At War Blog: Remembering Chris Kyle, a Deadly American Sniper

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In the fall of 2006, my infantry platoon gathered in a dusty patrol base in Baghdad to watch our own being killed in fuzzy, pixilated video clips. An insurgent sniper named Juba was terrorizing Baghdad with precise and methodical shots at allied troops, and it was all captured on film. A soldier in a turret falls in a puff of smoke. Another soldier standing along a road is shot in the head.

“Don’t let this be you,” our platoon sergeant said, and we headed out for another patrol.

No one knew if Juba was real or a myth. He was a European mercenary or a Syrian jihadist, depending on whom you asked. For American troops, Juba was a terror, but for the insurgents, he must have been a comforting legend.

Chris Kyle, a former Navy SEAL who was killed Saturday along with another man at a gun range in Texas, was our Juba. Mr. Kyle, 38, wasn’t just a legend. He was The Legend, with four tours in Iraq, two Purple Hearts and a hand in every major battle during the conflict.

Mr. Kyle earned the title of America’s deadliest sniper, something not lost on the Iraqi insurgency. They put a bounty on his head and called him Al Shaitan Ramadi: the Devil of Ramadi. Mr. Kyle’s book, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,” was published last year.

Snipers have enjoyed a disproportionate amount of influence on the battlefield since colonial sharpshooters began targeting British officers in the Revolutionary War — an act regarded as ungentlemanly at the time. They have bogged down invading forces and shredded morale into ribbons. When the Soviet Union invaded Finland during the Winter War of 1939-40, the Finnish sniper Simo Hayha took on entire units by himself, racking up more than 500 confirmed kills in less than 100 days. The Soviets called him White Death. It seems that only snipers and generals earn nicknames and respect from their enemies.

A vital job of Mr. Kyle’s was to provide overwatch for American soldiers and Marines as they maneuvered during patrols and raids — an angel of sorts for coalition troops. Mr. Kyle took that idea to form Fitco Cares Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps veterans cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. Mr. Kyle often took veterans struggling with PTSD to gun ranges for a therapy of sorts, and in a tragic twist, the former Marine accused of killing Mr. Kyle was a veteran who may have been struggling with the disorder.

Mr. Kyle’s impact on troops and veterans was apparent when news of his death spread quickly on Facebook and Twitter. “In Memory of Chris Kyle, American Hero,” said one image posted to a page for war veterans on Facebook. A tribute page for him was set up within hours of his death, which posted a picture of Mr. Kyle against a black background. “Chris Kyle, 1974-2013, U.S. Navy SEAL, 160 confirmed kills. Gone,” the accompanying text says, “but not forgotten.”

Troops and veterans understand that snipers are not simply precise killers, but watchers of men, on both sides. They spot for artillery and scan for enemy movement. They disrupt enemy snipers, harass enemy troops and haunt the dreams of their generals. For that, they are pursued relentlessly.

But Mr. Kyle’s grim talent of killing the enemy was not a source of guilt for him. What did seem to bother him were the things that he couldn’t do.

“It was my duty to shoot the enemy, and I don’t regret it,” he told Texas Monthly last year. “My regrets are for the people I couldn’t save: Marines, soldiers, buddies.”

A profound dedication to the safety of fellow troops will always mark snipers generally, and Mr. Kyle in particular, both in and out of war. And for the battle to return home that can last decades, veterans everywhere lost a good man watching over them.

I’m willing to bet Iraqi insurgents had the same debates and fears about the Devil of Ramadi that we did about Juba. Was he even real? Could he ever be killed? For both sides, only one thing was certain: he was more than a man and a rifle.

Thanks for looking out, Chris.

Alex Horton is a public affairs specialist at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he writes for the department’s blog, Vantage Point. He served for 15 months as an infantryman in Iraq with the Third Stryker Brigade, Second Infantry Division. Follow him on Twitter.


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