Marines borrow hunting skills in training

After the training, Williams praised the Marines for communicating, but stressed they failed to identify the sniper in time. Still, he acknowledged they didn't perform badly their first time out.

Sgt. Chris Johnson said the training was an eye-opening experience. After the first day, he said, he started to notice unusual behavior in his daily life. In the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Jacksonville, Johnson saw a group of people hanging out around a car in the parking lot in a way that raised his suspicions: they may have been selling drugs, he thought.

Johnson, 22, from Taunton, Mass., said the training has made him more alert to changes in the normal pattern of life, which is the difference between life and death in a war zone.

"You are never going to see the world the same," Johnson said. "We can read body language now and I know what I am looking for."

Capt. Michael G. Murray, commander of the training company overseeing Combat Hunter, said there is no "empirical data" or studies tracking the program's success.

"It may be a statistic that is arguably immeasurable," Murray said. "However, anecdotal evidence and after action reports from commanders in theater say that this training is saving lives. The measure of success right now is when a Marine returns from a patrol, convoy, or standing a post and is excited that he used the Combat Hunter Training."

Murray said units in Iraq are "clamoring" to sign up for Combat Hunter.

"They cannot get enough," he said.

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