Fry The Brain: The Art of Urban Sniping and its Role in Modern Guerrilla Warfare (Volume 0)

I had trouble deciding on a rating for "Fry the Brain." There are many flaws in the book--but there is far more that would be valuable to law enforcers, to soldiers in full-scale battle, and to the in-between of counter-insurgency. On page 20 John West defines snipers as shooting exposed individuals from concealed firing points. The primary sniper effect is terror--and sniping during the colonial wars of the 19th Century had already significantly reduced command and control. Military uniforms convey status--modern combat uniforms obscure the differences between private and colonel because looking important attracts sniper fire. Saluting in the combat zone is called "sniper check" in the American military. I didn't buy Chapter 9, "The Dealey Plaza Snipers" for a large number of reasons that would make my review longer than John West's book. In summary, the only thing missing was replacing the entire crowd with a pack of professional witnesses so that there'd be no leaks--but Chapter 9 is a good mind exercise. Remote control sniping is described in "Fry the Brain," but for better examples, look up these videos: The Jackal Vantage Point By the way, I'll argue that John West didn't exhaust the concept of urban sniping. President Obama uses a remote sniper--the Predator drone armed with Hellfire missiles. In the Falkland Islands, British soldiers used MILAN anti-tank missiles to knock out Argentine machine gun posts--the wire-guided MILAN was accurate and packed a wallop. During the Seventies the Red Army Faction in Germany used a remotely-armed mine as a sort of a sniper weapon--giving the RAF the selective targeting of a sniper but the devastation of a platter charge. John George had some solid suggestions in Shots Fired in Anger: A Rifleman's View of Battle of Guadalcanal including using the Browning Automatic Rifle as a sniper rifle--a sniper doesn't have to fire just one shot. Most snipers are trained to fire one shot and then move to avoid being located. Firing more than three shots from a single position usually results in accurate, coordinated return fire from infantry teams on today's battlefields. Silencers have a lot of limitations that were not addressed by John West. No matter--there are multiple references on the issue. Don't forget that silencers only change the sound of firing. Silencers are not silent--but the muted and modified noise might not be recognized as a gunshot. I volunteer at a local rifle range and legally silenced weapons and everything from flintlock muskets to machine guns appear on the firing line. With Britain in Mortal Danger-Second Edition: Britain's Most Secret Army of WWII mentioned the issue of one silencer-equipped caliber twenty-two rifle per Auxiliary Unit patrol. The Welrod silenced pistol is nobody's idea of a sniper's weapon, but Britain was perhaps the premier user of silenced weapons during World War Two. Those crude silencers used wipes that kept noise levels down--and made the weapon less accurate. I thought that the Sniper Forensics chapter was weak--because when both sides play dirty, "evidence" becomes an elastic concept. Britain permanently abridged the rights of Englishmen in response to the IRA terror campaign because a handful of Irish terrorists credibly threatened the legitimacy of the British government. Snipers were only part of the equation. Most people will obsess over the hardware. The more astute will examine tactics with a microscope. Strategy and goals mean more to success or failure than hardware or even tactics. What is the goal of the "movement?" It may be a government operating under the radar to eliminate political rivals--or a criminal element that cannot be touched by existing laws. The IRA campaign in Chapter 11 is worth reading--because it can happen here in America. Chapter 15 tells part of the story of the DC snipers John Muhammad and Lee Malvo. Some countermeasures may prove counter-productive. I'm a security professional, and many times body armor is prohibited because of public image issues--the powers that be have determined that Robocop alienates people. In peacekeeping missions, US troops wear helmets and heavy body armor, but the more successful peacekeepers stick to soft caps--usually berets. When soldiers and cops suit up in full armor and patrol in armored (air-conditioned) vehicles and only go out in platoon strength or more--the snipers have won. One final note: the modern urban guerrilla relies upon mass media manipulation. The primary effect of sniping is psychological. Snipers kill few people--but can paralyze a nation in terror.

