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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 959.704345
EAN num: 9780345459145
ISBN number: 0345459148
Label: Presidio Press
Manufacturer: Presidio Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: January 01, 2003
Publishing house: Presidio Press
Release Date: January 01, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 358767
Studio: Presidio Press
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Product Description:
“It’s not easy to stay alive with a $1,000 bounty on your head.”
In 1967, a bullet cost thirteen cents, and no one gave Uncle Sam a bigger bang for his buck than the 5th Marine Regiment Sniper Platoon. So feared were these lethal marksmen that the Viet Cong offered huge rewards for killing them. Now noted Vietnam author John J. Culbertson, a former 5th Marine sniper himself, presents the riveting true stories of young Americans who fought with bolt rifles and bounties on their heads during the fiercest combat of the war, from 1967 through the desperate Tet battle for Hue in early ’68.
In spotter/shooter pairs, sniper teams accompanied battle-hardened Marine rifle companies like the 2/5 on patrols and combat missions. Whether fighting their way out of a Viet Cong “kill zone” or battling superior numbers of NVA crack troops, the sniper teams were at the cutting edge in the art of jungle warfare, showing the patience, stealth, combat marksmanship, and raw courage that made the unit the most decorated regimental sniper platoon in the Vietnam War. Harrowing and unforgettable, these accounts pay tribute to the heroes who made the greatest sacrifice of all–and leave no doubt that among 5th Marine snipers uncommon valour was truly a common virtue.
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Rated by buyers 
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As a Vietnam veteran and former Marine, I bought 13-cent Killers after reading Operation Tuscaloosa and expected a fairly good recounting of the operations of the 5th Marines in 1967. But 13-cent Killers is a book in search of an editor. Poorly written, repetitive, and filled with the author's unexplained bitterness, Maggie's Drawers should have been waved at this book before it was published. Very disappointed.
Rated by buyers -
John Culbertson is a novice writer who is so desperate to fill pages that he intentionally tells the same story twice; at the beginning and the middle of the book, because the story "bears repeating." He blethers on about hippies, Army Generals, The President, the Military-Industrial complex, college professors, the Army and Navy, REMF's, until he reaches the conclusion that himself and his close associates were the only true patriots in the war. The saddest part is that he has logged on to the Amazon review pages and gave his own book a 5-star review (check it out).
Rated by buyers -
I purchased this book hoping to get a detailed look at the legendary Marine snipers in Vietnam, and how they fought. And while Culbertson does well to honor the comrades he fought with, I found this book more of a recruiting pitch for the Corps, rather than a historical account. Even more annoying was Culbertson's attempts to revise military history... telling us how the Marine's won WWI for the French, or how Hanoi could have fallen if we'd just sent in an airborne division and a Marine Assault Force.
When the author manages to stick to the subject, we get to see Culbertson's ample knowledge of firearms, sniper tactics and the conditions these men fought in. But unfortunately for readers, we have to wade through pages of jingoistic and Christo-righteous tangents to find it.
Rated by buyers -
This book falls far short of it's target. While Culbertson was an in-country player and is writing as part of this elite group, his style is very melodramatic and jingolistic. I've had to roll my eyes John's many attempts to paint the 5th Marine Snipers as yah yah heroistic types and the bad guys as the incarnate of evil.
He gives some good info on rifles and ammo but continues to repeat this info throughout the book and I guess he needs to fill white space with this unnecessary additional information.
The author comes across as a narrow-minded, stuck in the mud, stereo-typing jarhead. He describes the Vietnamese as sneaky blah blah blah dirty Communists who were more likely trying to rid their country of the Americans as they had with the French, Japanese and Chinese. I find it distasteful to describe the 5th Marine Snipers as killers/murders who fought for the exitement of the hunt. If a human life and the sacrifice these people gave for their country is worth only 13 Cents, then the value of this book is far less. There are better books about those who fought but this is not one of them.
Rated by buyers -
I am not an authority on Vietnam, but I am an avid hunter and competitive rifle shooter. Many of the details in this text are wildly inaccurate and more fitting for a hollywood b-movie than a book that claims to be historical. Just one example is the reference to Vietnamese soldiers being lifted off their feet and thrown backwards through the air by .308 or .30-06 rounds. This claim and many others like it are laughable to anyone who knows anything about firearms. Mr. Culbertson needs to stop watching re-runs of "The A-team" and research his facts, or else drop the pretense that he is writing history.
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