Fry The Brain: The Art of Urban Sniping and its Role in Modern Guerrilla Warfare

Very well written the book takes you around the world and throughout different times. Getting historical facts. And knowledge I highly highly recommend Not always pleasant but factual

I haven't read the book yet but with all of the craziness in the country I should put it on the list to read sooner rather than later.

…To find any one book with as much information as this one. Very comprehensive and touches on many aspects that many authors who might have tried to write this book would have missed if they didn’t have this authors impeccable credentials.

I had trouble deciding on a rating for "Fry the Brain." There are many flaws in the book--but there is far more that would be valuable to law enforcers, to soldiers in full-scale battle, and to the in-between of counter-insurgency.On page 20 John West defines snipers as shooting exposed individuals from concealed firing points. The primary sniper effect is terror--and sniping during the colonial wars of the 19th Century had already significantly reduced command and control. Military uniforms convey status--modern combat uniforms obscure the differences between private and colonel because looking important attracts sniper fire. Saluting in the combat zone is called "sniper check" in the American military.I didn't buy Chapter 9, "The Dealey Plaza Snipers" for a large number of reasons that would make my review longer than John West's book. In summary, the only thing missing was replacing the entire crowd with a pack of professional witnesses so that there'd be no leaks--but Chapter 9 is a good mind exercise.Remote control sniping is described in "Fry the Brain," but for better examples, look up these videos:The JackalVantage PointBy the way, I'll argue that John West didn't exhaust the concept of urban sniping. President Obama uses a remote sniper--the Predator drone armed with Hellfire missiles. In the Falkland Islands, British soldiers used MILAN anti-tank missiles to knock out Argentine machine gun posts--the wire-guided MILAN was accurate and packed a wallop. During the Seventies the Red Army Faction in Germany used a remotely-armed mine as a sort of a sniper weapon--giving the RAF the selective targeting of a sniper but the devastation of a platter charge.John George had some solid suggestions in Shots Fired in Anger: A Rifleman's View of Battle of Guadalcanal including using the Browning Automatic Rifle as a sniper rifle--a sniper doesn't have to fire just one shot. Most snipers are trained to fire one shot and then move to avoid being located. Firing more than three shots from a single position usually results in accurate, coordinated return fire from infantry teams on today's battlefields.Silencers have a lot of limitations that were not addressed by John West. No matter--there are multiple references on the issue. Don't forget that silencers only change the sound of firing. Silencers are not silent--but the muted and modified noise might not be recognized as a gunshot. I volunteer at a local rifle range and legally silenced weapons and everything from flintlock muskets to machine guns appear on the firing line. With Britain in Mortal Danger-Second Edition: Britain's Most Secret Army of WWII mentioned the issue of one silencer-equipped caliber twenty-two rifle per Auxiliary Unit patrol. The Welrod silenced pistol is nobody's idea of a sniper's weapon, but Britain was perhaps the premier user of silenced weapons during World War Two. Those crude silencers used wipes that kept noise levels down--and made the weapon less accurate.I thought that the Sniper Forensics chapter was weak--because when both sides play dirty, "evidence" becomes an elastic concept. Britain permanently abridged the rights of Englishmen in response to the IRA terror campaign because a handful of Irish terrorists credibly threatened the legitimacy of the British government. Snipers were only part of the equation.Most people will obsess over the hardware. The more astute will examine tactics with a microscope. Strategy and goals mean more to success or failure than hardware or even tactics. What is the goal of the "movement?" It may be a government operating under the radar to eliminate political rivals--or a criminal element that cannot be touched by existing laws. The IRA campaign in Chapter 11 is worth reading--because it can happen here in America. Chapter 15 tells part of the story of the DC snipers John Muhammad and Lee Malvo.Some countermeasures may prove counter-productive. I'm a security professional, and many times body armor is prohibited because of public image issues--the powers that be have determined that Robocop alienates people. In peacekeeping missions, US troops wear helmets and heavy body armor, but the more successful peacekeepers stick to soft caps--usually berets. When soldiers and cops suit up in full armor and patrol in armored (air-conditioned) vehicles and only go out in platoon strength or more--the snipers have won.One final note: the modern urban guerrilla relies upon mass media manipulation. The primary effect of sniping is psychological. Snipers kill few people--but can paralyze a nation in terror.

