tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post6321270528587064698..comments2024-03-29T08:01:26.952-05:00Comments on Bayou Renaissance Man: Snipers, war and political falloutPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10595089829300831372noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-70247930324016965012015-01-31T10:09:20.083-06:002015-01-31T10:09:20.083-06:00@R: Unfortunately, much of what you read about hi...@R: Unfortunately, much of what you read about him is nothing more than character assassination. Take it with several very large pinches of salt.Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10595089829300831372noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-14051166568851606782015-01-31T09:40:51.758-06:002015-01-31T09:40:51.758-06:00Did the film portray Kyle's unfortunate tenden...Did the film portray Kyle's unfortunate tendency to embellish or plainly make up stuff (shooting looters during Katrina, having shot a carjacker somewhere else) etc? <br /><br />The more I read about the guy the more it seemed he was a capable warrior but one who had a journalists's approach: that truth is whatever you can get away with.. R.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-64428042268803862672015-01-30T17:58:04.240-06:002015-01-30T17:58:04.240-06:00Saw the movie, haven't read the book.
It seem...Saw the movie, haven't read the book.<br /><br />It seems to me that snipers are loved or hated based on whether they're on your side or not. On your side, they're the angelic guardians watching your back and keeping you from harm. On the other side, they're the cowards who won't "come out to play" like other decent troops. Personally, I am very grateful for the skilled and dedicated snipers watching over our own troops; their efforts are shaping battlefields and enabling others to come home alive. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm all for our own... I'm a homer that way.<br /><br />Where the movie is concerned, I thought it did a good job helping me see (if not understand, I'm not sure I fully can) the difficulty in a soldier not just being home but also <i>being home</i>. Whatever Chris Kyle's faults may have been, he was trying to help others do that. I can respect and appreciate that. I won't say the movie was entertaining; I think that's entirely the wrong word to use. It held my interest and built my appreciation for those who were doing a hard job in a hard place. The politics and causes aside, they were sent, they went, and they did what they had to do (and in some cases, much more than that). <br /><br />Thankfully, experiences like Paul in Texas had seem to be very few and far between nowadays. I wonder if some of the lauding of troops is a reaction to that sort of thing after Vietnam. But I get the feeling there are those (like a certain filmmaker I refuse to name) who would love to see those days come again. To hell with that, say I.The Raving Prophethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08830254881182697135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-69022618802868907752015-01-30T17:03:05.044-06:002015-01-30T17:03:05.044-06:00I don't see these liberal, left wing keyboard ...I don't see these liberal, left wing keyboard commandos calling a sniper a Coward to his face.<br />As a member of 5th. Group (provisional) when I returned from Vietnam after my 3rd. tour we had some demonstrators calling us vile names, but they made it a point now to get too close to us when they did. Who's the coward?<br />Paul in TexasAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-79390683738917073562015-01-30T16:13:33.218-06:002015-01-30T16:13:33.218-06:00Hey, remember when even the Left were all atwitter...Hey, remember when even the Left were all atwitter when the Navy SEAL sniper took the shot that saved Captain Phillips from the Somali pirates? <br /><br />Was that sniper cowardly as he lay on a rolling ship deck in 100 degree heat for hours before taking that shot into a bouncing survival boat right next to the man he was tasked to save?JK Brownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-5935243576186623682015-01-30T14:02:02.910-06:002015-01-30T14:02:02.910-06:00IIRC, our revolutionary war might have turned out ...IIRC, our revolutionary war might have turned out differently, if the snipers on our side had not been active. The British had none, AFAIK.Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722792638246578812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-7582897667096312052015-01-30T10:42:16.244-06:002015-01-30T10:42:16.244-06:00To highlight Chris Mallory's point. In 'D...To highlight Chris Mallory's point. In 'Dirty Harry' the sniper is the bad guy, now Chris Kyle is regarded as the hero. Times have changed and, with movies such as Sniper (Tom Berenger) and Jarhead the US public has been given a more sympathetic portrayal of the role. I suspect this is related to the fact that the US Army only opened its sniper school in 1987 as before that only the 'bad guys' (and the Marines, and much of NATO) had snipers.