Video recorded on the FLIR optic of a Ukrainian sniper captures the moment a Russian RPG gunner learns about hot and cold rocket positions. Unfortunately, he'll never get the opportunity to utilize that lesson.

There's two key positions for firing a rocket. The first is the cold position. In the cold position, you prep the rocket, figure out what your target is, and wait for the covering fire to ramp up. Once fire superiority is established in the form of suppression, you move to your hot position. You have three jobs in your hot position, clear your backblast area to ensure you're not going to roast your buddies, acquire the target, and fire the rocket. Following that, you move back to your cold position immediately, you don't even wait to see the effects on the target.

Everyone who's ever been in a weapons platoon knows that crew served weapons like machineguns, mortars, and rockets are massive targets for enemy infantry and snipers. Not only do they generally require specialized training for maximal effectiveness, which is hard to learn in a field environment, but they're also the weapon systems capable of moving the lines the furthest in the shortest amount of time.

Rockets however are a unique weapon system out of the bunch. In order to fire a rocket, generally speaking the rocketeer needs to expose himself to enemy fire before he can attack the target. This is because of the rocket's backblast being a threat to friendly forces, and because the rocketeer only has one chance to hit his target before he needs to fall back, reload, and acquire a new hot position.

Without appropriate suppression, the rocketeer is fully exposed to enemy fire while he is in his hot position. This rocketeer learned that lesson the hard way, and will never fire another rocket again because the lesson came too late.

About the Author

Josh Brooks

Josh is an American writer and former USMC machine gunner with eight years of experience in ground combat arms throughout the GWOT. He is currently based in Texas and specializes in combat footage analysis and digital marketing.Follow Josh at OfficialJoshBrooks.com