Served four tours of duty in Iraq, where he gained the nickname ‘The Devil of Ramadi’ from insurgents
Longest shot was a 2,100-yard strike against a man armed with a rocket launcher
Prefers a bolt-action .300 Winchester Magnum custom sniper rifle
Left the Navy after 10 years to ‘save his marriage’
By
Michael Zennie
Last updated at 12:07 PM on 3rd January 2012
Chris Kyle hesitated the first time he killed a person at long range with a rifle. It was a woman who was about to attack a group of US Marines with a hand grenade.
The US Navy SEAL was overlooking an Iraqi town from a shabby building as US forces were still invading the country, before Saddam Hussein had been ousted. The Marines didn’t see the woman coming.
‘Take a shot,’ Mr Kyle’s chief told him.
Mr Kyle stammered: ‘But…’
‘Shoot!’ the chief told him again.
Making the shot: Chris Kyle takes aim from on top of an overturned crib during the Second Battle of Fallujah
Four tours: During his time in Iraq, he gained infamy among the insurgents, who nicknamed him ‘the Devil of Ramadi’ and put a $20,000 price on his head
When Mr Kyle finally pulled the trigger, the woman dropped the grenade. He shot her again as it exploded.
But after four deployments to Iraq, he learned to stop hesitating and start shooting straight.
With 255 kills, 160 of them officially confirmed by the Pentagon, the retired Navy Seal sniper is the deadliest marksman in US military history.
During the Second Battle of Fallujah alone, when US Marines fought running battles in the streets with several thousand insurgents, he killed 40 people.
His feat blows away the previous
American record of 109, set by Army Staff Sgt. Adelbert F. Waldron
during the Vietnam war.
Carlos Hathcock, the famed Marine sniper who was
the subject of the book ‘One Shot, One Kill,’ killed 93 people as a
long-range sniper in Vietnam.
Telling his story: Mr Kyle (left) has just written a book about his experiences in Iraq called ‘American Sniper.’ It will hit bookshelves Tuesday
Despite
the incredible number, Mr Kyle is still far from being the deadliest
marksman in the world. That distinction goes to Simo Häyhä, a Finnish
soldier who killed 542 Soviet soldiers during World War II.
Mr Kyle is a cowboy from
Odessa, Texas, who was a professional bronco rodeo rider before he
joined the Navy. He grew up hunting deer and pheasant with a rifle and a
shotgun his dad bought him.
He never realized he was a good shot until he joined the Navy and got into the prestigious SEAL special operations unit.
For
his deadly track record as a marksman during his deployment to Ramadi,
the insurgents named him ‘Al-Shaitan Ramad’ — the Devil of Rahmadi —
and put a $20,000 bounty on his head.
‘I
thought to myself, “Oh, hell yeah!” It was an honor,’ he told Texas
Monthly magazine when Army intelligence told him about his infamy.
But his Navy SEAL companions gave him a different name ‘the Legend.’
His
most legendary shot came outside Sadr City in 2008 when he spotted an
insurgent with a rocket launcher near an Army convoy — 2,100 yards
away.
At that distance, 1.2 miles, he fired a shot from his .338 Lapua Magnum rifle. It struck home, knocking the man over dead.
‘God blew that bullet and hit him,’ Mr Kyle told the New York Post.
Mr
Kyle’s preferred weapon, though, was a custom-built bolt action rifle
with a powerful scope. It was chambered in .300 Winchester Magnum, a
cartridge originally developed for hunting North American big game.
However, Mr Kyle said he has found a new use for it — making long range, highly accurate shots.
‘I could hit a target from 1,800 yards, and it would shoot like a laser,’ he told Texas Monthly.
Long shot: Mr Kyle poses here with the rifle, a .338 Lapua Magnum, he used to kill an insurgent from 2,100 yards away outside Sadr City
Mr Kyle, who retired from the Navy after 10 years of service, is telling his remarkable story as a deadly marksman in his new book, ‘American Sniper,’ which hits shelves Tuesday.
For his valor, he received three Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars with Valor, according to his book publisher, Harper Collins.
