We are so Proud of you Rick !!!!!!!!!!!
The man in the street below seemed to be acting strangely. The signs were subtle, but to the trained eye, his actions looked suspicious.
While the rest of the foot traffic on one of Ramadi's busy side streets kept moving, he hovered around his car, talking incessantly on a cell phone. A convoy was due to pass through the city that afternoon. Maybe he knew that, maybe he didn't.
Three young men from
He had to die.
It only took one shot. The man never knew what hit him.
He was targeted by the three young men, all members of a four-man sniper team called Shadow 4, part of Animal Company, 3rd/103rd, Armor, Lewisburg, now attached to the 2-69 Armor at Camp Corregidor, Iraq. Of the four-man team, three - all in their early 20s - hail from northern
The young men under his command are: Spc. Joseph Bennett, 24, of
While lacking much of the formal training many active-duty snipers go through, Sgt. Martinez said his group has become a cohesive fighting force, one to be reckoned with on the streets of Ramadi and one that is helping to save American lives.
None of the men - brothers now, really, baptized in fire - anticipated becoming snipers when they joined the National Guard. Spc. York, for example, joined 4 1/2 years ago for the college money. The 3rd/103rd Armor was a mechanized unit and he expected to be a tanker, but at the start of his deployment to
“I thought it would be a challenge,” Spc. York said, reflecting on his decision. “I don't want to sit back. I want to challenge myself. I have a hunting background (and) I thought I would be more useful with a bolt-action rifle.”
His teammates felt the same.
“I guess growing up as a hunter watching some movies, I thought sniping would be cool,” Spc. Bennett said.
“To be honest I was kind of thrown into it almost,” Spc. Taylor said. “I was one of the best shots in the company (so) they put me in the sniper spot. I shot 39 out of 40 targets. I shot probably the best out of everybody there. So, I stayed in the spot.”
Immersed in war, none of the young snipers have had time to really absorb what effect, if any, their mission has had on them.
“I honestly don't find it hard,” Spc. York said of the killing he's done. “I don't know if it's because I grew up hunting and I understand death more. I don't know if it just hasn't hit me yet. Maybe when I go home it will bother me more.”
“To me it's kind of like really like a video game,” Spc. Taylor said. “I think of it as saving (American) lives. Those are the guys I care about more than I care about (the insurgents.) I don't have any feelings for them. I'd rather see Americans go home.”
“I haven't felt any remorse or guilt from my experience so far,” Spc. Bennett said. “I feel like I'm protecting the guys who are doing a good job. I think the people in this country are afraid of the Mujahideen and terrorists. The more we get off the streets they might get the courage to stand up for themselves. These people threaten everything we believe in. It doesn't bother me killing terrorists and insurgents.”
Over the last year the three have lived and worked together almost continuously, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
They were separated from the rest of their unit at Camp Shelby, Miss., and placed under Sgt. Martinezís command for intensive physical and marksmanship training. It was then the four men began their transformation into a fighting team, forging a bond all agree is closer to family than anything else they've experienced.
“We're working in a smaller group,” said Spc. Taylor, who describes himself as the court jester of the group. “We're always working together. And, yeah, we're getting on each other's nerves. Eventually you're going to get on each other's nerves, but that's just arguments. We're such a small group, everybody plays a big part.”
A math major at Mansfield University who hopes one day to become a state trooper, Spc. Taylor will soon be promoted to sergeant. A leader in the group, he said everyone brings qualities to the team that complement each other. His sarcasm lightens the mood during some pretty intense situations, he said, and makes life bearable.
Spc. York said he was the shy one, but added that his experiences have forced him to open up.
“When I first came here I didn't talk to a lot of people,” he said. “I speak out more. I talk to Sgt. Martinez about ideas if I think something is wrong I'll speak out. It's better for peers to hear it from peers than from their leader.”
