I just read (~two weeks ago) a book on US Marine snipers ("HOGs in the shadows") and one by a British Army sniper ("Sniper one"), both in Iraq in the 2003-2004 period. Both used two-man teams, and the spotter and shooter traded off a lot. The HOGs book said that usually the team leaders were definitely graduates of the scout-sniper schools, while the juniors might or might not have done so.
The British, interestingly, also sent their sniper platoon out on patrols, much as any other line platoon. That meant the whole platoon, or a significant chunk of it-- usually some teams were back on the roof of their base. That may have been a result of the posting of the battalion's support company (mortar platoon, sniper platoon, recon platoon) as a discrete deployment, rather than dividing it up among the line companies of the battle group.
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My Twilight claim to fame: I ran "Allegheny Uprising" at Allegheny College, spring of 1988.
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