For some people, the trauma of war never ends.  Some have a guilty conscience, some wish they could go back.  Clint Eastwood’s newest movie “American Sniper” does a beyond satisfactory job of displaying that experience.

As a combat veteran and also being I’ve read the book, I believe it will shed light on what us combat veterans are going through returning from war that some people in America have no care to hear about.

Yes, some parts of the story are Hollywoodized. For example, Bradley Cooper, who does a great job of portraying Chris Kyle, is shown talking to his wife (Taya Kyle) on a satellite phone in the middle of patrol, while posting security and in the middle of a fire fight.  I can tell you right now, this doesn’t happen in real life.  In real life when you’re engaging contact that is what your soul focus is on.  That is what you train for, that is what you are there to do.

Other hollywoodized parts of the movie are also bothersome. Chris Kyle leaves his .338 Lapua behind in the sand while being extracted from a mission.  This never happens, the fact being that we do not want our weapons in the hands of the enemy.

One of the truly accurate parts of the movie was when Bradley Cooper explains to his wife that there is a war going on and it’s not even being broadcasted in the news.

Did you know that in Operation Iraqi Freedom the United States had 4,412 young American lives taken away?  Or that In Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, we as a nation had 2,216? I did two deployments to Helmand Providence Afghanistan, one as a machine gunner, and second as a member of a scout sniper team.  Why was the media not
broadcasting about the war?

With all the things there is to say about the movie there is this, you don’t get over the fact that you’re not a warrior anymore overnight.  When you experience something as traumatic as war, it takes time. Towards the end of the movie, it portrays Chris Kyle helping out fellow combat Veterans.  He touched so many lives for the fact that we all looked up to him.  For those combat veterans out there just know we are not alone, and we are never out of the fight.  American Sniper does an outstanding job of showing this.