A real American sniper on "American Sniper"

Oscar contender American Sniper is a box office hit that has ignited a fierce debate over the film's portrayal of real-life sniper Chris Kyle. Brent speaks to former sniper Jack Coughlin about his own experiences, the morality and ethics of warfare, and criticisms of the film. Coughlin is the author of the best-selling autobiography Shooter and co-author of Shock Factor: American Snipers in the War on Terror.

As a former shooter yourself, do you think American Sniper accurately reflects what it's like to be a sniper?

Absolutely, there was a really good job portraying it and explaining the pushes and pulls of actually making the decision to pull the trigger.
 
A lot of people, I think, are interested in this film because modern warfare, with drones and other high tech equipment seems like the opposite of what we see. How personal is it, how different is it for a sniper than these impersonal tools of modern warfare?

Well, we're seeing it up close. When you use a drone, you're seeing it through a monitor. It's like playing a video game. When you actually are behind the scope, you're seeing the facial expressions on the target, so you see the damage that you're doing to enemy.
 
So what's it like for you to see the facial expressions on a person that you're about to kill?

Well, we treat them as targets. Everything on the battlefield is a target. Then we, or I, make a distinction: is it a legal target or not a legal target? "Legal target" means it's a combatant. And once I've determined that it's a combatant, I pull the trigger, I don't think of them as human beings until after the fact. Once the mission's over and you have time to think about it and reflect, that's when you think, 'Oh, I just took someone's life.' So it's not that it's inconsequential, but it's time. You can't let yourself think like that. 

You thought of the targets as "targets" and not human beings. Is there a danger in dehumanizing the target that way?

No, there's definitely not, because I also break it down into "legal" and "not legal" targets, meaning bad targets or good targets. As long as you're not breaking the rules of engagement, as long as you're targeting enemy combatants, what I think in my mind means nothing. I'm not dehumanizing all life, I'm just dehumanizing the ones that I'm charged to take. 

So what was it like for you the first time that you closed in on a target like that and recognized that they were a combatant and pulled the trigger?

The first time is the easiest, because you don't know the after effects. You don't know what it feels like to have taken a life. You've been trained and trained and trained, you've put thousands and thousands of rounds down range in training. You have to put all the math together to get the round on target the first time, but pulling the trigger's the easiest part, the first time. 

Can you remember the image in your mind from what happened after the first time you pulled the trigger? 

Yeah, absolutely. I will never forget that. You watch the round go down range with a vapour trail, and you follow the round directly into the target, and it hits, centre-left on the chest. Flipped him over, and the target rolled over onto its back, and then, you know, it was dead. 

And then, what happened to you after that? When you reviewed that? You said after the fact it becomes difficult.

After the fact, meaning once you're in a safe environment and there's no threat around you and you have time to reflect. Everybody's different, so I can only give you my experience on it. That's when I sit down and make sure in my mind, 'Okay, I knew what I did, it had to be done.' You address it, and then you it put it away. 

You said the first one was the easiest one. What about the second time that you hit a target?

Well, there wasn't any hesitation. Every time you go on a mission after that first one, you have that little but heaviness in your heart knowing what the outcome could be now. I think it's hard to explain that. First, before you actually take out a target, there's something missing in you as a sniper because you don't know what it feels like. And once you understand the gravity of the experience, your heart's a little heavier. Everything's a little bit more real. 

Did it get easier for you as you when along?

It didn't get easier and it didn't get harder. I never enjoyed it. That's not to say, in the heat of the moment, when bullets are flying and my responsibility is to protect the troops around me, when you make that shot you're happy about that. You just saved somebody's life. That's how I look at it. Snipers save lives by taking lives. That's not a cop-out. That's a fact. 

So explain the ethics of being a sniper. If a young sniper came to you and was troubled or felt that there was a moral question about what he was doing, how would you explain to him what you see is the value of his work?

First of all, I believe I would have that person removed from the sniper platoon, because if you're doubting whether your job is a good job or a righteous job - you're out there in a small team, there's no room to mess up. You're responsible to protect the troops around you. When you talk to guys who haven't gone through it yet, I tell them that they're out there to save lives. There's many different angles on how that works. each target they take off the battlefield saves ten lives. If there's a guy in a building and he's shooting out at people, they have a plethora of weapons to use on that building, correct? They have thousand-pound bombs to missiles, rockets, mortars, everything. 

So why use a shooter?

Because I can take that one shot, take out that enemy without any collateral damage. I'm also saving civilian lives in that manner. 

Michael Moore wrote a tweet this week that he was taught that snipers were cowards because they would shoot a man in the back, and I know you probably have political differences with Michael Moore, but what would you say to someone who has that line and thinks that snipers are cowards?

I'd say that I spent 21 and a half years in the military, and that there's many men and women serving right now serving on the tip of the spear to allow him to say that. I would also say that I think he's wrong. I don't think he's speaking with any type of information. it would be like me trying to direct a film. I can't do it. I don't have that type of skill-set. 

As a former sniper yourself, what do you want people to be thinking about when they see this film and make up their own minds about it?
 
See him as the man, and the hero. The everyday grind he has to go through in combat and at home. And don't feel sorry for him. He volunteered. And just respect it. Whether you agree with it or not, just respect it.