"I was an American Sniper .... "

[Rockstar]

I have seen plenty of opinions and reviews of the latest Clint Eastwood movie American Sniper. All polarized along the same political lines and rhetoric. This one I think was a pretty good opinion and offered an excellent bit of advice for all of us.

http://www.salon.com/2015/02/01/i_was_an_american_sniper_and_chris_kyle’s_war_was_ not_my_war/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

My war was completely different than Chris Kyle’s war. That doesn’t mean his war is wrong, and mine was right. But it does mean that no one experience is definitive...

If you really want to be a patriotic American, keep both eyes open and maintain 360 degrees of awareness. Don’t simply watch “American Sniper.” Read other sources, watch other films about the conflict. Talk to as many veterans as you can, get a full perspective on the war experience and the consequences. Ensure the perceived enemy in your vision is what it seems

[Stealhead]

No two people experience war the same way there are easily a million vets of WWII,Korea,Vietnam, Iraq,Afghanistan you'd get one million different stories from each one.

[CCIP]

Great article and a point well-made :up:

[Catfish]

I agree. Seems to be the real man, and opinion :yep:

[ReallyDedPoet]

I'll read this article later, thanks for posting :yep:

Different perspectives is always a good thing.

[Vince82]

Spot on!

Iraqis are our fellow human beings.


There are some incredible documentaries on the subject. “Occupation: Dreamland” (edit: watched about half of it: not recommendable) and “Restrepo” capture the life of a service member in a modern deployment without sugarcoating the hard political environment that is a backdrop to the conflicts.

I'm planning to watch those.

[Stealhead]

Honestly I found the author (who wrote the book) to come across as being very narcissistic seeing him on TV once or twice before he got killed. Just my opinion not saying her was a bad person. Anyway for that reason I don't have any interest in the film.

I'd would add to the previously mentioned docs the film Hornets Nest which about an Army unit in Afghanistan. You can better formulate an opinion with those docs. Sebastian Younger did another doc called Kongral as well.

[Subnuts]

Reading the IMDB board for American Sniper makes me want to slit my wrists. :/\\!!

[Platapus]

Reading the IMDB board for American Sniper makes me want to slit my wrists. :/\\!!

Why? What could possibly be written there that would have that much effect on your opinions of the issue?