Shooter: The Autobiography of the Top-Ranked Marine Sniper (18 page)

I was feeling crushed by demoralizing doubt. Killing enemy soldiers had not bothered me, but not hearing from Kim did. Churchill once called his own deep depression the “black dog,” and I could hear that same sort of drooling beast panting hotly in my own ear. Hell of a way to start a day.

I needed to shake up my brain. Too much emotion was creeping into my consciousness, and I could not operate as a shooter that way.

Jack (right) and Casey (left) are outside Ba’ath Party compound in Al Budayr.
(Courtesy of Gunnery Sergeant R. P. Simpson)

Jack on the plane to Kuwait.
(Courtesy of Major B. T. Mangan)

Sergeant Jerry Marsh is at his machine gun in the turret of Casey’s Humvee in the streets of Baghdad.
(Courtesy of Major B. T. Mangan)

First Sergeants Norm Arias (right) and Guy Rosbough (left) rest atop a mountain of money after we break up a bank robbery.
(Courtesy of Major B. T. Mangan)

Sergeant Major “Uncle Dave” Howell.
(Courtesy of Major B. T. Mangan)

Our secret chemical identification specialist—Little Bastard.
(Courtesy of Major B. T. Mangan)

Lieutenant Colonel Bryan P. McCoy (right) addresses the men of the Bull at Camp Ripper, Kuwait. Jack is on the left, and Casey, wearing glasses, is in the middle.
(Courtesy of Major B. T. Mangan)

Corporal Mark Evnin at Camp Ripper, Kuwait.
(Courtesy of Staff Sergeant M. S. Mattson)

Jack shooting from atop of Casey’s Humvee, Afak.
(Courtesy of Gunnery Sergeant R. P. Simpson)

Marines of the 3/4 Battalion, the Bull, move on Ad Diwaniyah.
(Courtesy of Staff Sergeant B. R. Bochenski)

Colonel Steve Hummer, commanding officer of the 7th Marines, gives the order to attack into Baghdad to Lieutenant Colonel McCoy (left), and Major J. M. Baker (right).
(Courtesy of Staff Sergeant B. R. Bochenski)

Jack throws a grenade in Az Zafaraniyah.
(Courtesy of Gary Knight)