American Sniper. What was your take away?

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DerekTM

you dont understand the military.
volunteering at a VA isnt the same thing- although im sure they appreciate the gesture.

regarding “worshipping” soldiers; every soldier in the military is a volunteer. often they are placed in harm’s way. many are injured. many are killed. family members suffer from that loss. we benefit from the sacrafices they make. why do they do it? love of country? wishing to serve? pay off school loans? maybe to all.
they dont dictate policy. they are told to enact it.

does that mean that i worship a soldier? no. do i honor and deeply appreciate what they have done, for me? for you? for the millions that they dont know? you are d*%m right i do. do they ask for any glory? no. you disrespect them with your words.

question the policy makers. hate the war. mourn the losses. even hate what they are ordered to do— but dont question their integrity, their honor or their purpose.

jingoism? great word. wrong word.

i have served. i have seen-- and have lived- the selfless sacrifice that is part of who they are.

you say that a soldier’s actions are unquestioned. wrong. prior to most exercises, exeedingly detailed planning and review takes place, and an after action review occurs after. because you dont see it or hear about it, does not mean that intense scrutiny does not occur.
 
I watched it on tv a few weeks back. Shut it down before it finished through boredom. People cut through the morality of soldiering with the skill of arm chair surgeons; however we as a society expect someone to do our killing for us. Who are we therefore to judge if a man does what he is trained to do. Our SAS are some of the best trained killers available and we constantly send them to dangerous lands to hone their killing skills so they may be useful to us in defending our country. Nothing wrong with that. Our SAS are in Iraq now against ISIS and are used to bring down air support and to train the useless. They were in Afghanistan before that and in the Gulf war; the Iraq war and Vietnam. Where ever there are people that need killing we send them to train them to kill. I would be the last to pick up the first stone against them. Far too dangerous…
 
Bspencer said:
DerekTM

you dont understand the military.
volunteering at a VA isnt the same thing- although im sure they appreciate the gesture.

regarding “worshipping” soldiers; every soldier in the military is a volunteer. often they are placed in harm’s way. many are injured. many are killed. family members suffer from that loss. we benefit from the sacrafices they make. why do they do it? love of country? wishing to serve? pay off school loans? maybe to all.
they dont dictate policy. they are told to enact it.

does that mean that i worship a soldier? no. do i honor and deeply appreciate what they have done, for me? for you? for the millions that they dont know? you are d*%m right i do. do they ask for any glory? no. you disrespect them with your words.

question the policy makers. hate the war. mourn the losses. even hate what they are ordered to do— but dont question their integrity, their honor or their purpose.

jingoism? great word. wrong word.

i have served. i have seen-- and have lived- the selfless sacrifice that is part of who they are.

you say that a soldier’s actions are unquestioned. wrong. prior to most exercises, exeedingly detailed planning and review takes place, and an after action review occurs after. because you dont see it or hear about it, does not mean that intense scrutiny does not occur.
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When I say “unquestioned” I mean the public at large. They generally wave the flag and put the yellow ribbon on their car and say they “support the troops” but when it comes time for them to increase funding to VA hospitals and mental healthcare for the veterans they balk and leave them out in the cold.

When I talk about jingoists these are the people I’m talking about - the people who love the war, hate the enemy, and leave the men and women sent to fight alone to recover from their battlefield experiences because they don’t like “big government.”

I understand that troops are scrutinized by government committees but I’m not talking about official government scrutiny. I know people who still think the Iraq war was about 9/11. I’m talking about that ignorant bunch.
 
I guess I’m still back there in the 60s when our soldiers came home and were spit at. Any veteran my age has my respect because they didn’t get it back then and deserved it as much as returning soldiers now.
One can respect our soldiers and still hate the idea of war, although sometimes they are inevitable.
I haven’t noticed any “worship” of soldiers. Maybe I don’t move in the right circles. But of course I’m in Seattle.
 
