Hunters: U.S. Snipers in the War on Terror (18 page)

Later that day, Peeples spotted men carrying RPGs and small arms being loaded inside a car as it sped around a corner and into the sights of a Bradley. The fighting vehicle wasted no time in annihilating the entire car. Men from the car tried climbing out, but they were all killed. When the shooting was finished, bodies lay in the street while the car smoldered. Sometime later, Peeples saw an old lady kick one of the bodies while walking by. Shortly afterward, a dog chewed off the leg of one of the men and dragged it away.

Day three marked the end of the fighting. From there, Peeples and his unit took over a building where they stayed for the rest of his deployment. His platoon made friends with a local family there, and the soldiers realized that the civilians liked them. This one family even cooked for them when they came around. Their interaction was bittersweet, and in the end, Peeples learned that the family’s fourteen-year-old son had been beheaded for helping the U.S. soldiers.

Through it all, Peeples learned a great deal. His personal confidence soared after having survived such heavy fighting, and he felt that he could handle any situation. The biggest lesson he learned, however, was to stay calm and react rationally under fire. That mentality helped him make it to his battalion’s sniper section.

Peeples returned to Germany in May 2005. After a month of leave, he was back in action and volunteered for the battalion’s week-long sniper selection. The summer heat had an effect on the soldiers, and from the beginning, Peeples watched others quit or drop and vowed not to be one of them. One day, as if it was not hot enough, after finishing a two-mile stretcher carry, the candidates were put through sniper disciplines and were made to lie in the red clay dirt in a simulated sniper position. They were not allowed to move for hours, testing their bodies and their minds. When they finally finished, two soldiers were dismissed for moving.

By week’s end a total of three soldiers, including Peeples, had survived. The other thirty-something were dropped, or quit, or could not finish the final event—a nine-mile run with an eighty-pound pack. As gratifying as getting in was, Peeples did not have time to celebrate too much. Though he was part of the platoon, he was not a sniper yet, not until he passed sniper school.

Within months, Peeples was crawling his way through the brigade’s pre-sniper course. There he learned the basics of sniping in shooting, stalking, and mission planning. Though it was a precursor, he took it seriously. The course taught him the essentials, which he needed, because immediately afterward, he was sent to the U.S. Army National Guard Sniper School in Arkansas. Everything that Peeples had learned from the pre-training was developed in finer details there. It made it easier for Peeples, and he passed the course, becoming a certified B4, a U.S. Army sniper.

By now Peeples enjoyed the Army. His family helped him to grow, and they were comfortable with his being in the military. He had survived his first deployment and picked up the rank of sergeant. Back in Germany, with the other snipers being discharged, Peeples slid into a team leader billet. It all seemed to fit, and he figured that he might re-enlist, depending on this next deployment.

Within months, the soldiers were training for Iraq. Once Peeples was acquainted with his new teammate, Specialist Stout, they were joined at the hip. Stout was reliable and hardworking, and though he had not attended sniper school because of an injury, Peeples trusted him completely. The two of them worked on their standard operating procedures and learned each other’s habits.

They also invested in personalized M4s. Peeples bought an Olympic Arms ultra-match twenty-inch barrel with a free-floating tube, which made his standard M4 more accurate. He added a JP adjustable gas system that controlled the rifle’s recoil, allowing him to acquire targets quickly after firing. He also had a few other modifications done and was allowed to use the weapon after combining his personalized upper receiver with a standard-issue M4 lower receiver. Along with his M24 and a .50-cal, he and Stout had a nice selection of weapons, which they were about to put to use in Iraq.

The soldiers knew that the sandbox was their destination, but the exact city was unknown. At the same time, one of Iraq’s most dangerous cities, Ar Ramadi, made daily headlines. Images of suicide bombings and face-covered insurgents waving AKs and declaring war on the U.S. demonstrated the type of enemy there. Peeples sarcastically boasted that they were going there; at least he wanted to, knowing the city was action-packed. He did not want his next deployment to be boring, and amazingly as the soldiers readied to deploy, Peeples’s wish came true.

