{"id":156439,"date":"2022-04-17T13:21:09","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T17:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=156439"},"modified":"2022-04-17T13:21:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T00:18:09","slug":"bert-waldron-nature-versus-nurture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/bert-waldron-nature-versus-nurture\/","title":{"rendered":"Bert Waldron: Nature versus Nurture, A Sniper’s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Bert
On the surface, this just looks like some GI with a really nice Vietnam-era sniper rifle. To the VC in the Mekong Delta, however, SSG Bert Waldron was so much more.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany GIs in Vietnam thought the night belonged to the enemy, but in the Mekong Delta, darkness belonged to Bert Waldron.\u201d –Major John Plaster<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
Fear in wartime is a profoundly powerful weapon. It invariably shapes the affairs of men.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Think back to the last time you felt truly frustrated and helpless. At some point in their lives, everybody finds themselves in circumstances utterly beyond their control. It\u2019s a terrifying sensation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
These guys were some extraordinarily effective fighters until it got dark and SSG Bert Waldron went out hunting with his night vision-enabled M21 sniper rifle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps you were the subject of bullying. Maybe you were a little kid and got lost. For the Vietcong in the Mekong Delta in 1969, the engine behind their nightmares was SSG Bert Waldron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
What began as a source of refuge and solitude from chaos eventually became a home of sorts for a young Bert Waldron.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SSG Waldron was a broken man imbued with a dark gift. Born in Syracuse, New York, in 1933, Waldron came of age amidst chaos and despair. The product of a dysfunctional home, young Bert despised his stepfather. This antipathy drove the kid into the nearby forest in search of peace and solitude. There Bert Waldron came to think of the wilderness as home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
The most successful sniper of the Vietnam War got his introduction to military service in a place like this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bert Waldron\u2019s life could be a case study of the effects of nature versus nurture. By his 23rd birthday, the man had been married three times. His unique emotional milieu apparently made him all but impossible to live with. Waldron enlisted in the US Navy and served during the Korean War. He left the Navy in 1965 after twelve years to try his hand at civilian life.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
Don’t let the youthful demeanor fool you. These guys were stone-cold killers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the country embroiled in an increasingly bitter land war in Southeast Asia and life out of uniform not to his liking, Waldron enlisted again, this time in the Army. He completed Basic Training at Fort Benning and five months later was in Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
The most successful US sniper in Vietnam had a mere eighteen days in a place like this to learn the rudiments of his craft.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Waldron\u2019s prior service in the Navy earned him Staff Sergeant\u2019s stripes, but he still had very little experience with practical soldiering. Once in country, SSG Waldron attended a brief eighteen-day sniper course taught by members of the Army Marksmanship Unit. I don\u2019t know exactly what they taught during those two and one-half weeks, but it took. In short order, SSG Bert Waldron became a holy terror behind a sniper rifle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
These hulking Tango Boats also served as proper mobile sniping platforms.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SSG Waldron was assigned to the 3d Battalion, 60th<\/sup> Infantry, Regiment, 9th<\/sup> Infantry Division under LTG Julian Ewell. Operating in close conjunction with the Navy\u2019s Mobile Riverine Force, SSG Waldron and his fellow snipers cruised the murky waterways of the Mekong looking for trouble. Waldron\u2019s prior service as a sailor made him a perfect fit for this joint operation with the Brown Water Navy. More often than not Waldron staged onboard ATC\u2019s or Armored Troop Carriers. These heavily armed and armored riverine vessels were called Tango Boats and offered US forces a prickly platform for operations throughout the myriad shallow waterways of the Mekong Delta. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
Tourists pay money to visit the Mekong Delta today. Back in the 1960s, this idyllic piece of jungle was a killing ground.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Mekong was heavily populated and teeming with VC. Charlie typically played to his own strengths, conducting many operations under cover of darkness when American air power and artillery support could not be readily brought to bear. Then Bert Waldrop and his snipers hit the battlefield with high-tech sniper rifles equipped with starlight scopes. The result was unfettered carnage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

War Stories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Bert