Additionally, he was shot twice and was in six separate IED explosions as his unit, Charlie company of SEAL Team Three, saw significant combat across the country.
Grateful nation: Kyle receiving an award from the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
The action was enough that the members of the unit adopted the white skull of the gun-wielding comic book vigilante The Punisher.
They painted the symbol on their body armor, their vehicles and even their weapons.
Despite the astonishing number of people he has shot, Mr Kyle says he has never second-guessed himself since the first time he had to pull the trigger on the grenade-wielding woman in Iraq.
For him, the enemy is a ‘savage,’ he told the Post.
‘It was my duty to shoot the enemy, and I don’t regret it. My regrets are for the people I couldn’t save: Marines, soldiers, buddies. I’m not naive, and I don’t romanticize war. The worst moments of my life have come as a SEAL. But I can stand before God with a clear conscience about doing my job,’ he told Texas Monthly.
He left the service in 2009, deciding not to enlist in order to ‘save his marriage’ he told his publisher.
Mr Kyle has two children and lives in Dallas.
Since leaving the Navy, he has started his own military contracting firm, Craft International. It provides military and law enforcement sniper training, as well as private security and protection.
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There is no doubt this man is a true hero and has taken many lifes and saved many lifes, it should be enough to leave it at that without making public all the facts and figures he is a professional and does not need this kind of publicity
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Almost one hundred years passed – and still the best North American sniper is … Corporal Francis Pegahmagabow, from Canada. 378 enemy soldiers confirmed. Contrary to Mr Kyle, he hadn’t an technical advantage comparing to his oponents, well equipped Germans.
- Wojtek, Warsaw, Poland, 3/1/2012 11:42===And let’s not forget Simo Häyhä, the Finnish sniper who was credited with 505 kills with an “iron” sighted rifle plus 200 with a submachine gun, during the Russo Finnish conflict 1939-40.
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It’s UNBELEIVEABLE that the DM is Allowed to write this story.And so stupid of Mr Kyle to let then + show pictures of himself.No names no pack drills,but a British sniper that serverd in the Northern Ireland troubles.Was executed by the I R A. Long after the troubles were over.Because his identity was was given away by a British newspaper.Why the MOD has not made it illeagal for the media to print and report snipers identities is CRIMINAL.
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This man single-handedly killed nearly a tenth of the tally of lives lost in 9/11. The USA has more than served up its revenge.
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Well done……………………….. But what fool thought it clever to publicly identify him?
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Wow he must be so proud, shooting people from afar as well – how heroic.
- Bored, London,Uk, 3/1/2012 2:03
No, he just should have been like you and your very delicate,fragile ilk, and waited until the enemy was closer and sawing off his head with a sword. Is’nt it Tea time for you???
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Just awesome! Your hero.
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The true test of opinion about Mr.Kyle is if you asked any of the servicemen who served in Iraq whether they regard him as a hero,I bet the overwhelming response would be “hell,yes” and quite rightly so. Of course this being a story about an American,the lentil-eating,sandal-wearing,long-haired socialist luvvies will be out in force on these forums trying to red arrow the man. Would love to see any of them in action,but I guess it is easier to pontificate from a distance(and a safe distance,thanks to Mr.Kyle and his ilk.).
I don’t remember too many adverse comments from the luvvies when our soldiers were being shot at by the IRA(and I served two terms in Derry,a city I loved,populated by people I still have a soft spot in my heart for).Anti-British and anti-American opinion always brings out the long-haired unwashed socialists.
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yh how many of them were innocent kids ???
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Americans +Guns …I will never get it.
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Article source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2081430/255-confirmed-kills-Meet-Navy-SEAL-Chris-Kyle--deadliest-sniper-US-history.html?ITO=1490
pffft, no skill.. I bet all his kills were civilians.
WW1 = 10% civilian casualties of the war.
WW2 = 50% civilian casualties of the war.
Vietnam War = 70% civilian casualties of the war.
Iraq = 90% civilian casualties of the war.
Only Cowards snipe, and USA/israel/UK are cowards.