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Major John Plaster is a national authority on sniping, firearms and special operations, as well as author of The Ultimate Sniper, an encyclopedic reference on sniping, and most recently, SOG, the true story of America's most highly classified Vietnam-era covert operations.
His instructional videos, The Ultimate Sniper, Pro Sniper, The Ultimate Rifleman, and Advanced Ultimate Sniper, have been distributed worldwide. He also has appeared in a number of special operations historical documentaries for the History Channel, the Discovery Channel and the Learning Channel, and is now assisting a series of films on foreign police tactical units. Plaster began his military career as a U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Beret) weapons NCO, and served three one-year combat tours in the top secret Studies and Observations Group, where he led small intelligence gathering teams deep behind enemy lines in Laos and Cambodia, covertly penetrating heavily defended North Vietnamese base areas along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Plaster was wounded once, decorated four times for heroism, and later given a direct commission due to his combat experience.
Applying what he had learned of stealth, camouflage, stalking and long-range shooting, he co-founded a stateside sniper training program in 1983, and went on to instruct sniping and special operations to personnel from more than 100 departments and agencies, including the FBI, U.S. Customs Service, the RCMP, U.S. Marshals, Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, the Spanish Foreign Legion and the U.S. Marine Corps. Since 1993 he has instructed precision rifle shooting at Arizona's prestigious Gunsite Training Center, and more recently has been the Chief of Competition for Autauga Arms U.S. and European sniping championships. With a BA in Journalism, Plaster has contributed articles to many publications, including The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Tactical Edge, Soldier of Fortune and Guns & Ammo. He writes a regular column on long-range shooting for Rifle Shooter magazine, and also serves on the staff of Tactical Shooter.
