I think they take satisfaction from killing the enemy, not killing in general. However, if he was indeed giving chocolate exlax to starving Somalis, that is plain sadistic. The question thus arises if he was posing for a picture and making a joke - albeit a sick one - or if he was indeed handing out the exlax. A childhood friend of mine made it into the SEALs a few years ago, and he is the furthest thing from a sadist you can think of. Married, kids, church-goer, etc. I get a cavity just thinking about how "good" a person he is. I'd like to think he is more representative of our elite soldiers than the sniper you encountered.
There are many differences. Enjoying killing a threat and enjoying killing are two. Nonetheless a special ops person enjoys killing an enemy, thus he enjoys killing.
I don't think the SEALs were in Somalia, but I could be wrong. AFAIK, our elite troops over there were the Rangers. Even if he was there, I would never question him about handing out exlax to starving Somalis. To do so would be an insult. Furthermore, these guys aren't allowed to talk to Joe Public about what they do, friend or not.
The guy I met told me everything after knowing him for a few minutes. And I met this other guy that was in the first Iraq war and he also told me everything after a couple of minutes. The army guys you know are boring. You should get some new army buddies. A curch going special ops guy is a tragedy.
Ask him if people were doing that, and in particular, a special ops sniper who lives in Arizona or New Mexico and shot a 40 6, drives a truck and owns a dog like the one in Mad Max. Sounds funny but that's all I know about his guy, and he is white. How many special ops guys that shot 40 06 during somalia could there be?
Do a search for Carlos Hathcock or for a book entitled "Marine Sniper". The guys you encountered were certainly a break from the 'average' sniper, but I have known a few people to whom weapons (guns, especially) are an intoxicant. It takes moral courage to offer your life in exchange for a belief or an ideal, so I salute that sacrifice on behalf of the United States.