Quote Originally Posted by Tellos Athenaios View Post
Well there have been (partially sponsored by various parties involved) ‘accounts’ from journalists following some units around in Afghanistan. I wouldn't be surprised if (a) people did mention the names of the snipers and some other personal details/circumstances at those times; and (b) if journalists did indeed (explicitly) follow snipers around. For the latter part because (b) ensures a combination of relative safety yet does give a ‘front-line’ angle to the story.

Also why is it funny that one citizen is not treated differently from other citizens and must abide by the same law? Asinine indeed.

Not sure how much of this is directed at me, but let me clarify my comments from earlier.

The people I know who are snipers, special ops, SAR, etc, do not openly advertise their jobs to joe public because the very nature of what they do makes them and their families targets from both our enemies, political opponents and people-looking-to-make-a-point-in general. Much for the same reason CIA agents don't tell their entire community what they are and what they do. IT's common sense.

At the same time, unless said person/agent was involved in something highly questionable under the law, it is very irresponsible for a journalist/friend/colleague to divulge their role due to the fact that it is simply just irresponsible and, some may argue, unpatriotic to do so and definitely dangerous to them and their family. So yes, people who do jobs like that should fall under different rules. I'm not saying rules in the context of laws or special protections, but FFS, if u are a jouranlist covering a sniper in a war dont put his name in the papers. Jesus.

But based on the sheer number of soldiers who claimed to be snipers when they weren't (its a glamorous job), I am also reserving my conclusions to the fact that they may have advertised their roles themselves. In that case, I don't think it makes them or their families deserve what happened, but I do think it resounds that they lacked common sense in divulging their duties and they may want to look at themselves a little while assigning blame. Enemies that cross borders, dissimation of info, this is nothing new, don't advertise your role if it had significant impact on vs the enemy.

BTW, most "snipers" I have met ended up being riflemen in infantry squads...a job that certainly deserved respect, but not a sniper in the intended sense and not one who went through sniper school. I have a feeling had they been bona fide snipers, they would not have had that "sniper" bumper sticker on their pickup. Kind of like an FBI guy wearing a shirt that says UNDERCOVER.

Regardless, the people who are responsible for this need to be strung up for a long time, treated as traitors if they are citizens, and at the least deported. Snipers are an acceptable act of war vs enemies in the battlefield, going after their families out of theater is not