Apache (Sniper)

History
Apache was a female Viet Cong sniper and interrogator known as "Apache", because of her methods of torturing US Marines and ARVN troops and letting them bleed to death.

She was killed in 1966 by Carlos Hathcock, who was part of a sniper team of the United States Marine Corps. His partner, Captain Edward James Land, manned the spotting scope, while Hathcock hit her with both of the rounds that he fired.

In an interview conducted by John Plaster in 1984 and 1985, Hathcock stated that Apache lead a platoon of snipers near Hill 55 and had tortured Marines. In interviews with Hathcock and Captain Edward James Land, conducted by Charles Henderson, Apache was a high profile target according to Military Intelligence. Apache was reportedly known for "torturing prisoners within earshot of U.S. bases", according to C.W.Henderson. The founder of SEAL Team Six, Richard Marcinko, said in 1995 that Hathcock had told him one of Apache's "trademarks" was to cut off her victim's eyelids and keep them as souvenirs. Apache often castrated her captives according to Hathcock in another interview.

Hathcock's encounter with "Apache" was the basis for an episode in the documentary series on The History Channel series titled Sniper: Deadliest Missions.

Apache’s techniques as a sniper are studied even to this day, several of today’s snipers emulate her techniques, and she is even credited to have invented the first ever Ghillie suit.

Main Source: Wikipedia.

Battle vs Sniper Wolf
Somewhere deep in the Vietnam Jungle, in an underground hideout of the Viet Cong.

Lieutenant Junior Grade John Smith was being dragged trough the ground, his arms and legs were useless as he had taken shots from a sniper on each one. He would have rather have received one on the head, because he knew that the only reason the Viet Cong would keep someone alive was to interrogate them. He was strapped on a table, his arms and legs tied, and his shirt ripped off. Then all the Viet Cong soldiers left the room and he was alone with just one person, a woman with a Mosin-Nagant strapped on her back. He knew who she was, even if he had never seen her before. She was the one that killed his platoon in the jungle, leaving only him alive. She was the one that everyone was on the lookout for, the killer shadow among the jungle. Nobody knew her true name, so they called her…

“Apache.” Whispered Lt. Junior Grade Smith.

“You tell me what I want know.” she said in a broken English with a thick Vietnamese accent. She took out a knife, and stabbed him on one of the wounds of his arms, moving the bullet still lodged in there around. He screamed in incredible pain.

“Spies heard you getting new sniper, sent kill me.” She stirred the knife more, “What you know of this.”

“I… I don’t know what you are talking about… I just… WAAARGH!” he screamed again as “Apache” twisted the knife and pulled, taking out the bullet from his injury, but opening it more and more, in a way that it would never completely heal. She then moved to the other arm, and stabbed his other gunshot wound.

“You say what me want know… NOW!” repeated the female Viet Cong sniper.

“I… I don’t know much… ARGH! Nobody does… its all a secret operation…” replied Smith, “All I know is that she was trained by ‘Big Boss’, she’s a member of the Fox Hound special operations forces.”

She again twisted the knife, extracting the bullet but opening the wound even more so it would never fully heal. “Name… give me NAME!” demanded Apache. “ARGH! Nobody knows the names of Fox Hound members… she’s just known as Sniper Wolf! That’s all I know, I swear, for the love of God I swear that’s all I know!” said Smith.

Apache then moved over to one of the doorways and called out for someone in Vietnamese. Two Viet Cong soldiers came in, united John Smith from the table and dragged him again, trough the tunnels. “Where are you taking me?” he asked. Apache didn’t even turn to look at him as she cleaned her knife. “Hanoi” she replied.

Lt. Junior Grade Smith knew that he had just earned himself a long stay at the Hanoi Hilton, yes it would have been better if they had killed him. This people were savages! Americans would never capture enemy combatants and put them in a jail and torture them (little did he know about future events in Guantanamo bay.) Apache then placed her knife away, grabbed more ammunition for her Mosin-Nagant rifle, checked the sniper scope on it, and walked away trough one of the exit tunnels. So the Americans were sending a special sniper just for her? No matter, she would take her out and show them not to mess with the Viet Cong… for Ho Chi Minh, for Vo Nguyen Giap, for their independence, for one eternal Vietnam!

A US Army encampment somewhere in South Vietnam.

