How to Become a Marine Corps Scout Sniper

Marine Scout Sniper in Iraq - SlightlyQualified.com

In my four years as a Marine Corps officer, I had many young Marines tell me they had originally enlisted with the Marine Corps because they wanted to become a scout sniper.  I have also fielded a handful of phone calls from friends of family whose sons are interested in enlisting, with many of those as well wanting to earn the title, scout sniper.  I bring this up because I feel that I am slightly qualified; no, I am not a scout sniper.  I was a scout sniper platoon commander however, and have been through Scout Sniper Platoon Commander’s course.  I also have had the grueling opportunity to attend Scout Sniper Basic Course, which is the venue where enlisted Marines, and sometimes Navy SEALs, Soldiers, and even Navy Corpsmen get the chance to become Marine scout snipers.  I will tell you that school is as physically demanding as Infantry Officers Course, which has been in the news recently, although it doesn’t hold a candle mentally.  Regardless, I didn’t make the cut; I fell three shots short on the known distance range to be exact, and it’s a credit to those who do qualify to truly earn the title.  I passed every other phase, to include stalking, but that’s not good enough, and I don’t want to cut corners.  Not everyone can be a Marine scout sniper, but lots of young men and women are interested in the true path to earning their own hog’s tooth; quietly hit the link below for my best advice to everyone/anyone interested in this elite path.

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Real Life Goldeneye 64 Video

Like my eloquent sidekick mentioned in our “what the heck is slightlyqualified.com page“, I have an affinity for Goldeneye 64, and by affinity I mean addiction.  I don’t know how I missed this extremely well done parody of the game, especially seeing how it already has more than 1M views, but I’d wager if I haven’t seen it, then others haven’t either.  Enjoy the awesome Goldeneye 64 parody video, and hit the link below for more behind the scenes footage!

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Now You See Me TV Spot

How people are still into magicians is beyond me; the whole “magic show” thing faded off my interest list as a kid right around the time I realized that the WWF (now WWE) was fake, and for the same reasons.  Regardless, dudes still enjoy putting on those goofy, glittery, full-bodied leotards and getting on stage in front of at times, thousands of paying customers.  It’s pretty amazing, really.  Well, there’s a new magician/heist thriller en route to your local theater on May 31st entitled, Now You See Me, starring an impressive list of stars that should equate to a decent showing at the box office: Morgan Freeman, Jesse Eikenberg (who still looks like Mark Zuckerberg), Isla Fisher, and Michael Caine.  Based on this brand new TV spot that was released hours ago today, the film looks more along the lines of an “Oceans 1x” movie, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however while this magic meets bank robber flick may boast a solid cast, it has nothing on the Oceans films.

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Activision Blizzard CEO Brought Home $65M in 2012

What would you buy with $65 million?  Although Mr. Kotick has yet to see that entire figure deposit into his bank account, that ginormous payout has already been etched into Activision Blizzard’s financial books for 2012, and he’s likely already got a few new purchases in mind with that cash (most of is technically stock options, but still).  Although many people despise the Chief Executive Officer position for receiving these kinds of payouts, many do not understand the burden of command that these men and women hold.  Tim Cook, the head man at Apple, has been rumored to be on the chopping block on just about every media news outlet since the technology leader’s stock has dropped over the last few weeks.  What people fail to pull into the conversation is that the stock price is still higher now than when he took over; many analysts have also stated that the stock was way overvalued to begin with, and that cannot be Cook’s fault.  Kotick has navigated Activision for over twenty years, and he’s getting compensated for leading a video game development company that has gone from obscurity, to the top of the charts; I would argue he deserves it.  Hit the link below for more details behind Kotick’s big payday.

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How to Get a Girlfriend, If You’re a Gamer

I’m a man of my word. In response to my last post on WikiHow’s How to Get Your Girlfriend to Play Video Games, I promised I’d throw together a comprehensive guide on a much more important issue: How to Get a Girlfriend, If You’re a Gamer. You see, before you can try to fanoogle your girlfriend into playing video games, you actually need to have a girlfriend in the first place. That girl you kidnapped and have tied up in your garage; she doesn’t count, sorry. Like in your favorite scientific journal (I prefer Maxim Popular Science), authors usually list their edumacational background to validate their arguments. For this guide, I intend to follow the same outline, so let’s take a lil’ gander at my slightly qualified credentials, shall we?  Continue reading “How to Get a Girlfriend, If You’re a Gamer”

PS4 Launch Lineup Will Trump Previous PlayStation Launches

Superlatives are fun.  “The PS4 is going to kick ass.”  “The PS4 will be the best ever.”  “SQ is probably the best website you’ve ever seen.”  Mark Cerny, the lead architect over at Sony’s PlayStation 4 department, has resorted to that very linguistic avenue when he recently described the upcoming PS4 launch lineup.  In a recent three-page interview with GamaSutra, Mr. Cerny made this very bold, yet extremely vague launch prediction: “The launch lineup for PlayStation 4–though I unfortunately can’t give the title count–is going to be stronger than any prior PlayStation hardware.”  While pretty much every hardware maker believes this (just to keep the superlative train going), Sony is now just coming out and saying it.  While it is arguably the most vague statement of the year, it does feature two words that I think give away what he’s basing his claim on.  Hit the link below for our Slightly Qualified take.

