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'Sniper One': A Gritty Look At Combat

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By K. SUE COLLINS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 14, 2008

"Sniper One," by Sgt. Dan Mills (St. Martin's Press, $27)

Much of the Iraqi War coverage focuses on America's invasion and occupation of Iraq, "Sniper One," Sgt. Dan Mills' blazing firsthand account of his team's 2004 tour, shatters the misconception of America's sole involvement.

The leader of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment Sniper Team, Sgt. Dan Mills arrives in Al Amarah with his 18-man squad. Gung ho at their involvement in the war at last, the British troops, despite all of their training and talents, find themselves weary in their seven-month tour. The action upon their arrival is plentiful and the unit sees their fair share of brutality and loss. They also experience more positives than originally thought. The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment is filled with colorful personalities who make the best of their down time.

Things change for Mills' troops when, at the 2004 Handover of Power; the soldiers are no longer revered as saviors and treated more like invaders. They are subjected to assaults on their compound, culminating with an Alamo-like siege.

Think of "Sniper One" as the British equivalent of Mark Bowden's successful "Black Hawk Down." Mills' style is less technical and more accessible to the average reader, who will notice his memoir reads more like a novel. Mills neither sugarcoats nor admonishes the trials of combat. Accurate, gritty, and violent, "Sniper One" deserves to be respected as a firsthand description of the ups and downs in warfare.

K. Sue Collins of Tampa is a crime novelist.

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