I simply just don't get it.
If you are fighting your enemies, you must view them as savages, can you view them as the great neighbor Mr. Joe and kill them later? sheesh. Like I posted so many times in this thread, military service is morally NEUTRAL. I am sure your enemies would call you savages, what's the big deal? If you cannot view your enemies as savages, then maybe combat MOS require pulling the trigger is not a job for you. Why make this issue so complicated?
Chris Kyle has called those people he was fighting overseas savages and he has been criticized for it.
He called evil what it was. Like virtually all American combatants in Iraq, Kyle saw the opposing side commit evil acts, over and over again.Many saw the enemy use children for shields. Those he fought frequently took drugs to ramp themselves up for combat, and they were driven not by a sense of virtue, but “blood lust,” as Kyle noted.
My friend has seen his own brother killed by these savages. Yes, you may argue that these "savages" are peace fighters, I call b.s. on that one. If they are peace fighters, then why did they use their own women and children as human shields?! Let's face the reality, these savages have been fighting each other for thousands of years, and America's biggest mistake is going to the hell hole trying to get whatever America wants to get.
American combat soldiers and Marines, airmen, etc, did not sacrifice their time and energy to stereotype people (Even as American troops have been stereotyped). They traveled far from the comfort and pleasure of home to oppose wickedness. American troops saw evil and savagery.
All these being said, morality has no place in war. War itself is a savage act. You can argue all day long about good war concept, the truth is innocent civilians will always be killed. This is the unfortunate part of any war.
Many combat troops struggled with hating the enemy. This is a common experience for soldiers of all sides, and we can be honest about it. It is far from ideal, but this is part of the effect of the fog of war, of trying to kill someone whose goal is to kill you.
America has rules of engagement, a well-defined system of accountability, and it subjects offenders to trials in courts of law. This is moral realism in practice. Borders do not determine good and evil. American militancy is not barbarism, and our martial code both deplores it and guards against it.
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