"In the heat of battle, they have one mission-and they accomplish it one bullet at a time."

In Operation Iraqi Freedom, there is a special breed of marine for whom the prey is the enemy-and every day is hunting season. This marine is a HOG-a Hunter of Gunman.

These are the gripping, gut-wrenching true stories of those marines in Iraq whose sole purpose on the battlefield is to take out the enemy — one combatant at a time. Every time a HOG puts his eye to the glass, it means death for whoever is unlucky enough to end up in his crosshairs. No warning shots. No disabling wounds. No regrets. That's what a HOG does.

Here, former Scout/Sniper Team Leader Milo S. Afong reveals what it takes to be a Hunter of Gunmen. He describes the intensive training that turns expert infantrymen into one-shot life-takers, building Marine Scout/Sniper teams and how they operate in the field-and under fire-and how HOGs get the job done under any conditions.

From sniping from a rooftop in Baghdad, to unknowingly being surrounded in a palm grove in the city of Hit, these stories will transport you right into the heat of the desert war, where one squeeze of the trigger can make all the difference."

Milo S. Afong enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1999. While serving with the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines Scout/Sniper platoon, he graduated first in his class from the 1st Marine Division's Scout/Sniper School. After his discharge in 2003, he volunteered for a tour of duty in Iraq as a Scout/Sniper Team Leader with the First Battalion, Twenty-third Marines. He is the recipient of the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with the Combat Distinguishing Device.