Earned: My Journey to becoming a Hunter of Man by Robert Terkla & nicholas irving

Author:Robert Terkla & nicholas irving [Terkla, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-08-24T04:00:00+00:00

A Snipers Dream

“Roger Sentinel. Cleared for infill to rally point, Yankee. Scorpion Three, Out.” Our base commander's voice was garbled, but discernable through my radio earpiece

“We got the green light, Eric, let’s roll,” I said over to my spotter, who was pulling security a few yards from me.

This was the moment every sniper dreams of. A Hathcock moment is the best I could describe it. Moments when there’s no room for collateral damage, and our high-value target of interest was better off dead. The stealth of a sniper team and precision of their rifles are the only tools needed for this mission.

Practicing stalks in sniper school and perfecting the art in hunting man was one thing, but doing it was another. Having that opportunity to display this unique talent on the battlefield is what a sniper's dreams are made of. A sniper can serve out his entire career and never pull the trigger, let alone conduct a live stalk. Getting the green light from our commander, made up for all the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into this craft.

Eric and I were getting our last minute items together. We planned to be at our second checkpoint before sunrise. An eight-mile movement at a cautiously slow pace would take some time. Moving out before sunset would put us on a few hours ahead of schedule. Having the extra time allowed my team to set up our hide sight before the locals got out of bed.

Being the sniper team leader for the mission, it was my job to conduct planning beforehand. The area I decided to take our shot from was five hundred yards from a small Afghan village. Our target, Assad Rashmi, was a high-value target that moved around our area of operations. Our intel showed Rashmi had been the mastermind behind a string of IED attacks in the region. He was also responsible for the most recent series of IED attacks near military bases.

We tracked him down and were able to monitor his movements with predator drones. After observing him for a few weeks, we were able to see a pattern in his actions. While Rashmi moved around, often sporadically, he returned to one place regularly. Every three weeks, Rashmi made a stop at a small village to harass and collect money from the locals. He and his goons would stick around and receive what they needed, then leave the following early morning.

The money that Rashmi stole from the local villagers would be used to purchase the materials used to make IEDs. His preferred choice of IED, a pressure plate packed with seventy pounds of explosives. Rashmi’s IEDs was not only devastating, but they were also becoming the number one cause of casualties’ in the area.

In the early years of the war, a drone observing Rashmi could have dropped a bomb on him. Due to political interference and the shift in rules of engagement, collateral damage was unacceptable. Each time a building shook from an explosion nearby, and a villager’s door fell, we paid the bill.

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