Tag: Marksman

A Marksman also known as a sharpshooter is an expert in precision shooting. They are appointed for shooting long range targets with projectile weapons like rifles but most commonly used weapons by the marksmen are designated marksman rifles or sniper rifles. They are often a part of infantry fireteam in military where their role is to take precise long range shots when needed. Thus marksmen are valuable in expanding the reach of operation of the infantry fireteam of any military unit. Though within some preliminary counter-terrorism teams like SWAT the term “marksman” is often used interchangeably with “sniper”, the main difference between this two is that while marksmen are considered to be an inseparable part of a military fireteam, snipers work with other snipers on individually.

Within the United States military, most of the services employ marksman, though the ranks vary from services to services. The marksmen are ranked on the basis of their skills in the US Army and Marine Corps and they wear qualification badges along with the weapons bar (pistol and rifle) they are qualified in. In the US Navy and Us Coast Guard the marksmen are qualified for full-sized medals only when they reach the expert level. In the US Air Force the expert level marksmen are given just a ribbon, but they are eligible to earn a bronze star if they can qualify on both pistol and rifle.