January 13, 2006

Getting the Job Done

Praise God for men like this one.

    Gazing through the telescopic sight of his M24 rifle, Staff Sgt Jim Gilliland, leader of Shadow sniper team, fixed his eye on the Iraqi insurgent who had just killed an American soldier.

    His quarry stood nonchalantly in the fourth-floor bay window of a hospital in battle-torn Ramadi, still clasping a long-barrelled Kalashnikov. Instinctively allowing for wind speed and bullet drop, Shadow's commander aimed 12 feet high.

    A single shot hit the Iraqi in the chest and killed him instantly. It had been fired from a range of 1,250 metres, well beyond the capacity of the powerful Leupold sight, accurate to 1,000 metres.

    "I believe it is the longest confirmed kill in Iraq with a 7.62mm rifle," said Staff Sgt Gilliland, 28, who hunted squirrels in Double Springs, Alabama from the age of five before progressing to deer - and then people.

    "He was visible only from the waist up. It was a one in a million shot. I could probably shoot a whole box of ammunition and never hit him again."

War on Terror Posted by AlexC at January 13, 2006 8:29 PM

With the greatest possible respect for the sensibilities of patriotic, red-blooded, God fearing Americans, I'd like to politely suggest that NED deserves little credit for the existence of men like this one. Instead, we can give thanks for an important element of American life. It's called "the gun culture."

In a nutshell, the gun culture reveres the power of firearms to equalize might and allow individuals skilled in their use to preserve liberty - for themselves, their loved ones, and ultimately their countrymen. Sergeant Gilliland is not skilled and determined beyond the norm because of his "powerful Leupold sight" but because he started hunting squirrels at the age of five.

For an in-depth description of America's gun culture, refer to the John Ross historical novel 'Unintended Consequences.'

"An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject."

Posted by: johngalt at January 15, 2006 11:47 AM

Amen :)

Actually, jg, I do agree. And I would add all the benefits of a free, pluralist society worth defnding.

Posted by: jk at January 15, 2006 12:14 PM | What do you think? [2]