Hogs in the Shadows: Combat Stories from Marine Snipers in Iraq

by Milo S. Afong

Overview

They have one mission? and they accomplish it with one bullet.

In Operation Iraqi Freedom, there is a special breed of hunter for whom the prey is the enemy-and every day is hunting season. This soldier is a HOG-a Hunter of Gunman. These stories give firsthand accounts of just how dangerous Iraq can be, the experience of these young men, and the consequences involved with being on a Marine Scout/Sniper team-an elite group that few can make, and possessing the precision that no others can master.

From sniping on a rooftop in Baghdad to unknowingly being surrounded in a palm grove in the city of Hit, these stories will transport the reader right into the heat of the desert war, where one shot can make all the difference.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425223826
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/02/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	719,773
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Milo S. Afong is the recipient of the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with the Combat Distinguishing Device.

Table of Contents

Way of the Hog     1
Ambush in Ramadi: Sergeant Romeo     11
East Side of Hit: Sergeant Clifton     32
Airfield in Baghdad: Corporal Mulder     51
April in Fallujah: Lance Corporal Cody     71
April in Fallujah II: Corporal Ethan     93
Seminole on the Roof: Sergeant Reyes     113
Recon Sniper: Sergeant Jack     133
November in Fallujah: Sergeant Memo     157
Bad Comm: Sergeant Longoria     180
Hunting in Husaybah: Sergeant May     195
Operator's Journey: Sergeant CJ     217
The Last Mission: Sergeant Afong     236
Epilogue     257
Acknowledgments     261

Editorial Reviews

A riveting view behind the sniper rifle.”—Marco Martinez, author of Hard Corps

“Anyone doubting the nature of America’s mission in Iraq need look no further than these grim accounts.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“HOGs in the Shadows will give you a personal look inside the mentally and physically demanding world of the Marine Sniper in combat, almost to the point you could feel the recoil yourself.” —SFC Frank R. Antenori, U.S. Army Special Forces (Retired), and author of Roughneck Nine One: The Extraordinary Story of a Special Forces A-Team at War

From the Publisher

Grisly tales of bloodlust in Iraq by much decorated Marine sniper Afong. Plodding through these 11 secondhand accounts of recent operations in Iraq, plus one in which the author participated, the reader comes away with the impression that men indeed relish going to war. Marine snipers are the best-trained killers of all, as Afong proudly reports in his work, which is full of impressive-sounding military acronyms, such as SLUG (Slow, Lazy, Untrained Gunman), PIG (Professionally Instructed Gunman) and HOG (Hunter of Gunman), the last a prized designation for the Marine scout/sniper. Shooting is only ten percent of the job, writes Afong, the other tasks being tedious defensive operations and keeping roads clear of IEDs, or improvised explosive devices. But hunting provides gratification to these killers, and Afong offers plenty of machine-powered gore, from "Ambush in Ramadi," in which Sgt. Romeo shoots his first insurgent and feels nothing significant except doing what he was trained to do; to "Operator's Journey," in which Sgt. CJ observes a man's head shot off like "an apple being smashed with a sledgehammer." One story has Marines taking potshots at passing trucks loaded with "hajjis" carrying AKs. ("They meet the rules of engagement," says one eager marine to his partner. "Let's shoot 'em.") The point is to demoralize the enemy by flooding the insurgent city of Fallujah with music, destroying houses and leveling buildings and vaporizing anyone on the streets with bombs or machine guns. As the dead bodies lay untended, any insurgents dashing to move their fallen comrades are shot instantly by the Americans. One sniper called Ethan watches with satisfaction when the dogs move in to devourthe flesh of the corpses. The more bodies the Marines bring down, the more high-fives all around. Afong's "Final Mission" relates his accidental killing of a 14-year-old boy, and the author remarks with a wry shrug, "It was all just an unfortunate consequence of war."Anyone doubting the nature of America's mission in Iraq need look no further than these grim accounts.

Kirkus Reviews