As mechanized infantry in the Bradley fighting vehicles, the 1/26 was ordered to send a company to Ar Ramadi. There, they would support the existing battalion, which had been in heavy fighting, while the rest of the 1/26 headed to Baghdad. By chance, Peeples and Stout were chosen to support the company in Ramadi, and they could not have been happier.

The soldiers flew into Kuwait and drove into Iraq in 2006. Their convoy took less than a week, and during that ride the soldiers only talked about Ramadi. Its reputation was that all U.S. troops there were in for a fight. Some of his peers seemed fearful, but Peeples could not blame them. The damage of IEDs, snipers, and attacks had taken a toll on U.S. troops. Plus the Bradleys were guaranteed to be in the thick of it. Regardless of the danger, Peeples wanted to be there.

In Ramadi, the soldiers arrived at Camp Corregidor. The outpost stood surrounded in the center of the city, and there Peeples’s unit met their new battalion. They also met Charlie Company, 1/3 Infantry, the other mechanized infantry unit that they were replacing. Right away, Peeples made contact with their men to learn as much as he could about the Area of Operations (AO). The soldiers complained that they had not seen much action and that they had only had one engagement. That did not sit right with Peeples, knowing that the city was full of insurgents.

He found the battalion snipers and talked with them. After asking them the same questions, he was taken to their living quarters and shown the wall outside of it. The wall was riddled with bullet holes.

“That’s what we’ve been doing,” said one sniper, signaling that they had been trading fire with insurgents. The snipers had also been keeping track of their kills on a wall with tick marks from a black Sharpie marker. The tally was well over a hundred.

“There’s no shortage of action here,” the sniper said.

The snipers spent hours explaining Ramadi to Peeples. He learned from where terrorists operated, along with their tactics and preferred methods of attack. The snipers explained that he should expect enemy sniper fire, small arms, and mortar attacks a few times a week, if not daily. The city was the enemy fighters’ territory, and they had become cunning in their ways of defending it, especially in using the deadly IEDs. As a sniper, Peeples would be expected to sniff out these attacks and protect the vulnerable foot patrols. However, as a sniper he would also be targeted more so than any others.

He also learned about who the enemy were. Some were local tribesmen with allegiances to different sheiks. They did not agree with the Iraqi government’s cooperation with the U.S. and worked to undermine any progress. Others were al-Qaeda operatives and foreign fighters; they threatened violence to Iraqi civilians and soldiers if they dared help the Coalition. Their brutal intimidation made it tough to bring peace to the city. Just as one of the soldiers had read on a wall, insurgents considered Ramadi the graveyard of the Americans.

Once the relief was final, the company began operations. From the start, Peeples found it difficult to get sniper missions. His commander hesitated to use them and worried about their safety. It took time and patience for Peeples to convince him that his small team could handle themselves as long as they had support.

In the meantime, Peeples’s first action as a sniper came nights later. He and Stout were manning observation posts to prevent ambushes or the planting of IEDs. One night, just as he had attached the PVS-22 universal night sight to his scope, Peeples’s camp came under small arms fire. His night vision was great with the city lights, which brought a very clear visual for hundreds of meters in each direction. He scanned rooftops for muzzle flash and instantly found a target. It was an insurgent shooting at another observation post, oblivious that Peeples was aiming at him.

With four hundred meters (a quarter mile) between them, Peeples aimed for his chest and let two bullets fly. The man was hit and went down, but he sat up again with his weapon in hand. Peeples aimed once more. His first bullets had been on point and he did not need to adjust his sights. The man stopped moving when Peeples put two more bullets in him.

Peeples kept his aim on the rooftop. He knew that others might appear, and moments later someone did. A man emerged with his hands on his head and walked up to the dead insurgent. Peeples did not shoot. He watched to see if the man would pick up the AK, but he kicked it away and carried the dead man downstairs. Peeples let him live. Though this was not his first kill, or even his first firefight, it was his first time behind a sniper rifle, and having that technological edge made all the difference.

