Smith was only 20 when he was assigned to the sniper section of a mortar platoon at the height of the Iraq war. When I met him there in early 2008, he told me he was well-suited for his mission. He grew up hunting in Georgia and was used to waiting for his prey.
Not every soldier has that kind of patience. Not every soldier can become a sniper.
Smith already had his first confirmed kill when we met. He was hungry for another one. And he got more, though he wouldn’t tell me how many when I caught up with him this week after I saw the movie.
“I really don’t want to talk about that,” he said.
But what he did say was that just like Chris Kyle, the central character of “American Sniper,” he felt he was doing the right thing.
“I enjoyed being on a roof, knowing that any moment now, this could be it. I enjoyed the thrill of getting a shot out. I liked killing the enemy.”
Understanding the American experience in Iraq
The Oscar-nominated blockbuster biopic, which tells the story of the most lethal sniper in U.S. history, has fueled intense debate over the film’s message. Is it anti-war or not? Is Kyle a hero or a psychopath?
Those questions — and interest in the movie — may only intensify as the soldier accused of killing Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield goes to trial in the coming days. Jury selection in the case of former Marine Eddie Ray Routh was scheduled to begin Thursday in Stephenville, Texas. It’s expected that mental health will be key — Kyle and Littlefield were helping Routh with rehabilitation at a rifle range when Routh gunned them down two years ago.
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“Critics are twisting it and saying that we thought of them all as savages,” he said.
In Kyle’s autobiography, on which the movie is based, he wrote that he loved being a Navy SEAL.
“I only wish I had killed more,” he wrote. “I loved what I did. I still do. If circumstances were different — if my family didn’t need me — I’d be back in a heartbeat.”
I’ve heard that before from soldiers I met in Iraq. I heard it again this week from Smith.
He said “American Sniper” made him miss the battlefield even more.
“I was proud of what I did there,” he said. “Now that I am out, I feel like a nobody.”
His mother understands her son is having a difficult time. She just wants back the mama’s boy who made her laugh.
“I love him with everything I have,” she said. “I miss my son.”
She thought she knew the boy she raised until the day he became a sniper.
