INTRODUCTION

Expert Sniper Candidate, congratulations on making it this far. If you are reading this, then you are among the select few Snipers chosen to become Expert Snipers. Expert Snipers are immensely valuable to the Imperial cause, and there has been many an occasion when an Expert Sniper’s bullet in the right place has saved many an Imperial soldier’s life. The Imperial war effort would have been put back years had it not been for the existence of Expert Snipers. An Expert Sniper is expected to act as a sniper, a scout and even on occasions a commander of men, with Expert Snipers being called upon to command sniper squads or co-ordinate local militia resistance movements.

This course is shorter than the other Sniper and Observer courses that you have completed so far. The goal of this course is not to make you memorize useless data that you can regurgitate at will, but rather to turn you into a thinking assassin, a soldier who knows how to best inflict psychological and physical damage upon the battlefield, and who uses his intelligence and skill to compound that damage.

REASONS FOR NON-FATAL FIRE

On the surface, the notion of non-fatal fire seems to be absurd, and most people fail to understand the purpose behind at. However, there are viable reasons for non-fatal fire to be used by a Sniper. While it is probably safer to simply kill a Rebel officer or leader, the ordinary Rebel trooper may damage his cause more by being wounded rather than killed. A wounded Rebel soldier will receive a standard of medical care seen in very few parts of the galaxy. This medical care will draw at least three, and at times as many as ten or more, healthy Rebel soldiers to care for the wounded man. This is not counting medical personnel and, of course, the soldiers who have to be drafted into the combat zone from another area to replace the wounded soldier in the field. These factors make it an economic as well as manpower boon to wound rather than kill Rebel soldiers.

However, an entirely different tactic should be used when approaching the Rebel leadership. A wounded Rebel leader is still capable of doing his job, that being to deliver tactics to his men and to rally them. Although men will still be drawn out of their normal duties to care for the wounded Rebel leader, this gain is offset by the loss that that Rebel is not really taken out of commission — rather, he is simply prevented from directly leading assaults in the field. A rebel commander is often just as dangerous wounded as he is healthy. Thus, it is in Imperial best interests to kill rather than wound Rebel commanders. This also applies to high-ranking civilian personnel that may be in the Rebel’s area at the time.

The only exception to targeting Rebel leaders for non-fatal fire is leaders of weak moral fibre. In many parts of the galaxy, rulership is still given through heredity, the most obvious example being Princess Leia Organa-Solo of Alderaan, who began her leadership within the Rebellion simply because of her position within the royal family. While the princess is a capable commander, there are many other Rebel hereditary rulers who are not worthy and, indeed, are quite poor leaders. Directing non-fatal fire towards these leaders will often panic them. This will cause them to lose the respect of their men; a devastating blow when trying to command a battle.

SCOUT SQUAD COMBAT

Although regular Snipers are instructed to retreat from Rebel scout squads, an Expert Sniper should not need to. Rather, a scout squad should be merely approached as a dangerous target. When in combat with a scout squad, instead of being the hunter, the Expert Sniper becomes both the hunter and the hunted. However, there is a methodical way of eliminating scout squads that relies on their nature — although scouts squads have anti-sniper training, they are still regular units in most respects of the word, and like all regular units, can be assaulted in a regular fashion.

A scout squad relies on its commander to ensure cohesion. As scout squads are training in anti-sniper tactics, and Snipers are masters of evasion and stealth, having individual scouts firing randomly will not achieve anything. However, this is almost invariably what happens when a scout squad is deprived of its leadership. The squad leader of a scout squad, or the platoon commander of a scout platoon is the most important element of that unit. It is the commander of a scout squad that ensures cohesion within the squad. When the commander is eliminated, it makes picking off the remaining members of the squad much easier.

Assaulting a scout squad should be approached with care. Should a Sniper realise that a scout squad is in the area, he should first attempt to set mantraps for that scout squad. In every Expert Snipers kit, there are two antipersonnel mines and one antitank/high explosive mine. The purpose of the two anti-personal mines is obvious enough — to place in an area a scout squad may frequent and then detonate it. One mine can potentially kill two Rebel scouts and wound several others. The purpose of an anti-tank mine however, is different. An anti-tank mine is used to eliminate Rebel vehicles. It is a burrowing mine that has sensors to detect skimmers as well. Should a skimmer be detected, the mine will launch itself into the air before exploding. It is also sufficiently powerful to be used to eliminate Rebel scout squads in their entirety, or scout platoons. A high explosive charge on the mine ensures that anything it detonates against will be destroyed, including a building.

Buildings are viable targets for Expert Snipers, who may destroy sections of buildings to create confusion for their escape, or for a number of other reasons. Although these reasons will not be discussed here, they are many and numerous, and can be discovered using intelligence — a resourceful Sniper will develop a use for building destruction, as it gives the Expert Sniper greater versatility. Candidates for this course are warned that this will be examined.

SNIPER SQUAD COMMAND

Sniper squad command is a part of this course, however, it is generally regarded as assumed knowledge that an Expert Sniper is capable of commanding a regular squad as a prerequisite for this course is the SSITC. However, one item of note for the a sniper squad command is that no attempt should be made to co-ordinate Snipers to work in a group. Rather, individual Snipers should be given assignments, which they carry out on their own. As has been mentioned before, stealth is the greatest asset of a Sniper, and every extra Sniper on a mission objective increases the chance of detection by a factor of the number of snipers on that mission squared. So, if three Snipers are tasked to the same mission objective, it is nine times more likely that the Snipers will be detected. The only exception to this rule is Apprentice Snipers who should be accompanied by an Expert Sniper on all their missions, as they do not yet have the required experience to be able to hunt on their own.

MILITIA CO-ORDINATION

As a Sniper frequently works behind enemy lines, it is inevitable that he or she will come into contact with resistance groups working for the Empire. These resistance groups are often comprised of civilians with little or no military experience. However, their leaders almost always have had formal military officer training. Snipers may be called upon to co-ordinate their efforts with these militia groups — and in some cases defer to the command of their leaders. Should a Sniper be called upon to perform a mission by a militia leader, he should exercise his best judgement on whether the order should be obeyed or not, unless he has been given prior instructions on the matter.

CONCLUSION

This is the final segment of the Sniper course and your Sniper training. After completing this course, you will be fully trained to deal with any issue that may arise. Although this segment of the course is very short, this should not in any way make it seem that this course is less important than the others in this series. You should learn all things mentioned in this course and the previous courses before you attempt to take your final Expert Sniper examination. Your examination will include at least two essays based on topics studied during this course; so understanding as well as memorization is essential.

Good Luck, Candidate.