AUSA's Noon Report - James Lechner, author, With My Shield: An Army Ranger in Somalia - 6-6-2024

AUSA's Noon Report presents:
Speaker:
James Lechner
Author of With My Shield: An Army Ranger in Somalia
Moderator:
The Honorable Patrick Murphy
AUSA Senior Fellow
AUSA’s Noon Report webinar series features presentations by senior Army leaders responsible for key programs and initiatives, as well as contemporary military authors who weave together the past, present and future story of the United States Army.
A presentation by James Lechner, author of With My Shield: An Army Ranger in Somalia. When Lechner was interviewed regarding whether the use of snipers is an ethical choice in warfare, specifically in discussions around the movie American Sniper (in which Bradley Cooper portrayed Chris Kyle-the Navy SEAL who served in Iraq alongside Lechner and who was America’s deadliest sniper), Lechner argued that snipers save lives. “Using snipers shows the greatest amount of restraint. . . . Innocent people are not getting killed.” As a lieutenant in 1993, and a member of the 3rd Ranger Battalion, Lechner was selected for a top-secret special operations task force being sent to Mogadishu, Somalia, to capture the insurgent leader Mohamed Farah Aideed. The events that ensued would later be adapted into another movie: Black Hawk Down. His presentation will focus on this service in Somalia.