Until I watched this YouTube video I had no idea how long it can take a US Navy SEAL sniper team to actually move into position. It is quoted in the movie that it can take an entire day for a sniper to move 200 metres! That just has to be incredibly boring? Or possibly incredibly stressful? Or maybe even both.

What happens if they need to take a leak? Actually, I can guess what happens in this situation. Until watching this video I was also not aware that a SEAL sniper will act as a forward recon unit as well as simply sniping.

I also had no idea that deploying a sniper team was such a tactical decision, but it makes sense, let’s face it, having somebody shooting at you who you cannot even see is bound to be rather unsettling. The comments of the SEAL sniper do actually give some indication of the incredible pressure these guys must be under during their missions.

It must also be very disorientating to spend most of your waking hours looking through a rifle scope with one eye, one can only wonder what the long term effects of this are on eyesight, I think I will dig around on the net and try and find some data on this actually. The part where the SEAL is talking about looking at the guy he just shot is a bit weird though, but I guess sanity is relative when you have just spent a day crawling 200 metres, using your own trouser leg as a toilet with a rifle scope stuck to your eyeball.