Recently in my own life I’ve been struggling with who I am professionally. I have been a Graphic Artist for more years than I like to think about. But for the past few years God and life have been transitioning me into a full-time writer. I have always communicated most clearly in writing and have been told repeatedly that I have a gift for it. Still in all, transitioning away from something that you’ve done most of your life is difficult.
This weekend my Honey and I decided to go see the movie everyone is talking about, American Sniper. It was a horrific, true story that was handled in an amazing, award-deserving way. I salute Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper and the rest of the cast and crew.
I sat in the movie, obviously horrified by the evil that exists in this world, but, the fact that I am a writer was confirmed for me. Thoughts continually flooded my head about what I would write about the experience of watching this movie. And, indeed, seeing this movie is not your normal trip to the show (what we call a movie theater in Chicago). It was truly a thought-provoking, life altering experience.
I’ve always been something of a patriot. I was raised by a World War II vet. A great majority of his friends were veterans. My uncles were veterans. He was a member of the VFW and I spent time there when I was growing up. He volunteered at the Veteran’s Hospital for years. He only told me two war stories. The first was when he ran into his brother on the street in France. The other was when he was leaving New York, heading to war. There was a lot of noise and chatter on the ship. Then a guy yelled, “Look.” They all ran to a port hole to see the Statue of Liberty, standing strong in New York Harbor. He said you could have heard a pin drop. Their last view of the US was Lady Liberty.
After high school I went to live in California with a family friend. He was like a brother to me and had joined the Marines, later to serve in Desert Storm. While there, I lived with a Marine and a Marine wife, I met nothing but Marines and Marine families. I worked for the local newspaper and was assigned to the Camp Pendleton Scout, the Marine newspaper. I learned about them and “the life.” They were committed, disciplined and fun. They loved life and this country. It was 1983 and I met a soldier who had been at the embassy in Lebanon when it was attacked. He told me a little bit about it and it changed my life forever. It was the first time I was faced with the physical and emotional risks that these people take to protect the life we know in the US. I hadn’t realized before that they had all taken an oath to risk their lives for my freedom.
When I came back to Chicago about a year later something inside had changed. I returned to my old life, but with a renewed sense of respect for the military and love for this country. As time went on, my biker lifestyle led me to connect with a multitude of Korean and Viet Nam veterans. Many bikers served in Viet Nam. When they came home and were spit on, the bikers embraced and honored them. Hence, there are thousands of biker vets.
What I’ve found is that most veterans don’t talk much about their war, WWII, Korea or Viet Nam. It’s a part of their lives that seems to be a dark shadow of the past that is rarely discussed, but is lurking in their memory banks.
My uncle once said, “War hasn’t changed. World War II just wasn’t on TV. There were no cameras showing the people back home what was going on.” Good point. Viet Nam was on TV and that’s what sparked the protests and the controversy. Now the war is on social media. But the truth of what our military goes through while deployed, or when they return home, is not on television or Facebook, and I truly believe that evil has intensified. It was clearly portrayed in this movie.
American Sniper has been publicized as the story of one man, Chris Kyle, the most proficient sniper in US history. Not to take anything away from this one heroic soldier, but I saw the movie as much more than that. It is the story of them all. All the grunts who walk into harm’s way on a regular basis, aiming to rid the world of evil so vile that we would only expect to find it in a Satanic nightmare. But these brave men and women face the reality of the most heinous acts committed by human beings. Their goal is to intervene before this evil is commonplace in the United States. To protect us and our way of life from a culture that exists today that has no conscience and no respect for human life.
I never watch horror films, but I watched this one. I would equate this to a horror film. The difference is, this horror is actually going on among us. People of all ages are being tortured, beheaded and even crucified around the globe. Their crime? Not committing their lives to the evil. This evil is something most of us have never even imaged, let alone experienced, thanks to the brave men and women who are currently, engaged in protecting us from it.
Chris Kyle was just one of those special human beings that could not sit back and do nothing while this culture of evil exists in the world. He had to confront it. He pushed through his fears to save lives.
It’s been all the buzz that some Hollywood nobody has stated publicly that snipers are cowards. To the contrary, I came away with an opposite opinion. A sniper is a sitting duck, most times. He waits, sometimes for hours, covering the equally brave men and women on the ground. When he sees a threat, he must make a quick decision whether or not to pull the trigger. Will pulling the trigger save lives? Will not pulling the trigger cost lives? At the same time, who is the person on the other end of that site? Sometimes that person is a woman or a child who has been brainwashed into believing that this type of evil is condoned by the false god they serve. The sniper has to make a decision that I, for one, don’t want to be faced with making. To add to the stress, pulling that trigger informs the enemy of your location.
Chris Kyle was given a gift that some would consider strange and not possibly from God. I believe all of our talents and skills come directly from the Lord, we are to hone them. Saul, David, Samson and Gideon are only a few men of war whose exploits are described in the Bible. These men were gifted fighting men. Joshua was another. Chris had 160 confirmed kills. More than any other sniper in history. His personal count was actually 255. Yet, he was never reported for even one overzealous, unnecessary kill. Every time he pulled the trigger, he saved the lives of soldiers on the ground, searching for the perpetrators of acts so evil most of us would rather hide our heads in the sand. But the truth is, hideous acts of violence are taking place all over the world and it must be stopped. Ignorant Hollywood loud mouths are obviously not going to do anything to protect us. Neither is our terrorist-sympathetic president. But the brave men and women of our military take on that task every day.
The movie also brilliantly portrayed the war they face, upon return, with their emotions. They must then deal with the friends they’ve lost, the evil they’ve seen and the necessary actions they took to combat it. They, again, are forced to push through their fear and pain, if they are ever to return to what we consider a “normal” life and healthy state of mind. This is but another war that their families must endure. Some, who were physically wounded, have to fight that battle as well. Many of them never really get all the way back.
Somebody has to do this job. Someone has to protect us from evil and keep us free. Entirely due to the bravery of those who enlist, we are free to malign them or free to lift them up with honor for the job they willingly choose, with a dedication and courage most of us will never experience. American Sniper A Coward? I think not.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” –Edmund Burke, Statesman
Hooyah!