[2banana]

Sometimes all it takes is one man with courage (and a good gun) to change the course of a battle...

Imagine how a company of good men would change these cities...

[azhenfud]

"Sometimes all it takes is one man with courage (and a good gun) to change the course of a battle...

Imagine how a company of good men would change these cities..."

Imagine how a $200/head bounty paid for each al Sadr gunman taken down would enhance recruitment...

[Alberta's Child]

I remember reading an article back in the 1990s about a lethal Croatian sniper who wreaked havoc on the Serb army in the 1993 war between those two former Yugoslav republics. The sniper was nicknamed "the Archer," and he could not be identified publicly because he was actually a Croatian who had emigrated to Chicago some years ago but went back to fight for his home country.

[CHICAGOFARMER]

TO: United States Marines April 2, 2004
Pentagon War Department
1400 Pentagon
Washington D.C. 20350

Dear Sir:

I am 58 years old, and still young enough to fight for our country. I am a twelfth generation of patriot, whose family lead the American Revolution fight, and battle of the wilderness forward. I am a retired corporate executive with many successes in life ready to serve the principles my family and founders fought for in the constitution and Bill of Rights. .

I help rebuild Kuwait after Gulf War, I and am ready to provide Sniper service, and with this letter I volunteer my services. The only thing I need is food once a week, ammo( I prefer 308 118 grain handloads), a knapsack that can double for rifle rest, and bedroll. We ask for normal pay, and only the opportunity to service in this worthy cause in Iraq.

My experiences.
I have excellent vision, a steady hand, excellent sniper skills, and wind age skills. You see we are Prairie dog hunters. Field ranges 200 to 1000 yards; with high winds is normal day. In the off season we frequent the shooting ranges monthly, in all weather conditions, can handle winds and can follow orders we hear.
I am willing to enlist today and help my country track down those responsible for killing thousands of innocent American’s in New York City and Washington, D.C. and to allow freedom to develop in Iraq. But I hope you don’t tell me I too old to track down terrorists. Presently, the recruiter tells me I can’t be older than 35 to join. They've got the whole thing ass backwards. Instead of sending 18-year-olds off the fight, they ought to take us old guys. You shouldn't be able to join until you're at least 35. For starters:
* Young guys haven't lived long enough to be cranky and a cranky soldier is a dangerous soldier. If we can't kill the enemy we'll complain them into submission. "My back hurts!" "I'm hungry!" "Where's the remote control?"
* An 18-year-old hasn't had a legal beer yet and you shouldn't go to war until you're at least old enough to legally drink. An average old guy, on the other hand, has consumed 126,000 gallons of beer by the time he's 35 and a jaunt through the desert heat with a backpack and M-60 would do wonders for the beer belly.
* An 18-year-old doesn't like to get up before 10 a.m. Old guys get up early just to show we can (and to steal the neighbor's newspaper).
* If old guys were captured we couldn't spill the beans because we'd probably forget where we put them. In fact, name, rank and serial number would be a real brainteaser.
I request you invalidate this 35-age barrier for my fellow patriots (prairie dog shooters). According to the Army Internet site, I'd need to pass an entrance exam (officially called an ASVAB), but the sample questions I saw weren't exactly headache material. Our gear is always packed, as we are regular visitors to the range. We love to spend hours sitting on the range by ourselves stopping appropriate targets that move.

You can reach me at

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