<br /><br />Moore’s response reflects the experience of the veterans in his family who, in WW2, regarded snipers in much the way we view suicide bombers – calling men who drive into the enemy with half a ton of explosives cowards... Like the snipers of WW2 it is an enemy of which we have no experience and is perceived as dishonourable but has its own logic to the groups using it (poor man’s smart bomb?) and is many things but cowardly would not be one of them. <br /><br />Chris Kyle was a brave and highly skilled soldier carrying out the role he was prepared for but not without cost. As nations we ask, and many young men willingly volunteer, that our armed forces execute wars that are remote from our homes and highly sanitised but which leave those directly engaged often deeply affected by events of which we understand little.<br /><br />If I may quote Rudyard Kipling<br /><br />For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"<br />But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;<br />An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;<br />An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool—you bet that Tommy sees!<br />Charlesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-47560587938390761312015-01-30T10:29:29.944-06:002015-01-30T10:29:29.944-06:00Maybe you should include some context with that bi...Maybe you should include some context with that bit, August. You know, like how the men Kyle shot were savages, had been savages, were behaving as savages, and would continue to be savages.<br /><br />I feel pity for Kyle. No, not in a contemptuous way, but as Peter says, these men come back from wars invariably damaged -- some physically, most psychologically.<br /><br />And it has to be that way, because someone has to be Atticus Finch. Someone has to shoot the rabid dogs.Toastridernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-2830708411849270842015-01-30T08:56:23.932-06:002015-01-30T08:56:23.932-06:00I thought it was interesting that Mohyeldin [sp?] ...I thought it was interesting that Mohyeldin [sp?] is a former AlJazeera reporter who got picked up by CNN and the other networks. And he has been on record explaining that Arab audiences do not want straight reporting, but prefer listening to someone who defends them and their interests. Not that it has much to do with discussions about the use of snipers, but it certainly explains his approach to the question.<br /><br />LittleRed1Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-21269362477988367282015-01-29T19:30:00.745-06:002015-01-29T19:30:00.745-06:00I understand Moore's comment. I was born in ...I understand Moore's comment. I was born in 1969. Growing up, I can remember my grandparents, uncles, parents, even movies and books referring to snipers as cowards. Japanese and Vietnamese snipers were considered cowardly. Charles Whitman the Texas Tower sniper was considered a coward by people I knew. Oswald, called a coward. <br /><br />Do I consider Kyle a coward? I don't know the man. Is he a hero? Not to my mind. One hundred years ago, we had Alvin York. I will take York over Kyle any day of the week, if I needed an example of a hero.Chris Malloryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13001920155309388738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-90203241724700239662015-01-29T17:35:03.826-06:002015-01-29T17:35:03.826-06:00@August: I think you're suffering from projec...@August: I think you're suffering from projection. I don't read any of those things into 'American Sniper': but then, I suspect that only those who've 'been there and done that' will have an inkling of that man's soul (and his wife, of course).Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10595089829300831372noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-73014729141097950052015-01-29T16:18:50.365-06:002015-01-29T16:18:50.365-06:00One of the things that made me realize there was a...One of the things that made me realize there was a problem here was that if someone was invading my home, I'd not only want my right to self defense, I'd be pretty upset, especially if it was someone who is an agent, in some capacity, of the U.S. government. <br /><br />This is the problem with labeling Chris Kyle a hero. It is being obstinate about labeling things as you want them to be, like you want the U.S. to be something still defensible, but most of our freedoms are already lost. This guy went there, apparently worte himself that he liked killing them, wished he killed more. He doesn't meet any definition of hero, just like our nation no longer meets any of its definitions either.Augusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08758314961163692341noreply@blogger.com