If this happened to your character, and they responded in the same way, do you think readers would believe it?
I can't see the video for some reason, but is it the sniper in the blue headscarf? I'd believe it. I've seen plenty of people laugh after near-death experiences and done it more than once or twice myself. It's a way of releasing tension, though I think whether you laugh, cry, scream or whatever depends on whether your attitude is 'oh, my god, I nearly died!' or 'yay, I didn't die!'. As an aside, she needs some serious remedial training: bright blue headscarf? Shooting from the windowsill, with a foot or more of barrel poking out, no less? She was more than lucky there.
Holy shit. I don't see why the readers wouldn't believe it as long as it's not counter to expectations for that character.
As a Combat Veteran, shes a Dumbarse. Blue headscarf as a sniper during combat ops? Wtf. *face, meet palm.....* If your gonna use a similar event in a story; unless your character is a boot, or just insane, some elements are gonna need to be changed for believability. I've seen the full gambit from laughter to tears to deficating oneself. The psychological preparedness of you character will effect their reaction. I they're a hardened combat vet, they may laugh or get pissed. Just my two cents.
Since she looks like part of one of the Kurdish militias (YPJ, maybe?) this brings up another point for writers to consider: militias, guerillas fighters, armed rabble, etc. may behave in ways that seem idiotic due to lack of experience. Lots of plot opportunities to exploit there, from blue headscarves to foolish battle plans.
Yes they would, because they for the most part have been fighting in many battles and wars for at least 100yrs or longer. Though it would be more of a reaction than simply laughing, but Red Wolf might plonk some ass in the noggin if they failed to put her down. I would have to agree with X Equestis that they seem to lack combat exp., among other things.
A good example of this is every Daesh video of their guys fighting: shooting from the hip, not using cover (or using really poor cover, like cars or mudbrick walls), milling around chatting instead of keeping eyes on the enemy, firing blindly around corners or over walls, firing on full automatic all the time...
Brick walls are not good cover when being shot at by a sniper with a Barret. Spoiler Though the short answer is they don't survive, watch at own risk.
Middle Eastern armies in general tend to be like this. Even the professional ones. Works well enough while they're fighting each other, but not against outsiders.
Carlos Hathcock wore a white feather in his hat on sniper ops though; people do dumb shit all the time. I can't speak to combat, but I've seen more than a few people laughing their asses off after nearly losing them in an accident, or doing dumb things when the adrenaline is still pumping. Saw a group of high school kids who had managed to roll dad's Jeep Cherokee on a local "dead man's curve" trying to rock it upright- from the bottom. They were in no danger of succeeding, but if they had, they'd have pulled the truck right on top of them.
To be honest that's true of most armies outside the Nato block (except Israel)... its partly because the AK47 doesn't lend itself to precision shooting, and also its fire selector goes to full auto first then to single shot rather than the other way around as on western battle rifles, which reflects a spray and pray mentality
