American Sniper

by Chris Kyle

  DEDICATION

  I dedicate this book to my wife, Taya, and my kids for sticking it out with me. Thanks for still being here when I got home.

  I’d also like to dedicate it to the memory of my SEAL brothers Marc and Ryan, for their courageous service to our country and their undying friendship to me. I will bleed for their deaths the rest of my life.

  CONTENTS

  Dedication

  Author’s Note

  Map of Iraq

  Prologue: Evil in the Crosshairs

  1. Bustin’ Broncs and Other Ways of Having Fun

  2. Jackhammered

  3. Takedowns

  4. Five Minutes to Live

  5. Sniper

  6. Dealing Death

  7. Down in the Shit

  Photograph Section

  8. Family Conflicts

  9. The Punishers

  10. The Devil of Ramadi

  11. Man Down

  12. Hard Times

  13. Mortality

  14. Home and Out

  Acknowledgments

  CHRIS KYLE, IN MEMORIAM

  Introduction by Taya Kyle and Jim DeFelice

  Wayne and Deby Kyle, Chris’s mom and dad

  Taya Kyle

  Jeff Kyle, Chris’s brother

  Andrew Alexander, friend

  Bo Pharr, friend

  “W,” writing on behalf of “the Teams”

  Bryan Rury, lifelong friend

  Marcus Luttrell, fellow SEAL, friend

  Ashley Purvis Smith, family friend

  Al Hemmle, principal, Midlothian High School

  Glenn Beck, talk-show host

  Jeff Burge, Dallas Police Department, friend

  Dr. Karen Hanten, pediatrician, friend

  Kelly Job, wife of Chris’s SEAL teammate Ryan Job

  “Dauber,” fellow SEAL, friend

  Kim and Kent Studebaker, Chris’s parents-in-law

  Anonymous, active-duty SEAL, friend

  Kim Essary, neighbor, friend

  Larry Toon, chairman of Elizabeth Toon Charities

  Leanne Littlefield, friend

  Marc Myers, businessman, ranch owner, friend

  Mathew Bullinger, fellow Little League coach, friend

  Omar Avila, wounded warrior, friend

  Randy Cupp, businessman, friend

  Rich Emberlin, Dallas Police Department, friend

  Sarah and Ellyse Dyer, friends

  Scott Brown, Musician, Marine, friend

  Sergeant Vince Lee, Dallas Police Department, friend

  Jim DeFelice, coauthor of American Sniper

  For More Information

  About the Authors

  Also by Chris Kyle

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  THE EVENTS THAT HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK ARE TRUE, RECOUNTED from the best of my memory. The Department of Defense, including high-ranking U.S.N. personnel, reviewed the text for accuracy and sensitive material. Even though they cleared the book for publication, this does not mean they like everything they read. But this is my story, not theirs. We’ve reconstructed dialogue from memory, which means that it may not be word for word. But the essence of what was said is accurate.

  No classified information was used in the preparation of this book. The Pentagon’s Office of Security Review and the Navy requested that certain changes be made for security reasons. Those requests were all honored.

  Many of the people I served with are still active-duty SEALs. Others are working in different capacities for the government, protecting our nation. All may be considered enemies by our country’s enemies, as am I. Because of that, I have not given their full identities in this book. They know who they are, and I hope they know they have my thanks.

  —C.K.

  MAP OF IRAQ

  PROLOGUE

  EVIL IN THE CROSSHAIRS

  LATE MARCH 2003. IN THE AREA OF NASIRIYA, IRAQ

  I LOOKED THROUGH THE SCOPE OF THE SNIPER RIFLE, SCANNING down the road of the tiny Iraqi town. Fifty yards away, a woman opened the door of a small house and stepped outside with her child.

  The rest of the street was deserted. The local Iraqis had gone inside, most of them scared. A few curious souls peeked out from behind curtains, waiting. They could hear the rumble of the approaching American unit. The Marines were flooding up the road, marching north to liberate the country from Saddam Hussein.

  It was my job to protect them. My platoon had taken over the building earlier in the day, sneaking into position to provide “overwatch”—prevent the enemy from ambushing the Marines as they came through.

  It didn’t seem like too difficult a task—if anything, I was glad the Marines were on my side. I’d seen the power of their weapons and I would’ve hated to have to fight them. The Iraq army didn’t stand a chance. And, in fact, they appeared to have abandoned the area already.

  The war had started roughly two weeks before. My platoon, “Charlie” (later “Cadillac”) of SEAL Team 3, helped kick it off during the early morning of March 20. We landed on al-Faw Peninsula and secured the oil terminal there so Saddam couldn’t set it ablaze as he had during the First Gulf War. Now we were tasked to assist the Marines as they marched north toward Baghdad.

  I was a SEAL, a Navy commando trained in special operations. SEAL stands for “SEa, Air, Land,” and it pretty much describes the wide ranges of places we operate. In this case, we were far inland, much farther than SEALs traditionally operated, though as the war against terror continued, this would become common. I’d spent nearly three years training and learning how to become a warrior; I was ready for this fight, or at least as ready as anyone can be.

