Reviews for Long Rifle: A Sniper's Story in Iraq and Afghanistan

The average rating for Long Rifle: A Sniper's Story in Iraq and Afghanistan based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-05-08 00:00:00 Jim Moffet This is a great story of how a highly skilled marksman fighting his way through Iraq and Afghanistan. He uses the skills that he used from ranger sniper school. He has one of the longest confirmed kills in history

Review # 2 was written on 2009-11-02 00:00:00 Uys Marietjie Joe LeBleu was a sniper in Iraq and Afghanistan and spent a lot of time in the Army Rangers before the attacks on 9/11/2001. So, this gives him plenty of experience to form an opinion about the wars and American military policy, and how veterans are treated. While reading about his experiences were interesting as a way to get a glimpse as to what life was like while serving over there, he offers a lot of opinions that he never fully explains. For instance, he continually makes references to the U.S. Military being forced to "make friends" with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but offers no instances, other than his being denied the ability to take a shot so that some mortar men can take theirs. He even goes so far as to recount a conversation with an unnamed Vietnam-war veteran where that veteran tells LeBleu that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have it harder because they are being forced to be friends with the enemy and troops in Vietnam didn't do this. The Vietnam war was where the U.S. doctrine of winning hearts and minds began, so I am not sure what LeBleu is talking about here. Early in the book LeBleu also talks about "antiway, bloodsuck Liberals." And I was a little worried the book would turn into a political rant that I just didn't want to read. It didn't, and he even spends time bashing President Bush and Vice President Cheney. I am not sure where LeBleu comes down on the political spectrum. These criticisms, both of photographers as a military funeral, and of the president, were shallow to the point of meaninglessness to me. He also complains that people do not want to hire him because he does not have a college degree and questions the value of a formal education, but at the same time he is very proud of graduating sniper school and writes about how that makes him more qualified than some grunts in combat zones. So, his educational views are somewhat internally inconsistent. All of that said, reading about how snipers operate in the field and how the Army works did keep me engaged through much of the book.