American Sniper - Boekje Pienter

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Let me say for the record that I believe the credit in Ramadi and in
all of Iraq should go to the Army and Marine warriors who fought
there as well as the SEALs. It should be fairly proportioned out. Yes,
SEALs did a good job, and gave their blood. But as we told the Army
and Marine officers and enlisted men we fought beside, we’re no better
than those men when it comes to courage and worth.
But being in the modern world, people were interested in knowing
about SEALs. After we got back, command called us together for a
briefing so we could tell a famous author and former SEAL what had
happened in battle. The author was Dick Couch.
The funny thing was, he started out not by listening but by talking.
Not even talking. Mr. Couch came and lectured us about how
wrong-headed we were.
I have a lot of respect for Mr. Couch’s service during the Vietnam
War, where he served with Navy Underwater Demolition and SEAL
Teams. I honor and respect him greatly for that. But a few of the
things he said that day didn’t sit all that well with me.
He got up in front of the room and started telling us that we were
doing things all wrong. He told us we should be winning their hearts
and minds instead of killing them.
“SEALs should be more SF-like,” he claimed, referring (I guess) to
one of Special Forces’ traditional missions of training indigenous
people.
Last time I checked, they think it’s okay to shoot people who shoot
at you, but maybe that’s beside the point.
I was sitting there getting furious. So was the entire team, though
they all kept their mouths shut. He finally asked for comments.