Modern American Snipers (42 page)

Also, thank you to Brandon Webb and Jack Murphy and the entire gang at SOFREP for showing the faith in this “been here, done jack” to create something worthy of their name.

The same goes for my editor, Marc Resnick, and St. Martin's Press. I had pored through any number of books he's edited and it's pretty cool to be on the other end of things. The operational tempo and intelligence fusion required on the publisher's end to pull this off would have left Stanley McChrystal dizzy.

Thanks to the dozens of guys who were willing to share their experiences downrange, both anonymously and on the record. The personalities were wide-ranging, but to a man, they were extremely generous with both their time and what they were willing to share.

I'd also like to say thanks for the dozens of incredible reporters whose work served as sources of both inspiration and knowledge. Writers such as Sean Naylor, Mark Urban, Marc Ambinder, Mark Bowden, and David Brown really do amazing work in a difficult field. There are too many others to mention—if not pared down, this title's bibliography could be longer than the rest of the book.

Finally, I want to thank all of my friends and family, but in particular, my parents, Don and Rita, who have always been more supportive than I could have dreamed.

This book would have never happened if not for my dad and on multiple levels. He was the young MACV-SOG Green Beret featured in chapter 13, and his service sparked my lifelong interest in special operations—particularly black ops. It was the same story over and over again when I approached spec ops snipers about possibly participating in the book. “Who are you?” “I'm a motorsports journalist.” “Why are you writing this? Why you do care?” After I'd give them a brief background, the standard response was, “Wow! MACV-SOG, those guys are my heroes.…”

I never wanted to make it seem as if I was trading on my dad's achievements, but I think that history made them understand the sort of respect I have for the type of work they do and made it a bit easier to trust someone they didn't know.

 

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