Dear Mom: A Sniper's Vietnam [Paperback]

In Vietnam's jungle war, only one group of men was feared more than death itself—the Marine Scout Snipers. . . .

The U.S. Marine Scout Snipers were among the most highly trained soldiers in Vietnam. With their unparalleled skill, freedom of movement, and deadly accurate long-range Remington 700 bolt rifles, the Scout Snipers were sought after by every Marine unit—and so feared by the enemy that the VC bounty on the Scout Snipers was higher than on any other elite American unit.

Joseph Ward's letters home reveal a side of war seldom seen. Whether under nightly mortar attack in An Hoa, with a Marine company in the bullet-scarred jungle, on secret missions to Laos, or on dangerous two-man hunter-kills, Ward lived the war in a way few men did. And he fought the enemy as few men did—up close and personal.Joseph T. Wardwas born in 1949 and grew up in New Raymer, Colorado, population 100, in the heart of the Pawnee National Grassland. He began target shooting with a Remington single-shot .22-caliber rifle at the age of five, under the supervision of his mother, Doris, and older brother, Larry. His family moved to Longmont, Colorado, in 1961. He was honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps in 1970. In the intervening years he has worked in numerous jobs from gravedigger to engineer in the oil business. Ward began writing Dear Mom: A Sniper’s Vietnam in 1979.Chapter I  A Few Good Men
 
 
 
1st Division
Okinawa
April 5th, 1969
 
Dear Mom,
Well, I’m almost there. I’m in Okinawa and should be leaving for Da Nang today. It doesn’t seem like home is halfway around the world. We’ve been here a couple of days. I was feeling pretty blue when I got here, so I went to the EM club and got drunk.
 
In some sense, my involvement with the U.S. Marine Corps began with the summer of 1967, high school graduation, and four ló,