Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlins detailed account of his time in the Iraq war as a sniper. I like these books from the soldier's point of view cutting through the media & political spin. Jack describes the mindset, precision, mathematical equations & decisions a sniper has to make in wartime. Clashes with upper officers ("Bob" reminds me of the "bob" in Benghazi) and frustration with decisions made from people a world away making decisions who have never been in combat. Leading a team of Marines and forming a platoon of trust and friendship while death is all around. ( )

sniper develops and uses new theory of how to use snipers in the field

Jack Coughlin may have been a great sniper, but his arrogance was incredibly off-putting. I only finished the book because it was purchased on a business trip and had little else with me to read. The way this is written, one would think that (a) Coughlin invented sharpshooting, and (b) he won the war on his own. I would rather read a memoir by someone who kicks down doors and fights the enemy face-to-face rather than someone who kills an unaware bad guy a mile downrange. ( )

Autobiography (well, really more operational/deployment memoir) of one of the top Marine snipers of all time, operating from the late 1980s to 2005. He has all of the self-confidence you’d expect from someone accomplished in a risky endeavor, and very little tolerance for low performers (including some officers above him, specifically “Officer Bob” from the invasion of Iraq).

He developed the doctrine of deploying snipers directly with assault units (basically as a modern Designated Marksman role), rather than the pre Iraq model of snipers operating in groups of 1-3 for long stalks and primarily as scouting assets. He scrounged some vehicles (up-armored hnmwv with mk19) from an unfortunate tasking as a headquarters GySgt, and was able to hand pick a team of excellent Marines.

One thing I liked about this book is it skipped most of the filler content about life before the action, basic training, etc commonly found in military books. It also showed that as a front line Marine senior enlisted he actually had better knowledge of the geopolitics of the situation than most of the senior leadership at the time. However, keeping it from being really excellent as a book, there was little to take from the book and apply anywhere else. Still a decent read to learn about one man’s experience in the invasion of Iraq, and a good autobiography of a sniper, but maybe not broadly appealing. ( )

Jack Coughlin may have been a great sniper, but his arrogance was incredibly off-putting. I only finished the book because it was purchased on a business trip and had little else with me to read. The way this is written, one would think that (a) Coughlin invented sharpshooting, and (b) he won the war on his own. I would rather read a memoir by someone who kicks down doors and fights the enemy face-to-face rather than someone who kills an unaware bad guy a mile downrange. ( )