Posted on 07/29/2006 12:58:46 PM PDT by traumer
RAMADI, Iraq – He was 5 when he first fired an M-16, his father holding him to brace against the recoil. At 17 he enlisted in the Marine Corps, spurred by the memory of Sept. 11.
Now, 21-year-old Galen Wilson has 20 confirmed kills in four months in Iraq – and another 40 shots that probably killed insurgents. One afternoon the lance corporal downed a man hauling a grenade launcher 5½ football fields away.
Wilson is the designated marksman in a company of Marines based in downtown Ramadi, watching over what Marines call the most dangerous neighborhood in the most dangerous city in the world.
Here, Sunni Arab insurgents are intent on toppling the local government protected by Marines.
Wilson, 5-foot-6 with a soft face, is married and has two children and speaks in a deep, steady monotone.
After two tours in Iraq, his commanders in the 3rd Battalion, 8th Regiment call him a particularly mature Marine, always collected and given to an occasional wry grin.
His composure is regularly tested. Swaths of central and southern Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, are dominated by insurgents who regularly attack the provincial government headquarters that Marines protect.
During a large-scale attack on Easter Sunday, Wilson says, he spotted six gunmen on a rooftop about 400 yards away. In about 8 seconds he squeezed off five rounds – hitting five gunmen in the head. The sixth man dived off a 3-story building just as Wilson got him in his sights, and counts as a probable death.
“You could tell he didn't know where it was coming from. He just wanted to get away,” Wilson said. Later that day, he said, he killed another insurgent.
Wilson says his skill helps save American troops and Iraqi civilians.
“It doesn't bother me. Obviously, me being a devout Catholic, it's a conflict of interest. Then again, God supported David when he killed Goliath,” Wilson said. “I believe God supports what we do and I've never killed anyone who wasn't carrying a weapon.”
He was raised in a desolate part of the Rocky Mountains outside Colorado Springs, “surrounded by national parks on three sides,” he says. He regularly hunted before moving to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as a teenager. His brother also serves in the military.
Guns have long been part of Wilson's life. His father was a sniper in the Navy SEALS. He remembers first firing a sniper rifle at age 6. By the time he enlisted he had already fired a .50-caliber machine gun.
“My father owned a weapons dealership, so I've been around exotic firearms all my life,” said Wilson, who remembers practicing on pine cones and cans. “My dad would help me hold (an M-16), with the butt on his shoulder, and walk me through the steps of shooting.”
Technically, Wilson is not a sniper – he's an infantryman who also patrols through the span of destroyed buildings that make up downtown Ramadi. But as his unit's designated marksman, he has a sniper rifle. In the heat of day or after midnight, he spends hours on rooftop posts, peering out onto rows of abandoned houses from behind piles of sandbags and bulletproof glass cracked by gunfire.
Sometimes individual gunmen attack, other times dozens. Once Wilson shot an insurgent who was “turkey peeking” – Marine slang for stealing glances at U.S. positions from behind a corner. Later, the distance was measured at 514 meters – 557 yards.
“I didn't doubt myself, if I was going to hit him. Maybe if I would have I would have missed,” Wilson said.
The key to accuracy is composure and experience, Wilson says. “The hardest part is looking, quickly adjusting the distance (on a scope), and then getting a steady position for a shot before he gets a shot off. For me, it's toning everything out in my head. It's like hearing classical music playing in my head.”
Though Wilson firmly supports the war, he used to wonder how his actions would be received back home.
“At first you definitely double-guess telling your wife, mom, and your friends that you've killed 20 people,” Wilson said. “But over time you realize that if they support you ... maybe it'll make them feel that much safer at home.”
He acknowledges that brutal acts of war linger in the mind.
“Some people, before they're about to kill someone, they think that – 'Hey, I'm about to kill someone.' That thought doesn't occur to me. It may sound cold, but they're just a target. Afterward, it's real. You think, 'Hey, I just killed someone,'” says Wilson.
Insurgents “have killed good Marines I've served with. That's how I sleep at night,” he says. “Though I've killed over 20 people, how many lives would those 20 people have taken?”
Wilson plans to leave the Marines after his contract expires next year and is thinking of joining a SWAT Team in Florida – possibly as a sniper.
Of course the MSM will put these terrorist/terrorist supporters on the list of civilians killed.
That's why it is good to get things like this reported. Thanks
I'm sure the men in your command would appreciate your wise concern as you perform penis check on the A-10 pilot about to take out the enemy position that has you pinned down.
Another American hero. They come in many shapes, colors and sizes and always have. Thank God for them each and every one.
"I agree. The .223 ain't long range. It's a close action assault weapon. If he's sniping, he's doing it with a heavy caliber weapon."
The .223 is quite accurate at that range with a 62-grain bullet. For 1000 yds, you do have to go up to an 80 grain projectile that can't fit the magazine (you single load each round), but not at 400 meters and certainly not at 250m. Now, lethality at that range does favor 7.62 NATO, but not accuracy. The Service Rifle winners at Perry tend to use match-conditioned AR-15/M16s now (floated heavy barrel and 2-stage trigger), not the M-14 or M1.
"That was then. glad to hear the M-16 has been improved but if I had my druthers.....it'd be the M1-A1."
A tank usually does beat a rifle. ;)
"She was tougher and more capable than half the other Sergeants in the unit."
You thought she was.
"It may be the received wisdom of the ages, but that doesn't actually make it right."
You're turning it around backwards and then contradicting that backwards construct.
To turn it around frontwards again, the fact that it's right makes it right, and that is why it is the wisdom of the ages.
You see, that is why things get to be the wisdom of the ages. It's a process something like evolution, in which bad ideas eventually kill their proponents, and good, true ideas get to be the wisdom of the ages. Read your Hayek.
"Not all men are suited to warfare, either."
Some men aren't; no woman is.
"I'm sure the men in your command would appreciate your wise concern as you perform penis check on the A-10 pilot about to take out the enemy position that has you pinned down."
A logical fallacy is an ugly thing.
That particular check should have been done at the recruiting office, making it a non-issue.
No matter how many women may scale the lofty heights of military mediocrity, there are always a thousand men who could have done a better job.
Basically what our fine marksman is sayig is "We've given you the right to vote, the right to free expression, including criticism of us, the right to demonstrate in the streets and to write or watch or say anything you want, including political organizing. If you want to pick up a weapon 'cause you think you have more rights than others through the use of that weapon and violating the peace, I'm here with a bullet with your name on it to tell you no."
Good on you.
God Bless this troopers who protect their brothers and sister in harms way and those of us here at home. Good shooting!
I preferred the squat position. I could drop down fast and get the shot off, and then resume walking immediately. With my knee cartilage gone, I cannot imagine doing that now!
"One Shot, One Kill. OutFreakingstanding!"
Or - in this case - five shots, six kills!
Using the same magic bullets Oswald used, each bullet goes through multiple people!
His dad knew what he was doing. That isn't just for kids.
I have a friend who's a POST-certified police trainer in unarmed combat. He's plenty comfortable with firearms -- I've been to the range with him many times, and seen him handle an array of weapons -- but it's not his field of expertise.
The first time one of his fellow instructors handed him a full-auto M-16 on the range, the instructor stood behind him, with both his hands on both my friend's shoulders.
Apparently, it's not uncommon for someone who's new to full-auto fire to lose his footing and tip backward, and not everyone has the presence of mind to release the trigger when that happens.
My friend kept his footing just fine, and he only had the human backstop the first time. The wild-spray scenario might only happen one time in a hundred, but those odds still justify the precaution.
That is a well known fact.
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