Posted on 08/19/2010 5:49:12 AM PDT by Freeport
SANGIN, Afghanistan—Somewhere in this dusty town, concealed among the cornfields, irrigation canals and mud-walled compounds, is a man the Marines particularly want to kill.
They don't know what he looks like. But they know he is a very good shot with a long rifle, and, every day he remains alive, he is drawing Marine blood.
In the seven days since the men of Lima Company, Third Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment arrived in town, the Sangin sniper has persecuted them with methodical, well-aimed shots, fired one at a time. His toll so far: two men killed—one American and one British—and one man wounded.
Two Marines have survived hits they say came from a second shooter, believed to be less proficient and careful than the first.
Sangin has for years been a hotbed of insurgent activity in volatile Helmand province, and, in its first days here, Lima Company has pressed through a belt of farmland between the Helmand River and a main road, Route 611. The Marines have been met with hidden explosives and ambushes.
But the sniper has caused the most damage—a deadly reminder that the Taliban insurgency has its share of well-trained fighters capable of frustrating the allied mission.
"He's hitting people—that's very disruptive," said 1st Sgt. John Calhoun, 41 years old, from Konawa, Okla. "But it's not interfering with what we're trying to do here."
The sniper struck first on Aug. 13, the day after Lima Company arrived. A Marine stepped out of his armored vehicle just 100 yards or so from a secure U.S.-British patrol base. He threw away some trash and exchanged a few words with another Marine. The sniper fired a single, lethal shot.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Patriots take note.
“
Where is Carlos “The White Feather” Hathcock when you need him?
“
Sadly, Carlos has been dead for some time.
Maybe it’s time to call Chuck Mawhinney (sp?) out of retirement.
(He’s the sniper that apparently had a higher body count than Hathcock
during Vietnam).
The History Channel special on snipers...when it’s on, I set everything
aside and watch it.
It had GREAT segments on Mawhinney, Hathcock and modern snipers in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
I had the same thought........
Ha!!
I just re-read Marine Sniper a couple weeks ago.....
Agreed..........
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