American Sniper - Boekje Pienter

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the ground wasn’t dead. After the Marines were in the house, he rolled
over and pulled the pin on a grenade. It exploded, killing or wounding
some of the Marines.
From then on, the Marines started putting a round in anybody
they saw as they entered a house. At some point, a newsman with a
camera recorded this; the video became public and the Marines got in
trouble. Charges were either dropped or never actually filed, since the
initial investigation explained the circumstances. Still, even the potential
for charges was something you were always aware of.
The worst thing that you could ever do for that war was having all
these media people embedded in the units. Most Americans can’t take
the reality of war, and the reports they sent back didn’t help us at all.
The leadership wanted to have the backing of the public for the
war. But really, who cares
The way I figure it, if you send us to do a job, let us do it. That’s
why you have admirals and generals—let them supervise us, not some
fat-ass congressman sitting in a leather chair smoking a cigar back in
DC in an air-conditioned office, telling me when and where I can and
cannot shoot someone.
How would they know They’ve never even been in a combat
situation.
And once you decide to send us, let me do my job. War is war.
Tell me: Do you want us to conquer our enemy Annihilate them
Or are we heading over to serve them tea and cookies
Tell the military the end result you want, and you’ll get it. But
don’t try and tell us how to do it. All those rules about when and under
what circumstances an enemy combatant could be killed didn’t just
make our jobs harder, they put our lives in danger.