Originally Posted by crockett

Well I don't think it's possible to kill as many people as they say he did and not be affected by it in some way. However far as sick in the head, I think it has a lot to do with the whole soldier line of thinking and how the Military reprograms them in a sense.

Glorifying kill counts during war is something that's been done a very long time. Fighter pilots were called ace's if they shot down 5 aircraft. They even advertised this on the sides of their aircraft which also included downed boats. Tank crews did the same thing, while lessor known they still had a "ace" category.


In WW2 sniper kills were also largely promoted mostly by the Russians as it was one of their main tools of defense and a way to have a bit of successful propaganda in a war they were ultimately losing until Hitler spread his troops too thin.

I'd say Afghan & Iraq are the first wars since where Snipers have played a major role in combat. Out side of maybe the snipers of Bosnia and even there the kill counts were flaunted.