USA Today has a profile on U.S. Army snipers at work in the urban warfare of Iraq.
The sun was sinking at the desert's edge when Sgt. Randall Davis, an Army sniper, spotted his target: an armed Iraqi on a rooftop about 300 yards away. ''It was just getting dark. I saw a guy step in front of the light,'' Davis, 25, recalls.Posted by Alan at December 26, 2003 08:08 AMHe says he knew he was watching another sniper by the way the man stepped back into the shadows and crept along the roofline to spy on a squad from his unit, B Company of the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, known as the ''5-20.''
''Most people, when they get on a roof, will just move around and do what they've got to do,'' Davis says. ''This guy was moving slowly, trying to have smooth motions, trying to stay in the shadows.''
From his own rooftop position, Davis tracked the man through the sight of his M-14 rifle. He didn't have to wait long before the enemy sniper made another mistake. ''He silhouetted his rifle from the waist up, trying to look over at the guys in the courtyard.''
Davis fired one shot. ''I hit him in the chest. He fell back. His rifle flew out of his hands.''
It was Davis' eighth confirmed kill. Earlier, he had killed seven enemy fighters in a single day.