Chris Kyle

Chris Kyle
Birth name	Christopher Scott Kyle[1]
Nickname	The Devil of Ramadi
Born	(1974-04-08)April 8, 1974[2] Odessa, Texas, US
Died	February 2, 2013(2013-02-02) (aged 38) Erath County, Texas, US
Buried at	Texas State Cemetery[3]
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1999–2009
Rank	Chief Petty Officer[4]
Unit	United States Navy SEALs SEAL Team 3, sniper element, Charlie platoon
Battles/wars	Iraq War Second Battle of Fallujah
Awards	Silver Star Medal (2) Bronze Star Medal (Valor; 5) Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (1) Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (2)[4][5]
Spouse(s)	Taya Renae Kyle [6]
Other work	American Sniper (2012) American Gun (2013)
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Christopher Scott "Chris" Kyle (April 8, 1974 – February 2, 2013) was a United States Navy SEAL whose autobiography calls him the most lethal sniper in American military history with 160 confirmed kills out of 255 claimed kills, although these statistics have not been released by the Pentagon.^[4][7]

Kyle served four tours in the second Iraq conflict 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 Stars, five bronze stars with valor, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and one Marine Corps Commendation. He was also awarded the Grateful Nation Award by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.^[8] Iraqi insurgents dubbed him the "Devil of Ramadi" and offered a bounty for his head. He was shot twice, and was involved in six IED attacks.^[9]

Kyle decided to spend time with his family and 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 by a fellow veteran on February 2, 2013, near Chalk Mountain, Texas.

Early life

Born in Odessa, Texas, the son of a Sunday school teacher and a deacon,^[4] 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.^[4] 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 (USMC). 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 (Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL school), finally joining the United States Navy in 1999.^[10]

Career

Military service

Iraq War

Assigned to SEAL Team 3, Sniper Element Charlie, later Cadillac,^[8] platoon within the Naval Special Warfare Command, and with over four tours of duty, Kyle served in many major battles of the Iraq War.^[4] 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.^[9] He stated, that "the woman was already dead. I was just making sure she didn't take any Marines with her." ^[8]

For his deadly track record as a marksman during his deployment to Ramadi, the insurgents named him Shaitan Ar-Ramadi (English: The Devil of Ramadi), and put a $20,000 bounty on his head that was later increased to $80,000.^[4][9]

In 2008, outside Sadr City, he 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 (1.9 km). He fired a shot from his .338 Lapua Magnum-chambered McMillan TAC-338 sniper rifle,^[11] killing the insurgent as told in his book American Sniper. During four tours of duty in Iraq, Kyle was shot twice and caught up in six separate IED explosions.^[9] His other weapons included the Mk 12 sniper rifle, M4 carbine and a .300 Winchester Magnum sniper rifle.^[12]

Later work

Kyle left the US Navy in 2009 and moved to Midlothian, Texas, with his wife, Taya, and two children.^[13] He was President of Craft International until his death. Craft is a tactical training company for the US military and Law Enforcement communities.^[14] In 2012, Harper Collins released Kyle's autobiographical book American Sniper.^[13][15] Kyle also 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.^[16] 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.^[17]

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 UDT 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 (former President) Bush, bad-mouthing America" and that Ventura said the SEALs "deserved to lose a few guys".^[18] In a subsequent interview, Ventura denied that he was punched by Kyle, saying that he never met Kyle nor even heard of him. Ventura also adamantly denied saying any derogatory remarks about the military.^[19] Ventura filed a lawsuit against Kyle for defamation in court.^[20] Despite Kyle's death in February 2013, Ventura announced he would continue his lawsuit by adding Kyle's estate to the lawsuit.^[21]

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^[22] 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 (PTSD).^[23][24]

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.^[25] Erath County sheriffs said the motive for the killing was unclear.^[26] 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.^[27]

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^{[citation needed]}. Hundreds of local and out of state residents lined Interstate 35 to view the procession and pay their final respects to Kyle.^[28][29]

Bibliography

• Kyle, Chris; McEwen, Scott; DeFelice, Jim (2013). American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History
• Kyle, Chris; Doyle, William (2013). American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms

See also

• 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