Do snipers ever get captured alive as POWs?
Are they treated any differently to a normal POW?
Are the Geneva Conventions different in any way for snipers?
@jhungary @denel @gambit @fatman17 @third eye
Cheers, Doc
There are two question here.
1) What is the different between a sniper and a Designated Marksman (DM)
2) Was sniper treated differently in war?
The answer
1.) Sniper is a very much completely different concept than a DM, with the only common thing amongst the two are their shooting skill. However, being good in shooting would make you a good marksman, not necessarily a good sniper.
In the US Military (Not LEA or other Military) Sniper is a person or team (when you deploy as a sniper team) we would call a ISR asset. They are mostly hidden and they are often just used as observer because they are more valuable to work as an observer than to shoot people. For that to work, sniper don't just need very good shooting skill, but also how to conceal themselves and also know how to tag target, a sniper with a laser det and a radio wade themselves in silently inside your enemy territories would be more deadly than just with a pair of sniper rifles. However, sniper can also be used in direct action mission, namely assassination mission behind enemy line.
Most Sniper were deployed with Special Force group or Special Operation Capable unit. And usually used for LRRP type patrol.
On the other hand, marksman in the army is the person who engage in standoff target. That is usually target your individual weapon (Small arms) cannot reach, each platoon would have 1 or 2 DM that have the best weapon score and will be giving a DMR on top of their TO&E equipment (So they can have their M4 or M249 carry normally and switch to M110 or M24SWS when they are needed) Those people are not sniper by definition, DM only give you a ranged edge on your enemy. You can either use them to support and offensive or use them to secure a egress route if you have to bug out.
Most DM are embedded in squad or platoon base unit. They are mostly used for forward deployed operation.
Now, as for whether or not India have hundreds of trained sniper, I have no idea, I am not familiar with the IA personnel and structure.
2.) A sniper deployed in frontline or behind enemy line are usually protected by Geneva convention, given if he identified himself as an enemy combatant, and carry proper documentation (like CAC card) however, if your enemy capture a sniper in Direct Action mission, chances are they will not be identified as combatant and either class as common criminal or insurgent, and they could be executed if they were captured as Geneva convention does not applies in those circumstance.