In addition to a few basic technical skills, a successful sniper needs courage, patience, and audacity. Bert Waldron had these gifts in spades.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It takes unimaginable courage to strike out alone into the jungle in the middle of a firefight, but that was exactly Bert Waldron\u2019s forte. In January of 1969, Waldron and his unit came under intense night attack by a force of forty well-armed VC. When his unit found itself in danger of being overrun SSG Waldron pressed out into the jungle alone to hunt. Using his accurized M21 sniper rifle and AN-PVS-2 starlight scope he could spot the enemy maneuvering in the deep foliage and pick them off as opportunity allowed. During the course of the engagement, SSG Waldron savaged the attacking force and broke the back of the assault. This fight earned him a Bronze Star with \u201cV\u201d device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
The accurized M21 sniper rifle fitted with the AN\/PVS-2 starlight scope represented the absolute state of the art in precision night sniper systems during the Vietnam War.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Three nights later SSG Waldron discovered a large VC force moving tactically. He tracked the enemy unit using his night vision system until he gained an advantageous position to attack. SSG Waldron then sniped and maneuvered, engaging from various angles to convince the VC they were facing a larger, more organized force. Three hours later he had killed eleven of the Cong and forced them to leave the field. This night\u2019s work earned him the Silver Star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
Thanks to SSG Waldron and his fellow snipers the VC no longer owned the night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eight days later SSG Waldron and his spotter were set up near Ben Tre scanning the darkness around their rice paddy with their starlight equipment. They encountered a seventeen-man VC patrol and took out their lead scout as he emerged from the treeline. Calls for artillery support were denied because of a nearby friendly village. At a range of more than 500 meters and under cover of darkness SSG Waldron killed eight VC with eight rounds from his sniper rifle. The surviving members of the VC combat patrol melted back into the jungle to safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
This skinny little guy was a holy terror on the VC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Four days after that SSG Waldron was deployed in support of an ARVN unit in contact. He discovered a group of six VC attempting to outflank the ARVNs and gain a position of advantage. SSG Waldron then meticulously killed all six of the insurgents, picking them off one by one in the darkness with his sniper rifle and night vision gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
The Distinguished Service Cross is the Army’s second highest award for gallantry. SSG Bert Waldron earned one twice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In one nineteen-day period, SSG Bert Waldron conducted fourteen successful nocturnal sniper operations. For his dedication, valor, and ruthlessness he was awarded his first Distinguished Service Cross. By now the VC were beginning to appreciate that horrible feeling of helplessness. Where previously they could move and operate in the darkness with relative impunity, now SSG Waldron and his snipers brought death from unexpected quarters. Their efforts began to take a toll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
SSG Bert Waldron just had a gift for the dark art of military sniping.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SSG Waldron\u2019s effectiveness as a sniper clearly spawned from some innate skill. He had only had eighteen days\u2019 worth of formal sniper training. During one engagement a VC sniper was peppering a passing Tango Boat from the top of a coconut tree some 900 meters distant. While the boat\u2019s crew struggled to find the hidden sniper with their heavy crew-served weapons, SSG Waldron killed the man with a single round from his M21 rifle\u2026while the boat was in motion. The Physics behind making a one-round kill from a moving boat against a camouflaged adversary nearly a kilometer distant strains credulity. However, the details were verified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
SSG Waldron’s combat record stood until it was broken during the Global War on Terror by Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For these and similar actions SSG Waldron was awarded his second Distinguished Service Cross. Waldron\u2019s reputation exploded among both Allied forces and the Cong, earning him the respectful nickname Daniel Boone. After eight months in country, the 9th<\/sup>\u00a0ID rotated home and SSG Waldron with them. By the time he left Vietnam Bert Waldron had 109 confirmed kills, fully 12% of all the kills logged by all of the division\u2019s snipers. Until Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle broke his record in 2006, SSG Bert Waldron was the deadliest American sniper in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Weapon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Bert
The M14 would have been earth-shattering in WW2. By Vietnam the design was already badly dated.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Army adopted the M14 rifle as a replacement for the WW2-era M1 Garand in 1959. A gas-operated, magazine-fed design, the M14 really reflected the previous generation\u2019s technology. At 44 inches long the M14 was found to be unduly bulky for the bitter close-range jungle fighting that characterized the war in Vietnam. By the mid-1960\u2019s the M14 was being replaced in SE Asia by the lighter, more maneuverable M16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
The M21 began life as an accurized National Match version of the M14 service rifle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The US Army is indeed a majestically cumbersome beast. In 1955 the US Army Marksmanship Training Unit (USAMTU) embarked on a quest to incorporate snipers into the Infantry squad. In the malaise of the early 1960s, this initiative was discontinued. However, the exigencies of combat in Vietnam renewed interest in the art. That exposed the need for a dedicated precision sniper rifle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