This book glows. I wish I could give it a sixth star. I'm a military history buff. And although I never dream't of being a sniper (I wear glasses) and deep down count my lucky stars that God never intended for me to be on the muscle side of the military house. I learned an awful lot about this deadly craft. After reading it I let out sigh of relief and thought 'thank God, the best snipers in the world work for the good guys.' Although each page of the book taught me something I didn't know. For my money the two most impressive chapters were the chapter on the Irish Republicans Army's 'Gold Finger Team,' and the JFK assassination. The Gold Finger team was a unit of but a handful of men who sniped British soldiers from across an international border with a .50 caliber rifle. In some parts of South Armagh the British soldiers began to refuse to go out on patrol even. Speaking as a buff the Brits are professional soldiers for them to do that says volumes about the IRA. But the best chapter of all was the chapter about the JFK assassination. The author is to be commended for having the guts to delve deeply into a part of American history that is the subject of such endless speculation. I have often wondered as a buff what the real opinion of a seasoned Special Forces soldier would be on the subject. The author does not disappoint. He puts forward a plausible working theory as to who pulled the triggers and how and names at least one trigger-man. One day hopefully many many years from now when I arrive at the pearly gates one of the first requests I will have for St. Peter will be 'please roll the film from Dealey plaza.'

On the one hand there is MUCH to learn, review, and rediscover within this amazing book! It will entice the mind of the trained, will incite conversation amongst professionals in the field. West takes us for a sky rocketing ride up the ladder of excellence through a thoroughly researched work covering unconventional/urban/guerrilla sniping. This is not a book for the layman or novice. For the professionally trained its a challenge . Just because I took a 1 week course on first aid does not give me the right to call myself a doctor. In the same way, using the title sniper to describe most of the shooters in the book is insulting to a community of professionals. Just because someone uses a rifle in a precise way does not make them a sniper. Just because someone is sneaky does not earn them the title sniper. They may be fighters and warriors with skills, but not a sniper. A formal school does not ensure a maestro like Haya or Zaitzev, but to call mass murderers snipers... Certainly OJT, a hunting background, natural instinct, an eagerness to learn, and luck can make some formidable self taught snipers. Allerberger clearly and in detail describes his learning process in sniper on e eastern front. But though Whitman may have blended in his janitorial dress (though that scumbag most likely habitually dressed that poorly) and though he could shoot to call that murdering parasite a sniper is obtuse. To include a disscussion of methods is on the other hand, BRILLIANT!

The author, a Special Forces soldier with extensive experience of his topic, paints vividly the details of urban guerilla sniping. The reader acquires a spiritual understanding of the trade as well as a technical appreciation for guerilla sniping and its past applications. This book can be best described as gripping, informative, and thought-provoking. My single criticism relates to the author's tendency to describe in detail observations which are somewhat obvious, perhaps in the name of thoroughness. This trait at times lends the writing a pedantic quality. Nevertheless, this book offers keen insights into the enthralling world of urban guerilla sniping, and I would recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in engaging with the topic.

