The changing face of war

One of the more subtle themes of American Sniper is how fighting in urban environments amid civilian populations has caused a dramatic shift in tactics. That shift is what led to Chris and other snipers' large totals.*

Warfare in the 20th century was essentially about mass but indiscriminate slaughter. Most if not all of the key inventions and tactical innovations were related to one central idea - kill a lot of people on the battlefield.

This isn't quite the ideal in an urban environment, and much less so when there's a large civilian population around. In that case, precision fire -- whether by ground troops or aircraft -- becomes a premium.

I don't mean to imply that machine guns and artillery aren't important in the 21st century; on the contrary. It's just that the pendulum has swung in the other direction without most people (civilians, at least) knowing or understanding it. In a very real sense, "snipers" have become an important tool for limiting collateral damage and civilian deaths. The public view of what they do hasn't caught up, yet. And so people focus on a "kill count" without quite understanding the context it belongs in.

I realize it's a paradox - an individual kills more enemy combatants so that innocent people can be spared. But that's what's going on.

* That and the fact that higher ups had them document every kill. Which will be invaluable to historians someday, assuming the records aren't destroyed.