Modern American Snipers (19 page)

Even the infantry battalions' Scout Sniper Platoons (SSP)—highly trained marksmen who operate in small teams and ply their trade relying on stealth—checked a handful of key boxes, at least in terms of how the general public tends to imagine special operations.

However, the USMC chose to keep Force Recon off the table when SOCOM was formed in the mid-'80s, preferring to retain control over its forces rather than fund and train a unit that would partially “belong” to what felt suspiciously like an emerging fifth service.

While Marine leadership may have been prescient in that sense, what they did not anticipate was a fundamental shift in geopolitics, nor the related exponential increase in the prominence of (and budget for) special operations forces.

As a result, the motto “first to fight” had become less and less accurate; the Marine Corps was initially sidelined and then given less critical taskings in the immediate response to 9/11—a humbling lesson for the proud service concerning the new age of warfare.

A second chance at a slice of the expanding SOF pie was forced down the Marine Corps's throat when SOF-enamored Rumsfeld insisted on closer USMC/SOCOM collaboration.

Lieutenant Colonel Giles Kyser made it his mission to transform that mandate into a full-time Marine component to SOCOM, although he encountered considerable resistance on both sides of the table. Many inside the USMC held on to their pre-9/11 beliefs. Meanwhile, a number of key figures inside SOCOM were reluctant to share the mission, money, or glory with the Marine Corps, whom they felt had already chosen their fate two decades earlier, while also questioning the USMC's ability to field a force with the right qualities to excel in real-world special operations.

Despite the reluctance, a proof-of-concept pilot program with an eye on establishing a permanent Marine presence in SOCOM was realized in 2003 with the activation of Marine Corps Special Operations Command Detachment One (MCSOCOM Det One).

Among the detractors of the initiative within SOCOM, Naval Special Warfare was viewed as the most determined to block any permanent commitment. When NSW offered to serve as SOCOM's executive agent—and thus be given operational control of Det One—it was a move viewed with considerable suspicion. Some inside the fledgling unit thought NSW merely accepted the role so that it would be better positioned to kill it rather than foster its growth.

Det One stacked the odds in its favor by drawing its personnel from a talent pool consisting of only the most veteran and talented Force Recon Marines. It then outfitted them with higher-spec gear and weaponry, and provided them with intensive training—including whirlwind CQB instruction from a former Delta Force operator, who made them completely rethink how they fought in tight spaces.

Their average age was greater than thirty. All had deployed multiples times and the bulk of the men had previously held leadership positions in Force Recon platoons, while a number had been seconded to foreign units or worked as instructors at the Mountain Warfare School or a Special Operations Training Group.

And well representative of both the experience in its ranks and the immense importance that has historically been placed by the Corps on the role of the sniper, more than half of Det One's thirty Recon Marines were trained Scout Snipers.

In a forward-thinking architecture, Det One took this supercharged Force Recon element and complemented it with a full-service integral intelligence component. This consisted of a Radio Reconnaissance Team and Signals Intelligence Support Team to secure SIGINT as well as a Counterintelligence Section to focus on HUMINT.

Det One was now ready for war. Placed under the watch of Naval Special Warfare Group One, it was slotted for a tour in Iraq, alongside the SEAL Task Units contained within Naval Special Warfare Task Group-Arabian Peninsula, itself a subcomponent of CJSOTF-AP.

Dubbed “Task Unit Raider” in recognition of its heritage as the spiritual successors of the Marine Raiders of WWII fame, it found itself a frequent collaborator and “kindred soul” in another CJSOTF-AP element—Task Unit Thunder.

While UKSF—most prominently the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS)—lived and operated alongside (and existed
as
de facto) JSOC SMUs in Iraq and Afghanistan, Task Unit Thunder provided CJSOTF-AP with its own Tier 1–level counterterrorism unit in the vein of a Delta or DEVGRU.

