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American Sniper Essay

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“Al-Shaitan” “The American Sniper” by Chris Kyle is an account of the deadliest American sniper ever, called “the devil” by the enemies he hunted and “the legend” by his Navy SEAL brothers. From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. The Pentagon has officially confirmed more than 150 of Kyle's kills (the previous American record was 109). Iraqi insurgents feared Kyle so much they named him al-Shaitan (“the devil”) and placed a bounty on his head. Kyle earned legendary status among his fellow SEALs, Marines, and U.S. Army soldiers, whom he protected with deadly accuracy from rooftops and stealth positions. Kyle presents the gripping and unforgettable accounts of …show more content…

There are two primary views that rise from this question. The first argument claims that Chris Kyle’s actions are immoral because of his military service. The first reason is that military service, such that Kyle served in, does not allow us to exercise our moral freedom as human beings. One 20th century thinker wrote a book entitled “Moral Man, Immoral Society,” pointing out that people are often corrupted when they are part of institutions that pressure them to act in ways they might not choose to act as individuals. In comparison no military organization could operate if it respected human moral independence, that is, the capacity of individuals to take full responsibility for their actions. In all military training anywhere in the world there is unquestioning obedience to orders, no matter what these orders are. Recruits are forced to do agonizing exercises or other absurd tasks to ensure that they will obey any order no matter what. Once in the military, there is no discussion of the rightness or wrongness of actions, just blind obedience and absolute, unquestioning submission to authority. This means that people are "trained," forced under extreme pressure, to give up their moral independence and substitute the false dignity of the state and the military. The substitute values are forced upon recruits under such slogans as loyalty to one’s fighting unit, courage, honor, and discipline. But to give up one’s moral self-government is to give up one’s

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