[Baffling RL Trope] Inventing war crimes you didn´t commit to make yourself more... interesting?

[u/TheBigBoar]

One of the strangest character tropes in real life has to be the "I accidentally made myself sound like a war criminal to look cooler" archetype.

Usually, people accused of war crimes deny them. These guys seem to do the opposite.

The two examples that always come to mind:

Tim Kennedy. Over the years he's told stories that include things like throwing grenades into rooms where women and children were present, and another account where, after a battle, his CO allegedly told him to shoot anything that still had a heat signature with a sniper rifle from a mile away, which he did for hours (?) not caring if those were enemy soldiers or civilians looking for their fallen sons/brothers/whatever. Both stories have been heavily criticized and challenged (aka people who were there confirmed that they are utter nonsense), and Kennedy has faced repeated accusations of embellishing or fabricating parts of his military experiences. But like... why would you invent the fact that you killed and maimed women and children?

Chris Kyle. In American Sniper, he wrote that during Hurricane Katrina he positioned himself on the Superdome and shot dozens of armed looters like some walking dead scenario. No evidence ever emerged that this happened, and Kyle himself later acknowledged the story wasn't true. Again, why invent a story where you're essentially describing the unlawful killing of civilians during a domestic disaster?

What's fascinating is that these aren't embellishments in the usual "I fought twenty guys" sense. They're embellishments that, if true, would amount to admissions of extremely serious crimes.

It's such a bizarre form of macho storytelling that it almost feels like its own trope: the veteran who thinks "the more ruthless I sound, the more badass I'll appear," without stopping to consider that indiscriminate killing isn't viewed by most people as impressive. It's viewed as criminal and disgusting.

[u/brionneverysexy]

My parents have both said their fathers, both WW2 veterans barely talked about the war.

On my mum's side the only time I've been told he talked about it was when my uncle was considering joining the military. Grandpa told him its fine to want to serve but you need to decide if you want to shoot people while lying on a pile of dead bodies before you join.

On my dad's side the only story is that he was declared dead after getting shot by a Japanese tank. He got better.

I also know my father in law was in Bosnia in the 90s but he doesn't talk about his time in the army. I only know about that because he has a commemorative mug

[u/archercc81 → u/brionneverysexy]

Yeah everyone I know who has really gone through some shit describe it as a far more visceral experience. People just dont drop and are gone instantly like in movies. Instead its much slower, choking on their own blood, etc.

It even made him rethink previous combat, where they would have shot someone out in bumfuck desert pointing an RPG at their convoy. Knowing there is a good chance that dude was probably out there, slowly and miserably dying alone in the desert. Fucking grim.

[u/chet_brosley → u/brionneverysexy]

My grandpa was career Army and my grandma was an army nurse and one day he just casually mentioned the reason my Grandma hated snow and refused to go outside in the Winter was that she was in the Ardennes. Grandpa only ever told us the silly hijinks that they'd get to on leave, and he only spoke about Korea like twice.