American Sniper (Kyle)

American Sniper:  The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History
Chris Kyle, Scott McEwan, 2015
HarperCollins
4416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062376336


Summary
A celebration of the remarkable life and legacy of fallen American hero Chris Kyle.

This commemorative memorial edition of Kyle's bestselling memoir features the full text of American Sniper, plus more than eighty ­pages of remembrances by those whose lives he touched personally—including his wife, Taya; his parents, brother, and children; Marcus Luttrell and other fellow Navy SEALs; veterans and wounded warriors; lifelong friends; and many others.

He was the top American sniper of all time, called "the legend" by his navy seal brothers, and a hero by those he served with on the home front.

From 1999 to 2009, Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle's account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences ranks as one of the greatest war memoirs of all time.

American Sniper also honors Kyle's fellow warriors, who raised hell on and off the battlefield. And in moving first-person accounts throughout, Kyle's wife, Taya, speaks openly about the strains of war on their marriage and children. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—April 8, 1974
• Where—Odessa, Texas, USA
• Death—February 2, 2013
• Where—Erath County, Texas
• Education—High School, Midlothian, Texas


Christopher Scott Kyle  was a United States Navy SEAL and the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history with 160 confirmed kills. Kyle served four tours in the Iraq War and was awarded several commendations for acts of heroism and meritorious service in combat.

Medals
He received two Silver Star Medals, five Bronze Star Medals, one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals and numerous other unit and personal awards.

Kyle was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 2009 and wrote a bestselling autobiography, American Sniper, which was published in January 2012. A film adaptation of Kyle's autobiography, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper, was released in December 2014. It won six Academy Award nominations and won for Best Sound Editing.

On February 2, 2013, Kyle was shot and killed at a shooting range near Chalk Mountain, Texas, with his friend, Chad Littlefield. The man accused of killing them, Eddie Ray Routh, was found guilty of both murders and later sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Early life
Kyle was born in Odessa, Texas, the first of two boys born to Deby Lynn (nee Mercer) and Wayne Kenneth Kyle, a Sunday school teacher and a deacon. Kyle's father bought his son his first rifle at eight years old, a bolt-action .30-06 Springfield rifle, and later a shotgun, with which they hunted pheasant, quail, and deer.

Kyle attended high school in Midlothian, Texas. After school, Kyle became a professional bronco rodeo rider and worked on a ranch, but his professional rodeo career ended abruptly when he severely injured his arm.

Military career
After his arm healed, Kyle went to a military recruiting office, interested in joining the U.S. Marine Corps with a special interest in special operations. A U.S. Navy recruiter convinced him to try 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 SEAL school (BUDS), which he joined in 1999.

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 approaching a group of Marines while carrying a hand grenade.

An article by CNN reported that the woman was cradling a toddler in her other hand. As ordered, he 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 him Shaitan Ar-Ramadi (The Devil of Ramadi), and put a $21,000 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 ever: in 2008, outside Sadr City, he killed an insurgent about to fire a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) at a U.S. Army convoy with "a straight-up luck shot" from his McMillan Tac-338 sniper rifle from about 2,100 yards (1.2 miles) away.

Kyle became known by the moniker "Legend" among the general infantry and Marines whom he was tasked to protect. This title initially originated in jest among fellow SEALs following his taking of a sabbatical to train other snipers in Fallujah. During four tours of duty in the Iraq War, Kyle was shot twice and survived six separate IED explosions.

Career as record setting sniper
To be counted as a "confirmed kill" the shot and the target must be witnessed to confirm the person was a combatant and was gravely wounded. Kyle's shooter’s statements, filled out by every sniper after a mission, were reported to higher command who kept them in case a shooting was contested as outside the Rules of Engagement.

The military has officially confirmed more than 150 of Kyles kills. Kyle never stated a specific number. In his biography, he 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.

Kyle left the U.S. Navy in 2009 and moved to Midlothian, Texas, with his wife, Taya, and two children. He was president of Craft International, a tactical training company for the U.S. military and law enforcement communities.

