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A US Marine Designated Marksman.

A marksman, in a military context, is trained to shoot precisely with a certain type of rifle and are more commonly known as 'Squad Designated Marksman' (United States Army) or 'Designated Marksman' (United States Marine Corps). Some military doctrines use marksmen attached to an infantry squad. In that capacity the marksman takes accurate longer range shots at valuable targets as needed, thus extending the reach of the squad.

Another term for a marksman is a sharpshooter. In both the Army and Marines the progressive sequence of skills is marksman-sharpshooter-expert. Holders of each level wear qualification badges below their ribbons with bars for the weapons they qualified in. In the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard full-sized medals are only issued at the expert level. Both services award separate medals for pistol and rifle proficiency. The United States Air Force gives just a ribbon, although a bronze star can be earned if the wearer qualifies on both of these types of small arms.^[1]

This sequence comes from organized, competitive shooting where it was first created. Some civilian shooting organizations still use the same terms for classification purposes. However, the terms are not consistent. Army and Marine-trained "experts" are often less skillful than competitive shooters classified "marksman." Earning an "expert" rating from a shooting organization requires even more skill.^{[citation needed]}

A SDM/DM should not be confused with a sniper. United States marksmen rarely operate individually. Snipers are often deployed for specific objectives in teams consisting of snipers and observers. The marksman, however, operates as a regular member within a unit where his skills are called upon whenever the need for accurate shooting arises in the normal course of operations. While snipers are intensively trained to master fieldcraft and camouflage, these skills are not required for marksmen. There are differences in role and training that affect doctrines and equipment. Snipers rely almost exclusively on more accurate but slower-firing bolt-action rifles while a marksman can effectively use a faster-firing, but less accurate semi-automatic rifle. A sniper's intensive training, forward placement and surveillance duties make their role more strategic than that of a squad-level marksman. Thus, marksmen are often attached at the squad level while snipers are often attached at higher levels such as battalion (cf.: designated marksman).

In the British Armed Forces, marksman is traditionally the highest shooting rating. Holders of the rating wear a crossed rifles badge on the lower sleeve.

One of the first true appearances of units of sharpshooters was during the American Revolution. American rifle companies, armed with the Pennsylvania/Kentucky Long Rifle, served as skirmishers for the Continental Army. Because of the accuracy of these riflemen, many British officers removed their insignia to prevent the Americans from targeting them. The most famous unit of riflemen was Morgan's Riflemen.^{[citation needed]}

Another use of units of marksmen was during the Napoleonic era in the British Army. While most troops at that time used inaccurate smoothbore muskets, the British "Green Jackets" (named for their distinctive green uniforms) used the famous Baker rifle. Through the combination of a leather wad and tight grooves on the inside of the barrel (rifling), this weapon was far more accurate, though slower to load. The Rifles were the elite of the British Army, and served at the forefront of any engagement, most often in skirmish formation, scouting out and delaying the enemy.

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), sharpshooters saw limited action, as tacticians sought to avoid the heavy casualties inflicted through normal tactics, which involved close ranks of men at close ranges. The sharpshooters used by both sides in the Civil War were less used as snipers, and more as skirmishers and scouts. These elite troops were well equipped and trained, and placed at the front of any column to first engage the enemy. The most notable sharpshooter units of the Civil War were the 1st and 2nd United States Volunteer Sharpshooter Regiment (USSS), who were formed from all states under the command of Hiram Berdan, who was reputed to be the best amateur marksman in the nation at that time. Confederate sharpshooters were often less well equipped, using British Whitworth rifles, rather than breech loading Berdan Sharps rifles. There was also an all-Native American company of sharpshooters in the Union Army. These men, primarily Ojibwe and Potawotami from northern Michigan, comprised the members of the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters, Company K.

The terms "marksman" and sharpshooter often used interchangeably with sniper (as often in history) within paramilitary counter-terrorism teams such as SWAT, since only a select few use long-range rifles, while the majority are armed with CQB submachine guns.

1. ^ AFI 36-2803