American Sniper - Boekje Pienter

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Being the great warrior he was, Runaway declared to the Marines
that SEALs and snipers were being wasted on sniper overwatch.
“SEALs shouldn’t be here. This isn’t a spec op mission,” he told
them. But the problem wasn’t just the SEALs, as he soon made clear.
“Those Iraqis are going to regroup and overrun us.”
His prediction turned out to be just a little off. But hey, he has a
bright future as a military planner.
THE MARSH
Our real problem was with the insurgents using the marsh across the
river as cover. The river coast was dotted with countless little islands
with trees and brush. Here and there an old foundation or a pile of
dredged dirt and rock poked up between the bushes.
Insurgents would pop up from the vegetation, take their shots,
then squirrel back into the brush where you couldn’t see them. The vegetation
was so thick they could get pretty close not just to the river
but to us—often within a hundred yards without being seen. Even the
Iraqis could hit something from that distance.
Making things even more complicated, a herd of water buffalo
lived in the swamp, and they’d tromp through every so often. You’d
hear something or see the grass move and not know whether it was an
insurgent or an animal.
We tried getting creative, requesting a napalm hit on the marsh to
burn down the vegetation.
That idea was vetoed.
As the nights went on, I realized the number of insurgents was
growing. It became obvious that I was being probed. Eventually, the