Soldiers were walking around, the encampment, except for Captain James Johnson, waiting for the Huey helicopter to land on the improvised Helipad of the encampment. Hopefully, the person that the Huey was carrying would finally enable them to get rid of that damn Viet Cong sniper!

The Huey finally landed and the engine shut down, as the blades stopped spinning, the door of the helicopter opened and out came a woman with long greenish hair, wearing a skin tight green military garb that left little to the imagination. She had no rank insignia or anything else to identity her, just a shoulder patch of a fox on her right arm with the word FOXHOUD stitched on it, and a Heckler & Koch PSG-1 rifle strapped to her back. She carried herself with a confident and regal attitude, as if nothing intimidated her.

Captain Johnson wasn’t very impressed, he knew that they were going to send the best sniper of FOXHOUND, but she didn’t look the part. “I heard that you were a good sniper. Isn’t your spotter with you? Or do you need one assigned from us?” he asked.

“I don’t need a spotter, I work alone.” replied the woman.

The Captain raised an eyebrow, “I’m Captain James Johnson, I’m in charge here. What do I call you.”

“You call me Sniper Wolf, you don’t need to know anymore.” replied Sniper Wolf. Sniper Wolf shook her head, to move her head away from her face, and pulled down the zipper on her jacket, exposing some cleavage “It sure is hot in this place” she said as she did so.

This caused for there to be some cat calls from some of the men around the camp, many were shirtless since the heat.

Sniper Wolf smiled and walked to the closest one to where she was. She smiled at him, placed her hand on his cheek… and the scratched him. The soldier turned his head and when he looked up Sniper Wolf was aiming her PSG-1 at him, just inches from his face. “Let this be a warning for you… for all of you. Never disrespect a lady.”

Sniper Wolf again strapped her PSG-1 over her shoulder and walked back to where Captain Johnson was standing. “Lets make this clear, I’m a member of FOXHOUND, I work alone, I take no orders from you or anyone here. I will take down that ‘Apache’ sniper you all are so afraid of, and then I will leave. Now show me to your tent, I need to see some maps and familiarize myself with the area.” Captain Johnson and Sniper Wolf walked towards his tent, “Why are you doing this? Why are you here?” he asked.

Sniper Wolf smiled, “Because if half of what I’ve been told about this ‘Apache’, then she would be the best target I could ever hope for.” she said, licking her full lips.

The Next day, inside the jungle in North Vietnam.

Sniper Wolf was quietly moving through the jungle, alone, her PSG-1 rifle strapped on her shoulder. She was wearing her green suit, so as to blend better with the jungle around her. According to the maps she memorized inside Captain Johnson’s tent, this was the area where “Apache” usually operated, or at least it was the place where most soldiers were found dead with a single bullet through their heads. The bullets of same caliber used by a Mosin-Nagant rifle.

Finding a suitable tree, with thick foliage, Sniper Wolf climbed it, not making an noise as she grabbed each branch. Finally, when she reached a branch thick enough to support her weight, and with enough leaves on it to conceal her, she laid down on her stomach, placed her eye on the rifle’s scope, and her finger on the trigger, and started to wait.

Several hours later, Sniper Wolf heard something moving through the jungle. She moved her scope to see. It was a group of US soldiers, cutting their way through the plants with Machetes, making a whole mess. The idiots, they all looked around, holding their rifles like if they would make a difference. They were nothing but moving targets, if Big Boss were here…

BANG!

Sniper Wolf’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard the sound of a rifle shot, and the leader of the small group of soldiers falling to the ground, a bullet in his head. She was here! Apache was here!

“Where are you…” Sniper Wolf whispered to herself, as she looked around the area where the bullet must have come from, seeing only the jungle. “Where are you…” she repeated, as she took a Diazepam pill and swallowed it.

Another shot, and another US soldier was down. The remaining soldiers looked around, and started running, none of them knew where the shots were coming from. Soon another was down.

Sniper Wolf had now a pretty good idea of where this “Apache” was. But she could not see anything but plants, grass and trees. Not even a reflection on the sniper’s scope, but that wasn’t surprising, the sun could barely make it through the thick jungle foliage.

