Christopher Scott "Chris" Kyle was a United States Navy SEAL who claimed in his autobiography
to be the most lethal sniper in American military history with 160 "confirmed" kills out of
255 claimed kills. This statistic, however, is unofficial and has not been corroborated
or confirmed by the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Special Operations Command, or the United
States Navy. Kyle served four tours in the Iraq War and
was awarded the 4th highest commendation awarded for acts of heroism, acts of merit, and/or
meritorious service in a combat zone. He holds two Silver Star Medals, five Bronze Star Medals
with valor, one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement
Medals. He was awarded the Grateful Nation Award by the Jewish Institute for National
Security Affairs. Kyle claimed that Iraqi insurgents dubbed him the "Devil of Ramadi"
and placed a bounty for his head. He was wounded twice, and was involved in six IED attacks.
Kyle was honorably discharged from the US Navy in 2009. He remained in the spotlight
after leaving the Navy and wrote a New York Times bestselling autobiography, American
Sniper. Kyle was shot and killed at a shooting range on February 2, 2013, near Chalk Mountain,
Texas. The man accused of killing him is awaiting trial for murder.
Early life Born in Odessa, Texas, the son of a Sunday
school teacher and a deacon, Kyle's father bought his son his first gun at 8 years old,
a bolt-action .30-06 Springfield rifle, and later a shotgun, with which they hunted pheasant,
quail, and deer. After school, Kyle became a professional bronco rodeo rider, but his
profession ended abruptly when he severely injured his arm. After his arm healed, he
went to a military recruiting office, interested in joining the United States Marine Corps.
Kyle signed up, but was rejected because of the pins in his arm. A Navy recruiter told
him about the Navy SEALs. A little while later, he received a call and he had the chance to
go to BUD/S, finally joining the Navy in 1999. Career
Military service Iraq War
Assigned to SEAL Team 3, Sniper Element Charlie, later Cadillac, platoon within the Naval Special
Warfare Command, and with over four tours of duty, Kyle served in many major battles
of the Iraq War. His first long-range kill shot was taken during the initial invasion,
when he shot a woman approaching a group of Marines with a hand grenade in her hand. As
ordered, he opened fire, killing the woman before she could attack. He stated, that "the
woman was already dead. I was just making sure she didn't take any Marines with her."
For his deadly track record as a marksman during his deployment to Ramadi, the insurgents
named him Shaitan Ar-Ramadi, and put a $20,000 bounty on his head that was later increased
to $80,000. In 2008, outside Sadr City, Kyle made his
longest successful shot, after he spotted an insurgent with a rocket launcher near a
US Army convoy at a range of 2,100 yards. As recounted in his book American Sniper,
Kyle fired a shot from his .338 Lapua Magnum-chambered McMillan TAC-338 sniper rifle, killing the
insurgent from about 2,100 yards away. The fighter was about to launch a rocket-propelled
grenade at the Army convoy. During four tours of duty in Iraq, Kyle was
shot twice and caught up in six separate IED explosions. His other weapons included the
Mk 12 sniper rifle, Sig Sauer P220 Pistol, M4 carbine and a .300 Winchester Magnum sniper
rifle. Later life
Kyle left the US Navy in 2009 and moved to Midlothian, Texas, with his wife, Taya, and
two children. He was President of Craft International, a tactical training company for the US military
and Law Enforcement communities. In 2012, Harper Collins released Kyle's autobiographical
book American Sniper. Kyle paired with FITCO Cares Foundation, a
non-profit organization which created the Heroes Project to provide free in-home fitness
equipment, individualized programs, personal training, and life-coaching to in-need veterans
with disabilities, Gold Star families, or those suffering from post-traumatic stress
disorder. On August 13, 2012, Kyle appeared on the reality television show Stars Earn
Stripes, which features celebrities pairing up with a special operations or law enforcement
professional who will train them in weapons and combat tactics. Kyle was teamed with actor
