Cassi Creek: This
photo series, found on CNN this morning speaks volumes about the inequalities
found in war. A sniper is a single
combatant or one of a shooter/spotter pair.
The single finger on the trigger can create confusion, cause injuries to
or kill members of the opposing force,
In the photographic
series linked below, the volume of return fire delivered by U.S. forces in an
attempt to kill a sniper firing from higher ground is simply massive. The red lines are formed by tracer rounds
inserted in every 5th slot in the belts used to feed the 7.62 mm and,
50 caliber machine guns that are firing in these photographs as U.S, troops
attempt to locate and kill the sniper.
These images
document thousands of rounds, seen and unseen, fired by fully automatic weapons
against a single opponent. The sniper may carried as few as 10 rounds or as
many as 100. Without a patrol finding
him and/or his weapon, it is impossible to accurately describe his load out.
From the photos, we
are privileged to view, it appears nearly impossible for the sniper to have
survived. However, if he chose his position
carefully, he may well have walked away after a horrifying night. The photos can’t tell us what the outcome
was, they can only demonstrate how outgunned he and his unit were. Further, north, across the DMZ, our aircrews flying
in to North VietNam faced skies filled with AAA and rockets as well as they
carried out their assigned missions.
There is no equality in war.
Long
exposure photos capture Vietnam firefight
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