In John West's work, Fry The Brain, he argues that the urban sniper is a critical component to a successful urban guerilla movement. He supports his assertion by arguing that a snipers impact on the morale of the opposing force far exceeds the number of enemy Soldiers he actually engages. West then goes on to further suggest that a sniper can elicit an over response from his enemy which subsequently allows the urban guerilla movement to leverage the media to influence international opinion. Ultimately West firmly establishes his position that a snipers value far exceeds the necessary investment in training and equipment. Fry the Brain is a long book that really takes an extensive look at the role and impact of the urban sniper through the lens of numerous urban conflicts from Stalingrad in World War II, to the current conflict in Iraq. His historical analysis are absolutely outstanding in general, and provide an excellent foundation for his subsequent discussion concerning the role of the sniper in each battle. West's examination of each conflict is accomplished through an examination of the tactics, and equipment employed by the urban sniper in each of the contingencies, usually through an analysis of a specific sniper or sniper operation. In each case study West focuses on the challenges of infiltration, signature minimization, exfiltration, and the psychological impact of the sniper after the target(s) were serviced. Where ever possible West quantifies the number of sniper related casualties, and subsequently works to extrapolate through various indicators their ultimate impact at the operational level of the conflict. West expands his examination of the urban sniper by also reviewing the snipers tools of the trade, and modern counter sniper tactics, and technology. It's obvious that West has an affinity for firearms, which isn't surprising since he himself served as a U.S. Army Special Forces Soldier for 22 years. His review of potential sniper weapons and equipment is unfortunately disappointing, not so much as a result of what he chose to examine, but because of technical mistakes that shouldn't have been made by an author with his credentials. The two most frustrating mistakes that he made throughout the book were his reference to suppressing a revolver, and the employment of exploding bullets. West is absolutely enamored with the concept of the suppressed firearm. His arguments concerning the benefits of the snipers employment of a suppressed weapon are compelling, but on more than one occasion he specifically suggests the employment of a suppressed revolver. With only a few model specific exceptions (Nagant Revolver), revolvers cannot be effectively suppressed due to the gap between the cylinder and the barrel. If West had specified that a revolver be suppressed to conceal the muzzle flash his argument would be more valid, but he clearly indicates the purpose of the suppressor as to reduce the sound signature of the weapon when fired. Additionally considering the amount of time spent discussing weapon suppression, it would have been appropriate to add a decibel examination to the discussion, to quantify the effect of modern suppressors when used in conjunction with a standard semi-automatic firearm. West `s suggestion that `exploding' bullets be used to minimize the forensic signature of the sniper is particularly disappointing. West would lead the reader to believe that there is a small caliber round filled with explosives that detonates on contact. That round simply does not exist. What West is probably referring to is a frangible round that essentially disintegrates when it meets a medium denser than itself. Frangible rounds are commonly used in indoor ranges to reduce the potential of ricochets. The frangible round would meet all the forensic aspects of West's assertion, short of his suggestion that `exploding' rounds were used by Kennedy's assassins. In the case of Kennedy's assassination, West suggests that the round that penetrated the front windshield of the president's car, and subsequently struck him in the throat was an `exploding' round. By his own analysis the round should have exploded on impact with the windshield and would have never made it to the president. Overall the book is a great review of the historical impact of the sniper in the urban environment. A more well versed editor would have caught and addressed the issues concerning the suppression of a revolver, and the reference to exploding bullets. Those errors are really minor detractors from an otherwise very good book. West's analysis of urban sniper tactics is unparalleled and provides a one source reference for the counter insurgency professional working against the modern urban sniper. Ultimately West firmly establishes his position that a snipers value far exceeds his quantitative impact on the battlefield.

You have curiosity on the concept, you've heard the name around (alongside War of The Flea), you wonder if it's worth the money. I tell you, Fry the Brain and War of the Flea are excellent works deconstructing asymmetrical warfare, and a fantastic starting place to an understanding. Once you have gotten all the information you can from this book, it makes frequent reference to more advanced and indepth works. Buy it, read it, learn and advance. No disappointment.