Dean Cain. As described in D Magazine but not in his
autobiography, Kyle was accosted by two robbers at a Dallas area gas station in 2010. According
to Kyle, the two robbers were armed and asked for money as well as Kyle's truck. Kyle was
able to divert the robbers' attention by claiming he had to find his keys, after which he shot
and killed both robbers. According to this report, Kyle was released by police after
they called the Department of Defense and were told that Kyle was one of the country's
most skilled fighters. Kyle also claimed to, with a friend, shoot and kill 30 looters from
the roof of the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina. Reporters have unsuccessfully attempted
to verify both stories. Alleged confrontation with Jesse Ventura
In interviews with both the Opie and Anthony Show and Bill O'Reilly in January 2012, Kyle
claimed to have punched former Minnesota Governor and Underwater Demolition Team member Jesse
Ventura at a bar in Coronado, California in 2006 during a wake for Mike Monsoor, a Navy
SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient who had been killed in Iraq the same year. Kyle claimed
that Ventura was "bad-mouthing the war, bad-mouthing Bush, bad-mouthing America" and that Ventura
said the SEALs "deserved to lose a few guys". In a subsequent interview, Ventura denied
that he was punched by Kyle, saying that he never met Kyle nor even heard of him. Ventura
adamantly denied saying any derogatory remarks about the military. Ventura filed a lawsuit
against Kyle for defamation. After Kyle's death in February 2013, Ventura announced
he would continue his lawsuit by adding Kyle's estate as a defendant. On July 29, 2014, a
jury awarded Ventura $1.8M. Death
On Saturday, February 2, 2013, Kyle and a companion, Chad Littlefield, were shot and
killed at the Rough Creek Ranch-Lodge-Resort shooting range in Erath County, Texas by 25-year-old
fellow veteran Marine Eddie Ray Routh, whom Kyle and Littlefield had purportedly taken
to the gun range in an effort to help him with what they were told by his mother was
post traumatic stress disorder. Local police captured Routh after a short
freeway chase, which ended when Routh, who had left the scene of the shootings in Kyle's
Ford F-350 truck, crashed into a police cruiser. Routh was arrested just before 9 p.m. the
same day in Lancaster, Texas. Erath County sheriffs said the motive for the killing was
unclear. Routh, from Lancaster, was arraigned February 2, 2013, on two counts of capital
murder, according to Sgt. Lonny Haschel of the Texas Department of Public Safety. He
was taken to the Erath County Jail for holding under a $3 million bond. Routh's trial was
set to begin May 5, 2014, but was delayed to allow more time to comply with DNA test
requirements. A memorial service was held for Kyle at Cowboys
Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on February 11, 2013. Kyle was buried on February 12, 2013,
in Texas State Cemetery, Austin, Texas, after a funeral procession from Midlothian, Texas,
to Austin, stretching over 200 miles. Hundreds of local and out-of-state residents lined
Interstate 35 to view the procession and pay their final respects to Kyle.
Legacy A film based on his autobiography American
Sniper is in production with Kyle portrayed by Bradley Cooper and directed by Clint Eastwood.
Bibliography Kyle, Chris; McEwen, Scott; DeFelice, Jim.
American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History.
New York: W. Morrow, 2012. ISBN 0-062-08235-3 OCLC 733224029
Kyle, Chris; Doyle, William. American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms. New
York: William Morrow, 2013. ISBN 0-0622-4271-7 OCLC 813286737
See also Mikhail Ilyich Surkov, the top Soviet Sniper,
with 702 confirmed kills. Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the top female Soviet
Sniper, with 309 confirmed kills. Vasily Zaytsev, during the Battle of Stalingrad,
killed 225 German soldiers and officers. Longest recorded sniper kills
List of snipers References
External links American Sniper at Harper Collins
Craft International Kyle on The George Jarkesy Show
Chris Kyle at Find a Grave We Need More ‘Extremists’ Like Chris Kyle,
David French, May 31, 2013, National Review The Legend of Chris Kyle, MICHAEL J. MOONEY,
D MAGAZINE, APRIL 2013