The book "Way of the Reaper" taught me about the life of a United States Army Sniper. The life of a Ranger is very mentally tiring and physically tiring. To be able to withstand that exhausting experience you must be very physically fit and be good at strategizing to defend your unit on over-watch duty. A sniper must be ready for all situations in all environments at all times. In all of Nick's missions, he was ready for everything that he thought was possible to happen. But in some missions, he was surprised by the most unexpected of problems that occurred during an over-watch operation. For example, early on in Nick's military career as a Ranger, he was the gunner of a M240 machine gun firing 7.62mm ammunition and later the driver of a M1126 Stryker LAV (Light Armored Vehicle). During a operation, Nick was a machine gunner for a TST (Time Sensitive Target). During the operation, an attack helicopter was firing rockets at an enemy position. The helicopter lost control and crashed. Nick rushed over to the crash site and helped save the pilot of the crashed helicopter. For his actions, Nick was awarded with "The Joint Service Achievement Medal" in July of 2006. The life of a Ranger is also riddled with guilt. You will have to deal with those who have died that are your friends and those you have killed. Another example is, during Nick's timer as a Sniper; he was on a TST for a chief leader of a large Taliban unit. Wanting to setup over-watch as quickly as possible, Nick and Wayne (another sniper) run to the building with the best position for supporting the assault unit. When Nick and Wayne get the the top of the building, there wasn't a roof. Nick and Wayne rush over to the next best position and setup over-watch there. Everything was fine but the assault unit had already breached three houses, not finding the target in any of those three buildings. Having a better point of view, Nick and Wayne move to a building near a possible place where the target may be. When Nick and Wayne get to the new position, they are surprised by enemy fire. Both Nick and Wayne are under suppressing fire from the enemy. All of these examples show that you should be ready for anything and the effects of those surprises.