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"I used to want to be a sniper but after what I've been through I don't know if I could survive three days on a stalk," moaned a crestfallen Fitzpatrick.
Despite his disappointment, Fitzpatrick contended that the course significantly improved his outlook on life. "It made me mentally stronger," he said later from his home in Omaha, where he was training to compete in a bare-knuckled, no-holds-barred Ultimate Fighting exhibition.
"When people hooked up wires wrong at work, I used to get irate. But I made mistakes at sniper school that really affected me. Now, if I showed someone something once and they didn't get it, I'll show them again and again. I think patience comes from the stalk, when you work and work and work to get in position for that one shot."
In hindsight, Detective Vice also considered the course beneficial: "I knew how to use a weapon but I didn't know the tactics for deploying it. Now that I've gone through the certification process, if any questions are brought up [after a shooting], I have proof that I'm not some Joe Schmoe off the street with a rifle."
Still, Vice questioned the wisdom of allowing civilians to take a course "with one purpose and one purpose only: killing a human being. . .In a perfect world, civilians shouldn't be there."
Tom Fitzpatrick, for one, toyed with the idea of shedding his civilian status. Vice invited him to apply for a position with the Moss Point Police Department.
"I'd love to do police work," said Fitzpatrick, who may one day sit for the entry exam. "Then there'll be two snipers in Moss Point. I just have to go back to school and get my certificate."
David Wallis is the founder of featurewell.com. He contributes to The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post and the Observer of London, among other publications.
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Street Stories 11
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Sniper School 1
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The Town That Banned Satan
A Visit to Inglis, Florida
