In that book they talk about deploying a scoped M2.  I have never shot a M2 let alone one with a  scope on it.  My question is how in the hell would you get a bead on something and be able to thumb the butterfly without getting a black eye?  Wouldn't the recoil send the scope into your eye socket?  I'm not doubting that it was done, I'm just wondering how.......

The type of scope on the M2 had an extended eye relief of about 12 inches. The same type scope used on some pistols.

red man

I've seen a pic of the setup. It looked more like a movie cam than a sniper setup.

An M2 .50 BMG machine gun?  cool.  Maybe I should read that book.

It's a must read... Great book about Carlos Hathcock.  If you don't know who he is you will after you read the book.  I'm reading the second book about him right now.  It's called Silent Warrior.  I'm not a big book reader but I couldn't put either of these two book down.  

I read it years ago. Great read. A true american hero. I met a few shooters who he had trained. They were good AND in complete awe of Carlos Hathcock.

Great book! a must read for everyone.
[sniper]

I also like Codename: Copperhead for realistic insight to specops and Vietnam.

Good book.
Also I believe he did it on tripod with a T/E on it. It aint gonna go no where. We put night vision scopes on the brownings on full auto, no problem.


My favorite Vietnam books in no particular order are:

The 5 fingers (i believe thats it)
Mike Force
LRRP (the professional) by Frank Camper

Hamburger

It's definitely a must read.  The new one, Silent Warrior didn't add much to the story in my opinion.  

That's actually my coffee table book!

Also, a great read on a plane, since you'll get some very strange looks...  [:D]

I read silent warrior( i think that was the title) and the first page talks about him shoot the bike of a kid with the handle bars and kids shoulders loaded down with AK's then after the kid falls he grabs an AK and put a magazine in it and then BLAMMOOO. no more kid!

STRIKER  where did you get the video i would love to see it .I have read all the books and THAT IS ONE AMAZING MAN!!!

A definite "Read", and a great story about a damned good man!

-Troy

killer book. plaster also has one called 's.o.g.' which is great also.

The book was a great read.  Descriptive and captivating.  The part of the book that sticks in my mind is the part about the VC lady sniper.  The screams in the night...  There was some sick stuff that went on.  Every man that reads this book has nightmares about the VC lady cutting off the GI's plumbing...  I couldn't imagine.

The book was cool and would recommend it to anyone interested in Vietnam and our presence there.

fuatos

Yes, good reading and real.  That VC bunch did some real bad stuff to our folks.  It was easy to pop those bad guys when the treated our folks so bad.

I still remember the slow crawling up to get the "big dog" at a house.  I can't believe the patience it took to get in close with all the guards and patrols.  Then after the kill shot, hauling back to the LZ  for 3 miles in about 15 minutes!  That would be hard after the long time of laying and crawling.  There is lots of detail in the book on sniping.

If you're going to do some Vietnam reading, be careful, there's LOTS of fakes and phonies out there.
A disgrace named "Gayle Rivers" wrote
'The Five Fingers,
'Kill House'
'The War Against The Terrorist'
and 'Specialist, My Life in SpecOps' anong others.
This jerk was appearing on British and American TV (in a MASK, for crist sake) as an expert on Special forces ops.  He was exposed when some SEALS read his book 'War Against Terrorists', and 'Specialist'. They get a good laugh at most of this crap, but when he wrote that he had been giving the SEALS underwater demolition training, they got mad and called some friends in the British SAS.  The SAS'ers called some newspaper friends at The Times in London who did a little research with the Austrialian press.
"Gayle Rivers" was a QUARTERMASTER serving the Ausy SAS regiment.  He left the army one step ahead of a court martial, and using his knowlege of the SAS, set himself up as a SpecOps 'expert and author'.  When he was exposed by the Times, British TV stopped using him.  To give you an idea of how smart people are, the U.S. press continued to use him for another year or so.  He's no doubt, still out there under another name.

James Reeves wrote 'Mekong' and 'Covert Actions'
about SEAL ops.  Reeves was a Navy aircraft mechanic at the Memphis NAS.  Never a SEAL, never in Vietnam.

Some bozo who I can't remember right now wrote a book about his time with Special Forces, in which the first several pages appeared to be his service record, listing numorius medals, with areas blacked out 'for security".  This clown wrote this book while doing life in a Federal slammer for multiple murder.  No Special Forces, no Vietnam, no military service AT ALL.

Another book of recent years was by a Navy vet who was a member of a CIA special ops team in Vietnam.  No such service-fake.

If you want the straight stuff, read the works by the real guys--Marchinko, Walsh, Watson, etc.

Read "Five Fingers" several years ago. If I remember correctly the author had a team of 5 men caught in an ambush. They supposedly killed about  2000 VC with no causalities to themselves. Like I really believe that! Totally unbelievable book.

I've never met Marcinco, but the five or six folks I've talked with who do know him say he's as full of bull as anyone else.  Writes entertaining books, though.

Eddie

What's odd is that Hathcock wasn't the highest scoring marine sniper in Vietnam.  I'm ashamed to admit that I can't remember the man's name.
He went home to Oregon or Washington, became a state forest ranger, and retired from the public view.

Read the book about Carlos 3 times and am going to read it again as my cousin brought me a copy. The man had nerves of steel. Cannot believe how he could keep his cool all of the time. Shot PD's here with a Bob Wise from PA whom met him at Perry. He couldn't remember if it was before he went to Nam or  between first and second tour. He said by talking with him you would never guess he could do what he did, was a hell of a shot at Perry but did not appear as the hero he was. He said you couldn't have found a more likeable and no BS person. Still haven't figured out how you carry that big a set of balls through the jungle. Do you use a travoy or a wheelbarrow? Wheelbarrow would be harder to camo. Couldn't just drag them. Where all he went they would have been  sore as hell. Would have screamed louder from the pain then seeing the bamboo viper. If you have never read this book you need to too realize what some of our soldiers went through over there. Good day.

All i can think about when I read the book is who much I would have liked to meet him.  Maybe sit down and pick his brain a little.  

Like it says in the book it wasn't that he had the most kills.  I don't have the time to find the quote in the book but basically it says anybody could go out and rack up kills.  What was amazing about Gunny Hathcock was the way he got his 93.  
Doorgunner...get the movie. It's almost as good as asking him yourself.

My wife and I got to meet carlos hathcock (white feather) at a gun show he did here in pa. I bought the MARINE SNIPER book from him and he autographed it for us and he autographed a bookmarker also for us. [sniper]

That would be Chuck Mawhinney, IIRC he got 101 confirmed. He was all but forgotten until 1991 when Joseph Ward wrote "Dear Mom: A Sniper's Vietnam" and noted that he had 100+ confirmed.

There was an Army sniper that got around 130 confirmed in VN, but he was choppered out to target rich areas, racked up some kills, then caught a ride back to base.

YES Have you read the Silent Warriors? I  also have his two sighned prints one by Max Grace and the other by Michael Wooten.  [sniper]

The 103 kill Army guy would be Adelbert Waldron.
Hathcock and Mawhinney were true snipers in the essense of the word.