Chris Kyle Essay

Chris Kyle wasn’t always known as “The Devil of Ramadi”. As a child, he grew up on a cattle ranch in Odessa, Texas. When he was 8 years old, his father gave him a 30-06 and after that his childhood consisted of hunting deer, quail, and pheasant. After he finished high school he took on bronco riding, but that ended when he injured his arm, leading to his decision to join the military where his life as a Navy Seals sniper began.
      Chris joined the Navy in 1999 and was sent to Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL School. He then joined the Sniper Element Charlie Platoon of SEAL Team 3 immediately after. His first mission was to capture an Iraqi oil refinery so it wouldn’t be turned into a field fire, but as soon as they entered enemy territory their armored truck got stuck. Instead of giving up, Chris proceeded to take the machine gun off the truck, and set off with his team on foot, and still made it to the refinery in time, taking out the enemy in the process. Afterwards Chris’ team was given the job of helping marines clear a town in Baghdad, where his chief gave him his signature rifle, a bolt action .300 Winchester Magnum, with which he could take out targets from up to 1,800 yards. During his career, Chris fought with the Polish GROM, the special air service, and the U.S. Marines. The Government still labels the details on most of his missions as “Classified” but his job was basically to go behind enemy lines alone, undetected, attain an overwatch position and watch the backs of other soldiers as they moved in. On another occasion, Kyle took out a man who had an RPG aimed at a U.S. Army Humvee convoy from 1.2 miles away with one shot.
Chris retired at 35 in 2009 and wrote the book “American Sniper” which is an autobiography. He then spent the rest of his life helping fellow soldiers get reacquainted with their lives as civilians. By the end of his career he had 160 confirmed kills of his 255 claimed and he received two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars for...