In 2012, HarperCollins released Kyle's autobiographical book American Sniper. Kyle had initially hesitated to write the book but was persuaded to move forward because other books about SEALs were underway. In his book, Kyle wrote bluntly of his experiences. Of the battle for control of Ramadi he says "Force moved that battle. We killed the bad guys and brought the leaders to the peace table. That is how the world works."

In the book and in interviews following, Kyle stated he had no regrets about his work as a sharpshooter, saying, "I had to do it to protect the Marines." American Sniper has had a months-long run on the New York Times bestseller list and brought Kyle national attention. Following its release, media articles challenged some of Kyle's anecdotes, but the core of his narrative was widely accepted. "Tales of his heroism on the battlefield were already lore in every branch of the armed forces," writes Michael J. Mooney, author of a biography of Kyle.

Charity work
Kyle paired with FITCO Cares Foundation, a nonprofit 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 posttraumatic stress disorder.

Death
On 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. Both men were armed with .45-caliber 1911-style pistols when they were killed, but neither gun had been unholstered or fired. The safety catches were still on. Kyle was killed with a .45-caliber pistol, while Littlefield was shot with a 9mm SIG Sauer handgun. Both guns belonged to Kyle.

The shooter was Eddie Ray Routh, a 25-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Lancaster, Texas. Kyle and Littlefield had reportedly taken Routh to the gun range in an effort to help him with his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Routh had been in and out of mental hospitals for at least two years and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. His family also said he suffered from PTSD from his time in the military.

After the killings, Routh went to his sister's house in Midlothian and told her what he had done. His sister, Laura Blevins, called 911 and told the emergency operator: "They went out to a shooting range... Like, he's all crazy. He's fucking psychotic." Local police captured Routh after a short freeway chase, which ended when Routh, who fled the scene in Kyle's Ford F-350 truck, crashed into a police cruiser in Lancaster.

A memorial service was held for Kyle at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on February 11, 2013. Kyle was buried on February 12, 2013, at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, after a funeral procession from Midlothian to Austin, stretching more than 200 miles (320 km). Hundreds of people lined Interstate 35 to view the procession and pay their final respects to Kyle.

On February 24, 2015, Routh was found guilty of the deaths of Kyle and Littlefield with the jury returning the verdict in under three hours of deliberations. He was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 4/15/2015.)

Book Reviews
[My] favorite book of the year. Chris Kyle’s American Sniper: It’s an amazingly detailed account of fighting in Iraq a humanizing, brave story that’s extremely readable. It will give you a much stronger appreciation of our troops, more awe for Navy SEALs and also insight into how wars are really fought today.
Patricia Cornwell - New York Times Book Review


(Refers to audio version.) One of the most feared soldiers to ever set foot on the battleground that was and still is Iraq, Kyle recounts his bloody tales of war with deadly accuracy. Skillfully narrated by John Pruden, these fascinating war stories offer insight into the perils of modern combat.... Kyle’s story is gripping.
Publishers Weekly


Reads like a first-person thriller narrated by a sniper. The bare-bones facts are stunning. .... A first-rate military memoir
Booklist


[T]his memoir...takes a more unassuming and approachable tone in narrating his improbable journey from a modest Texas childhood to becoming a sniper with SEAL Team 3 and serving four deployments in IraqEloquent ... An aggressively written account of frontline combat, with plenty of action.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion underway for American Sniper:

1. Some readers felt Chris Kyle used overly broad strokes to depict his time as a sniper; they wanted more detail in terms of the shot set-ups and engagement. Do you agree? Or does Kyle give an adequate description for you?

2. Is Chris a hero? If so what makes him one—is it his skill, bravery, self-sacrifice? He himself claimed that the real heroes are those in engaged in actual fighting, many of whom lost their vision, limbs, and in many cases their lives. What do you think?

3. Did you appreciate the sections written by Kyle's wife Taya? What perspective, in any, does she bring to Kyle's account, especially her discussion of the strains his service placed on the family?

4. Kyle writes honestly about the pain and suffering of war, especially the loss of two of his closest teammates. Did reading his account make you think about the costs of war and what it means for both soldiers and their families?

5. What wisdom is there to be gained by reading American Sniper? Did you come away with a different perspective of war? Did the book underscore your beliefs about our engagement in the Middle East...or did it challenge your beliefs?

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