The Gun by C. J. Chivers Page B

support: David Rohde, Nick Kulish, Paul Zielbauer, Eric Schmitt, Nick Wood, John Burns, Dex Filkins, Jim Dao, Thom Shanker, Michael Gordon, Jim Glanz, Carlotta Gall, Michael Slackman, Ellen Barry, Cliff Levy, Steve Myers, Andrew Kramer, Sophia Kishkovsky, Willy Rashbaum, Jeffrey Gettleman, Bobby Worth, Joe Kahn, Andrei and Oleg Shevchenko, Natasha Bubenova, Phyllis Collazzo, Cynthia Latimer, Flora Lee, Charlie Williams, Alain Delaqueriere, Ethan Wilensky-Lanford, Michael Schwirtz, Josh Yaffa, and Sasha Nurnberg. Photographers (and a videographer) joined me on many trips and indulged requests for detailed pictures of arms, ammunition, log books, serial numbers, shipping labels, munitions packaging, and markings: Adam Ellick, Luke Tchalenko, Joao Silva, Chang Lee, Christoph Bangert, Yuri Tutov, Justyna Mielnikiewicz, Joseph Sywenkyj, Sergei Kivrin, Dima Beliakov. Journalists from other news organizations helped, too: Nick Paton Walsh, Jeffrey Fleishman, Beth Noble, Arkady Ostrovsky, Alan Cullison, Aram Roston, Bryon McWilliams, and Bing West.
    Several people listed here read portions of the draft manuscript, or drafts in their entirety, and offered suggestions and corrections. Other readers included Mark Greene and Kory Romanat.
    I was assisted throughout by local journalists, guides, interpreters, and drivers in many different countries. Yuriy Tartarchuk escorted a small group of us through Chernobyl’s ruins and the exclusion zone, and allowed Joseph Sywenkyj to photograph pages in the military instructor’s log book detailing Kalashnikov drills performed by Soviet students. Yuri Strilchuk led us through the test site at Semipalatinsk, where the Soviet Union’s first atomic bomb, Joe 1, was detonated, and explained the bomb’s design, placement, and blast effects, allowing for this book’s opening scene. Many people who helped in conflict zones or police states will not be listed, to protect them from retaliation from insurgents or from authorities who punish dissent or restrict access and honest reporting, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and the Palestinian territories. Several can be named: Peshwaz Faizulla, Alan Abdulla, Sangar Rahimi, Abdul Waheed Wafa, Pir Zubair Shah, TaimoorShah, Nasir Ahmed, Arian Jaff, Abdul Samad Jamshid, Olesya Vartanyan, Dima Bit-Suleiman, George Kumagong, Jimmy Otim.
    Much of my understanding of infantry tactics and how they have changed was gained in the Marine Corps, both in the field and via the Corps’ emphasis on reading military history. This foundation was enhanced and enriched by countless military officals, officers, and troops who shared their experiences or who allowed me and a photographer to accompany them on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq. A list of everyone would fill pages. Among those who helped with recollections, tips, suggestions, document review or arms or munitions identification were Nick Pratt, Mike Richards, Mike Bruce, Tom Wilhelm, Greg Sailer, Sulev Suvari, Rory Quinn, Ed Ota, Mike Mendoza, and Brett Bourne. Several public affairs officials assisted with documents or referrals: Bruce Zielsdorf, Frank Misurelli, Peter Rowland, Sheldon Smith, Dave Johnson, Daniel King, Christian Kubik, and more public affairs noncommissioned officers and officers in Afghanistan and Iraq than could be listed here. In the field, on patrols, raids, sweeps, medical evacuations, and other missions, and in long talks in the lulls, I was aided by and learned from Jimmy Howell, Josh Biggers, Paul Stubbs, Matt Baker, Ken Detreux, Sean Riordan, Dustin Kirby, Mark Grdovic, James McCarver, Bertrand Fitzpatrick, Richard Dewater, Colin Smith, Ramon Gavan, Daniel McKernan, Norberto Rodriguez, Douglas Terrell, Zackary Filip, Chuck Major, Walter De La Vega, Mark Trouerbach, Patrick Maguire, James Mingus, Stephan Karabin II, Tom Grace, Brian Rogers, Steven Green, Robert Smail, Gregory Veteto, Sean Conroy, Osvaldo Hernandez, Jarrod Neff, Cory Colistra, Adam