What goes on in the mind of a sniper?

[Jazzy]

A young cowboy from Texas who joined the elite US Navy Seals became the most deadly sniper in American history. In a book published this month he provides an unusual insight into the psychology of a soldier who waits, watches and kills.

As US forces surged into Iraq in 2003, Chris Kyle was handed a sniper rifle and told to watch as his marine battalion entered an Iraqi town.



A crowd had come out to greet them. Through the scope he saw a woman, with a child close by, approaching his troops. She had a grenade ready to detonate in her hand.



This was the first time I was going to have to kill someone. I didn't know whether I was going to be able to do it, man, woman or whatever, he says.



You're running everything through your mind. This is a woman, first of all. Second of all, am I clear to do this, is this right, is it justified? And after I do this, am I going to be fried back home? Are the lawyers going to come after me saying, 'You killed a woman, you're going to prison'?



But he didn't have much time to debate these questions.



She made the decision for me, it was either my fellow Americans die or I take her out.



He pulled the trigger.



Kyle remained in Iraq until 2009. According to official Pentagon figures, he killed 160 people, the most career sniper kills in the history of the US military. His own estimate is much higher, at 255 kills.



According to army intelligence, he was christened The Devil by Iraqi insurgents, who put a $20,000 (£13,000) bounty on his head.



Married with two children, he has now retired from the military and has published a book in which he claims to have no regrets, referring to the people he killed as savages.



Full article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16544490



Question: Is this a book you would be interested in reading?

 

[Fatal Dawn]

Question: Is this a book you would be interested in reading?

Sure I'd love to read it. It's a job that requires mental sharpness and toughness than anything else.







The rest of the article elaborates on what I would have already assumed about them.

In most military forces, snipers are subject to rigorous testing and training and are chosen for aptitude. In the UK, they complete a three-month training course, with a pass rate of only one-in-four.

The US marine sniper course is one of the hardest training courses in the military, with a failure rate of more than 60% and a long list of prerequisites for recruits, including a high degree of maturity, equanimity and common sense.



Research in Canada has also found that snipers tend to score lower on tests for post-traumatic stress and higher on tests for job satisfaction than the average soldier.

 

[Evil Eye]

It might be interesting.

I'd be more interested to know if he'll still feel this way a decade or two from now, though.