Je regrette pour ceux qui ne lisent pas l'anglais.
Je lis actuellement 'Sniper one on scope and under siege'. Un livre sur des sniper englais en Iraq. Je viens de finir un passage qui m'a beaucoup impressionné et j'ai pensé que ca devrait certainement intéressé quelqu'un sur EP.
Voila la situation, le sniper Ads(c'est son nom) a répéré un tireur afghan par le canon de son Ak47 qui dépasse d'un buisson. Il a recu le OK pour effectuer le tir.
'Are you sure, Ads?'
'Yes, Sarn't Major – hundred per cent.'
'If you're happy, mate, take the shot.'
It was a hell of a long way away, so Ads got to work quick. First, he ranged the gunman's position. He was 828 metres away. So Ads did his calculations, and adjusted the sight's range drum by eighteen clicks, setting it to precisely 830 metres. He looked back through the sight, and ever so slightly raised the L96's barrel to put the bush back into his crosshairs. In the movies, snipers aim off and above targets to take account of distance and wind. That's a load of bollocks. The crosshairs are always dead on the target.
There are a total of thirty-two different clicks on the windage drum. You choose which one to set it on depending on whether there is a light breeze or a Force Nine gale blowing. Ads looked harder at the bush through his scope to see if any leaves were moving on it. It fitted comfortably into the middle third of the sight. It was perfectly still, so he left the drum on zero.
Next, the gunman himself. From just the end bit of the barrel that Ads could see, he estimated exactly where the gunman's head might be. You aim for the largest part of the body visible. Normally that means the torso. You don't need to demolish someone's brain to take them out of action, a 7.62 in the kidneys is more than sufficient. But this time it had to be a head shot, because the gunman was lying flat on the ground and his head offered the greatest surface area. Ads looked down into the bush directly following an imaginary line from where the barrel was pointing. The head was roughly 12 inches further back from where the barrel ended, he calculated, and set his eyes on one specific leaf behind which he believed his prey lay. He was ready.
It had taken him no more than three minutes from start to finish. A novice might have taken half an hour, and still only be in with a fifty–fifty chance.
The sweat was running down his brow hard, but he ignored it. He controlled his breathing, gripped the weapon firmly and took up the pressure on the trigger. Then, he took in a deep breath and held it. After staying perfectly still for five more seconds, he took the shot. One slow and steady movement of his index finger, not a snatch. Total control.
A 7.62mm ball round fired from an L96 travels at 875 metres a second. So Ads's round took just a fraction less than a full second to hit the target. Immediately, the barrel sticking out from the bush fell onto its side. Its iron sight was no longer visible, and it didn't move again.
Five seconds later, Ads exhaled slowly. With perfect calm, he sat up and quietly announced, 'I got him.'
He pulled back the bolt of the L96, pulled out the bullet's empty casing, and popped it in his pocket.
'I'm keeping that.'
He lay the L96 back down on a sandbag next to him, and lit up a Lambert and Butler cigarette. A cheeky little grin then spread right across his face. He had killed the gunman stone dead without ever even setting eyes on him. One shot, one kill. It was perfection.