Reichert and I had a particular bond that I was unaware of until we met. Seventeen years ago, while a sixth-grader, he often sat in his tree house reading my book, “The Ultimate Sniper,” and imagining the day when he would be a Marine sniper. To earn enough money to purchase the like-titled video, he worked odd jobs, especially shoveling snow. That sealed it. The athletic 12-year-old decided he would one day be a U.S. Marine sniper, and he has proved himself a very fine one.

In Iraq he was credited with saving a Marine patrol, thanks to his outstanding shooting ability. Learning that fellow Marines were pinned by an enemy machine gun, he turned his .50-cal. Barrett Special Application Scoped Rifle toward a distant brick wall more than a mile away. Behind that wall, the three-man gun crew blasted away, firing rounds over and among the pinned Marines. Taking careful aim, Sgt. Reichert fired heavy .50-cal. slugs into the wall, not merely suppressing the gun crew, but completely blasting through the wall, killing all three. It proved the longest distance .50-cal. engagement in Iraq.

In the film we fired a similar demonstration, pitting Reichert’s personal .50-cal. Barrett and both our .338 Lapua Magnums against a concrete block wall. Concentrating their fire, Reichert, Furlong and Gilliland pounded it, smashing through the blocks and riddling two silhouette targets on the other side. After that, they turned their heavy rifles to a full-size automobile, demonstrating how well their rifles could seize an engine or hit targets completely on the other side of a car. It was a great finale to three days of shooting and filming.

Thanks to forming a bond of professional respect, the three snipers have begun instructing as a threesome, each bringing, as in the film, a distinct perspective to the art and science of sniping. And, as a result of working with them—although I’ll never give up my 3x5-inch ballistic notecard—I’m definitely getting one of those handheld ballistic computers.