Would you agree Hathcock was the most skilled even though his confined kill count was lower. He was an MP most of his first tour and got wounded not long after starting his second.
Im not sure I would.. White Feather was an incredible sniper.. there is no questioning that all.. but to your point, the amount of time he actually spent in the field was limited compared to others.. so the amount of opportunities and # of missions completed were limited by comparison.. and the # of kills a sniper racks up is but only one thing they are judged by (remember they are also battlefield intelligence gatherers, and very complex force multipliers, that often DO NOT take a shot as part of their mission)
I think comparing Hathcock to Mawhinney or a host of names we'll never hear/know that worked in the special operations and intelligence communities as "snipers" is sort of like comparing a ferrari, to a maclaren, or a labroghini.. is one really better than the other? Or is one really just more to your likes/preferences/tastes/interests/or you just know more about one than the other?..
What separates Hathcock from Mawhinney really is their careers AFTER the USMC and their associated "fame"..
Hathcock stayed full time engaged and employed in the sniper community until the day he died.. when he left Vietnam he was assigned to the USMC sniper school until he retired (medically).. when he was medically retired from the USMC he started teaching sniper skills to police agencies, military special operations units, etc.. whereas Mawhinney chose to leave the community completely. He left the USMC and went to work for the US Forest Service as soon as his enlistment was up...
Hathcock had his exploits popularized in several different best selling books (to include a book he wrote himself.. althought I dont think that one hit any best seller lists..), in several movies, etc through the 80's and 90's.. Many people thought he was the leading sniper, kill wise, of the Vietnam War for decades, simply because he was the only sniper with such a high volume of kills that was actually known or talked about.. No one had heard Mawhinney's name, until a single book was written (by another USMC sniper) in the 90's that spoke to his skills and capabilities.. After retiring from the USFS and after being brought into the limelight by his buddy that wrote the book, Mawhinney re-entered the sniper community in a very limited fashion.. he worked with some "tactical" companies (gear makers, knife makers, etc) to design some kit, and he does some limited speaking engagement type stuff at sniper schools, etc..
FWIW I am a big Hathcock fan.. He lived/grew up less than 40 miles from where I did.. and he ran a private marksmanship school for mil/leo for years throughout the Southeastern US that several guys I know attended (I tried to go a couple of different times, and just couldnt make it work when I made the attempts).. I met him in person a few times at a couple of different events, etc.. he was truly a GREAT man..
Im just not sure he was the only guy during the Vietnam war that had that level of skill and capabilities.. there were a handful of guys that we know about that did some pretty incredible things... that were equally innovative.. equally good shots.. etc.. they just didnt do things that grab your attention like mounting an optic to an M2 and creating the first ".50 sniper rifle".. much of what they did was more subtle.. and there are another handful of guys out there that we will never know about that are also in the same category..