Good book made bt a American thinker. Not Chinese copy communist

I love this book! It is incredibly thorough and well laid out. John West is an ex Army Special Forces Soldier who, as best as I can tell, was not a sniper himself but became fascinated with the reality of urban guerrilla sniping when his Team patrolled in vehicles up on an Iraqi traffic Checkpoint and he and another soldier saw a bullet impact on the fortification of the checkpoint, but no one, even the Iraqis at the checkpoint heard a gun shot. This incident set Mr West off on a personal quest to learn all that he could about the art of urban sniping and document it in this book. I am incredibly grateful that he did this. I wish I and my fellow Army Infantrymen had this book while we served in SW Baghdad in 2006. We suffered from a minor but consistent urban sniper threat. Fortunately our Company didn't receive any KIAs because of this sniper problem, though we did have 3 soldiers wounded from it. I'm pretty much positive that we were not dealing with the "Juba" group of snipers that shot mostly from ground level vehicles at mostly stationary checkpoints and guard towers. Instead our 3 WIAs were from high angle shots from upper story buildings that were most likely done from within 75 yards and without scopes. At the time we tried to be as aware as we could of the circumstances, and we utilized both our company snipers and a special detachment of SF Counter-snipers, but after reading this book I now realize how much I hadn't been aware of at the time about the art of urban guerrilla sniping and how potentially limited the big Army's concept of sniping was on our ability to deal with this threat. Not to bad mouth our counter sniping capabilities, as the SF and even our Company Snipers, led by my former Squad Leader, were all very capable and striving for adaptation and evolution within the needs of the fight. This book should be the definitive urban sniping and counter sniping source book for years to come.

This is probably one of the most detailed breakdowns of historical sniping that I've ever read. It is a history book first, but as it goes through the different historical examples, you can start to pick up on the most successful tactics employed by guerrilla snipers from each respective period. In this regard, the book is also a sort of sniper & counter-sniper manual. Throughout, there are occasional spelling & grammar errors and every now and then, the letters on individual words get spaced out a bit too much, but these are few and far between, and obviously have not affected my 5 star rating. Could do with some final edits to fix these but overall a fascinating and informative read. Highly recommend for history buffs and military history/tactics geeks, of which I am one!

