Rating: 
Summary: Take a pass on this one.
Review: Several elements of this book require explanation. Why the author switches from the first person to the third after seventy or so pages is but one. For reasons known best to Culbertson, several times throughout his book he calls to question the ability and veracity of Carlos Hathcock, the legendary Marine sniper. Without naming Hathcock, he dismisses out of hand many of Hathcock's accomplishments without providing a single document, official or otherwise, or even quoting the usual unnamed sources. He merely labels it nonfactual. For example, he describes Hathcock's elimination of an enemy company in Elephant Valley as "BS". It may well be, but before one hopes to undermine a Marine institution like Hathcock, it would serve you well to have some source for the assertion other than your opinion. Lacking even a modicum of evidence in support, other readers may well conclude as I did that Culbertson was engaging in building up his crew by tearing down another. That effort falls flat. I did not finish this book. I abandoned the effort on page 101 when I read these words: "The 5th Marines constituted a very exclusive club and operated under a contract signed in hell by the Grim Reaper himself." The story of the 5th Marines Snipers deserves better than this and so does the reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Truth wins in this Book
Review: This Book is a no-nonsense story of what it was like to be a scout\sniper in the 5th Marines in 1967-68. The Author was there and gives the Reader the feeling of being there too. The Book also attempts to dispel some of the outrageous myths and stories about Snipers in the Nam. Every War has both its authentic Heroes and its phony Legends. Vietnam was no different. This book has a lot of Truth in it and if that is what you are looking for it is a must read. I would have given it 5 stars if the writing had been better. The run-on sentences and the skipping around in the story line took away from the overall rating of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Yawn...
Review: While I am glad to see another book about the 5th Marines in Vietnam, the saying goes, if you don't grab a reader within the first few pages...well, they tend to quit reading or throw the dang thing against a wall. As painful as the ordeal was, I actually read it and my opinion remained unchanged to the bitter end. I mean no dishonor to the valiant Marine snipers the author writes about. Every single Marine Sniper who served in Vietnam is a hero to me--not just the infamous Carlos Hathcock. Sadly, the author's writing disability gets in the way of the stories he recounts. To me, 13-Cent Killers pales in comparison to earlier books by some of the Marine Corps finest--other true heroes, including the author himself.
| 
