A Sniper's Journey: The Truth About the Man Behind the Rifle - Hardcover

Mitchell, Gary D.; Hirsh, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0451216520 ISBN 13: 9780451216526

Publisher: NAL Hardcover, 2006

Synopsis

A former U.S. Army sharp-shooter describes how his talent as a sniper led to his role as a long-range assassin as part of American intelligence operations, the impact of his missions on his later military career and civilian life, and the guilt and PTSD that nearly destroyed him.

About this title

About the Author

Gary D. Mitchell served in Vietnam, earning a Bronze Star for Valor, two Purple Heart Medals, and the Combat Infantryman Badge, and participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Michael Hirsh is a George Foster Peabody Award and Writers Guild Award winner, and the author of None Braver.

Reviews

A compelling, troubling story, this war memoir recounts the hellish experiences of an 18-year-old naïf from Texas who volunteered to fight in the Vietnam War only to find himself transformed into a part-time sniper. Mitchell served as an infantryman and as the commander of an armored recovery vehicle for most of his 1969–1970 tour, spending most of his time in the thick of the guerrilla war. Periodically, he would be plucked from his unit by a team of anonymous intelligence operatives (perhaps members of the CIA's Phoenix Program), handed a special sharpshooter's rifle, put on a helicopter and given a mission to stalk and kill someone. For respite, he was given three weeks of temporary duty working with dead American bodies at the Danang morgue. Mitchell survived the war, but soon after coming home he began suffering from terrifying nightmares and rages that would plague him for three decades. Mitchell tells his life story with the help of journalist Hirsh (None Braver), also a Vietnam veteran. Though the later sections dealing with Mitchell's efforts to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder are bogged down with repetitive details and long quotes, the authors' recounting of Mitchell's sniper missions are absolutely riveting.
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Mitchell began his journey as a high-school student in Texas, from which college and the army were the only ways out. The army took him to Vietnam, where he proved such an effective combat infantryman that he was chosen for sniper training. He served as a sniper during the rest of the Vietnam War and on detachment to U.S. intelligence for deniable covert operations in many countries. The deniability required that he and his spotter had absolutely no backup or any resources except their own wits and weapons to execute the mission and then escape and evade. Mitchell's conscience preyed on him, as has many a sniper's before, and he describes its working with exceptional vividness. He also pays tribute to his solid marriage and credits his wife for much of the work of preserving his sanity. Probably a good deal of detail about his service remains and will remain hidden; even so, Mitchell's report of his career adds well to sniper literature and infantry memoirs. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: NAL Hardcover
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451216520
• ISBN 13: 9780451216526
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288