about all the ways of care.
“If you’re already in a situation where you can’t move. So everything didn’t go according to plan and then it won’t be long-term. And if you are already in such a situation, then you are don’t think about your daily needs,” the Fin stressed.
At the same time, Fin added that in the first three months of a full-scale war, he used the rifle four times. Unlike the drone he flew every day.
“Now plastic works much better than humans. A person needs to find position B, take a photo, and redraw the area. And if you spend somewhere wrong, then the whole “operation” ends with injury or death. While flying a conditional Mavic for three thousand dollars and shooting 30 minutes of video in full HD.”