Super educational book. Highly recommend

One of the best reads I’ve stumbled across in years

[Cette critique porte sur la 1ere édition, parue en 2008] Il y a parfois des livres qui ne trouvent pas d'éditeur et trouvent quand même leur public. "Fry the Brain- The Art of Urban Sniping...", de "John West", fait partie de ces ouvrages un peu underground devenus "cultes" dans certains milieux. Il m'a fallu près de deux mois pour lire ses 440 pages : ce n'est pas le genre de livre qu'on se murge en une soirée. Présenté comme "LA bible" du tir de précision en guérilla urbaine, Fry the Brain est dans toutes les bibliothèques de "preppers", "survivalistes" et autres individus familiers des mouvements prônant l'autarcie, l'indépendance de l'Etat et la résistance à l'oppression, bref tous ceux qui ont perdu confiance dans le système occidental. L'auteur, "John West" (probablement un pseudonyme), ne donne pas beaucoup d'informations sur lui-même. On apprend dans le paragraphe de présentation à la fin de cet ouvrage qu'il a travaillé comme "soldat dans les forces spéciales pendant 22 ans", et a accompli trois "OPEX" en Irak entre 2003 et 2005, avant d'enseigner les techniques de guérilla à Fort Bragg (USA). Je reviendrais sur son profil plus loin. L'ouvrage n'est pas, comme on pourrait le croire, un manuel. Il s'agit plutôt d'un long essai en plusieurs parties, relatif à l'emploi d'armes à feu dans des assassinats ciblés, commis dans un contexte de résistance armée, de terrorisme, ou de crime de masse. Il s'ouvre et se ferme sur deux chapitres de fiction réaliste montrant comment se passe un tir en guérilla urbaine, pas forcément sans intérêt, mais je trouve assez peu utiles. La première partie qui court du chapitre 2 au chapitre 6 inclus, se consacre à définir ce qu'est le "sniping urbain" tel que le conçoit l'auteur. C'est la partie la plus "technique", qui présente le tir de précision de manière générale, présente les systèmes d'armes auxquels l'auteur fait référence, ainsi que les techniques employées dans le sniping proprement dit pour dissimuler son tir à l'aide de subterfuges, de pratiques et d'accessoires. Cette partie est un peu étrange pour moi, parce qu'elle est à la fois vraiment très intéressante avec des données tout à fait valides, mais il y a aussi des choses un peu plus bizarres. Ainsi, l'auteur classe dans le "sniping urbain" toute méthode pour supprimer une cible avec une arme à feu voire un explosif : il présente des armes de poing comme des armes de sniping, alors que traditionnellement, il est clair qu'elles n'en sont pas. L'auteur ne m'a franchement pas convaincu dans son approche, à moins de s'intéresser non plus au sniping urbain, mais à l'assassinat ciblé de façon plus générale. Autre chose qui me dérange dans ces chapitres, l'auteur semble avoir une connaissance des armes à feu et des munitions somme toute limitée, ce qui est tout à fait paradoxal. Nombre d'assertions faites dans ces pages relèvent quasiment de ce qu'on appelle outre-atlantique du "Fudd-lore", que tout tireur sportif a forcément entendu sur les pas de tir, même en France. Les "Fudd-lore" sont toutes ces affirmations stupides qui démontrent la profonde ignorance de la balistique des gens qui les reprennent. L'exemple parfait est celui du souffle de la balle de calibre .50 BMG qui suffirait à tuer une cible même quand on la rate. Si John West ne va pas jusqu'à ce genre de choses et qu'il reste quand même dans des limites plausibles, quelques points (somme toute mineurs) m'ont tout de même fait froncer les sourcils... Les chapitres 7 à 17 inclus sont chacun consacrés à la présentation et à l'analyse de cas historiques, allant de la bataille de Stalingrad au insurgés irakiens du triangle sunnite, en passant par l'IRA, , les conflits sraélo-palestiniens, les Tchétchènes ou les guerres de Serbie. Peut être de façon un peu plus controversée aussi, l'auteur étudie l'assassinat de JFK, la tuerie commise en 1966 par Charles Whitman à l'université du Texas et la vague de meurtres commis par John Muhammad et Lee Malvo dans l'Etat de Washington en 2002. C'est cette partie-là qui fait à mon sens tout l'intérêt de Fry the Brain (dont le titre est issu du siège de Sarajevo). Tout à la fois historique et synthèse analytique, ces chapitres relèvent les méthodes et les procédures employées par les différents acteurs considérés pour commettre leurs tirs. Les chapitres sur l'IRA, Charles Whitman et Muhammad/Malvo sont particulièrement bien faits et fournissent énormément d'informations qui ne sont pas reprises de façon classique dans les ouvrages plus généraux sur la guérilla ou les "crime studies". John West s'appuie sur des sources généralement crédibles et toujours proches du terrain, quoiqu'il ne soit pas toujours critique vis-à-vis d'elles et les prend beaucoup pour argent comptant. Cette partie est, en termes de qualité, tout à fait similaire à ce que j'avais trouvé dans War of The Flea de Robert Taber. Néanmoins... il y a un chapitre qui, très franchement, dénote particulièrement et même questionne