Shooter_ The Autobiography of the Top-Ranked Marine Sniper - Jack Coughlin [0]
Also by Donald A. Davis
Lightning Strike
The Last Man on the Moon (with Gene Ceman)
Dark Waters (with Lee Vyborny)
SHOOTER
The Autobiography of the
Top-Ranked Marine Sniper
Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlin, USMC, and
Capt. Casey Kuhlman, USMCR
with Donald A. Davis
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS
NEW YORK
SHOOTER. Copyright © 2005 by Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlin, USMC, and Capt. Casey Kuhlman, USMCR, with Donald A. Davis. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Coughlin, Jack.
Shooter: the autobiography of the top-ranked Marine sniper / Jack Coughlin and Casey Kuhlman with Donald A. Davis. p. cm.
ISBN 0-312-33685-3 (he)
ISBN 0-312-33686-1 (pbk)
EAN 978-0-312-33686-8
1. Coughlin, Jack. 2. Snipers—United States—Biography. 3. United States. Marine Corps—Non-commissioned officers—Biography. 4. Iraq War, 2003—Personal narratives, American. 5. Sniping (Military science) I. Kuhlman, Casey. II. Davis, Donald A. III. Tide.
DS79.76.C68 2005
956.7044’3373’092—dc22
[B]
2004063286
10 9 8 7 6 5
To our families and to the Corps
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
1. Touch of an Angel
2. The Secret Arts
3. Thou Shalt Kill
4. New Ideas
5. Winds of War
6. The Wait
7. Safwan Hill
8. First Kills
9. Left Out
10. Midnight Ride
11. Send In the Bull
12. Decision
13. A Bench in a War
14. A Call Home
15. April Fool’s Day
16. Have Gun, Will Travel
17. Ghostbusters
18. Push, Push, Push
19. The Baghdad Two-Mile
20. The Bridge
21. The Worst Thing
22. The Overpass
23. Sniper Team
24. Our Iwo Jima Moment
25. The Urban Hide
Epilogue Welcome Home
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book contains the personal stories of two individuals, but it took magnificent efforts from many people to complete. We owe great debts to them all.
First, we would like to thank our agent, Jim Hornfischer, who believed in the project, and in us, from the minute we sent him the proposal. Without his sage advice, steady hand, and extraordinary knowledge of the book world, this project would never have been created. He is our agent for a career. Thank you.
Our writer, Don Davis, molded our original manuscript into a wonderful story. More than that, Don gave us graduate degrees in both writing and in the business of writing. Thanks to you and Robin for your professionalism and way with words.
There are many people at St. Martin’s Press to thank. John Murphy also believed in the book from the beginning and maneuvered it through some tough publishing wickets. Our editor, Charlie Spicer, was magnificent in offering cogent editorial insights and showed us the proper path when things got tough. Joe Cleemann, Joe Rinaldi, Henry Kaufman, India Cooper, Keith Hayes, and many others all worked hard to turn our dreams into reality.
Our brothers in the United States Marine Corps deserve special salutes. To list all of their names would require an encyclopedia, but let it be said that the authors had the honor to stand on the shoulders of giants. We admire you all.
As our former commander, Colonel Bryan McCoy, taught us, you can never achieve great things without believing in what you are trying to accomplish. Darkside Six made believers out of us. Special thanks also go to Sergeant Major Dave Howell, Major Matt Baker, and Major Martin “Crawdad” Wetteraurer. And thanks to our small team of warriors who stayed with us as we roamed around Iraq and kept our asses alive—Daniel Tracy, Jerry Marsh, Luis Castillo, Dustin Campbell, Clint Newbern, and the Panda Bear, Orlando Fuentes. We are eternally indebted to all of you. Rest in peace, Mark Evnin.
To the men of the Bull,