(Not me. If the DM wants to chime in I've sent this thread to him)
I have written this as a purposely heavily edited and generalized account of a Designated Marksman’s experience in combat. Both for the sake of OPSEC and the shooter’s desire to remain anonymous.
It is intended to demonstrate the effectiveness of the 5.56mm platform at range when utilizing proper basic rifleman marksmanship.
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Location: OPSEC
Time: pre-dawn
Task: Set up overwatch in order to conduct reconnaissance on a hostile village
As a Designated Marksman, on a Patrol Base Operation, several kilometers from the nearest friendly position, I took my spotter and we set up on a distant rooftop as overwatch for the security detachment as they come to speak with the locals.
The sun rose and daybreak set in. With my suppressed Mk12, MOD1 rifle and AA53 (5.56mm precision ammo) I observed movement in the village. Behavior was symptomatic of an impending firefight so we maintained a sharp eye.
Yet eventually the call was made to return to our patrol base. My element stayed in place and covered the village while the rest of the patrol bounded across an 80 meter danger area.
Once they were set we moved across that area as well, wary of any excitement that may suddenly present itself.
The danger area had a reed line that was about head high and a small berm that provided some cover. I was about half way through when the first round snapped past me. I took a knee and looked in the direction of the fire. Rounds from the enemy bursts were coming through the reeds, leaving the telltale supersonic snap/crack of the round as it passed by. I could tell the shots were coming from distance but could not see the origin of the fire. Turning to verify no one was injured I proceeded to push everyone through the danger area.
Once across I pushed my element past the other elements of our patrol and quickly took myself and my spotter to the rooftop of an appropriate building to scan for the enemy.
From the top of our building I could see directly into the village and it's main road that ran right up the center, evenly dividing the two main groups of buildings. I saw some movement though nothing definitive. After being set in place for a time, two men come walking up the road and meet up with another man who had been observing our patrol earlier. Upon close inspection I could see the smaller of the two men had something tucked under his arm. As the larger of the two men turned sideways I saw it; the unmistakable shape of a Russian medium machine gun and it's bipod slung on his back muzzle up.
As they had walked up the road I had milled out the larger of the two men and had already dialed in 8 MOA of elevation. At this time the wind was minimal so no windage adjustment was necessary. My measurement gave me an estimated range of 370 meters (405 yards). Although I was at an inclined angle I didn't feel it necessary to compensate for it at this range …. but angle would soon play a part.
I put my crosshairs on the center of his chest, slowly let out a breath and controlled the trigger for a smooth release. I let off the first shot …………. the man looked shocked. His two friends didn't know how to react, let alone which way to run. At the same moment he reacted I saw an impact from my shot on the wall behind the target and thought to myself, "No ******* way I missed!" Assuming the round had struck low I held higher and fired, again seeing another impact on the wall behind him. Then I held a tad higher still for a third shot. At this point there was no question in their mind that they were getting shot at. By the third shot, two of which I saw impacts and was baffled by, the larger man with the RPK was lying on his back in the road. The two other men had darted away. One of which I was very sure had an AK47.
(Later on I learned that the man I had shot had been hit in the stomach. So the two impacts I saw on the wall were the rounds passing through. As I aimed higher I basically hit stomach, high torso, and then chest)
After observing him for about a minute I left the larger man lying motionless in the road. He was either dead or very badly wounded. My spotter followed the other two and talked me on. I ranged them as well. After about 2 minutes we took fire from our rear. At the same time two young men emerged and dragged the larger man into an alleyway out of our view.
Once the other patrol pushed out the shooting from our rear stopped and we set back up on a different spot. We set in overwatch as the other patrol went down into the village to recover the body and perhaps kill or capture the other fighters. The patrol systematically cleared through the entire village only to find it had been abandoned. They found a heavy blood trail and drag marks that stopped at vehicle tracks heading in the direction away from our position. The patrol decided to return.
As the last of their element was crossing they took a burst from outside the village. It was a few minutes after they had returned that I observed three men taking turns crossing into the village. They darted across one at a time with weapons tucked into their sides.
By this time there was about a 6-8 mph full value wind. As we continued our scan I spotted yet another armed individual. As I observed him thru the scope I made a 24 MOA elevation adjustment based off of my gut instinct telling me that this guy was 720-725 meters (790 yards) away. I held high center chest and led him 1.5 mils to compensate for the wind and his movement, which was in the same direction. I let out a slow breath, controlled the trigger for a smooth release, and let the precision 5.56mm bullet fly. The man stutter stepped as a jolt ran through his body. He took another half step and then clumsily dove to the ground. I kept on him, seeing that he was still moving, he had no cover in the field and crawled trying to hide behind a bush.
At this point another firefight broke out as the previous fighters took action. The whole time I scanned the area and then scanned back to the wounded man. He crawled with his weapon for about 5 meters then rolled onto his back where he thought he was safe. I could see him as he lay on his back behind that small bush. I fired three more rounds, putting an end to the threat.
The firefight eventually petered off, the day became quiet, and we all made our way back to the patrol base.
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Originally Posted by Stickman
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