beaucoup ce que dit l'auteur ailleurs. le chapitre sur l'assassinat de JFK relève de la fiction pure, voire du délire. Selon John West en effet, Lee Harvey Oswald n'était qu'un lampion, et l'assassinat a en fait été commis par un tireur français appartenant à la mafia corse, en collaboration avec pas moins de 10 (dix!) équipes de snipers. Je préfère être clair : West délire totalement et ne fournit d'ailleurs aucune source réelle au soutien de ce qu'il déblatère. Son propos est simplement ridicule et n'a rien à faire dans cet ouvrage. Enfin, la troisième et dernière partie court du chapitre 18 au chapitre 22, et replonge le lecteur dans des aspects plus techniques, voire technologiques. Il s'agit ici surtout d'évoquer un peu pêle-mêle le tir aux armes de gros calibres (.50 BMG, 20mm...), les systèmes de tir déporté (télécommandés), ou encore les techniques de contre-sniping et l'expertise balistique permettant de retrouver un tireur à partir de ses traces. Si dans l'ensemble c'est très intéressant, l'aspect technologique accuse forcément le coup des années : Fry the Brain est sorti en 2008 (une seconde édition augmentée et actualisée est sortie en août 2025), et on est très loin des technologies actuelles, notamment sur les systèmes de surveillance et les drones. Beaucoup de très bonnes informations renseignent le lecteur et même l'invitent sans le dire à approfondir ses recherches sur ces différents sujets, ce qui est assez stimulant et bienvenu. Néanmoins... là encore John West a des considérations qui laissent pour le moins dubitatif, surtout quand il considère le sniping aux armes de calibres anti-matériel. Alors que dans la partie consacrée à la seconde guerre mondiale il nous avait bien expliqué que les armes de grands calibres étaient devenues inutiles face aux blindés, le voilà qui nous explique qu'un tir de .50 BMG bien placé sur des équipements précieux (radars...) peut "aveugler" et rendre inopérant rien moins qu'un avion de ligne ou un navire de guerre, voire même endommager un sous-marin au point de le rendre inutilisable! Si effectivement le tir d'armes légères peut rendre un véhicule blindé vulnérable en le privant de ses systèmes d'observation, en ce qui concerne des navires de guerre on nage en plein délire, ne serait-ce que du fait des distances de tir que cela implique, même sur un navire à quai sur une base militaire. Si la question s'est effectivement posée pendant un moment vis-à-vis des avions de ligne (tir dans le moteur au décollage), rien n'a jamais permis de démontrer la vulnérabilité de ces appareils à ce type d'armements. Alors dans l'ensemble, Fry the Brain est un très bon livre, qui contient énormément de très bonnes informations et qui est en tout cas tout à fait stimulant pour le lecteur, que ce soit pour des aspects techniques ou pour des aspects historiques. Les informations contenues ici sont évidemment bien moins riches que dans des ouvrages plus spécialisés, mais pour un livre généraliste c'est vraiment très bon. Cependant, le fait que des informations un peu délirantes s'y trouvent aussi pose un peu question, et je doute finalement que "John West" soit réellement qui il prétend. Outre le fait qu'il n'y a strictement aucune information sur lui en ligne, pas même une interview dans un magazine ou un podcast, fait lever un sourcil, surtout quand on considère les autres éléments. D'abord, il n'y a aucun jargon militaire, aucune déformation lexicale typique d'un homme qui aurait passé plus de 20 ans dans les forces spéciales, ce qui est tout à fait étonnant. Certaines considérations sur les armes à feu posent question, car elles ne font aucun sens pour quelqu'un qui fréquente les pas de tir, surtout à titre professionnel. Enfin, le contraste entre les chapitres laisse penser que même s'il n'y a qu'un rédacteur, le texte a en réalité été composé à 4 mains. L'adresse mail de contact en bas du paragraphe consacré à l'auteur semble renvoyer à une maison d'édition qui a fermé en 2003, et publiait des livres sur le close-combat, probablement rédigés par le patron de la maison d'édition lui-même... mais rien relatif au tir ou aux armes à feu en général. Quoi qu'il en soit, Fry the Brain reste tout de même un bon livre. Même si la bibliographie est assez peu fournie, elle montre que "John West" s'est basé sur des livres de très bonne qualité historique, technique et scientifique pour rédiger ses analyses. Malgré ses défauts, il ne vole pas son statut d'ouvrage "culte" dans certains milieux. Il n'existe malheureusement pas d'édition française, et je doute qu'il y en ait un jour puisque ce livre est publié en auto-édition. Son succès reste malgré tout indéniable et plutôt mérité : il n'a de toute façon guère de concurrence dans son domaine. La seconde édition de 2025 comporte une cinquantaine de pages en plus et aborde le conflit russo-ukrainien. Il corrige et actualise également un certain nombre d'éléments, quoique je n'en aie pas le détail.

Well worth a read. A great case study on urban sniping, its history, present use and future possibilities.