 Later that day, Sergeant Gilliland found out that the American soldier who had been killed by the Iraqi was Staff Sergeant Jason Benford, 30, a good friend. The insurgent was one of between 55 and 65. Sergeant Gilliland estimates that he shot dead in less than five months, putting him within striking distance of sniper legends such as Carlos Halfcock, a Marine who recorded 93 confirmed kills in Vietnam. One of his men, Specialist Aaron Arnold, 22, of Medway, Ohio, has chalked up a similar tally.