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'The Reaper' is gripping autobiography of sniper who killed record 33 Taliban in Afghanistan deployment
Special Ops sniper Nicholas Irving recounts the graphic details of his point-blank kills in Afghanistan as the first African-American sniper with the Third Ranger Battalion.
Courtesy of Nicholas IrvingSpecial Operations Direct Action Sniper Nicholas Irving was the first African-American sniper with the Third Ranger Battalion when he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009.
“You become a sniper; you want to shoot.”
So writes Special Operations Direct Action Sniper Nicholas Irving in “The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers,” a gripping account from a man whose lethal aim took out 33 Taliban fighters on one deployment, a record.
As the movie “American Sniper,” the story of the legendary Seal Team Three sniper Chris Kyle, stirs high-voltage controversy, “The Reaper” enters the fray.
Irving’s graphic report of point-blank kills, co-written with Gary Brozek, will be too much to take for some.
When Irving was deployed to Afghanistan’s Helmand Province as Sniper Squad Team Leader in 2009, the first African-American sniper with the Third Ranger Battalion, he didn’t expect to see much action. Though the area was a safe haven for enemy fighters and the hub of the heroin pipeline that funded the Taliban’s war, the Second Battalion reported their tour of duty there to be so quiet they advised incoming guys to bring their Xbox.
Courtesy of Nicholas IrvingIrving and fellow sniper faced a tense standoff with The Chechen, a notorious sniper who was rumored to have at least 300 kills, and had to literally run for their lives. Enlarge
Courtesy of Nicholas Irving
Irving's lethal aim took out 33 Taliban fighters on one deployment, a record.
Enlarge
Irving's lethal aim took out 33 Taliban fighters on one deployment, a record.
Yet barely hours after arrival, Irving was in gear covering Charlie Company First Platoon as they hunted down a High Value Target (HVT), a supplier of bulletproof vests to the Taliban. At an insertion point near Kandahar, Irving cradled “Dirty Diana,” his SR-25, a gun he loved so much he repainted its pattern every two weeks.
In less than 30 seconds of engagement, he shot two Taliban. Back at base, he had only eight hours to recuperate before he was sent into an enemy compound where he brought down a suicide bomber just as he was reaching to detonate his vest.
Irving had hot hands.
It was those hands that brought him into a hellfire standoff with The Chechen, a notorious sniper who’d been around since the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, with a rumored 300 kills.
'The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers' by Nicholas Irving and Gary Brozek.
It began when a couple of guys with long beards and clothes smothered in dirt entered base. Irving thought he’d spotted Bigfoot. They were RECCE, members of the Ranger Regimental Reconnaissance Division, little seen but much talked about. A special unit, the men often went native to gather intelligence and stalk HVTs.
They wanted Irving and a small team of chosen hot hands to travel into a remote and desolate section of the province with them to bring down a target. Irving’s reaction, he writes, was “Hell Yes!”
After a five-mile, boot-sucking slog through the dunes, Irving took position with Mike Pemberton, his ostensible spotter. But Pemberton wasn’t there just to call calibrations. The two had long agreed Pemberton’s duty was to function as a shooter, too.
They were just outside a village, an established Taliban stronghold, as a 360-degree spray of AK fire and rocket-propelled grenades was unleashed on them. In face of the ambush, they jumped into a hole with a RECCE guy named Derek. The main unit, the Second Platoon, was paralyzed by enemy fire.
Courtesy of Nicholas IrvingIrving and a fellow sniper faced a tense standoff with The Chechen, a notorious sniper who was rumored to have at least 300 kills.
When the dirt in front of Pemberton’s face exploded, the snipers realized they were being stalked by an enemy sniper.
No one wasted time on the irony — survival was at stake.
At the same time, Irving spotted men setting up a machine gun on a roof. They had to be stopped. Pemberton was pinned down by the sniper fire, but Irving managed to edge his weapon out of the hole, eyed the rooftop through his scope, and brought down the guy at the machine gun. When a second took his place, he died too.
The Chechen continued to fire. “For the first time I was at the other end of the scope, and I didn’t like it,” Irving writes.
Courtesy of Nicholas IrvingA fellow sniper is perched on a ridge in Helmund in Afghanistan.
The Chechen was good, and what impressed Irving the most is that no one could get a fix on where he was firing from. In his mind’s eye he recalled a building to the left in such an advantaged position it would have called out to a sniper looking to nest.
Pemberton rolled out of the hole, bullets striking where he had just been on each turn, as Irving laid covering fire.
He skirmished himself into position above ground with Pemberton. It was then he realized that The Chechen couldn’t be hit. The sniper was using a tactic impossible to counter, shooting from back in the room through a small hole beneath the windowsill. From this distance, Irving couldn’t fit a round into that tiny a space.
The RECCE team leader called out that he had one smoke grenade and one lethal grenade. The choice was to pop smoke and try to bound out — or to end it all by hugging the live ammo.
Courtesy of Nicholas IrvingIrving and other battalion members provide fire on a roof as a medevac is called in for the wounded.
“Pemberton’s face was inches from mine. I nodded at him, and we both smiled, wordlessly letting each other know how we felt. We bumped fists, and I felt this knot in my throat choking me.”
They popped the smoke and went for it. The Chechen was still out there and supersonic snaps passed close to Irving’s ears. They got as far as another ditch, when Irving made the mistake of pulling a platoon leader close to shout in his ear. The guy took the sniper’s bullet in the chest, but survived.
Through covering fire, the men finally made it to the safe house.
