Marine Sniper

Marine Sniper
By Charles Henderson

Marine Sniper is another book recommended and loaned to me by Carl Tippets. This is the story of Carlos Hathcock, a legendary Vietnam era Marine sniper. Hathcock had 93 confirmed kills during two separate tours in Vietnam. He helped design and institutionalize modern sniper tactics. Prior to going to Viet Nam, Carlos was the 1000 Yard National High Power Rifle Champion in 1965. Widely recognized as the best marksman in the US, he was able to apply his amazing marksmanship with modern sniper tactics to revolutionize how our military used snipers. This book is his story.


The book consisted of background information about his life in Arkansas prior to joining the Marines. Most of the book detailed the legendary feats he carried out in Vietnam after winning the Wimbledon Cup in 1965 and concluded with a very touching chapter about his life after leaving the Corp with a disability discharge.

During his first tour in Vietnam, the book highlighted several episodes from his career that ultimately left him with the title of loung troung (long feather) by the Viet Cong and large bounty on his head by their government. While the story about the time he and a spotter held off an enemy platoon for three days while slowly killing most of its member were highly entertaining, the authors writing style seemed somewhat sterile and mechanical, as if he we repeating details found in official reports instead of providing first hand knowledge of the events made the bulk of this book a bit tedious. I most enjoyed the last mission Carlos performed just before the end of his tour. He was handpicked to infiltrate the North Vietnamese Army’s rear echelon HQ and assassinate their highest ranking field general.

To pull of this feat, he spent three days alone, worming across a 2000 yard open clearance to get within 700 yards of the general’s quarters. On the morning of the fourth day, he was able to assassinate the general as the general left his quarters and attempted to enter his waiting staff car. Hathcock not only completed his mission, but was able to safely make his way back to tree line and his marine escorts. This story emphasized the changed nature of warfare since Vietnam. Airpower played a major role in Vietnam, but it was still an era of steel bombs dropped from high altitudes. In today’s battle, a sniper would never have had to carry out this mission. Using today’s “smart bombs”, aircraft could have quickly and easily taken out the General’s HQs with one surgical attack. At most, Special Forces would have been dispatched to the tree line to provide a laser path for the ammunition to follow.

While the first part of the book was a little tedious, the last two chapters, Beating the Odds and the Legend and the Man made the effort more than worthwhile. Beating the Odds, detailed the extensive surgery and recovery Carlos Hathcock went through after his APV hit a land mine during his second tour. While rescuing the rest of the personnel on the vehicle, he was burned over 90% of his body. The resulting rehabilitation was extensive and long. This chapter detailed the challenges that he and his wife Jo had to overcome. This chapter was much more personal and finally provided some insight to his psyche. Not only did he have to overcome his severe burns, but he also had to face the challenges and physical limitations created by rapidly developing Multiple Sclerosis,
Obviously, he no longer could do most of the duties required by the Corp, but was able to find a home on the Marine Corp Rifle Team and eventually helped start-up their sniper school and training.

The final chapter covered his life after his discharge. Carlos received a medical discharge because of his injuries and illness just two months shy of qualifying for a normal military retirement. This deeply effected him and he felt the Corps had betrayed him. It appears he suffered from depression, along with a host of ailments related to his burns and MS. At one point his wife threatened to leave him, saying, “I’m not going to live with a dead man.” This obviously helped him accept what had happened and provided an impetus to move on with his life. Eventually, he joined with a group of local fisherman who specialized in catching sharks in shallow water. This type of angling is dangerous. Once he found this outlet, a missing piece of his life was restored.

Thoughts while running: I wonder if his attitude about his war experiences changed as time went by. Did he feel remorse? From a military standpoint, his skills were needed and probably saved many American lives. However, one has to wonder the long term mental effects associated with killing at least 93 other individuals. We’ll never know. At one point in the book, it mentioned a news report on AFRN. It was early in the 1968 Presidential Campaign. President Johnson, promised to remain in Vietnam until the enemy was defeated and there no longer was a threat from communism. Richard Nixon, a republican, ran on a platform of ending the war and withdrawing the troops as soon as possible. Many parallels can be drawn with today’s presidential race. While the parties have changed, the incumbent party’s position and the position of the challenging party appear to be identical. I enjoyed this book in-spite of the author’s sterile writing style. I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in military history, tactics or just a good adventure story.