He, too, attends
Spc. Bennett was attending
“You really do become a family,” he said. “When you're in the middle of a firefight, everyone bonds together and gets the job done - it's like you don't even have to talk - everyone is looking out for each other. There is definitely a bond with soldiers in combat. It's not just something in movies or books. It's real.”
When he returns to college life, he'll lose that.
“I miss college and I miss my friends,” he said. “I think I respect life a lot more after seeing that people really do die out here, but as far as going home, I think I'll just be a kid going to college.”
For each member of Shadow 4, a sniper team made up of Pennsylvania National Guardmen from northern Pennsylvania, the battle for Ramadi has been up close and personal.
Snipers, unlike most of their fellow soldiers, kill a specified target. Often, they have no concrete evidence wrongdoing but are acting on their own information or orders from above.
“Other people are usually attacked or shot at and they return fire,” said Spc. York. “We have to find a target - plus, you have the optics so you get up close and look the person in the face you're not just shooting some random person.”
But their motivation isn't personal.
“Some people might look at it as really personal, I don't,” said Spc. Bennett. “It's part of my job and people expect one shot kills from us so I try to deliver the best shot I can throw out there. Protecting them and protecting us is always our priority out there.”
He admitted however, that they immediately see the impact of their mission.
“We do see more of our target when we pull the trigger,” he said.
“When we're out on a hide no one knows were there,” said Spc. Taylor. “So it doesn't influence them at all. It's interesting to see how someone lives like that.”
According to Sgt. Martinez, snipers always move in groups of four, usually undercover of darkness. The specifics on weapons and locations are strictly confidential. But, their job is to watch and when necessary eliminate threats to U.S. or Coalition Forces serving in Ramadi.
“We move under the cover of darkness and we operate literally within the shadows,” he said. “We're looking for a situation to develop and not just an isolated movement but we look at what I call the totality of circumstances. We look at where we are, the history of the location of where we are and what's going on.”
Lives hang in the balance, based on those facts and the team's on the spot judgements.
“We don't make contact every day,” said Sgt. Martinez. “When we do make contact it has devastating results.”
Like any other soldier in a war zone, Sgt. Martinez said, snipers learn to analyze what they see and draw conclusions.
As an example he said in Ramadi soldiers know that often the streets will clear out before an attack. Children vanish and taxis disappear. Snipers watch for the same sort of things on a smaller scale.
“We're looking at everyday life, things you take for granted you can't take for granted here,” he said.
Typically, the four-man teams break into two teams of two once they are in place. In the two-man groups, one person acts as a spotter and the other as a shooter. The members of Shadow 4 take turns doing each. The shooter is the triggerman. The spotter watches the target and helps the shooter by giving him the distance to target, direction of the wind and any information that might help him take the shot.
Missions run a minimum of 24 hours. Shadow 4 has to take everything it needs for that time frame with it. That means carrying water, food, sleeping bags, maps, ammunition, optics, communications and computer equipment along with their guns: Two rifles and a machine gun.
All declined to talk about how many people they've killed.
“We can't go into that,” said Sgt. Martinez. “The only thing I can tell you is we're doing our job and we're doing it quite successfully. For every life we've taken we've saved many lives.”
Though all are proud of their mission discussing it with the people back home can be hard.
“I don't tell them the specifics,” said Spc. York. “I try not to tell my mother and sister because they don't want to know that I'm doing something dangerous (but) my dad is really proud of me.”
Spc. Taylor said he doesn't tell his family what's going on.
“I feel bad about lying to them,” he said. “But I think they would be more worried if they knew we walk out into the city. No one really knows what goes on here.”
Spc. Bennett's dad also knows, he said, and as a Vietnam veteran he is proud of his son.
Overall, none of the three would trade their time as snipers or go anywhere but Ramadi.
“This is the hottest area in the whole theater. It's nothing to have any kind of fire at any given point,” said Spc. Bennett. “There are troops out there that are still fighting and every new day is an unknown day. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow. A lot of good guys aren't going home. It's saddening and makes you mad. We work real hard out here.”
bravenet.com