World Famous Comics: Trigger Men: Shadow Team, Spider-Man, the Magnificent Bastards, and the American Combat Sniper
Trigger Men: Shadow Team, Spider-Man, the Magnificent Bastards, and the American Combat Sniper
By: Hans Halberstadt Publisher: St. Martin's Press Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: St. Martin's Press Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 304 Publication Date: March 18, 2008 Release Date: March 18, 2008
Combat veteran and author Hans Halberstadt takes readers deeper inside the elusive world of snipers than ever before, from recruitment and training to the brutality of the killing fields.
Shadow Team is probably the most productive sniper team in American military history, accounting for 276 confirmed kills in a six months span with no casualties of their own. Their leader made what was, and may still be, the longest range kill with a 7.62mm rifle. For the first time ever they explain what it's like to kill a man and what it takes to become one of the elite.
The tragic tale of Headhunter Two is altogether different. This four man sniper team from a regiment known within the Corps as the Magnificent Bastards was killed in 2004 in Ramadi, Iraq. Their deaths not only caused a reevaluation of sniper tactics and techniques, but created a desire for vengeance that was exacted nearly two years later in dramatic fashion.
Based on hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews, Halberstadt gets inside the sniper mind and shows how they think and interact with each other, how missions are planned and executed, how the weapons work, and even what happens when a bullet finally strikes its target. There are only a few hundred snipers from all the services put together in combat at any one time, making this true inside story a rare and important event.
Both a uniquely intimate look at what makes a sniper tick and a harrowing read filled with dramatic war tales, Trigger Men is a book about killers and killing, without apology and without remorse.
Interesting topic, poor execution. I picked this book up after browsing the first chapter, and reading the reviews on the back, including a few from authors I know and respect. Unfortunately, I did not realize until I had bought it that the reviews were for a different book by the same author.
There was quite a bit of really compelling stuff in this book - but not enough to fill the pages. The book is repetitive, and there is some really bad editing at times. The author describes the same equipment and situations over and over again. It seemed haphazardly written, and poorly organized.
I would classify this as one of 'those' books on current events, where some corners were cut, and some filler put in to get it to press while most relevant.
Outstanding This book highlight a new face of the sniper's job, and how they must deal with the new form of war. But, in the same time, the author show us how easily the sniper is able to adapt his behaviour and its tactics to the new type of war is facing every day in Irak.
Triggermen is MUST Reading for Professionals With his newest installment from an already well appreciated line of excellent books on various tactical aspects of military warfare, author Hans Halberstadt has again blessed military & police "operators" and the interested civilian readers with an outstanding text on the art of long and short range sniping. In my humble opinion, no one writing about military warfare and tactics has quite captured the essence of the psychological, physiological, technical and tactical aspects of "projecting force from afar" like Halberstadt since the late Carlos "White Feather" Hathcock, USMC wrote his military classic on snipers.
Make no mistake about it, "Triggermen" is not for those with a weak stomach. Author Halberstadt, through the stories of the snipers he interviewed for this book, allow the reader into the deep recesses of the military sniper's mind. For civilian readers, this book takes one on a unique journey where you begin to appreciate the mental and physical hardships associated with becoming a sniper on today's ever changing battlefield. From training, to target acquisition, to trigger compression, to terminal velocity; Hans Halberstadt transitions the reader from arm chair to prone position with eyes on the target. It just doesn't get any better than that!
"Triggermen" is MUST reading for all military and police operators; those seeking to be; and those who dream about what it would be like to defend this nation with a long gun and a scope. Five stars and a special salute to Hans Halberstadt!
Dr. Ron Martinelli Criminologist/Law Enforcement Training Consultant Technical Advisor, "Military & Law Enforcement Snipers" The History & Discovery Channels Martinelli & Associates: Justice Consultants, LLC The Officer Safety Institute Temecula, California
The Most Efficient Weapon on the Battlefield Much like Greg Mast, I must confess to being a dear friend of Hans. As one of the Commanders of a large regional SWAT Team, and the Sniper Element Commander of that team, I was delighted when Hans told me of his plans to write this superb book. Many previous works on sniping have documented the history of this deadly art, others have listed in great detail the hardware and tactics used by snipers, but none that I have read before have taken this approach of providing intimate, personal accounts of this specialized profession, straight from the mouths of the men in the field. I have also had the pleasure of meeting and sharing stories with Major Charles Greene, the inspiration for Trigger Men. This book is a fitting tribute to Greene and all the other military snipers who have proven time and time again that the most efficient, fearsome and cost-effective weapon on the battlefield is the sniper. Hans has done a magnificent job of turning these individual vignettes into an informative, insightful and thorough look into the world of combat sniping. No student of the military or the rifle should be without it.
Captain Nicholas Gottuso SWAT/Sniper Team Commander
Trigger Men : Telling it like it is My name is James "Rock" McGlynn. I was a Marine Scout/Sniper and I fought in Beirut Lebanon in 1983. Hans Halberstadt was gracious enough to interview me for this book and I think this book has the ability to give it's readers a much better understanding of what it means to be a "Sniper" on the modern battlefeild. There are a whole handfull of books on store shelves about us.I have been written about in a few of them. Yet, "Trigger Men" will give you a view that not many of you have ever witnessed before. The art and the craft of being a Sniper has evolved into a new era. The Battles we are fighting in the Middleast and the urban settings in which those battles are taking place, have forced the modern day Sniper to adapt and overcome many obstacles that previous generations did not have to deal with. This book tells the actual stories from those of us that have been there. I strongly reccomend this book to you. It is written well and it's told without being filtered. You get the realism that others may have lacked. Not because other books are not truthful but, because Hans has written it without being apologetic or fearful of offending. Combat is the most Barbaric event that man can partake in but, killing the enemy is what it's all about. Snipers' kill with accuracy that our enemies have never seen before. "Trigger Men" will bring it home to you. Thanks, Hans for writting a great book and I am honored to have been included in it. Semper Fi Rock McGlynn