good.
There were at least four al-Qaida operatives involved in the executions of our soldiers. Other special operations teams killed two of them. Seal Team Three took care of the other two. It was a clean sweep. In September 2001 President George Bush had told the American people, âAmericans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes visible on TV and covert operations secret even in success.â Kyleâs bullet scored one of those secret successes. The country did not learn that the men responsible for murdering Menchaca and Tucker had been hunted down and killed. There was no closure for the families back in Oregon and Texas as a result. But behind the scenes, the SEALs made sure the executioners faced a reckoningâa far more permanent one than the driver of the truck that carried the bodies received in 2008.
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
Chris Kyle retired from the U.S. Navy in 2009 with two hundred fifty-five confirmed kills to his credit, more than any other sniper in American history. His service during eight years of combat in some of the heaviest fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan earned him two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars for Valor. He was wounded in action repeatedly, but never received a single Purple Heart. Just before one firefight he had been talking to his wife on a sat phone. When the bullets started flying, he dropped it and picked up his rifle. Moments later, he and several members of his team were wounded, and his wife heard him shout âIâm hit!â before the sat phone cut out. For three days she waited for word, terrified that sheâd heard her husbandâs final words.
When Kyle came home from his final deployment, he saw what eight years of combat had done to his wife. He made the decision to retire from the Navy to devote himself to his family. He returned to his beloved state of Texas, where he now ran a company that trains law enforcement and military snipers. But for Kyle the future wasnât in the corporate rat race. He dreamed of a day he could throw his cell phone away, put on a pair of boots, and ride among his own herd of cattle on a north Texas prairie he could call his own.
In 2010, his best-selling book, American Sniper, was released. Chris gave most of the bookâs proceeds to the families of fallen SEALs he had served with during his time in combat. He spent his days running his consulting business and reaching out to veterans with disabilities.
After serving as guardian angel for countless Marines around Ramadi in 2006, Chris and his business partner were murdered on February 2, 2013, by a Marine veteran suffering from an acute case of post-traumatic stress disorder. After a furious law enforcement chase, the Marine drove Chrisâs pickup into a police car and was captured. His motives for the murder were unclear.
Chris Kyleâs memorial service was held at the Dallas Cowboys football stadium. Thousands of mourners lined the streets and filled the stands to pay their final respects to an American icon whose life had been devoted to protecting his fellow Americans. That he was slain by one of those very men in a fit of senseless violence after he had done so much for his country remains one of the most painful ironies of the War on Terror.
Â
CHAPTER FOUR
The Playground of Snipers
SUMMER 2006
RAMADI, IRAQ
Ramadi in the late summer of 2006 was a city in its death throes. Unlike Fallujah, this battle was drawn out, a slow-motion car wreck that consumed Ramadi in a way not seen in military history since the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942â1943. While the U.S. forces showed restraint and only used such firepower as aerial bombs, rockets, or the main gun on an M1 Abrams tank as an absolute last resort, the insurgents were under no such limitations.
Enemy car bomb factories hidden in warehouses in or around the city churned out dump trucks filled with
There were at least four al-Qaida operatives involved in the executions of our soldiers. Other special operations teams killed two of them. Seal Team Three took care of the other two. It was a clean sweep. In September 2001 President George Bush had told the American people, âAmericans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes visible on TV and covert operations secret even in success.â Kyleâs bullet scored one of those secret successes. The country did not learn that the men responsible for murdering Menchaca and Tucker had been hunted down and killed. There was no closure for the families back in Oregon and Texas as a result. But behind the scenes, the SEALs made sure the executioners faced a reckoningâa far more permanent one than the driver of the truck that carried the bodies received in 2008.
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
Chris Kyle retired from the U.S. Navy in 2009 with two hundred fifty-five confirmed kills to his credit, more than any other sniper in American history. His service during eight years of combat in some of the heaviest fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan earned him two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars for Valor. He was wounded in action repeatedly, but never received a single Purple Heart. Just before one firefight he had been talking to his wife on a sat phone. When the bullets started flying, he dropped it and picked up his rifle. Moments later, he and several members of his team were wounded, and his wife heard him shout âIâm hit!â before the sat phone cut out. For three days she waited for word, terrified that sheâd heard her husbandâs final words.
When Kyle came home from his final deployment, he saw what eight years of combat had done to his wife. He made the decision to retire from the Navy to devote himself to his family. He returned to his beloved state of Texas, where he now ran a company that trains law enforcement and military snipers. But for Kyle the future wasnât in the corporate rat race. He dreamed of a day he could throw his cell phone away, put on a pair of boots, and ride among his own herd of cattle on a north Texas prairie he could call his own.
In 2010, his best-selling book, American Sniper, was released. Chris gave most of the bookâs proceeds to the families of fallen SEALs he had served with during his time in combat. He spent his days running his consulting business and reaching out to veterans with disabilities.
After serving as guardian angel for countless Marines around Ramadi in 2006, Chris and his business partner were murdered on February 2, 2013, by a Marine veteran suffering from an acute case of post-traumatic stress disorder. After a furious law enforcement chase, the Marine drove Chrisâs pickup into a police car and was captured. His motives for the murder were unclear.
Chris Kyleâs memorial service was held at the Dallas Cowboys football stadium. Thousands of mourners lined the streets and filled the stands to pay their final respects to an American icon whose life had been devoted to protecting his fellow Americans. That he was slain by one of those very men in a fit of senseless violence after he had done so much for his country remains one of the most painful ironies of the War on Terror.
Â
CHAPTER FOUR
The Playground of Snipers
SUMMER 2006
RAMADI, IRAQ
Ramadi in the late summer of 2006 was a city in its death throes. Unlike Fallujah, this battle was drawn out, a slow-motion car wreck that consumed Ramadi in a way not seen in military history since the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942â1943. While the U.S. forces showed restraint and only used such firepower as aerial bombs, rockets, or the main gun on an M1 Abrams tank as an absolute last resort, the insurgents were under no such limitations.
Enemy car bomb factories hidden in warehouses in or around the city churned out dump trucks filled with
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