Chris Kyle

• Born: April 8, 1974
• Birthplace: Odessa, Texas
• Died: February 2, 2013
• Place of death: Erath County, Texas

Navy SEAL

Also known as: Christopher Scott Kyle

Education: Tarleton State University (attended until 1994)

Significance: Chris Kyle was a US Navy SEAL sniper who wrote a best-selling memoir that became an Academy Award–nominated film.

Background

Christopher Scott Kyle was born April 8, 1974, in Odessa, Texas, where he grew up on a cattle ranch owned by his parents Wayne Kenneth Kyle, a deacon in a local church, and Deby Lynn (née Mercer), a Sunday school teacher. Kyle learned to hunt pheasant and deer as a child, and he and his younger brother Jeff would often hunt with their father.

At sixteen, Kyle began riding bulls and then horses in small local rodeos and soon was traveling to compete in various cities. In 1992, he enrolled in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Tarleton State University with the intention of becoming a ranch manager. Toward the end of his freshman year while competing in a rodeo in Rendon, Texas, Kyle suffered severe injuries when a bucking horse landed on top of him. He lost consciousness and had several broken bones, a dislocated shoulder, and a bruised lung and kidney. Following emergency surgery, he was left with reduced function in one arm, which ended his rodeo career.

Kyle then worked as a ranch hand before and after classes at Tarleton. He appreciated the hard work and enjoyed being outside all day. After some time, he began to realize that college and ranching were not for him and that he wanted to join the military, which was a childhood ambition.

The Navy SEALs

Kyle joined the Navy in 1999 intent on becoming a Navy SEAL. He was initially rejected by the program because of his arm injury, but his performance in the Navy’s underwater demolitions training program earned him entrance into the SEAL program. During training, Kyle’s commanding officers determined that he was a good candidate for sniper training.

Kyle was assigned to SEAL Team 3 and served four tours in Iraq between 1999 and 2009, first with the initial invasion of Iraq and then in subsequent deployments as a sniper protecting US Marines in Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi, and elsewhere.

Kyle’s first kill as a sniper occurred in 2003 as a battalion of marines entered an Iraqi village. He saw a civilian woman cradling a baby and holding a grenade. Kyle said in interviews that he had significant trepidation about killing the woman, but made the decision to prioritize the lives of his fellow marines.

The Legend and the Devil

Over the course of Kyle’s four tours, he earned the record for most sniper kills and the nickname the Legend from fellow soldiers. According to Kyle, he also became infamous among the Iraqi military and was nicknamed al-Shaitan Ramadi, or "the Devil of Ramadi." Iraqi insurgents offered a bounty for Kyle’s death that began at $20,000 and later increased to $80,000 as Kyle continued to achieve more and more kills. His reputation as the deadliest sniper in American military history became the focus of his later biography.

Most of Kyle’s enemy kills were from a distance of 600 to 1,000 yards, but in 2008, he recorded a kill at 2,100 yards against an insurgent who was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade.

Kyle was shot twice during his four tours and survived six IED attacks. Later, in his biography, he wrote that he was awarded two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars for valor in combat by the time he left the military in 2009 with the rank of Chief Petty Officer. Following his deployment, he was chief instructor for training at the Naval Special Warfare Sniper and Counter-Sniper teams and wrote the first Navy SEAL manual for snipers.

American Sniper

In 2012, Kyle coauthored the memoir American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History. The book became an international bestseller, and in the wake of its success, investigative journalists challenged several of the book’s substantial claims. Though most of the information was confirmed, one chapter described Kyle punching a former Minnesota governor, who was also a former professional wrestler, after he was heard making unpatriotic remarks. It later came out that Kyle was referring to Jesse Ventura, who then sued Kyle and later his estate for libel.

In 2014, American Sniper was made into a feature film directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper. Although some critics claimed that it glorified violence, it was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture and was the top-grossing film in 2014.

Life Cut Short

On February 2, 2013, Kyle and fellow veteran Chad Littlefield were killed at a Texas gun range by ex-Marine Eddie Ray Routh. The men had been trying to help Routh, who was having a difficult time adjusting to civilian life. It was later revealed that Routh suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and had a history of mental illness that had escalated after he was discharged from the service. On February 25, 2015, Routh was found guilty of capital murder and was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In 2016, after a thorough investigation of Kyle's records, the Navy determined that he had actually only earned one Silver Star and four Bronze Stars for his service, thereby issuing a revised form. The form that Kyle had signed upon his reentry to civilian life and separation from the military, known as the DD214, had also listed two Silver Stars and four Bronze Stars, but the Navy established that this was an error that was most likely caused when such records were still being kept manually and that Kyle would not have had any part in producing the record.

Impact

Kyle’s memoir stirred the debate over the morality and culture of military life and violence in the military. His violent death stimulated further debate over the methods employed to help veterans suffering from traumatic health problems. February 2, 2015, became the first Chris Kyle Day in Texas in honor of Kyle’s life and service to the military.

Personal Life

Chris Kyle married Taya Renae Studebaker in 2002. The couple had two children, a boy and a girl. Following Kyle’s death, Studebaker remained active in charitable and outreach programs to help veterans suffering from postservice medical and mental-health issues.

Bibliography

Bernstein, Adam. "Chris Kyle, Navy Seal and Author of American Sniper, Dies." The Washington Post, 3 Feb. 2013, www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/chris-kyle-navy-seal-and-author-of-american-sniper-dies/2013/02/03/f838bcfc-6e22-11e2-ac36-3d8d9dcaa2e2‗story.html?utm‗term=.38bf7a1d4006. Accessed 24 Mar. 2015.

Childs, Martin. "Chris Kyle: US Navy Seal Sniper." Independent, 6 Feb. 2013, www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/chris-kyle-us-navy-seal-sniper-8482300.html. Accessed 24 Mar. 2015.

Fernandez, Manny, and Michael Schwirtz. "Untouchable in Iraq, Ex-Sniper Dies in a Shooting Back Home." The New York Times, 3 Feb. 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/us/chris-kyle-american-sniper-author-reported-killed.html. Accessed 24 Mar. 2015.

Gibbons-Neff, Thomas. "After Investigation, Navy Lowers 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle's Medal Count." The Washington Post, 9 July 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/07/09/after-investigation-navy-lowers-american-sniper-chris-kyles-medal-count/?utm‗term=.c78a24f88404. Accessed 25 Oct. 2017.

Kyle, Chris, et al. American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History. Morrow, 2012.

Mooney, Michael J. The Life and Legend of Chris Kyle: American Sniper, Navy SEAL. Back Bay, 2013.