Drone Strikes: American Snipers at 30,000 Feet

As they say "War is hell".  Everyone in the military is trained to kill; either directly or indirectly through some form of support action.  So, as a veteran, I was more than a little annoyed to hear that Michael Moore had tweeted that the American Sniper, Chris Kyle, was a coward because he shoots people in the back.

I personally spent years, training over and over again, to direct fighter pilots in intercepts that would ultimately take out an enemy aircraft.  While I was never in an actual combat role because, thank God, the Russians or other enemies never attacked us on our soil, I always knew that I would be responsible for the killing of an enemy pilot or flight crew if they had.  Simply, because I would get our pilots into position to take that "kill shot".  Of course, I did all this from the safe confines of a Long Range Radar Ops room.  So, would Michael Moore call me a coward because I might direct our pilots to come up on the back of an enemy fighter, and fire a heat-seeking missile into the engine exhaust of that plane?

Today, our pilots aren't even at as much risk as before with the advent of unmanned drones.   Drone pilots sit hundreds of miles away from their targets and take their "kill shots" from 30,000 feet.  Would Michael Moore then call these people "cowards" for their actions?  Is Obama a coward for ordering an ever increasing amount of drone strikes in Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen?

Chris Kyle and all of our American snipers risk their lives in every mission that they are ordered to undertake.  Unlike my job and those drone pilots, their job is to operate within enemy territory and get close enough to their target in order to take their "kill shot".  Then, after firing that fatal shot, their lives are in even more danger because their mission is somewhat exposed by the fact that they have just killed someone.  Unlike drones, which often have collateral civilian casualties and deaths, the sniper only tries to kill the exact target of his mission.  All the time, taking out enemies that would kill other U.S. soldiers, our allies, or other friendly civilians.  For this, a guy like Chris Kyle is a hero.

References:

Michael Moore, Rob Lowe snipe over 'American Sniper': http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/01/19/hollywood-split-over-american-sniper-success/

Drones: Death from 30,000 feet above: http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-drones/20090814.htm

Chris Kyle:  
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