No Judgment From Me

I was watching a little of the History Channel tonight. The program was one about military snipers. In particular, the part of the program I saw was about Charles Benjamin "Chuck" Mawhinney, a Marine Corps sniper in Vietnam in the late 1960’s. He has the most confirmed kills of any Marine Corps sniper, 103, and 216 probable kills. Wiki says that this man was born about the same time I was and would be about my age.
When he got out of active duty, he came back home, started a family, and worked for the Forest Service until he retired a few years ago. He lived in obscurity until about 1990, when word of his achievement was published in a book. He now attends sniper conventions (I didn’t know there were such things) and gives speeches.
I don’t know about you, but this man was in a different universe when he was an active Marine. He talks of the kills as if it was a natural thing to do and says he has no nightmares, etc. regarding his job in the Marines. His rationale for doing what he did was good, and I can understand the necessity of it. That doesn’t change, however, the fact that war is not at all like the movies; not at all the glorious and grand thing it’s often portrayed to be.
War is ugly. War is brutal. And war is savage. The normal civilian population has no comprehension what some of our men and women have endured or the lives they have lived in Europe, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, and other places and times when we fought and died.
Mr. Mawhinney said in the interview that if he and his partner would have likely been captured, they would have not allowed themselves to be taken alive because of what the enemy would do to a sniper from the other side. He recounts one incident in Vietnam where he took sixteen shots and had sixteen kills…all head shots from 50 yards at night with a monsoon closing in.
Some men (and women) willingly do things that aren’t even on my radar screen, and do it as a matter of course in order to survive. And they voluntarily place themselves in those positions because they volunteer to serve our country in one of the military branches of service.
Once a Marine…always a Marine. Even though I have the greatest value for human life and know full well both the spiritual and moral implications of taking a life, I dare not sit in judgment of this man or of anyone who serves. And even though I haven’t the faintest comprehension of the full import of what I saw on that program, and probably never will, I thank Mr. Mawhinney and others who willingly do those things that allow me to live my life in relative peace and safety.