DerekTM said:
When I say “unquestioned” I mean the public at large. They generally wave the flag and put the yellow ribbon on their car and say they “support the troops” but when it comes time for them to increase funding to VA hospitals and mental healthcare for the veterans they balk and leave them out in the cold.

.
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Id say these are the type of people soldiers and all of us should really be against, unfortunately there are ALOT of these people out there…they are the type who fly the flag at their home, go to parades, etc. but if it ever came down to it, they are only patriotic up to a certain point, they would most certainly not be willing to stand up to any authority figure, Govt agent, cop, for a constitutional right…they are more concerned with staying out of jail. and their own little worlds.

The other thing I dont get, we all celebrate the patriots of the past every july 4th, our Govt does too, but if anyone today tried anything remotely close to the things those people did back then, in todays world, they would be quickly labelled a domestic terrorist and jailed, whats worse, the majority of the public would actually take the Govts side and agree those people need to be in jail!!..what kind of world is this ? I guess the people are just ‘asleep at the wheel’ when it comes to their citizenship duties required by the constitution.

Example, if Christopher Columbus was alive today and did what he did, he would be hated by everyone and charged with genocide, but instead, we have a day set aside for him, Govt celebrates him, ???
 
mikekle said:
… our Govt does too, but if anyone today tried anything remotely close to the things those people did back then, in todays world, they would be quickly labelled a domestic terrorist and jailed…
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Well, realize that DHS has issued a couple of reports on the domestic terrorist threat which mention vets as a potential terrorist risk, as well as conservative organizations…
 
DerekTM said:
We keep treating soldiers like they’re holy men/women. My parents both served. I volunteer at the VA. While these are mostly good people, and they deserve respect for their service, they’re just people.
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Havent you heard?

We are all sinners and there are no holy people any more.

Didn’t get the memo?
 
mikekle said:
NO ONE can kill that many people and still be OK, Im sorry, I just dont believe that, while he was killing dangerous people, he was still taking lives, All we can do now is just hope and pray that God viewed all those killings as being justifiable.

I dont know about anyone else, but Im getting fairly tired of hearing the frequent tag line to his life/ the movie, ‘the most lethal sniper in US history’. Somehow I dont think this is something to brag about (maybe its just me though?)
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Although the movies touches on it briefly, Chris Kyle had a lot of trouble readjusting to civilian life. He thought himself a failure for not being able to prevent all deaths to the people in his squads. He was no where near okay with it.

Working through the VA Kyle began working with other vets having trouble readjusting.
You should also know, Kyle did not keep track of his kills, only the number of people lost.
 
RGCheek said:
Havent you heard?

We are all sinners and there are no holy people any more.

Didn’t get the memo?
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Derek, thank you for volunteering, I do the same in the Peer Support program. I agree we are all sinners, but I also believe there are some good holy people around.
 
DerekTM said:
I’d say it’s the Fox News crowd that didn’t get the memo.
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But of course since the major networks all know that they are saints like Saint Brian Williams. :rolleyes:

Notice that when Hillary Clinton joked about her criminal disposal of emails at a dinner to honor the media, those in attendance gave her a standing ovation. Walter Cronkite is spinning in his grave, and were he still alive he would find few genuine journalists in the major media today and would probably work for FOX just like Lou Dobbs did.

Unless the journo is a Democrat that recites Trotsky in his sleep under posters of ‘King Obama’, the Big Networks have no use for them.
 
Movie speaking: Looks like a great picture, especially being an Oscar nominated film.

I thank Chris Kyle for his service to the United States, Navy Seal training and Sniper school are no walk in the park.

However I do not like this boasting of his 160 sniper kills. I personally don’t support murder bragging rights. and calling radical extremists “barbarians”.

That’s my opinion anyway.
 
adawgj said:
Movie speaking: Looks like a great picture, especially being an Oscar nominated film.

I thank Chris Kyle for his service to the United States, Navy Seal training and Sniper school are no walk in the park.

