Morgan was father of American sniper corps

Daniel Morgan was the father of our military’s sniper corps.

After the American Revolution broke out, the Continental Congress voted June 14, 1775, to raise ten companies of "expert riflemen."

Morgan was put in charge of one of the new companies. For days, he rode through Virginia, leveraging his reputation to recruit the area’s best marksmen into his new unit.

After the company was formed, Morgan’s men soon made waves with both the British enemy and the American Army. They never considered themselves just average, nor did they accept Army nonsense. They were hard-drinking, hard-fighting frontiersmen, raised in the woods. They had learned to shoot from the moment they were old enough to hold a rifle. When they went into battle, they put all doubters to shame.

They may have been a pain in the rear in camp, but in battle they showed their skills by shooting and killing the enemy with expert marksmanship.

Morgan’s men set the standard for the military in all future wars — including Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, where you had snipers with 90 to 150 kills.

All these kills protected American troops from being killed. Snipers are a different breed of military and a select few.

Roger Gregory is a Vietnam veteran, serving in the 1st Infantry Division. He is a business owner in Priest River.