Task Unit Thunder was built around the Polish Military Unit 2305, better known as GROM. Following its formative training at the hands of Larry Freedman and other Delta operators, this hard-core unit had since blossomed into one of the most aggressive, dedicated, and revered CT outfits in existence. In the world of special operations, Poland punches well above its weight.

As the deployment took shape, the operators of Task Unit Raider and Task Unit Thunder stepped up and became the task force's primary direct action assets, operating in conjunction on multiple occasions.

Det One was aided in its first real mission—a close target reconnaissance op—by a female GROM sniper. And the sniper ultimately apprehended the target—a suspected insurgent sympathizer code named “Rachel.”

Task Unit Raider first operated in and around Baghdad before being directed to the developing snake pit that was al-Najaf in August 2004.

Located one hundred miles south of Baghdad, Najaf was an important stronghold of al-Sadr's Shia militia, the Mahdi Army. These insurgents had rocked the 11th MEU (SOC), and in turn CJSOTF-AP gave orders to Det One to send its snipers to Najaf to relieve that pressure.

They proceeded to utterly demoralize the Shia militiamen, wiping out dozens of combatants while the terrified enemy force remained confused as to the point of origin of the unrelenting lethal fire.

The unit's deep sniper core paid dividends, as it was able to keep marksmen on their suppressed SR-25s around the clock, providing no respite for the militia.

Twice the Det One Scout Snipers successfully engaged in countersniper ops. Both times they identified Shia sniper positions, and then obliterated the hides and the shooters hidden behind them with an onslaught of .50-caliber Barrett M82 fire.

Ultimately, the Mahdi Army was forced to cease operations and abandon Najaf altogether.

Det One departed Iraq in the fall of '04, having flashed its potential despite never being allowed to operate in the fashion that was originally envisioned. Almost as soon as it had arrived in Iraq, Naval Special Warfare Group One sectioned up its organic intelligence component into smaller pieces and farmed them out across its other task units to make up for their deficiencies in that area.

And despite its outstanding debut, Det One returned home facing an uncertain future.

*   *   *

Between deployments, Chris Kyle attended one course that felt like a gift—sniper school—and another that he saw more akin to a curse. Despite his desires to the contrary, after completing sniper training, the Texan was sent to navigator school.

The advanced schooling taught him how to plan routes to objectives, hasten rapid exfils, use GPS and satellite maps, and the like, which was all well and good. However, he was less thrilled by the fact that the training could potentially confine him to the vehicle while the rest of the fire team actually does the door kicking and gun slinging when they went out raiding.

But in a bit of serendipity, those skills actually got Kyle thrown into the fight ahead of his platoon. The rest of CHARLIE was sent off to the Philippines to pull some foreign internal defense duty before heading back to the war. However, Kyle was recalled early to flex those newly acquired PowerPoint and map-reading muscles.

Awaiting him in Baghdad in September of '04 was a temporary assignment with Task Unit Thunder. GROM's early success in Iraq had made it a valued contributor to CJSOTF-AP and a popular dance partner for coalition special operation units.

Retired GROM operator Naval said, “Modern war requires more precision and special units are the answers. The level of engagement has increased, obviously. It wasn't only the counterterrorism, but also to combat the most important enemies, such as personality identification playing cards [the Deck of 55]—the most-wanted members of Hussein's government. I think GROM became more versatile in that sense.”

During this time, GROM also developed a close working relationship with the U.S. Navy SEALs. “I started working with the SEALs during the Second Persian Gulf War in spring of 2002, before the invasion of Iraq,” Naval explained. “We were part of the MIF—Multinational Interception Forces. We were responsible for taking over weapons and oil. At that time both GROM and SEALs had two boarding teams that during one night could take over as many as eleven ships. This was, I feel, the time when a strong kinship between GROM and Navy SEALs was born. That was also great training that enabled both sides to work together smoothly at the start of the Iraq War.

“The next time we worked together was for over a year in Iraq. The GROM and SEALs lived together in Compound Pozzi, named after the oldest SEAL then, and we were one task force.”

