todays trivia bit,.........

[triry]

The longest-ever confirmed sniper kill was made by Master Cpl. Arron Perry of the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan during combat in 2003. Using a .50-caliber MacMillan TAC-50 rifle, Perry shot and killed an Afghan soldier from a distance of 2,430 metres.

The record was set during Operation Anaconda when a Canadian three-man sniper team from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, (PPCLI), set the new record with a shot on a Taliban fighter

That's about 1.5 miles That, my friends, is a truly amazing feat. The bullet was in the air for four seconds and dropped 146 feet. About 250 meters longer than Carlos Hathcock's famous shot.

[SDale]

I remember that one!

Kinda makes you wonder how the Canadian Army outfitted with Ruger 10/22's ever learned to shoot like that though huh? hehehe Just kiddin!

But that WAS one helluva shot!!! My hats off to the man!

[shadow]

Reach out and touch someone can be a scary thing over there hehe. Outstanding shooting no doubt. Ed

[kcurrie]

Make me proud to be a (relocated to the US) Canadian. My mother and father (who served 35+ years in the canadian army) will be heading down to Texas for our first Christmas together in 9 years this weekend and I'm beyond excited!

Truely an excellent shot by Rob Furlong (not Mast cpl Perry), however what happened to them afterwards was not so great (sorry no link at the moment but you can find it easily enough).

Those who serve deserve our respect-- even if they are put into situations that we may not politically appreciate.

[gamo2hammerli]

Wow, I didn't know a Canadian now holds that record.  Kcurrie got me curious.....have to go google Master cpl Perry now.

[kcurrie]

Here was the link I was referring to:

http://www.macleans.ca/canada/national/article.jsp?content=20060515_126689_126689

[Bentong]

I guess our snipers can't break the records because we are at the front lines. The others get their distance because they are far from the front lines!! :=)

[kcurrie]

i know you're joking, but I thought this site was interesting: http://icasualties.org/oef/

..it shows casualties for various countries.  For Afghanistan the US had 932, Canada had 133.  Canada has about 66k troops in it's regular army, the US has about 1.4 million. I haven't done the math but just eyeballing it looks like my fellow Canucks are taking some pretty bad hits over there.

[Bogey]

Would you care to explain your last sentence?   "Those who serve deserve our respect--- even if they are put into situations that we may not politically appreciate ".

Seems  like a back handed slap to me.  You could have just left out your opinion.

[kcurrie]

I meant no such slap--and it doesn't reflect my opinion either.  I was just saying that even though some people don't agree with why soldiers are in whatever situation they are in doesn't mean that they don't deserve our respect. I used the word "we" meaning all people collectively, not meaning myself and not intending to express any opinion except "respect the soldiers".

In this case though I don't agree with how the Canadian government treated Perry and the rest of the snipers though.

Note the world record shot was done by  Rob Furlong, not Perry as commonly reported-- details in the article I linked below.

[RedFeather]

I think that where the Canadians operated out of was, indeed, a war zone. We should be thankful that there are allies alongside US troops.

While this may seem an unpopular view, I am always mystified concerning longerst-shot sniper world records. The job of the sniper has been depicted as glamorous or even downright s3xy, especially in the movies. I should think that its, in reality, a very hard and sober duty. Pulling the trigger on a man can't be easy and I wouldn't want to brag about it. I know men who surely killed men in combat during WWII or Korea, but that's the part they leave out when recounting their experiences, even those under fire. Just my two cents, plain. Or, as another Virginian once said, "It is well that war is so terrible -- lest we should grow too fond of it."

[kp4att]

THERE IS A VIDEO ON YOUTUBE.... NAMED ... SNIPER IN Afghanistan YOU CAN SEE THE 3 KILLS OF AFGHANISTAN REVELDS  LIVE AND REAL / GERALD

[RedFeather]

Thanks but no thanks. When war becomes entertainment, count me out. (And I'm a veteran, not pacifist.)

[gamo2hammerli]

Wow....that was a great read on those Canadian snipers....and a sad story.

[airiscool]

Snipers weren't always viewed, or repected as they are now ... even within the military.  Alot of that atitude in the military has changed, the increased number of  designated unit marksman  being an example of that, but there are still many in the civilian/politcal world that only see them as "sneaky killers".

It's a shame how the Canadian sniper was treated after. He and others in his unit are heros to many here in the states and I'm sure the troops they were protecting would give them all medals and free drinks if they could.

Paul.