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Omaha Steve

(99,072 posts)
Sat Dec 27, 2014, 09:08 PM Dec 2014

In the Crosshairs: Chris Kyle, a decorated sniper, tried to help a troubled veteran, tragic [View all]


http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/06/03/in-the-crosshairs

JUNE 3, 2013 ISSUE

Chris Kyle, a decorated sniper, tried to help a troubled veteran. The result was tragic.

BY NICHOLAS SCHMIDLE

On the morning of August 2, 2006, three Navy SEALs walked onto the roof of a four-story apartment building in Ramadi, in central Iraq. One of them, a petty officer and a sniper named Chris Kyle, got into position with his rifle. Peering through his gun’s scope, Kyle scanned the streets below; as other American soldiers searched and cordoned off homes, he waited for insurgents to appear in his sight line.

It was an especially bloody phase of the war, and Kyle, who was thirty-two at the time, had distinguished himself amid the violence. That summer, he recorded his hundredth career kill—ninety-one of them in Ramadi. He was on his way to becoming one of the deadliest snipers in American history, with a hundred and sixty confirmed kills. In a written evaluation, his commanding officer reported that Kyle had “single-handedly thwarted a large-scale attack on a U.S. Marine Combat Outpost,” adding that his “performance under fire cannot be overstated.” Two previous evaluations had recommended Kyle for SEAL Team Six, the unit that later killed Osama bin Laden, and Kyle had received two Silver Stars for his achievements in combat.


Eddie Ray Routh, left, served in the Marines for four years. Kyle, right, wrote a best-selling memoir about his life as a SEAL.
CREDIT A. J. FRACKATTACK; PHOTOGRAPH: LEFT: REUTERS; RIGHT: ERIC TANNER


In “American Sniper,” a memoir that was published in 2012, and went on to sell more than a million copies, Kyle recounted some of his most dramatic tales of marksmanship. There was the time in Ramadi that he shot two insurgents who were riding tandem on a moped with a single bullet. “When you’re in a profession where your job is to kill people, you start getting creative,” Kyle wrote. On another occasion, he killed an enemy fighter from more than a mile away. A former officer in Kyle’s platoon said that Kyle was willing to spend hours setting up the perfect shot, and joked, “He was extremely patient while being a sniper. He was not that patient otherwise.”

To other servicemen, Kyle, an affable, brawny Texan with reddish-blond hair, could seem like Paul Bunyan in fatigues. An ex-Ranger, whose unit was housed in Ramadi on the same base as Kyle’s SEAL platoon, recently told me about the day that two Iraqi spies—both working for the Americans—reported being trailed by members of Al Qaeda in Iraq. The spies feared that they would be kidnapped. Kyle climbed a ladder that had been affixed to a palm tree and hid among the fronds. When the Al Qaeda members appeared, he killed them both.

FULL story at link.

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trying to help a soldier with PTSD by taking them to a shooting range JI7 Dec 2014 #1
Maybe starting PTSD treatment with something the person suffering from it was familiar with? cherokeeprogressive Dec 2014 #2
maybe if it was some professionals , not some gun nut racist and liar JI7 Dec 2014 #3
You're calling a dead man who was killed by someone he was trying to help a racist and liar. cherokeeprogressive Dec 2014 #4
yes, racists and liars are not immortal JI7 Dec 2014 #5
Well; drywall and microscopes are not aerodynamic either so swallow anchors until you turn green. cherokeeprogressive Dec 2014 #12
doesn't matter , it doesn't excuse his lies which were about someone else who served the country JI7 Dec 2014 #14
Jesse Ventura? GGJohn Dec 2014 #16
yes, i'mnot a ventura fan but kyle still lied about him and VEntura won a lawsuit over it also JI7 Dec 2014 #17
I'm not denying that. GGJohn Dec 2014 #18
Jesse "The Body" had his ass kicked by four different guys I know of... cherokeeprogressive Dec 2014 #20
"Fuck Jesse Ventura with a cactus and someday I hope he chokes to death on the word SEAL" JI7 Dec 2014 #23
I can still participate in shoving the cactus up Jesse's ass. Chris Kyle is dead and buried. cherokeeprogressive Dec 2014 #25
Go find him, let us know how it turns out internet tough guy! nt Logical Dec 2014 #40
Ventura was a SEAL. n/t jen63 Dec 2014 #32
LOL, but it proves fucking Kyle lied about shit. "not going to say when and where" says it all!!!! n Logical Dec 2014 #39
Yeah, jen63 Dec 2014 #31
Chris Kyle was most certainly a racist. redgreenandblue Dec 2014 #42
Kyle probably bragged about all the women and children he took out too 951-Riverside Dec 2014 #6
You got a link proving that he killed women and children? GGJohn Dec 2014 #7
Thats what snipers do, they create a kill zone and kill everything that moves in it. Jesus Malverde Dec 2014 #11
So, no links showing that Kyle killed women and children? GGJohn Dec 2014 #13
spend some time on liveleak watching snipers in action. Jesus Malverde Dec 2014 #21
Ok, ok you proved your point. GGJohn Dec 2014 #26
Post removed Post removed Dec 2014 #15
He did brag about it. Jesus Malverde Dec 2014 #22
Kyle knew, godddammmmknit! Schema Thing Dec 2014 #24
This is america, we celebrate and lionize KILLERS Jesus Malverde Dec 2014 #8
THANK YOU! nt Boreal Dec 2014 #10
Most vets don't brag about the people they killed dflprincess Dec 2014 #28
I wish there were more men like your dad. Jesus Malverde Dec 2014 #34
Most my friends' dads were veterans of WWII or Korea dflprincess Dec 2014 #43
Chris Kyle, Fox Snooze hero Boreal Dec 2014 #9
Horribly sickening Pastiche423 Dec 2014 #19
The fuck you say. Unknown Beatle Dec 2014 #27
No hero. He claims to have Dawson Leery Dec 2014 #29
Marta remembered this article from last year Omaha Steve Dec 2014 #30
Link? nt Logical Dec 2014 #36
My fault Omaha Steve Dec 2014 #37
OK, sorry man. My bad!! nt Logical Dec 2014 #38
The term "hero" doesn't mean what it once did tularetom Dec 2014 #33
He also libeled Jesse Ventura. nt Logical Dec 2014 #35
This message was self-deleted by its author redgreenandblue Dec 2014 #41
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