While Kyle worked alongside GROM on his first deployment, it wasn't until this assignment that he was actually integrated into the unit. He was assigned to Combat Team B—technically the naval section of GROM, although in practice, the distinction that separates Combat Team B from its land-centric counterpart, Combat Team A, is somewhat fluid.

This could have been viewed as an outstanding opportunity to run with some of the most highly trained gunfighters in the world as they took down targets in Mosul and Sadr City—that is, if he wasn't confined to the vehicle, mapping out escape routes while the assault team was crashing through doorways and gunning down terrorists.

After a week on the job, however, the Polish operators invited the big Texan to join the stack. And for the next three weeks, he was clearing rooms as an honorary member of GROM.

“I met Chris briefly in September of 2004,” the GROM assaulter said, while noting their interaction was somewhat limited because “snipers prefer their own company.”

“He wasn't known then yet as the best American sniper. But like any SEAL operator, Chris was highly professional, and like any good sniper, incredibly precise. From the moment you met him, you had a feeling he could be your best friend and he never let you feel inferior. I think we all had that impression of him.”

The fact that he was not just welcomed by GROM to share some post-op vodka, but actually given a spot in their stack during raids, spoke highly of their confidence in the SEAL, as life and death under those conditions are separated by millimeters and milliseconds.

“Only the best were introduced to join the other group,” Naval says. “You can say that meant Chris's work was of the highest standard. He wouldn't be asked to join the team otherwise.”

*   *   *

In late 2004, even with the nation at large erupting into anarchy and hellish violence, there was no pit worse than Fallujah.

Following the First Battle of Fallujah, it's estimated another 170,000 occupants fled the city as they sought to escape the even more apocalyptic showdown heading in their direction. This reduced its population to around a tenth of the 320,000 who had called the city home some months earlier, leaving only the most ardent and fanatical of the resistance.

After Operation Vigilant Resolve had been halted following a partial advance, a truce was called and the town council agreed to contain and eliminate its population of insurgents. However, the newly erected Fallujah Brigade meant to uphold this promise crumpled almost immediately.

Months later, Fallujah had only grown more foul, which demanded a more definitive conflict to retake the city. Operation Phantom Fury was set to sweep the city, building by building, in an attempt to root out and decimate the city's insurgent presence, which included the suspected headquarters of al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

By this time Zarqawi had become an even more highly prioritized target than Osama bin Laden, tagged with a $25 million bounty on his head.

A total of 13,500 coalition troops, consisting of two USMC Regimental Combat Teams (assembled around the 1st and 7th Marine Regiments), the Army's 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division and 1st Squadron, 124th Cavalry, 36th Infantry Division, and a collection of British and Iraqi forces encircled the city in late November.

Some four thousand of the most fanatical, self-medicated, and
well-prepared
terrorists imaginable awaited the advance. The city had been rendered little more than a battleground in waiting. With the residents gone, the insurgents transformed the city into a mammoth den of traps, turning entire buildings into remotely detonated IEDs, building rat tunnels between rooms, and generally setting the conditions to kill as many poor Marines and soldiers brave or foolish enough to set foot inside the city.

The result would be the bloodiest battle America has waged since the Vietnam War.

During the First Battle of Fallujah, Marine platoons were augmented by the inclusion of a small number of Delta Force snipers, whose skill and leadership significantly enhanced the team's combat effectiveness.

A similar approach was taken for the Second Battle of Fallujah, this time with SEAL sniper elements. Snipers from Teams Three, Five, and Eight were called upon to integrate with the Marine assault group and were let off the leash at last.

By this time, Kyle had already seen combat. He took part in a handful of notable operations during his first deployment and came to Fallujah fresh off a month of on-the-job training, hitting buildings in Sadr City with some of the world's preeminent practitioners of CQB.

However, he had never seen anything like this. Few had.

*   *   *

As Operation Phantom Fury opened, Kyle and his small joint SEAL/USMC sniper element set up a hide in an apartment tower complex to serve as overwatch for the Marines below.