"Sergeant Nick "the Reaper" Irving earned his reputation and nickname on a remarkable tour of duty in 2009 while serving primarily as a direct action sniper in Helmand Province. While serving with the 3rd Ranger Battalion, in a period of three months he established a record by accounting for the confirmed deaths of thirty-three enemy combatants. He was the first African American sniper to serve in his battalion, and proudly followed in the footsteps of his parents, both of whom were in the Army. Nick admits to having a bad case of "SEAL-itis" as a kid, as a result of his exposure to the Charlie Sheen film Navy Seals. He went so far as to attend, and pass, the Navy Sea Cadet SEAL camp in Florida following his senior year in high school. It was only because a pre-induction physical revealed his color-blindness that he was forced to give up his long-held dream. Post 9/11, the military was in need of qualified candidates, and an army recruiter sought him out after a nurse cheated for him on the color vision test, convincing him that the Army's elite Ranger Regiment was essentially, as he put it, SEALs without the water."
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Lawyers from the United StatesNon-fiction authors from the United StatesAutobiographers from the United StatesUnited States Army peopleActors from Maryland
Original Language: English
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Pete Hegseth, Modern Warriors (New York: Broadside Books, 2020), p. 213
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicholas_Irving
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Nicholas Irving
Nicholas Irving (born November 28, 1986) is an American author and former soldier. He was a special operations sniper in the 3rd Ranger Battalion for the U.S. Army.
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