Chapters 6, 7, 8, and 9 Summary and Analysis

Hathcock frets about Jo learning of his activities by reading a news column in the local paper. He decides that when his tour of duty ends, in only a few weeks, he will not reenlist and will instead look for a civilian job back home. He reminisces about his first days in Vietnam, five months earlier, when he had become acquainted with Captain Jim Land. Land has been a proponent of Marine scout-sniper teams since at least 1960, and has organized a school which graduated its first class in 1961. Hathcock had been in the first class. In 1965 American forces were taking ever-increasing casualties from enemy sniper action and throughout the period Land argued that counter-sniper operations could best be conducted by Marine snipers. In 1966 Land briefly served as commander of Ordnance Company before being reassigned to lead a sniper group...