The Long-Range War; Sniping in Vietnam

[1], xii, 268, pages. 8.8 x 11.3 x 1 inch dim. Illustrations. DJ is in a plastic sleeve. From back of DJ - The Vietnam War marked the first time that the U.S. military brought together trained snipers, custom rifles, telescopic sights, special ammunition, and noise suppressors and employed them successfully in a combat environment. As the war progressed, in fact, two forms of sniping were carried out in Southeast Asia--that which was part of the organized Army and Marine Corps programs and that conducted by individual riflemen with telescopic sights. So while authorized Army and Marine snipers kept careful track of their kills, there is no way of knowing exactly how many Vietcong and North Vietnamese were rendered hors de combat by enterprising American riflemen armed with telescopic sighted rifles of some kind. This is the most complete report ever on the U.S. military's unprecedented use of snipers and sniping equipment in Vietnam. Highlighted are the fielding of the XM21 sniper rifle and the Adjustable Ranging Telescope, plus the application of sound suppression devices and special carbines so typical of the unconventional warfare in SE Asia. A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic sights. Modern snipers use high-precision rifles and high-magnification optics. They often also serve as scouts/observers feeding tactical information back to their units or command headquarters. In addition to long-range and high-grade marksmanship, military snipers are trained in a variety of special operation techniques: detection, stalking, target range estimation methods, camouflage, tracking, bushcraft, field craft, infiltration, special reconnaissance and observation, surveillance and target acquisition. Snipers need to have complete control of their bodies and senses in order to be effective. They also need to have the skill set to use data from their scope and monitors to adjust their aim to hit targets that are extremely far away. In training, snipers are given charts that they're drilled on to ensure they can make last-minute calculations when they are in the field. Presumed First Edition, Presumed First Printing.…