This particular stalk covered over 2000 meters of flat ground with nothing more than two feet high grass for cover and concealment. Carlos Hathcock crawled inches per minute and yards per hour for two days and three nights to cover a distance that could be walked by a man at normal speed in ten minutes. The entire time Hathcock was moving into his final firing position, enemy patrols were walking all around him. On the morning of the fourth day, without having eaten any food and having had very little water, Carlos finally made it into the right spot, some 800 meters from the target area. Carlos Hathcock then killed the NVA general, and successfully exited his final firing position to escape the furious search for him.
Snipers can be extremely efficient.
In Vietnam, the average soldier used 200,000 bullets per kill. The average for a sniper was 1.3 rounds per kill. The sniper has special abilities, training, and equipment. His job is to deliver discriminatory, highly accurate rifle fire against enemy targets that cannot be engaged successfully by the regular rifleman because of range, size, location, fleeting nature, or visibility. Sniping requires the development of basic infantry skills to a high degree of perfection.