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

I
N THE
 V
ILLAGES
W
ith things relatively calm in Sadr City, we were given a new area
to target. IED-makers and other insurgents had set up shop in a
series of villages near Baghdad, trying to operate under the radar as
they supplied weapons and manpower to fight Americans and the
loyal Iraqi forces. The Mahdi army was out there, and the area was
a virtual no-go zone for Americans.
We had worked with members of 4-10 Mountain Division
during much of the Sadr City battle. They were fighters. They
wanted to be in the shit—and they certainly got their wish there.
Now as we bumped out into the villages outside the city, we were
happy to have a chance to work with them again. They knew the
area. Their snipers were especially good, and having them along
improved our effectiveness.
O
ur jobs are the same, but there are a few differences between
Army and SEAL snipers. For one thing, Army snipers use spotters,
which we don’t, as a general rule. Their weapon set is a bit smaller
than ours.
But the bigger difference, at least at first, had to do with tactics
and the way they were deployed. Army snipers were more used to
going out in three- or four-man groups, which meant they couldn’t
stay out for very long, certainly not all night.
The SEAL task unit, on the other hand, moved in heavy and

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locked down an area, basically looking for a fight and having the
enemy provide us with one. It wasn’t so much an overwatch
anymore as a dare: 
Here we are; come and get us.
And they did: village after village, the insurgents would come and
try and kill us; we’d take them down. Typically, we’d spend at least
one night and usually a few, going in and extracting after sunset.
In this area, we ended up going back to the same village a few
times, usually taking a different house each time. We’d repeat the
process until all the local bad guys were dead, or at least until they
understood that attacking us was not very smart.
It was surprising how many idiots you had to kill before they
finally got that point.