Christopher Scott Kyle April 8, 1974 – February 2, 2013 was a United States Navy SEAL veteran and sniper. Kyle served four tours in the Iraq War and was awarded several commendations for acts of heroism and meritorious service in combat. He was awarded one Silver Star Medal, four Bronze Star Medals with "V" devices, a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and numerous other unit and personal awards.
Kyle was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 2009 and published his bestselling autobiography, American Sniper, in 2012. An eponymous film adaptation of Kyle's book, directed by Clint Eastwood, was released two years later. In 2013, Kyle was murdered by Eddie Ray Routh at a shooting range near Chalk Mountain, Texas called Rough Creek Lodge. A former Marine with post traumatic stress disorder, Routh was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
After his arm healed, Kyle went to a military recruiting office, as he was interested in joining the U.S. Marine Corps special operations. A U.S. Navy recruiter convinced him to try, instead, for the SEALs. Initially, Kyle was rejected because of the pins in his arm, but he eventually received an invitation to the 24-week Basic Underwater Demolition/Sea, Air, Land (SEAL) training (BUD/S) at Coronado, California in 1999. Kyle graduated with class 233 in March 2001.
Assigned to SEAL Team 3, sniper element, platoon "Charlie" (later "Cadillac"),within the Naval Special Warfare Command, and with 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 carrying a hand grenade approaching a group of Marines. CNN reported that the woman was cradling a toddler in her other hand. As ordered, Kyle opened fire, killing the woman before she could attack. He later stated, "the woman was already dead. I was just making sure she didn't take any Marines with her. It was clear that not only did she want to kill them, but she didn’t care about anybody else nearby who would have been blown up by the grenade or killed in the firefight. Children on the street, people in the houses, maybe her child."
Because of his track record as a marksman during his deployment to Ramadi, the insurgents named Kyle Shaitan Ar-Ramadi (English: "The Devil of Ramadi"), and put a $20,000 bounty on his head that was later increased to $80,000. They posted signs highlighting the cross on his arm as a means of identifying him.
In his book, American Sniper, Kyle describes his longest successful shot: in 2008, outside Sadr City, he killed an insurgent sniper aiming at other members of the US military with "a straight-up luck shot" from his McMillan Tac-338 sniper rifle from about 2,100 yards (1,920 m) away.
Kyle became known as "The Legend" among the general infantry and Marines whom he had the task of protecting. The nickname originated among Kyle's fellow SEALs following his taking of a sabbatical to train other snipers in Fallujah, and he was sometimes called "The Myth". During four tours of duty in the Iraq War, he was shot twice and survived six separate IED detonations.
Career as a military sniper
Kyle was arguably one of the United States military's most effective snipers in Iraq with a large number of confirmed and unconfirmed kills. To be counted as confirmed, "They basically had to see the person fall and be clearly dead", according to Jim DeFelice, one of the coauthors of Kyle's autobiography. Kyle's shooter's statements (shooter's statements are filled out by every sniper after a mission) were reported to higher command, who kept them in case any shootings were contested as outside the rules of engagement (ROE). The publisher HarperCollins states: "The Pentagon has officially confirmed more than 150 of Kyle's kills (the previous American record was 109), but it has declined to verify the astonishing total number for this book." In his autobiography, Kyle wrote:
The Navy credits me with more kills as a sniper than any other American service member, past or present. I guess that's true. They go back and forth on what the number is. One week, it's 160 (the 'official' number as of this writing, for what that's worth), then it's way higher, then it's somewhere in between. If you want a number, ask the Navy—you may even get the truth if you catch them on the right day.
On July 8, 2016, the U.S. Navy corrected Kyle's DD Form 214 regarding some decorations listed on his original discharge document.The original discharge papers issued to him upon leaving the service (a DD-214) tally with his account given in his autobiography, of two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars with valor. The Navy revised it to one Silver Star and four Bronze Stars with valor. The Navy said "Kyle would have played no role in the production of his personnel files other than signing the DD-214 upon his discharge" and " thoroughly reviewing all available records, the Navy determined an error was made" and "issued a corrected copy of the DD214, which accurately reflects Kyle's years of honorable and extraordinary service."
Weapons
As a sniper, Kyle was often asked about his weapons. While in training, he used four different rifles in order to know which weapon was the most useful in the given situation. In the field, he used the following
a semi-automatic 7.62 NATO Mk 11 sniper rifle patrol
a 5.56 NATO Mk 12 Designated Marksman Rifle modified with the lower receiver of an M4A1 to get a collapsible stock and allow full-auto fire urban patrol
a .300 Winchester Magnum M24 sniper rifle with McMillan stocks and customized barrels, which was later replaced with a .300 Winchester Magnum Accuracy International.
Various rifles chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum used for long-range shooting.
