A Navy Seal has explained what it felt like to do something most people will never do in their lifetime – killing another human.
Eddie Penney served as a United States Marine before later making it through the gruelling training and joining the elite Seal Team Six.
The troop appeared on a recent episode of the Shawn Ryan show, the host of which is a former Navy Seal himself, as well as a CIA contractor.
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While discussing his career, talk turns to Eddie's killing history, and he was more than willing to open up about how he felt the first time he ended the life of another person.
Considering he has a chapter in his new book titled 'Kill Addict', it's perhaps unsurprising but no less shocking that he enjoyed the experience.
Eddie had been deployed to western Iraq where he and his squad were focused on going after 'high value targets'.
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When approaching a particular compound, he came across a man and his wife sleeping on the ground outside.
Describing how he was 'hungry' for his first kill, he noted that there were other snipers from his team making shots around him but he was yet to hit a target.
But as he came up to the couple on the ground, he said he was close enough 'to go white light', and just as the man went to grab his pistol Eddie shot him.
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"He was already down and I just shot him there as he lay," he commented. "And I remember one thing that was so crazy about that is his wife right next to him did not make any peep, did not cry.
"She just looked over and just stayed there. She sat up. That was it. She had no emotion."
As for how the shooting made him feel, Eddie said: "That feeling of putting those bullets into him was just like, ahhh.
"I know crack is extremely addictive. Extremely. I've never done it, but you hear the stories, right? Talk to some prior users, whatever.
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"That feeling was... I was like, I want my life to be this feeling. Like, I want to shoot as many bad guys as I possibly can. And that was my mission...
"I loved it. It was my oxygen. It was the blood that ran through my my system."
At this point, Shawn asked him whether he remembers all of his kills, to which Eddie replied: "No. At times I'll think about something, I'll see something that will make me think of one.
"But I can't, there's no way. I mean, there are dozens. I can't think of them all."
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Although he doesn't remember how many people he's killed, Eddie estimated that he's probably carried out around 50 solo.
Guess being able to slaughter other humans is all part of the gruelling 'Hell Week' training prospective Navy Seals are put through before qualifying.
Only the hardiest of applicants make it through.
Daisy Phillipson