Quote:
Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos
I knew the guy about as well as you did. I probably have about the same military training you do as well (none, I assume). I don't know if he was effed up before he joined up or not.
I don't think it's normal behaviour to "keep score", and then write about how many people you killed in a book.
Millions of guys killed millions of other guys in other wars. Generally, it's seen as an admirable trait that they don't talk about it. It's like this guy was bragging about it.
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My interpretation of what i've read about the guy that he was very proud of the job that he did for the military and that he felt very strongly about the war he was fighting.
I suppose it could be taken as bragging when he had no remorse for the people he killed and I can see why people would view it that way. Then again he could have been so dehumanised about the war that he only viewed the people he killed as a threat to his safety and those people he was serving with. he was quoted as saying in the article below.....
Chris Kyle, America's deadliest sniper, offered no regrets
"I had to do it to protect the Marines," Kyle told Time magazine a year ago. "You want to lose your own guys, or would you rather take one of them out?"
"I'm a better husband and father than I was a killer," he told Time. "I'm pretty comfortable with not having to kill anyone. Now, don't take deer hunting away from me."
"The first time killing someone, you're not even sure you can do it," he said. "You think you can, but you never know until you actually are put in that position and you do it. ... And then, you're worried when you get home, are the politicians going to hang you out to dry and put you on trial for murder?"
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/03/us/tex...ile/index.html
As to why he talked, something that was said in the article below gave me pause for thought.....
How soldiers deal with the job of killing
This revulsion against committing the ultimate deed prompts the question, how easy is it to do? Soldiers put on what some call their "warrior's mask" - but away from the heat of battle, how do they take it off again?
Experiences vary. Andy Wilson, a soldier in the SAS, Britain's elite special forces, joined the army at 18.
Now 36, he still clearly remembers the first time he took someone's life in a kill-or-be-killed scenario.
"He had an AK47 and he was going to kill me. I was cool, calm and collected the whole time. I knew I had a job to do. I knew I was going to do it, and I did. I was a soldier. That was my job. And that was war."
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Lt Col Kilner, of the US Army, says the way to keep soldiers psychologically on an even keel is to reason with them - not to take away their choice and intellectual involvement with what happens in battle.
"If a soldier reasons that his or her cause is just, then killing sits more easily in the mind," he says.
"The experience of killing is huge and powerful. If you go in with the right personal tools, you can come out stronger. If you go in with cracks, you'll get shattered. The key is preparing people for this intense experience".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13687796
Like you said, none of us really knew the guy well. My views are merely an interpretation and could very well be of base.