An inside look at today's special operations sniper and an in depth look at the career of Chris Kyle from those who knew him and fought alongside him. Most people think of snipers as shooters perched in urban hides, dealing out death unseen from a considerable distance. But this description barely scratches the surface. Special operations snipers are men with stacked skill sets who have the ability to turn the tide of battles, even when they aren't pulling the trigger. Snipers have played an outsized role in the War on Terror that has earned them the Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, and countless other honors. These are the most experienced warriors on the battlefield, oftentimes the units' best assaulters with years of door-kicking under their belt. These are the men who run ops in small teams across borders, or dress like locals and pull off high-risk vehicle reconnaissance and singleton missions in non-permissive environments. Chris Martin's Modern American Snipers tells the inside story of some of the most heroic patriots in recent American history by the friends and colleagues who knew them best, including: * The Legend - Chris Kyle, SEAL Team 3 Chief and the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history * The Reaper - Nick Irving, the first African American to serve as a sniper in the 3rd Ranger Battalion, and its deadliest, with 33 confirmed kills * Robert Horrigan, Delta sniper who played a critical role in Operation Anaconda * Don Hollenbaugh, Delta Operator who earned the Distinguished Service Cross while embedded with a Marine platoon in the First Battle of Fallujah * And many more

"Most people think of snipers as shooters perched in urban hides, dealing out death unseen from a considerable distance. But this description barely scratches the surface. [The author explains that] special operations snipers are men with stacked skill sets who have the ability to turn the tide of battles, even when they aren't pulling the trigger ... These are the most experienced warriors on the battlefield, oftentimes the units' best assaulters with years of door-kicking under their belt. These are the men who run ops in small teams across borders, or dress like locals and pull off high-risk vehicle reconnaissance and singleton missions in non-permissive environments"--Dust jacket flap.

The years since 9/11 have seen major changes in the way snipers are employed on the modern battlefield, alongside an incredibly rapid evolution in their weapons, equipment and training. This book covers the 14 years of near-constant warfare since the dawn of the 21st century, documenting where, when and how snipers have been deployed; their rifles, optics and their ancillary equipment such as laser range finders; their training and tactics and accounts of real-life operations involving sniper teams. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have reaffirmed the importance of snipers in both conventional and unconventional warfare, and this new study covers these developments in depth, as well as looking at the role of the sniper in police and counterterrorism environments.

The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir of U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle, and the source for Clint Eastwood’s blockbuster, Academy-Award nominated movie. “An amazingly detailed account of fighting in Iraq--a humanizing, brave story that’s extremely readable.” — PATRICIA CORNWELL, New York Times Book Review "Jaw-dropping...Undeniably riveting." —RICHARD ROEPER, Chicago Sun-Times From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. His fellow American warriors, whom he protected with deadly precision from rooftops and stealth positions during the Iraq War, called him “The Legend”; meanwhile, the enemy feared him so much they named him al-Shaitan (“the devil”) and placed a bounty on his head. Kyle, who was tragically killed in 2013, writes honestly about the pain of war—including the deaths of two close SEAL teammates—and in moving first-person passages throughout, his wife, Taya, speaks openly about the strains of war on their family, as well as on Chris. Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle’s masterful account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences ranks as one of the great war memoirs of all time.

"The American sniper could be regarded as the greatest all-around rifleman the world has ever known. . . ." At the start of the war in Vietnam, the United States had no snipers; by the end of the war, Marine and army precision marksmen had killed more than 10,000 NVA and VC soldiers--the equivalent of an entire division--at the cost of under 20,000 bullets, proving that long-range shooters still had a place in the battlefield. Now noted military historian Michael Lee Lanning shows how U.S. snipers in Vietnam--combining modern technology in weapons, ammunition, and telescopes--used the experience and traditions of centuries of expert shooters to perfect their craft. To provide insight into the use of American snipers in Vietnam, Lanning interviewed men with combat trigger time, as well as their instructors, the founders of the Marine and U.S. Army sniper programs, and the generals to whom they reported. Backed by hard information and firsthand accounts, the author demonstrates how the skills these one-shot killers honed in the jungles of Vietnam provided an indelible legacy that helped save American lives in Grenada, the Gulf War, and Somalia and continues to this day with American troops in Bosnia.

Heart-pounding real-life tales from the military’s most experienced snipers, the best of the best snipers in action today. Gunfights, long distance shots, stalking, and more.

The phenomenal New York Times bestseller Shooter captures a professional sniper's life, both on the battlefield--where he has racked up more than 60 confirmed kills--and off. Jack Coughlin is the Marine Corps' top-ranked sniper, the man who personally brings America's military muscle to the enemy's front door. In twenty years of active service, he has accumulated one of the most impressive records in the Corps, ranging through many of the world's hot spots. During Operation Iraqi Freedom alone, he recorded at least thirty-six kills, thirteen of them in a single twenty-four-hour period. In Shooter, Coughlin has written a highly personal story about his deadly craft, taking readers deep inside an invisible society that is off-limits to outsiders. This is not a heroic battlefield memoir, but the careful study of an exceptional man as he carries forward one of the deadliest legacies in the U.S. military.