If I could, I'd give this a 3.5/5. There are some annoying flaws, but the book is worth the needed patience to finish it.Cons-Many and varied small errors, especially in regards to weapons specifications (important for a book about using weapons)-Too light on citations and too heavy on opinion (the JFK section was hard to read)-The entire last chapter appears to be a fabricated account of a supposed assassination attempt in Beirut (no year is given, no citations, no context for why this story is included in the book). It is well written, however, and pieces together many of the tactics, techniques, and procedures that were covered in the book. Probably the author's intent, but unknown.Pros-Written in simple language. You could hand this to a high school dropout or an ESL speaker and they would come away with most or all of the important points-People who are versed in the subject may not learn anything new, but the way the author puts everything together in one place does a good job of getting the reader's brain thinking outside the box and piecing together different aspects of shooting and fieldcraft that they may not otherwise have doneOverall I would definitely recommend this to people, but with the caveat that they a) seek out professional training to correct the inaccuracies in the book, and b) make this book simply a jumping off point for their own more in-depth research.The first 2/3 of the book is fairly well cited and deals with fairly cold, hard facts (except for the JFK portion), while the last third quickly glosses over a lot of complex topics such as the use of ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance; eg. drones) and different optic systems. I would gladly buy an updated edition that flushes out these subjects and updates them for today's technology.If you keep an open mind, this book is extremely useful. Just don't make it a one-and-done training manual on the subject.

Very few errors or typos.

Covers all bases, not just urban sniping as the cover page implies. It really does well to explain what guerilla warfare is and how it is waged. An excellent book for anyone trying to understand the historical failures and successes of such wars as Afghanistan, Iraq, the Troubles, and many more.

This is probably one of the most detailed breakdowns of historical sniping that I've ever read. It is a history book first, but as it goes through the different historical examples, you can start to pick up on the most successful tactics employed by guerrilla snipers from each respective period. In this regard, the book is also a sort of sniper & counter-sniper manual.Throughout, there are occasional spelling & grammar errors and every now and then, the letters on individual words get spaced out a bit too much, but these are few and far between, and obviously have not affected my 5 star rating.Could do with some final edits to fix these but overall a fascinating and informative read. Highly recommend for history buffs and military history/tactics geeks, of which I am one!

Fry the Brain n'est pas un manuel à proprement parler mais une série d'analyses très intéressante sur des situations réelles et historiques sur l'emploi du tir de précision en combat urbain, généralement dans un cadre asymétrique. Quelques exemples de tireurs "civils" assez connus commettant des meurtres de masse sont également évoqués.Chaque chapitre est une leçon d'histoire à lui seul, et fournit quantité d'informations quant aux matériels, aux techniques et aux tactiques, mais aussi au contexte des événements évoqués. Ce n'est pas un manuel technique, mais cet ouvrage analyse les choses et permet de tirer des leçons et enseignements des sujets qu'il aborde.Même s'il n'aborde pas les conflits récents, et est assez largement dépassé lorsqu'il aborde les techniques et matériels anti-sniping, cet ouvrage est une véritable référence en ce qui concerne le tir de précision. Certaines informations (la plupart secondaires) qu'il apporte ont été débattues, voire contredites, mais ce sont des débats généralement marginaux qui n'entachent absolument pas le contenu de ce livre.Ce livre apportera un vrai plus à quiconque s'intéresse à ce type de combat et à son histoire, et n'a pas forcément le temps ni l'envie de lire des récits plus spécifiques comme le livre de Chris Kyle et autres tireurs d'élite.

Interessante Ausführungen zum urban sniping

Bought as a gift