Inside the Crosshairs: Snipers in Vietnam

278 Pages·1998·2 MB·English

by  Col. Michael Lee Lanning

Suddenly, I couldn’t believe my eyes. First one, then three gooks appeared out of the
jungle and started down the trail. I knew instantly they had no idea we were less than
100 meters above. I quietly passed word that we would all shoot at once, two with the
bolt rifles and the other four with their M14s with iron sights.
What a deal! In all my time in Vietnam, I’d never had a chance like this one. As we
waited, five more gooks appeared, bringing the total to nine—all wearing uniforms and
carrying rifles and packs. They moved slowly but with confidence. We waited a few
more minutes. I wanted to be sure the nine were not the point element for a whole
company.
When I was sure the nine were alone, I whispered, “Now,” and six shots cracked nearly
as one. Six gooks dropped. We’d done it! We’d hit six for six.…

A Presidio Press Book
Published by The Random House Publishing Group
Copyright © 1998 by Michael Lee Lanning All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Presidio Press, an imprint of The Random House Publishing
Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random
House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
PRESIDIO PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-0-30783312-9
www.presidiopress.com
v3.1
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Map
1. All in a Day’s Work: The Single Well-Aimed Shot
2. The First Marksmen: From Stones to Gunpowder
3. Marksmanship in the New World
4. Snipers Come of Age: The World Wars and Beyond
5. The Battles of Peace: Snipers Between Wars
6. Snipers in Vietnam: U.S. Marine Corps
7. Snipers in Vietnam: U.S. Army
8. Snipers in Vietnam: Other U.S. and Allies
9. The Men Behind the Crosshairs
10. Tools of the Trade: Arms and Equipment
11. Training and Organization
12. One Shot, One Kill: Operations
13. The Other Side: VC/NVA Snipers
14. The Assessment
15. Vietnam Sniper Legacy
Appendix A. Sniper Rifle Systems Used in Vietnam
Appendix B. Syllabus, Sniper Training
Appendix C. 3rd Marine Division Scout-Sniper Refresher Training Schedule
Appendix D. 3rd Marine Division Order 3590.3B (June 9, 1968), Scout-Sniper Platoons
Appendix E. Sniper Training and Employment in the 9th Infantry Division
Appendix F. MACV Order of Battle Study ST 67-029 (January 6, 1967), VC/NVA
Employment of Snipers
Appendix G. Information Request
Annotated Bibliography
Dedication
Other Books by This Author
About the Author

CHAPTER 1

All in a Day’s Work: The Single Well-Aimed Shot
A
s a “different” kind of war, Vietnam required tactics,
operational procedures, and weapons uniquely adapted for the conflict.
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps especially had to constantly adjust
fighting concepts—revamping tried-and-true techniques and designing
innovative methods—to counter an enemy whose operations varied from
Vietcong hit-and-run guerrilla tactics to North Vietnamese Army multi-
division offensives.
Of all these adjustments and changes during the war, one of the most
effective, and certainly the most economical, was the use of individual
marksmen known as snipers. While taking advantage of individual
marksmanship skills was clearly not new to warfare, the way the U.S.
military developed the expertise to new standards in Southeast Asia
certainly was. In terms of the efficiency they achieved, army and Marine
marksmen consistently engaged and killed enemy soldiers at ranges
often exceeding 800 meters with a single round from special, telescope-
equipped rifles. From the densely forested mountain highlands near the
Demilitarized Zone to the open spaces of the watery Mekong River Delta,
American snipers consistently downed enemy soldiers before their
targets even heard the crack of their rifles.
In terms of economics, the innovative use of snipers in Vietnam meant
that virtually every bullet produced a body count—a statistic drastically
different from bullet-to-body ratios for other wars and other infantrymen
in Vietnam. Studies of frontline combat during World War II reveal that
U.S. troops expended 25,000 small arms rounds for every enemy soldier
they killed. In the Korean War the number doubled to 50,000 rounds per