Don’t Navy Seals use the ‘snipers triangle’ for targeting, in any case? That would include head shots, especially if his chest was obscured by others between the shooter and ObL.
-XT
Yes, and the transfer of energy makes holes in the body, which bleed.
This. Body armor works! I am reminded of this account of the Bella Ambush as told in Sebastian Junger’s ‘War.’
Head shots avoid the problem of concealed armor. Double taps help overcome the limitations of pistol rounds.
close operation with a laser sight pretty much guarantees placement and if you can see a face then it doesn’t have armor over it. If you look at the pictures on the web the others were similarly shot.
If you kick a door in and enter with bright lights there is the advantage of deer-in-headlights lack of movement.
Right. Remember, guns don’t kill people. Bullets kill people.
A Veteran of SEAL Team Six Describes His Training is a fascinating insight into training to become a SEAL. On reading this I think OBL should’ve made his lair in an active volcano.
“It was revealed that police policy toward suspected suicide bombers had been revised, and that officers had been ordered to fire directly toward suspects’ heads, the theory according to British authorities being that shooting at the chest could conceivably detonate a concealed bomb.[17]”
I suspect similar concerns may have been present here. Also of course a successful head shot gives less time to pull a detonator or whatnot.
Otara
And then you can get Medieval on their asses.
A (Norwegian) army officer was interviewed about it the day after the details started coming out, especially the apparent lack of interest in taking him alive as evinced by the head-shots. His only comment was that shots at center mass was still Standard Operating Procedure, but that this had in no way been a standard operation carried out by standard soliders. And it was more of a guide-line, anyway.
Not so much anymore. 29 years of law enforcement and over the last 4 years or so my firearms training has been almost entirely head shots for targets that are 4 yards away or less (the distance the majority of police shootings occur). This is standard training now, from the holster. And it’s one shot as most subjects drop after they’re hit in the melon. A Double tap could result in an unaccountable round going past the target.
Unless they’re motionless, on the ground.
Thanks everyone for the great replies. Very interesting to someone who know next to nothing about this stuff.