Sniper One: On Scope and Under Siege with a Sniper Team in Iraq

When Sgt. Dan Mills and the rest of the 1st Battalion, The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, flew into Iraq in April 2004, they were supposed to be winning hearts and minds. They were soon fighting for their lives.

Within hours of their arrival in Iraq, a grenade bounced off one of the battalion’s Land Rovers, rolled underneath, and detonated. The ambush marked the beginning of a full-scale firefight during which Mills killed a man with a round that removed his assailant’s head. It was going to be a long tour.

Like some postapocalyptic Mad Max nightmare, the place had gone to hell in a handbasket. Throat-burning winds, blast bombs, and well-trained, well-organized militias armed with AKs, RPGs, and a limitless supply of mortar rounds were the icing on the cake.

For the next six months, isolated, besieged, and under constant fire, their battalion refused to give an inch. Sniper One is a breathtaking chronicle of endurance, camaraderie, dark humor, and courage in the face of relentless, lethal assault.