I learned about a hero that was a Marine Sniper and was honored by the local government there:
http://www.crowleytoday.com/content/louisiana-soldier-recalls-10-years-marineA few excerpts from the article...
By Howell Dennis
NEWS EDITOR
CROWLEY – “Please don’t over-glorify anything I’ve done,” said Shane Reed, a veteran of 10 years with the United States Marine Corps who eventually became the leader of a sniper platoon and also did some work for some private security firms overseas. “I’m just a redneck who knows how to shoot a rifle.”
For example there was the time he was in Chechnya, and one of his squad members was killed.
“A National Guardsman from Pennsylvania was killed and we basically had no idea where the shot came from,” said Reed.
“We were wearing night vision goggles which can pick up a flash of light from over a mile away,” he continued. “We continued our search for the shooter when I noticed a man who lit a cigarette probably over a mile away. You know how they say smoking can kill you right? We fired a few shots his way, I’d say probably about 10,000 to 15,000 rounds, and we got him.”
“Let’s just say I think he was a little bit heavier when we went to pick him up,” he said with a chuckle.
Another amazing story came from when he was deployed to Afghanistan where he arrived eight days after September 11, 2001.
“We were walking in a small valley between some mountains and I had point,” said Reed, who at that point was a Marine Sniper Platoon Commander. “We had our night vision goggles again and suddenly . . . . well, the best way I can describe it is that the mountains looked like they actually became alive due to all of the movement around us.”
“We backtracked slowly and found that there were two sentries that were standing guard and we took them out,” he said. “Then I called in an airstrike.”
The airstrike Reed called in was responsible for the deaths of over 3,000 enemy soldiers.
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Since the newspaper wrote it, it must be true!
10 points to the person that picks out 5 things that might not quite mesh in that short little excerpt!
