AND DAVID WAS BASICALLY AN EARLY SNIPER:

The Distant Executioner: During World War II, snipers were seen as a spooky, merciless “Murder Inc.” by other soldiers—the brutal intimacy of their kills made them a breed apart. But in Afghanistan, where avoiding civilian deaths is a top priority, U.S. military sharpshooters may have found the war that needs them most. Going inside the world of Texas Army National Guardsman “Russ Crane,” who has dropped a Taliban fighter at 806 meters, the author discovers the sniper’s special talents and torments, and why it helps, in Crane’s view, to have God on your side. (William Langewiesche, February 2010, Vanity Fair)

When, in 2008, he came to this part of Texas to take the job at the division’s headquarters—having returned from war in Afghanistan, having returned from war in Iraq—it did not escape his notice that the stone walls of the rental house are stout, or that the house is set 500 meters back from the road at the end of a single dirt track: one way in, the same way out. The setup allows clear views of anyone approaching and, incidentally, provides for clear fields of fire. A meter is about a yard. Five hundred meters is about the distance of five Texas high-school football fields laid end to end. It is beyond the range of accurate shooting with a standard-issue assault rifle such as the M16 or the shorter-barreled M4 carbine, but it is well within the range of accurate shooting with high-quality bolt-action or semi-automatic rifles equipped with telescopic sights. Such rifles are civilian hunting rifles or military sniper rifles—they’re nearly the same thing. Inside his house Crane has several of them propped casually against the walls by the doors. Not that he expects to be attacked. The rifles are there as an ordinary part of life. For instance, when he sees coyotes lurking in the back pasture, he shoots them. Coyotes are smart. They have learned that the local farmers, when gunning for them, will miss their shots at ranges beyond about 200 meters, and so in daylight they maintain a greater distance from the farmhouses and barns. It doesn’t help them here. After Crane kills them he bags them and throws them in the trash.

He does not enjoy killing coyotes. He shoots them reflexively, in service to mankind. His neighbors appreciate the gesture. They know little of Crane’s history, but find him a useful man to have around. Crane tends to agree. He told me he believes that the overwhelming majority of people in the world are good, but that they are as vulnerable as sheep to the wolves who prey upon them. His role, he said, is that of a sheepdog with the training and temperament to intervene. We were sitting at his kitchen table. There was a plaque on the wall reading, the future is as bright as the promises of god. Crane said, “There is good and evil in the world. It gets so you yearn for a righteous fight. Personally I believe there are bad people, and God put people here to shoot those people, to let other people live peaceful lives. David was a shepherd boy who became king. The Philistines had their giant, Goliath. The Lord said to David, ‘I’m on your side. Go out and fight.’ David did. And you know, David killed Goliath as dead as Elvis Presley. He was a shepherd, a king, a follower of the Lord. But first and foremost he was a warrior. God understands that we have to have soldiers. Soldiers are part of God’s plan.”

I said, “Do you mean that literally?”

He said, “I know that God has been with me actively in battle.”

“You’ve been fighting Muslims who believe the same thing.”

He said, “It’s a conundrum. But Jesus was resurrected after three days, and you can visit Muhammad’s grave.”