Through the Scope

"I calmed my breaths and crouched down to get my bearings. l slowly raised my M-14 rifle, the familiar weight both comforting and sobering. My finger hovered over the trigger, my sights on the guerrilla. My world became the small circle of the scope, within which he moved, unaware of the threat hiding just beyond the trees. My hands were steady, but my heart raced in my chest.

The shot echoed, shattering the tension like a thunderclap. The kick of the rifle shoved against my shoulder, the mechanical aftershock of the irreversible act I had just committed. The guerrilla fell immediately, collapsing to the ground in the clearing. Johnston and I hung in there for a second, looking around to see if we heard anything moving, potentially anyone else with us. The jungle fell silent again, and its sounds returned slowly as if nothing had transpired."

This is a novel about a young man who became an Army Sniper during the Vietnam War. It is a detailed account of his life as an Army Grunt in Vietnam with the 327th Infantry Regiment, 101ST Airborne United States Army. It's about how and why he became an Army sniper during the Vietnam War. It describes how war can and is so cruel to the men who serve in it.

The Army Sniper was the most feared of all the U.S. military by the North Vietnamese Army. At the beginning of the Vietnam war the United States only had Marine Snipers in service. It was not until the summer of 1967 did the United States Army begin to train Snipers for use in combat. The first class of Army snipers graduated in November 1968 from Fort Benning, Georgia.