July 10, 2009, would live in Irving’s memory as the longest day of his life. It wasn’t his last mission, but he decided it was his last deployment. He’d racked up 33 kills (probably more undocumented) and a legend. It was time for the 23-year-old to go home.
What are coli thoughts of this dude , is he right or wrong should we getting involved in this silly Muslim - Christian fight that doesn't really concern us , when we could use the attention to more productively by building are economic , social and political power instead of helping fight in the middle east .
Special Ops sniper Nicholas Irving recounts the graphic details of his point-blank kills in Afghanistan as the first African-American sniper with the Third Ranger Battalion.
“You become a sniper; you want to shoot.”
So writes Special Operations Direct Action Sniper Nicholas Irving in “The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers,” a gripping account from a man whose lethal aim took out 33 Taliban fighters on one deployment, a record.
As the movie “American Sniper,” the story of the legendary Seal Team Three sniper Chris Kyle, stirs high-voltage controversy, “The Reaper” enters the fray.
Irving’s graphic report of point-blank kills, co-written with Gary Brozek, will be too much to take for some.
When Irving was deployed to Afghanistan’s Helmand Province as Sniper Squad Team Leader in 2009, the first African-American sniper with the Third Ranger Battalion, he didn’t expect to see much action. Though the area was a safe haven for enemy fighters and the hub of the heroin pipeline that funded the Taliban’s war, the Second Battalion reported their tour of duty there to be so quiet they advised incoming guys to bring their Xbox.
Irving's lethal aim took out 33 Taliban fighters on one deployment, a record.
Enlarge
Irving's lethal aim took out 33 Taliban fighters on one deployment, a record.
Yet barely hours after arrival, Irving was in gear covering Charlie Company First Platoon as they hunted down a High Value Target (HVT), a supplier of bulletproof vests to the Taliban. At an insertion point near Kandahar, Irving cradled “Dirty Diana,” his SR-25, a gun he loved so much he repainted its pattern every two weeks.
In less than 30 seconds of engagement, he shot two Taliban. Back at base, he had only eight hours to recuperate before he was sent into an enemy compound where he brought down a suicide bomber just as he was reaching to detonate his vest.
Irving had hot hands.
It was those hands that brought him into a hellfire standoff with The Chechen, a notorious sniper who’d been around since the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, with a rumored 300 kills.
It began when a couple of guys with long beards and clothes smothered in dirt entered base. Irving thought he’d spotted Bigfoot. They were RECCE, members of the Ranger Regimental Reconnaissance Division, little seen but much talked about. A special unit, the men often went native to gather intelligence and stalk HVTs.
They wanted Irving and a small team of chosen hot hands to travel into a remote and desolate section of the province with them to bring down a target. Irving’s reaction, he writes, was “Hell Yes!”
After a five-mile, boot-sucking slog through the dunes, Irving took position with Mike Pemberton, his ostensible spotter. But Pemberton wasn’t there just to call calibrations. The two had long agreed Pemberton’s duty was to function as a shooter, too.
They were just outside a village, an established Taliban stronghold, as a 360-degree spray of AK fire and rocket-propelled grenades was unleashed on them. In face of the ambush, they jumped into a hole with a RECCE guy named Derek. The main unit, the Second Platoon, was paralyzed by enemy fire.
When the dirt in front of Pemberton’s face exploded, the snipers realized they were being stalked by an enemy sniper.
No one wasted time on the irony — survival was at stake.
At the same time, Irving spotted men setting up a machine gun on a roof. They had to be stopped. Pemberton was pinned down by the sniper fire, but Irving managed to edge his weapon out of the hole, eyed the rooftop through his scope, and brought down the guy at the machine gun. When a second took his place, he died too.
The Chechen continued to fire. “For the first time I was at the other end of the scope, and I didn’t like it,” Irving writes.
The Chechen was good, and what impressed Irving the most is that no one could get a fix on where he was firing from. In his mind’s eye he recalled a building to the left in such an advantaged position it would have called out to a sniper looking to nest.
Pemberton rolled out of the hole, bullets striking where he had just been on each turn, as Irving laid covering fire.
He skirmished himself into position above ground with Pemberton. It was then he realized that The Chechen couldn’t be hit. The sniper was using a tactic impossible to counter, shooting from back in the room through a small hole beneath the windowsill. From this distance, Irving couldn’t fit a round into that tiny a space.
The RECCE team leader called out that he had one smoke grenade and one lethal grenade. The choice was to pop smoke and try to bound out — or to end it all by hugging the live ammo.
“Pemberton’s face was inches from mine. I nodded at him, and we both smiled, wordlessly letting each other know how we felt. We bumped fists, and I felt this knot in my throat choking me.”
They popped the smoke and went for it. The Chechen was still out there and supersonic snaps passed close to Irving’s ears. They got as far as another ditch, when Irving made the mistake of pulling a platoon leader close to shout in his ear. The guy took the sniper’s bullet in the chest, but survived.
Through covering fire, the men finally made it to the safe house.
July 10, 2009, would live in Irving’s memory as the longest day of his life. It wasn’t his last mission, but he decided it was his last deployment. He’d racked up 33 kills (probably more undocumented) and a legend. It was time for the 23-year-old to go home.
What are coli thoughts of this dude , is he right or wrong should we getting involved in this silly Muslim - Christian fight that doesn't really concern us , when we could use the attention to more productively by building are economic , social and political power instead of helping fight in the middle east .
so true , needs a good black director whose not c00ning and it to be black funded for it to work
might support black economics and buy his book tho
and should get called out for it but he did say