However I do not like this boasting of his 160 sniper kills. I personally don’t support murder bragging rights. and calling radical extremists “barbarians”.

That’s my opinion anyway.
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Killing in war is not murder if it legitimately follows the rules of war and I have seen no evidence that Kyle failed to follow said rules.
 
RGCheek said:
Killing in war is not murder if it legitimately follows the rules of war and I have seen no evidence that Kyle failed to follow said rules.
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I think it has something to do with whether or not it is a ‘just war’.

I find it hard to believe God would condone killing in a war, seems to me, he would be above Govt skirmishes and the desires of men/ nations waging war, but thats just my opinion, just like some other interpretations, this ‘killing war is ok’ belief seems to be something that benefits Govt and secular society a bit too much.
 
mikekle said:
I think it has something to do with whether or not it is a ‘just war’.

I find it hard to believe God would condone killing in a war, seems to me, he would be above Govt skirmishes and the desires of men/ nations waging war, but thats just my opinion, just like some other interpretations, this ‘killing war is ok’ belief seems to be something that benefits Govt and secular society a bit too much.
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Well according to the Magisterium and 2000 years of Christian theology, no God is not ‘above’ any such thing.

Fighting wars for defensive reasons is the right of all Christians, and this spreading spiritual cancer that we should all be pacifists is part of the reason so many Christians are being slaughtered today in the Mideast.
 
RGCheek said:
Killing in war is not murder if it legitimately follows the rules of war and I have seen no evidence that Kyle failed to follow said rules.
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Forgive me if I wasn’t using the right word killing would have been a better term than murder.
I’m talking about Chris Kyle’s obvious boasting about having 160 sniper kills. At that point it makes someone wonder why somebody would brag about killing 160 people. That’s a lot of blood for one person (Regardless of what side your on). I am clearly aware that Kyle simply followed orders, especially since he was an enlisted personnel. And I am in no way disrespecting Chief Petty Officer Kyle’s service to the United States government and her citizens.
 
RGCheek said:
Well according to the Magisterium and 2000 years of Christian theology, no God is not ‘above’ any such thing.

Fighting wars for defensive reasons is the right of all Christians, and this spreading spiritual cancer that we should all be pacifists is part of the reason so many Christians are being slaughtered today in the Mideast.
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Yes and the Iraq war was a very defensive war for the Iraqi government.

Spiritual cancer over pacifism? I don’t know how that links to Christians getting killed in the Middle East, because Christians have had a long history of being killed in the Middle East.
 
adawgj said:
Spiritual cancer over pacifism? I don’t know how that links to Christians getting killed in the Middle East, because Christians have had a long history of being killed in the Middle East.
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Lol, so the resurgent and recent slaughter of Christians in the middle east rates no higher to you than a rhetorical deflection?

Pacifism is the ideology of cattle being led to the slaughter house.
 
adawgj said:
Forgive me if I wasn’t using the right word killing would have been a better term than murder.
I’m talking about Chris Kyle’s obvious boasting about having 160 sniper kills. At that point it makes someone wonder why somebody would brag about killing 160 people. That’s a lot of blood for one person (Regardless of what side your on). I am clearly aware that Kyle simply followed orders, especially since he was an enlisted personnel. And I am in no way disrespecting Chief Petty Officer Kyle’s service to the United States government and her citizens.
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My impression was that, instead of “boasting” about the “kills,” he was very happy/proud that he had saved so many of his fellow soldiers’ lives.
 
RGCheek said:
Well according to the Magisterium and 2000 years of Christian theology, no God is not ‘above’ any such thing.

Fighting wars for defensive reasons is the right of all Christians, and this spreading spiritual cancer that we should all be pacifists is part of the reason so many Christians are being slaughtered today in the Mideast.
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So, we have to wonder what God would think of a war, pretty much over oil rights/money? I dont think he would consider that ‘just’ at all.
 
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