  The rifle I was holding was a .300 WinMag, a bolt-action, precision sniper weapon that belonged to my platoon chief. He’d been covering the street for a while and needed a break. He showed a great deal of confidence in me by choosing me to spot him and take the gun. I was still a new guy, a newbie or rookie in the Teams. By SEAL standards, I had yet to be fully tested.

  I was also not yet trained as a SEAL sniper. I wanted to be one in the worst way, but I had a long way to go. Giving me the rifle that morning was the chief’s way of testing me to see if I had the right stuff.

  We were on the roof of an old rundown building at the edge of a town the Marines were going to pass through. The wind kicked dirt and papers across the battered road below us. The place smelled like a sewer—the stench of Iraq was one thing I’d never get used to.

  “Marines are coming,” said my chief as the building began to shake. “Keep watching.”

  I looked through the scope. The only people who were moving were the woman and maybe a child or two nearby.

  I watched our troops pull up. Ten young, proud Marines in uniform got out of their vehicles and gathered for a foot patrol. As the Americans organized, the woman took something from beneath her clothes, and yanked at it.

  She’d set a grenade. I didn’t realize it at first.

  “Looks yellow,” I told the chief, describing what I saw as he watched himself. “It’s yellow, the body—”

  “She’s got a grenade,” said the chief. “That’s a Chinese grenade.”

  “Shit.”

  “Take a shot.”

  “But—”

  “Shoot. Get the grenade. The Marines—”

  I hesitated. Someone was trying to get the Marines on the radio, but we couldn’t reach them. They were coming down the street, heading toward the woman.

  “Shoot!” said the chief.

  I pushed my finger against the trigger. The bullet leapt out. I shot. The grenade dropped. I fired again as the grenade blew up.

  It was the first time I’d killed anyone while I was on the
sniper rifle. And the first time in Iraq—and the only time—I killed anyone other than a male combatant.

  IT WAS MY DUTY TO SHOOT, AND I DON’T REGRET IT. 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 . . .

  She was too blinded by evil to consider them. She just wanted Americans dead, no matter what.

  My shots saved several Americans, whose lives were clearly worth more than that woman’s twisted soul. I can stand before God with a clear conscience about doing my job. But I truly, deeply hated the evil that woman possessed. I hate it to this day.

  SAVAGE, DESPICABLE EVIL. THAT’S WHAT WE WERE FIGHTING IN IRAQ. That’s why a lot of people, myself included, called the enemy “savages.” There really was no other way to describe what we encountered there.

  People ask me all the time, “How many people have you killed?” My standard response is, “Does the answer make me less, or more, of a man?”

  The number is not important to me. I only wish I had killed more. Not for bragging rights, but because I believe the world is a better place without savages out there taking American lives. Everyone I shot in Iraq was trying to harm Americans or Iraqis loyal to the new government.

  I had a job to do as a SEAL. I killed the enemy—an enemy I saw day in and day out plotting to kill my fellow Americans. I’m haunted by the enemy’s successes. They were few, but even a single American life is one too many lost.

  I don’t worry about what other people think of me. It’s one of the things I most admired about my dad growing up. He didn’t give a hoot what others thought. He was who he was. It’s one of the qualities that has kept me most sane.

  As this book goes to print, I’m still a bit uncomfortable with the idea of publishing my life story. First of all, I’ve always thought that if you want to know what life as a SEAL is like, you should go get your own Trident: earn our medal, the symbol of who we are. Go through our training, make the sacrifices, physical and mental. That’s the only way you’ll know.

  Second of all, and more importantly, who cares about my life? I’m no different than anyone else.

  I happen to have been in some pretty bad-ass situations. People have told me it’s interesting. I don’t see it. Other people are talking about writing books about my life, or about some of the things I’ve done. I find it strange, but I also feel it’s my life and my story, and I guess I better be the one to get it on paper the way it actually happened.

  Also, there are a lot of people who deserve credit, and if I don’t write the story, they may be overlooked. I don’t like the idea of that at all. My boys deserve to be praised more than I do.

  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.

  People always want a number. Even if the Navy would let me, I’m not going to give one. I’m not a numbers guy. SEALs are silent warriors, and I’m a SEAL down to my soul. If you want the whole story, get a Trident. If you want to check me out, ask a SEAL.

  If you want what I am comfortable with sharing, and even some stuff I am reluctant to reveal, read on.

  I’ve always said that I wasn’t the best shot or even the best sniper ever. I’m not denigrating my skills. I certainly worked hard to hone them. I was blessed with some excellent instructors, who deserve a lot of credit. And my boys—the fellow SEALs and the Marines and the Army soldiers who fought with me and helped me do my job—were all a critical part of my success. But my high total and my so-called “legend” have much to do with the fact that I was in the shit a lot.

  In other words, I had more opportunities than most. I served back-to-back deployments from right before the Iraq War kicked off until the time I got out in 2009. I was lucky enough to be positioned directly in the action.

  There’s another question people ask a lot: Did it bother you killing so many people in Iraq?