Then she saw it, something that was out of place. A small discarded rifle shell, it was lying right in front of some thick bushes. Sniper Wolf aimed at the center of the bush right in front of the discarded rifle shell, and pulled the trigger on her PSG-1. The sound of the great sniper rifle echoing through the jungle. Apache heard the shot and a second later she heard the bullet fall just inches away from her, in the bush right next to her, but she didn’t move a single muscle. A counter sniper! But she hadn’t seen anyone… could it be this elite sniper the Americans had brought in to kill her? Yes, it must be her.

Judging from the angle of the bullet, the shot must have come from one of the trees. Moving very slowly, taking her time, Apache scanned each and every branch of each and every tree that could have been the hiding place of this sniper. Finally, she found her, she was good, hiding behind some thick leaves on a high branch. All she could see was the barrel of her rifle trough the leaves. Apache aimed carefully, and pulled the trigger on her Mosin-Nagant.

Sniper Wolf heard the shot, and heard it as the bullet impaled itself on the branch she was lying on. This “Apache” was good. She had only fired once and she already knew her general location. Sniper Wolf noticed where the shot had come from as well, she was ready to fire when she heard the branch she was on cracking. The bullet and her own weight were breaking it!

“Damn!” said Sniper Wolf as she jumped down of the branch just as it broke down. She heard another shot as a bullet passed just inches away from her head as she fell down. She landed on her feet, and quickly hid behind the tree. She heard another shot hitting the tree trunk at the same moment.

Sniper Wolf stayed hidden behind the tree, holding her rifle, not making a sound. She stayed there for several hours, waiting. When nothing happened, she laid down on the ground, and again looked in the general direction where the shots had come from trough the scope of her PSG-1. She then noticed something. One of the bushes she had seen before were missing!

Being very careful, Sniper Wolf crawled all the way to where the missing bush had been before. She put the PSG-1 down next to her, and looked at the ground. There were some broken leafs there, she picked some of the pieces down and smelled them, they smelled like human sweat. Those broken leafs were the only evidence of a person ever being there. No ration cans, no discarded rifle shells, everything that “Apache” had come with, she had taken.

“You are good, Apache.” whispered Sniper Wolf, “You are now my target, I will enjoy hunting for you. You will be a magnificent opponent.”

The Next day, even deeper in the jungle of North Vietnam.

Sniper Wolf crawled to the jungle on her stomach, the PSG-1 on her arms, making no sounds whatsoever as she moved. She had tracked down Apache into this area from their last encounter. She knew she was here, somewhere, hiding, waiting, being one with the Jungle, like a shadow. From what she saw last time, Sniper Wolf knew that her opponent was using some pretty advanced techniques. She wasn’t just hiding, she was also wearing some sort of Sniper suit, made of plants and branches. It made it almost impossible to spot. Almost.

Sniper Wolf knew she would find her. She just had to be quiet, careful, and most of all, patient. Of that, Sniper Wolf had to spare. She finally found a secure spot behind a rock, surrounded by tall grass. She swallowed another Diazepam pill, and again placed her eye on the scope of her PSG-1, scanning the area, making no sudden movements, making no sound.

Bush by bush, tree by tree, she scanned the area slowly and carefully. Hours passed, but it did not matter to her, as she continued her task. She would find her, she was her target. She always eliminated her targets.

Finally, she saw it. It was hard to make out among the thick plants, but she saw it. It was a bush shaped like a crouching human being. It had a long protuberance at the front, like a rifle’s cannon. Sniper Wolf took aim at where she believed the head of this hidden person was, and pulled the trigger.

The man shaped bush exploded into a hundred leafs and some sticks. A decoy! It was just a dummy!

“Stand up!” heard Sniper Wolf from behind her.

Sniper Wolf did as she was told, as she felt the barrel of the Mosin-Nagant on her back. She turned her head slightly, just to get a peek at the person behind her. It was Apache, only her face and rifle were uncovered now from what could only be described as the best camouflage suit she had ever laid her eyes upon. She recognized the leaves on the suit, she had crawled right next to them on her way to the rock. Sniper Wolf had passed right next to her target, and she never noticed her! She didn’t even hear her breathing.

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha!” Sniper Wolf threw her head back, as she laughed into the empty skies. “You were magnificent, Apache.”

Apache pulled the trigger, at point blank the bullet entered Sniper Wolf from the back, and exited from her front. The Kurdish sniper fell down on the ground of the hot jungle, as her body expired its last breath.

Apache looked down at her dead enemy, “Nước non Việt Nam ta vững bền!” she yelled out in victory.

Winner: Apache.