The approaches to sniper rifles by the Army and Marine Corps were fairly disparate. The Army’s M21 offered 20 rounds of on-demand semiautomatic firepower.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the Marines were using modified bolt-action hunting rifles, the Army contracted with Rock Island Armory to build up 1,435 National Match M14 rifles with Redfield 3-9x Adjustable Ranging Telescope (ART) sights. The ART was the brainchild of 2LT James Leatherwood and included both range finding and bullet drop compensation in its mechanism. This new rifle was formally designated the XM21 and first issued in 1969. An improved version with a fiberglass stock was classified the M21 in 1975 and served until 1988 when it was replaced by the bolt-action M24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
The AN\/PVS-2 starlight scope offered unprecedented capabilities to the sniper hunting at night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The AN\/PVS-2 starlight scope was the first truly successful man-portable passive night vision weapon sight fielded by the US Army. This device amplified ambient starlight to produce a usable image in the absence of an active IR emitter. While such stuff is commonplace today, it was radical indeed in 1967 when it was first deployed to Vietnam. When combined with the early SIONICS suppressors fielded in 1969 the AN\/PVS-2 offered American snipers a literally unprecedented capacity to own the night in Vietnam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rest of the Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Bert
Bert Waldron struggled to find his niche in civilian life. Here he is seen on the left instructing at Mitch WerBell’s paramilitary training school in Georgia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like so many true professional warriors, Bert Waldron found himself ill-suited to peacetime life at home. He served as a senior instructor for the US Army Marksmanship Training Unit (USAMTU) until his discharge in 1970. Along the way he met Mitch WerBell III through the commander of the USAMTU, COL Robert Bayard. and accepted a position as a counter-sniper advisor with Cobray International, WerBell\u2019s weird creepy paramilitary training school in Georgia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
Mitch WerBell was one serious piece of work. We have explored his story here at GunsAmerica before.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mitch WerBell dabbled in overthrowing third world governments for a time and made quite a few enemies along the way. In 1975 COL Bayard was found murdered outside an Atlanta shopping mall. His killer was never apprehended. Throughout it all Bert Waldron\u2019s name was a persistent fixture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
Bert Waldron was by all accounts a profoundly committed patriot and a truly exceptional soldier.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the next two decades, Waldron worked in the shadows, plying the dark skills he mastered in Vietnam into a livelihood. Along the way his final marriage self-destructed and he was investigated by the FBI. In October of 1995, Bert Waldron died of a heart attack at age 62. His ex-wife Betty said this of him, \u201cBert was a wonderful soldier. He loved his country, he would have died for his country, but he had a lot of problems as a human being.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bert
Our great republic cannot prevail without such men as Bert Waldron.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bert Waldron was a \u201cBreak Glass in Case of War\u201d type of soldier. America desperately needs such men. It is simply figuring out what to do with them when the bullets aren\u2019t flying that seems to be the perennial challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica!<\/a>***<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bert Waldron was a \u201cBreak Glass in Case of War\u201d type of soldier. America desperately needs such men. It is simply figuring out what to do with them when the bullets aren\u2019t flying that seems to be the perennial challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":156450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,257,772],"tags":[132,102,752,636,683,3146,2703,2771],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-156439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gunsamerica-authors","8":"category-historical-guns","9":"category-will-dabbs","10":"tag-buzz","11":"tag-feature-articles","12":"tag-historical-guns","13":"tag-history","14":"tag-sniper","15":"tag-soldier","16":"tag-war","17":"tag-world-war"},"yoast_head":"\nBert Waldron: Nature versus Nurture, A Sniper's Story<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bert Waldron: Nature versus Nurture, A Sniper's Story - Will Dabbs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/bert-waldron-nature-versus-nurture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bert Waldron: Nature versus Nurture, A Sniper's Story\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bert Waldron was a \u201cBreak Glass in Case of War\u201d type of soldier. 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However, shooting guns and claiming it was work seemed like a pretty sweet hustle. As a result, Will serendipitously transformed an avocation into a vocation. Raised in the Mississippi Delta, Will flew UH1H, OH58A\\\/C, CH47D and AH1S helicopters operationally as an Army Aviator. He is SCUBA-qualified and has parachuted out of perfectly good airplanes at 3 o'clock in the morning. Will has summited Mount McKinley, Alaska, six times\u2026always at the controls of an Army helicopter, which is the only way sensible folk climb mountains. Will has delivered sixty babies and occasionally wrung human blood out of his socks. He is married to his high school sweetheart and has three awesome adult children. 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