Meditation

"The biggest thing before shooting is to slow your heart rate down," Ranstad told The Post last week. "You want to be comfortable. I'm taking slow, deep breaths."

Beat.

"It's almost like a meditation. I'm not thinking of anything. I'm just ready to take that guy out."...

Ranstad later heard through the sniper grapevine that the shot was the longest by an American sniper in Afghanistan - and wasn't too far from the 7,972 foot kill in 2002 by Canadian Army Cpl. Rob Furlong. Since Ranstad's kill, a British soldier, Craig Harrison set a new distance record when he shot two Taliban from 8,120 feet last year.

How to shoot someone from a mile away