“American Sniper” makes not talking about war heroic, while war’s causes, use and impact are exactly what should guide our national conversation.
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I have been working as a psychotherapist with our troops and veterans since the mid-1970s, including extensive work with snipers and special operations troops. Bret, the most experienced sniper I know, survived seventeen deployments. From his elite team of eighteen, seven were killed in action while another eight took their own lives upon returning home. Bret resists suicide “as my duty to keep my brothers’ memories alive.” A photo of Bret in uniform saluting the coffin of a fallen comrade adorns my office wall. After both reading and seeing the new blockbuster film, American Sniper, I wonder if the public will leave the theater more aware and mobilized to help, or further misguided through the guise of entertainment?
The film hints that to question the integrity and righteousness of a war can make soldiers weaker—don’t ask why, just kill.
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American Sniper portrays life in the contemporary war zone, and uses the oft-quoted adage that humanity is divided into sheep, wolves and sheepdogs. Evil abounds in the world, and we (the U.S) are unquestionably the good guys fighting it, but only a few of us are born with the aggression to serve as sheepdogs.
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Ninety percent of the casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, by many estimates perhaps more than a million people, were civilians. We are shown only “bad guys.” We do not empathize with “bad guys” or consider that to them, we are the “wolves.” And only they are portrayed as committing atrocities. In numerous films, we watch “bad guys” falling in droves, whether they are Native Americans, Mexicans, Germans, Japanese or Vietnamese from previous wars. Our national narrative creates the universal “bad guy” or wolf. This imbalance demonizes others in the public mind and justifies violence as our only proper action. It also makes American Sniper a replay of Westerns and war movies that have been drenching us for decades.
The film hints that to question the integrity and righteousness of a war can make soldiers weaker—don’t ask why, just kill. Sniper Chris Kyle is an expert in long distance killing; he is honored and called a “legend.” His highest-ever sniper kill rate, over 160 deaths, is celebrated as heroic. But historically warrior traditions view distant killing as suspect while honoring direct confrontation with an armed equal. Further, American Sniper portrays Kyle as motivated by revenge. He is done not when the war is over, the cause won or lost, but only when he has killed his nemesis, an enemy sniper, a mere reiteration of numerous action movies.
We see Kyle heal quickly after one therapy session and a little playful service to severely wounded vets who only joke and tease about their injuries and show no pain.
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Hollywood and our country continue to substitute violence and its adrenalin rush for real emotion and serve them in massive doses for entertainment. American Sniper makes not talking about war heroic, while war’s causes, use and impact are exactly what should guide our national conversation. Twenty-two veterans a day commit suicide in our country while American Sniper presents that war need not hurt and real warriors come through.
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Chris Kyle admitted at the conclusion of his book, “I’m not the same guy I was….” He declared about killing another human being, “It’s no big deal,” and that to be philosophical about war is unnecessary. The snipers I have worked with express deep pain and regret over their service, even when they conclude their difficult duties were necessary, and they were committed to the contract of their warrior code.
Another Iraq veteran, Brian Turner, wrote, “No matter what… it should break your heart to kill.” But Chris Kyle declared that he “had no regrets… would do it again…” because he protected his comrades.
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Healing from war is a long, difficult, painful and complicated process; it often takes decades or never occurs. Veterans must examine themselves in order to heal from war trauma. The wound that today we call PTSD may not be primarily to the individual but to the body politic, the nation’s soul. Individual servicemen and women who enact the nation’s policies may collapse because they are made to carry the collective wound as though it were their individual pathological condition to be treated and endure. We expend much time, effort, and resources on symptoms; we diagnose, then attempt to eradicate or control them. We thus overload individual vets with responsibility for their own suffering and miss the full portrait of war.
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Yet we see Kyle heal quickly after one therapy session and a little playful service to severely wounded vets who only joke and tease about their injuries and show no pain. Meanwhile pundits right and left argue whether this movie glorifies or condemns war and our troops, which all oversimplify war’s moral, historical, social and psychological complexities. The misinterpretations of our times prevent us from seeing what is in front of us.
In the trauma field it is understood that killing another human being is the most painful and wounding act and one must develop a moral philosophy that justifies it. Another Iraq veteran, Brian Turner, wrote, “No matter what… it should break your heart to kill.” But Chris Kyle declared that he “had no regrets… would do it again…” because he protected his comrades. Does his simple philosophy mask guilt, pain, and emptiness of purpose beyond revenge? As Jon, another combat vet said, “The one thing I learned from my combat service is that Denial is the name of the all-American disease.”
But we can let “the spirit” of war trauma speak to us. If we listen and understand it aright, if we truly let our veterans and their wounds have their say, we may hear what they—not Hollywood—are trying to tell us. Then we may develop a vision and respond in ways that restore and transform, and an elder spiritual warrior can return home.
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Photo: DVIDSHUB/Flickr
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I agree….PTS, moral injury, other suffering due to war is a national wound. We should not burden those that serve as the sole solution to healing – the nation is in denial of how wounded we are. If our Vets are going to heal, the nation has to take ownership of the healing process.
Chaplain Susan Turley,
Proud mother of Pfc. Keith Jesse Moore
1978 – 2006, Died while serving in Iraq
I will say very few movies changed my life, but this one did. I am as far from a soildier as you can get and yet I have suffered PTSD. I experienced gun violence and horrific child abuse. I grew up to work in a field that combats gun violence and abuse- and yet I never have seen a story show what I am going through. I am a black female about as far from Kyle as I can get , but I know what it means to have a job to do that requires tough choices. I did not… Read more »
After reading several articles on this movie I have to believe that two versions were released. The one I saw was a very anti-war movie. I’ll have to see it again and maybe I’ll get the pro war movie.
My father was a sniper in Gen. Patton’s army. When he was interviewed for the position he was asked if he could point his gun directly at another person and kill him and secondly, could he not grow to like it. He never did. He later wrote of the sick feeling in his stomach every time he killed someone. He wrote of happening upon a German soldier when he came up a bridge embankment. His first though was, “why did you have to be right here right now, because now I have to kill you.” He did and moved on.… Read more »
The elephant in the room is the fact I think this man was a psychopath who did heroic acts and was crippled by a need to commit homicides under the color of Military necessity. He was very ill before he went in the military. His compulsion to kill ran into serious obstacles when he came home. Everyone is better off now.
I can’t help but wonder if your vivid description of “Brett” and your identifying him as a guy whose picture is hanging on your wall isn’t a HIPPA violation. After all, other patients who you have and who read this article will know “Brett” by sight. It may not be a HIPPA violation, but it comes pretty close. As far as the merits of your article the soldiers we send over to wherever through our elected representatives do what we ask them to do. As a matter of policy we don’t target civilians. Since those civilians are in a war… Read more »
Silly civilians living in Baghdad during ,”shock and awe”.America iillegally invaded a sovereign country.That makes all u.s. soldiers in Iraq ,”bad guys” .American culture will probably never accept this simple truth so we will have to endure endless American Sniper type hung ho movies,books etc..