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Want a One-Way Ticket to Mars?

If you thought an eight hour flight in coach was bad, try a 7 month trip in “space coach” to Mars where you get to land on a poisonous desert; that is, if you land at all.  Oh, and did I mention this would be a one-way trip?  Yeah, better bring that deck of cards and whatever else will keep you from going insane for the rest of your lifetime.  If you haven’t heard yet, a new “are they for real?”, Dutch company that goes by the name “Mars One” has begun accepting applications for just that, a one-way trip to Mars in the name of exploration.  Should you be the lucky winner, your flight will depart just short of ten years from now in 2022, but with the way this sequestration is shaping up, you may want to leave for the spaceport now, because you know how TSA can be.  Joke of the year?  Yup.  Hit the link below for more details; Dutch fluency not required.

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Mud Movie Trailer

Mud stars Reese Witherspoon, and lead actor Matthew McConaughey as they both attempt to escape a Mississippi island as they are hunted by bounty hunters and state police.  Reese Witherspoon may look like her recent mugshot (too soon?), however this movie looks like it will be a great one.  The trailer above starts off a little slow, but to quote the infamous Ron Burgandy, “that escalated quickly!”  Mud hits theaters tomorrow, and this one has intrigued me just enough where I am going to try and convince the lady that we should be there. And for all zero of our lady readers out there, yes, Mr. McConaughey does take his shirt off in this trailer.  Calm down.

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In Mother Russia, Warface Plays You

After only one year since its release, Crytek’s free-to-play (F2P) FPS is nearing WoW subscriber territory in Russia with more than 9 million players registered.  With the game’s one-year anniversary now in the past, Crytek decided to celebrate by releasing some more interesting statistics about not only the freemium game’s success, but the demographics of its user base as well.  Did you know more than 1 million players registered for Warface in the first month alone?  That is some significant growth; seeing that figure rise almost ten-fold at the 12 month mark is even more eye-popping.  Hit the link below Comrade for Crytek’s statistical infographic, and more good celebratory details on the Russian Warface experience; be sure to bring your own vodka.

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Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion Video

This has been a tragic week here in America, with major tragedy after major tragedy hitting across America.  Just yesterday, after all of the sad events in Boston, came a devastating explosion from a major fertilizer plant near Waco, Texas.  As of this afternoon, news agencies are reporting that more than 160 people have been injured as a result of the blast, and a team of firefighters are still missing.  The city’s Mayor, Tommy Muska, compared the fertilizer plant explosion to a “nuclear bomb”; you can check out the most recent news story here courtesy of CNN.  The embedded video above is a stunning, yet very scary personal video from what appears to be a father and his young son or daughter that are within a mile of the plant right before the explosion rips through the town.  I truly hope everyone is okay; this event was just absolutely horrendous.

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March Not Kind to GoW Franchises

Nothing in business, or life for that matter, is guaranteed, even if your name is Marcus Fenix or you just happen to be a God of War.  According to an investor note released yesterday by Cowen & Company, Gears of War: Judgement sales are estimated to be hovering at or around the 425,000 unit mark.  Taken alone that doesn’t sound too terribly bad, unless you compare that figure to Gears of War 3 month one sales from September 2011, which rang up cash registers more than 2 million times.  Now that 425,000 units mark really stands out, doesn’t it?  Like I mentioned earlier, Kratos is searching for an explanation to his investors as well; full details after the link below.

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Criterion Games May Have Axed Burnout Series

Isn’t it crazy how Twitter has become one of the most prominent sources of breaking news?  I swear I catch faster news reports from my Twitter feed than I do watching CNN, or even refreshing their Communist-colored website (okay, it’s more of a Capitalist red).  Alex Ward, who passes out business cards these days as the Director of Criterion at EA, is the latest to break some interesting, and arguably depressing gaming news in regards to quite possibly the end of everyone’s favorite Burnout racing series.  Here’s the Twitter tweet straight from Mr. Ward’s virtual mouth:

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