The Vietnam War’s greatest sniper as told by his enemies

SYNOPSIS:

South Vietnam 1966 a Viet Cong unit is pinned down in a rice paddy by an unseen sniper. One by

one he kills a VC soldier causing fear and terror among the rest. Hidden in the jungle a Marine Sniper

behind a long rifle decimates the VC unit for days then radios in an artillery strike to cover his escape.

Meanwhile at hidden jungle base the NVA General berates his staff for this defeat shouting the Marine

Sniper name – Long Trang.

Flash forward to Jim Land being interviewed by an author in his home. He narrates a scene of a VC tax

collector and his unit terrorizing a village of South Vietnamese peasants into submission. The terror ends

when the Tax Collector’s shot dead by a sniper bullet illustrating the cost/psychological effectiveness of

sniping. Land goes on to narrate scenes of Carlos/Long Trang career as a Marine; competing at Camp

Perry for the Whimbolton cup, scoring the first long range kill ever with a .50 caliber round, selecting and

training sniper students at Hill 55, to ambushing the notorious female VC Apache. While recovering

enemy weapons from the battlefield the Marine Sniper sees a WHITE FEATHER on the ground and places

it in his hat. This is the origin of his name Long Trang.

Deep in the jungle VC sympathizer/torturer Phillip Mets receives a message from a VC messenger at the

gate of his walled villa while simultaneously Long Trang is briefed on his mission to kill him. Infiltrated by

helicopter Long Trang and Burke make their down to Mets’ villa while Jim Land and a team of Intelligence

Marines observe from the hill above. As they wait one Marine gives Land a run down on Mets career from

deserting the French army to torturing prisoners for the VC. From his firing position Long Trang spies the

VC messenger right the bell at the villa gate. Mets comes to the gate exactly as planned and shot dead.

Long Trang and Burke fall back to the LZ as Land observes with satisfaction. Meanwhile a Marine Officer

opens an intelligence file on his desk of the NVA General.

The North Vietnamese Army sends its best sniper the Cobra to kill Long Trang. To lure him into his trap

he shoots dead a Marine on Hill 55 then retreats to nearby elephant valley leaving a trail for Long Trang

to follow. Moving up into the valley he observes a two man Marine sniper team following his trail no

doubt Long Trang is one of them. Cobra hurries to his firing position passing a hand dug cave and

spreading rice on the ground to attract birds. He lies in his position and aims his rifle at the cave below.

The Marine Sniper low crawl their way past the cave knowing its bait for a trap and scare off the birds

eating the rice on the ground. Seeing the birds fly off Cobra aims and fires; hitting the water canteen of

Lance Corporal Burke. Against the setting sun Cobra races downhill to his next firing position and scans

for Long Trang. He spots him and BURKE and aims his rifle just as the setting sun momentarily blinds him.

When he opens his eye he sees the muzzle blast of Long Trang’s rifle and BOOM. His bullet pierces his

rifle scope and kills the Cobra. Walking down to claim the enemy’s weapon we finally see the face of

Carlos Hathcock with a white feather in his hat. “Nobody is gonna’ believe us,” says Burke, “Went straight

through the scope.”

Resting in his hooch Carlos begins convulsing and sweating uncontrollably until it suddenly stops. Jim

Land revealing to the author that Carlos was diagnosed with MS after his second tour of duty. A recon

team gathers intelligence on the NVA General’s headquarters villa in the middle of open grassland and no

cover. In conference Marine officers conclude that the options for positively eliminating the NVA General

until one remembers a newspaper article about Carlos. At Hill 55 Carlos is briefed on the layout of the

NVA General’s HQ. Due to its location in an open grassland Carlos plan is to low crawl a 1000 yards to a

hump of ground and take the shot. Inserted with the help of the recon team Carlos goes alone making

his way to the edge of the grassland. At night he begins his crawl pushing the grass down in front with his

sniper rifle and kicking it back up with his boots. Flash forward to 1977 Quantico after the war Carlos

begins teaching the first class of Marine scout snipers using the techniques from this mission. Back at the

NVA HQ the NVA General reads the file on Carlos with a growing admiration for the man. Meanwhile low

in the grass Carlos encounters deadly green viper and freezes until it slithers away. While lying still under

the broiling sun Carlos hand begins to tremble signaling a possible MS attack. Flashing forward to 1979

another MS attack forces his retire from the Marine Corps and sends Carlos into a deep depression. Back

in the grass Carlos comes closer to the hump moving only at night, drinking only cap full of water, and

laying still during the day taking care to move slightly so as not to attract vultures. Flashing forward to

1981 Carlos receives a call from the Virginia Beach police department with an offer he won’t refuse

training police snipers. Back at the NVA HQ the NVA General reads late into the evening while in the dark

Carlos reaches the hump and prepares for the shot. Flashing forward to 1992 Carlos is wheelchair bound

due to his MS but cares on despite the pain attending sniper competitions to pinning the eagle globe and

anchor to his son’s uniform. Back at the hump Carlos places a brown handkerchief on the ground to

prevent dirt being kicked up by his rifle and with a clear shot of the front of the HQ waits for the NVA

General to appear. Through his scope he watches the grass and heat mirage to determine wind direction.

When the NVA General steps outside Carlos watches with his binoculars trying to identify him. Which

happens when NVA General uses his finger as he shouts orders at a soldier. Carlos aims his rifle at him,

compensates for the wind as the NVA General steps fully into his crosshairs and fires.

The bullet flies 800 yards and kills the NVA General. Now alarmed the NVA soldiers’ fire blindly in all

directions. Carlos makes his escape crawling into an irrigation ditch that take him back to the safety of

the jungle. Flashing forward to Jim Land reflects on Carlos career saying “He’ll never tell he was a hero

but he was the greatest sniper of all.” Back in the jungle Carlos makes his way to the pick-up point to RV

with the recon team. Tired he lays against a tree and falls asleep until he’s woken by Recon Marine

saying his name. He opens his eyes and we cut to a black screen and caption.

LONG TRANG