American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U. S. Military History

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EDISTRIBUTED
A
fter I’d been working with Kilo Company for about two weeks,
the commanders called all the SEAL snipers back so they could
redistribute us where we were needed.
“What the hell are you doing out there?” asked one of the first
SEALs I met. “We’re hearing shit that you’re down there on the
ground.”
“Yeah, I am. No one’s coming out on the street.”
“What the hell are you doing?” he said, pulling me aside. “You
know if our CO finds out you’re doing this, you’re out of here.”
He was right, but I shrugged him off. I knew in my heart what I
had to do. I also felt pretty confident in the officer who was my
immediate commander. He was a straight shooter and all about
doing the job that needed to get done.
Not to mention the fact that I was so far out of touch with my
top command that it would have taken a long time for them to find
out, let alone issue the orders to get me pulled out.

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A bunch of other guys came over and started agreeing with me:
down on the street was where we needed to be. I have no idea
what they ended up doing; certainly, for the record, they all
remained on the roofs, sniping.
“Well hell, instead of using that Marine M-16,” said one of the
East Coast boys, “I brought my M-4 with me. You can borrow it if
you want.”
“Really?”
I took it and wound up getting a bunch of kills on it. The M-16
and the M-4 are both good weapons; the Marines prefer the latest
model of the M-16 for various reasons that have to do with the way
they usually fight. Of course, my preference in close quarters
combat was for the short-barreled M-4, and I was glad to borrow
my friend’s gun for the rest of my time in Fallujah.
I was assigned to work with Lima Company, which was
operating a few blocks away from Kilo. Lima was helping fill in
holes—taking down pockets of insurgents who had crept in or been
bypassed. They were seeing a lot of action.
That night, I went over and talked to the company leadership in
a house they’d taken over earlier in the day. The Marine
commander had already heard what I’d been doing with Kilo, and
after we talked a bit, he asked what I wanted to do.
“I’d like to be down on the street with y’all.”
“Good enough.”
Lima Company proved to be another great group of guys.

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