ORIGINAL: oldgrunt
[50% of snipers never were. I would question the bonafides of any sniper who brought a "sniper rifle" to a deer hunt, especially on the east coast.
Also keep in mind that there are HUGE differences is snipers, especially in police environments. Some can have minimal training, some are exceptional.
I know what you mean oldgrunt. I was Army enlisted and officer during that period in the late 70's and 80's when the Army didn't have a formal sniper program. We had "designated" snipers at the battalion and company level. We had local sniper training programs, but they concentrated more on range marksmanship than field craft. We had a mixed bag with little quality control.
Our Table of Organization and Equipment changed in 1986 allowing us to have snipers at platoon and squad level. I was an Infantry Company Commander at the time and made the observation to our Bn Ops Officer (S3) that there was no provision for a spotter with the sniper. He laughed and said "remember this isn't written for the real world". I'm glad that the Army got back to a centralized sniper school where they can control the quality of the product.