Two nights later, Peeples sat eating in the command post. The camp had been under fire lately, and he kept his team ready to react. Suddenly, over the radio, an observation post requested a sniper. Through their thermals, the soldiers on post had noticed a man observing them from a window. Peeples grabbed his rifle and ran to the post across the street. He felt a little spooked about running alone through the streets of Ramadi in the middle of the night. Once he reached the building, the other soldiers let him in.

Inside, he confirmed the target. That room, however, did not provide a great view, and Peeples decided to climb onto the roof for a better angle. The added height helped, and this time when he sighted in, he saw through the target’s window. There, a man was in the process of loading an RPK machine gun on his lap.

Peeples readied his weapon. He guided the soldiers below him onto the target, asking the senior soldier to spot for him. The soldier used thermal vision gear and excitedly agreed. Peeples found the range and fixed his scope. When he was ready, he took aim. The bipods steadied the rifle, and his butt stock rested comfortably in his shoulder. The crosshairs lowered onto the man’s chest. After a deep breath, Peeples lightly squeezed the trigger. His bullet, however, hit a power line between them and sent sparks into the air. Quickly, Peeples scooted right and found his target again. The man had noticed the sparks but did not realize that he was being shot at and did not move. Peeples wasted no time. He chambered another round and took one more shot.

“Wow! Blood splatter from his chest!” yelled the soldier who had been spotting.

That kill gave Peeples’s team full confidence from his commander. It was still early in the deployment, and the officer realized the effectiveness of snipers. He allowed them the independence to be successful. Also, when the platoon of Navy SEALs who had been living at the same compound asked for support, he let Peeples and Stout operate with them.

The frogmen, whom the soldiers referred to as NSW, or Naval Special Warfare, ran high-intensity missions. They lived, trained, and worked side by side with Iraqi Army soldiers and took them wherever they went as regulated by their mission. The SEALs were a laid back and tight-knit group, but when it boiled down to the business of war, they were professionals. From his first mission with them, Peeples enjoyed operating alongside of them.

One afternoon, a SEAL sniper met with Peeples. The platoon requested that Peeples’s team support them while apprehending a high-value target. The target, a local man forging fake IDs for foreign fighters, made a living selling the IDs, which allowed the foreigners to move about the country illegally. The SEALs were tasked with taking him down. The plan called for Peeples’s team and two other sniper teams, made up of SEALs, to move into the man’s neighborhood and set up in a triangle perimeter around the target’s house. When he showed, the SEALs would raid the house.

The next day, the plan unfolded. Peeples and Stout slipped into a building and got eyes on the objective. The SEALs set up in their hides, as well, but after sunrise one of their teams was compromised by children. The kids threw rocks onto their rooftop but were scared away with flash bangs. Shortly afterward, the target showed and the SEALs took him with no shots fired. Though the plan was a success this time, the SEALs had been fortunate to be compromised by children, because had it been insurgents discovering them, Peeples knew that the outcome would have been worse.

In time, the company was not able to provide Peeples with a security detail or a quick reaction force. The patrols needed every soldier available, which worked for Peeples, allowing his team to work exclusively with the SEALs. They had fun missions anyway.

Peeples quickly made friends with them. They were easygoing and surprisingly took his advice; he had expected judging by their reputation, being Special-Ops, that they might overlook his views. He also admired that they were not scared of action. They craved contact with the enemy and even drew up a mission to infiltrate the nastiest, most vicious area of Ramadi, Papa 10. Insurgents controlled that area and were known to use the neighborhood as a staging point for attacks. No units dared enter, but the SEALs, along with Iraqi Army soldiers and Peeples’s team, drew up a simple plan with a simple objective: move in to that area and pick a fight.

Less than a week later, the men were in Papa 10. They held three separate positions inside homes, while Iraqi Army soldiers guarded the families. Each group was armed to the teeth with machine guns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, and other weapons. Their entire purpose was to ambush insurgents.

Peeples’s element held OP-3. The SEALs’ platoon chief took command there and allowed Scott, a SEAL sniper, and Peeples to discuss the best method of employment. Peeples advised against the roof, but that is where Scott wanted to be.