  I tell them, “No.”

  And I mean it. The first time you shoot someone, you get a little nervous. You think, can I really shoot this guy? Is it really okay? But after you kill your enemy, you see it’s okay. You say, Great.

  You do it again. And again. You do it so the enemy won’t kill you or your countrymen. You do it until there’s no one left for you to kill.

  That’s what war is.

  I loved what I did. I still do. If circumstances were different—if my family didn’t need me—I’d be back in a heartbeat. I’m not lying or exaggerating to say it was fun. I had the time of my life being a SEAL.

  People try to put me in a category as a bad-ass, a good ol’ boy, asshole, sniper, SEAL, and probably other categories not appropriate for print. All might be true on any given day. In the end, my story, in Iraq and afterward, is about more than just killing people or even fighting for my country.

  It’s about being a man. And it’s about love as well as hate.

  1

  BUSTIN’ BRONCS AND OTHER WAYS OF HAVING FUN

  JUST A COWBOY AT HEART

  E VERY STORY HAS A BEGINNING.

  Mine starts in north-central Texas. I grew up in small towns where I learned the importance of family and traditional values, like patriotism, self-reliance, and watching out for your family and neighbors. I’m proud to say that I still try to live my life according to those values. I have a strong sense of justice. It’s pretty much black-and-white. I don’t see too much gray. I think it’s important to protect others. I don’t mind hard work. At the same time, I like to have fun. Life’s too short not to.

  I was raised with, and still believe in, the Christian faith. If I had to order my priorities, they would be God, Country, Family. There might be some debate on where those last two fall—these days I’ve come around to believing that Family may, under some circumstances, outrank Country. But it’s a close race.

  I’ve always loved guns, always loved hunting, and in a way I guess you could say I’ve always been a cowboy. I was riding horses from the time I could walk. I wouldn’t call myself a true cowboy today, because it’s been a long time since I’ve worked a ranch, and I’ve probably lost a lot of what I had in the saddle. Still, in my heart if I’m not a SEAL I’m a cowboy, or should be. Problem is, it’s a hard way to make a living when you have a family.

  I don’t remember when I started hunting, but it would have been when I was very young. My family had a deer lease a few miles from our house, and we would hunt every winter. (For you Yankees: a deer lease is a property where the owner rents or leases hunting rights out for a certain amount of time; you pay your money and you get the right to go out and hunt. Y’all probably have different arrangements where you live, but this one is pretty common down here.) Besides deer, we’d hunt turkey, doves, quail—whatever was in season. “We” meant my mom, my dad, and my brother, who’s four years younger than me. We’d spend the weekends in an old RV trailer. It wasn’t very big, but we were a tight little family and we had a lot of fun.

  My father worked for Southwestern Bell and AT&T—they split and then came back together over the length of his career. He was a manager, and as he’d get promoted we’d have to move every few years. So in a way I was raised all over Texas.

  Even though he was successful, my father hated his job. Not the work, really, but what went along with it. The bureaucracy. The fact that he had to work in an office. He really hated having to wear a suit and tie every day.

  “I don’t care how much money you get,” my dad used to tell me. “It’s not worth it if you’re not happy.” That’s
the most valuable piece of advice he ever gave me: Do what you want in life. To this day I’ve tried to follow that philosophy.

  In a lot of ways my father was my best friend growing up, but he was able at the same time to combine that with a good dose of fatherly discipline. There was a line and I never wanted to cross it. I got my share of whuppin’s (you Yankees will call ’em spankings) when I deserved it, but not to excess and never in anger. If my dad was mad, he’d give himself a few minutes to calm down before administering a controlled whuppin’—followed by a hug.

  To hear my brother tell it, he and I were at each other’s throats most of the time. I don’t know if that’s true, but we did have our share of tussles. He was younger and smaller than me, but he could give as good he got, and he’d never give up. He’s a tough character and one of my closest friends to this day. We gave each other hell, but we also had a lot of fun and always knew we had each other’s back.

  Our high school used to have a statue of a panther in the front lobby. We had a tradition each year where seniors would try and put incoming freshmen on the panther as a hazing ritual. Freshmen, naturally, resisted. I had graduated when my brother became a freshman, but I came back on his first day of school and offered a hundred dollars to anyone who could sit him on that statue.

  I still have that hundred dollars.

  WHILE I GOT INTO A LOT OF FIGHTS, I DIDN’T START MOST OF THEM. My dad made it clear I’d get a whuppin’ if he found out I started a fight. We were supposed to be above that.

  Defending myself was a different story. Protecting my brother was even better—if someone tried to pick on him, I’d lay them out. I was the only one allowed to whip him.

  Somewhere along the way, I started sticking up for younger kids who were getting picked on. I felt I had to look out for them. It became my duty.

  Maybe it began because I was looking for an excuse to fight without getting into trouble. I think there was more to it than that; I think my father’s sense of justice and fair play influenced me more than I knew at the time, and even more than I can say as an adult. But whatever the reason, it sure gave me plenty of opportunities for getting into scrapes.