Chris Kyle 4 tours of duty and a lifetime of giving

Some may want to see the movie American Sniper about Chris Kyle, for the action but if you do, you need to know there was so much more to him and his life than his service as a sniper.


Final salute: Thousands pay respects to Chris Kyle at Cowboys Stadium

Dallas News
By JEFF MOSIER
Staff Writer
Published: 11 February 2013

ARLINGTON — Former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle’s autobiography introduced the public to the “most lethal sniper” in U.S. military history. But his public memorial service Monday at Cowboys Stadium reveled in the contrasts of the man called softhearted by family and the Devil of Ramadi by enemies in Iraq.

Kyle was a warrior who choked out countless friends as a gag, something they described as his hug. But one friend also spoke about how “that proud cowboy cried his eyes out” when one of his closest friends died.

Speaker after speaker — from family to military — described Kyle as a father who loved cuddling with his children, a passionate husband, the most devoted friend possible and a prankster with a “cackling” laugh. He was given the nickname The Legend by friends as a joke but eventually earned it with more than 150 confirmed kills, the most of any U.S. military sniper.

Taya Kyle, who spoke near the end of the two-hour ceremony, said she’ll need every bit of strength she learned from her husband.

“Chris always said, ‘The body will do whatever the mind tells it to,’” she said. “I’m counting on that now. I stand before you a broken woman, but I am now and always will be the wife of a man who was a warrior both on and off the battlefield.”
read more here

Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper hit their marks in ‘American Sniper’
Toledo Blade
BY KIRK BAIRD
BLADE STAFF WRITER
January 16, 2015

As the country’s deadliest sniper, with more than 160 confirmed kills, Chris Kyle put his life on the line during the Iraq War and in the process saved hundreds of fellow U.S. soldiers’ lives.

Such legendary battlefield exploits have all the makings of a great war film.

And it does. But that’s only part of Kyle’s story — the easiest part for a film to cover.

But as we’ve seen in the course of Clint Eastwood’s directorial career, he’s not interested in easy.

In the filmmaker’s acclaimed Western Unforgiven, for example, Eastwood adds a twist to the good guys wear white and the bad guys wear black genre motif, with Eastwood as a murderous outlaw anti-hero and Gene Hackman as a morally corrupt sheriff.

It’s much the same with American Sniper, a film about a national hero that doesn’t succumb to hero worship. Rather, its thrust is the stark honesty of the price of wartime heroism.

As a soldier on the battlefield, Kyle was nearly flawless. But as a soldier at home with his wife, Kyle was flawed and damaged, the result of a war he could leave but that never really left him.

The film is based on Kyle’s New York Times best-selling autobiography, and Eastwood’s adaptation is equal measures stirring and thrilling in its depiction of harrowing battles in which death could be waiting behind every locked door. Yet American Sniper’s biggest asset is its ability to place audiences who have never experienced the horrors of war outside of a movie theater into the mind and body of someone who has.
read more here

American Sniper - Official Trailer [HD]
Warner Bros. Pictures
American Sniper - Official Trailer 2 [HD]

Famous Navy SEAL Sniper Chris Kyle killed at Texas gun range

Ex-Navy SEAL died pursuing his passion
By JAMIE STENGLE AND CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
The Associated Press
Published: February 4, 2013

STEPHENVILLE, Texas — The former top Navy SEAL sniper who authorities say was killed at a Texas shooting range was devoted to maintaining camaraderie and helping his fellow veterans find their way after leaving active duty.

Chris Kyle, author of the best-selling book "American Sniper," and his friend Chad Littlefield apparently were doing just that Saturday when, officials say, they were shot and killed by former Marine Eddie Ray Routh.

Kyle, 38, had left the Navy in 2009 after four tours of duty in Iraq, where he earned a reputation as one of the military's most lethal snipers. But he quickly found a way to maintain contact with his fellow veterans and pass on what had helped him work through his own struggles. By late 2011, he filed the paperwork to establish the nonprofit FITCO Cares, which received its nonprofit status the following spring, said FITCO director Travis Cox.

"Chris struggled with some things," Cox said. "He'd been through a lot and he handled it with grace, but yeah he did struggle with some things. And he found a healthy outlet and was proactive in his approach to deal with those issues and wanted to help spread his healing, what worked for him, to others. And that's what he died doing."

For Kyle that healthy outlet was exercise. At the heart of FITCO was giving in-home fitness equipment to physically and emotionally wounded veterans, as well as families who had lost a veteran, Cox said.
read more here

There was another sniper in the news. No, he didn't get a movie made. He got a headline instead.

Family of man who shot wife, himself pushes for PTSD awareness
My Meridian Press
Holly Beech
November 7, 2014

“It’s sad, the families have to go through this,” she said. “These issues are real and they need to be addressed so people don’t have tragedies.”

Family members of a 24-year-old Meridian man who shot his wife and then himself said he came back from war a changed man.

According to Meridian Police, Kevin Smith shot his wife, 32-year-old Kimberly Smith, on Sept. 20 in the garage of their home while her five children where in their rooms sleeping. The grandmother to three of the children was also in the home and called the police.

Kevin’s aunt, Diane Delvecchio, told Meridian Press in an email that Kevin suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury after serving two tours in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army.

“PTSD and TBI are horrific,” she said. “Kevin was a good, kindhearted man that loved his family very much.”

According to a memorial site set up by his family, Kevin was honorably discharged with PTSD after serving for five years, including as a sniper.
read more here

This Marine sniper got a headline too.

Former Marine who shot deputy tormented, his ex says
Tampa Bay Times
Jessica Vander Velde
Times Staff Writer
Sunday, December 8, 2013

TAMPA — Matthew Buendia was a trained U.S. Marine Corps sniper. If he had wanted to kill the Hillsborough sheriff's deputy he shot at, he could have, his ex-girlfriend recently testified.

Jessica Gipson figured he was trying to commit suicide. She says that just before Buendia fired more than a dozen times at Hillsborough Deputy Lyonelle De Veaux on Sept. 30, 2011, he swallowed a handful of pills.

Gipson saw Buendia draw his gun and fire at close-range. Maybe the 24-year-old man wanted the deputy to shoot back, she thought.

"At this point, I don't know what his intentions were," Gipson testified three weeks ago.

Gipson's recent testimony provides new details about the troubled ex-Marine, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and at one point was taking 17 pills a day prescribed by U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs doctors.

This is the defense's approach as they head toward trial in March. No one is denying Buendia fired the shots. But Tampa defense attorney Mark O'Brien is arguing the young man served his country and came back from three Middle East deployments broken.

Without warning, he would become mean and aggressive, Gipson testified. Sometimes his face would change, as he'd fly into "one of these moods," she said.

Buendia was frustrated with the VA doctors, who he thought were not communicating with one another. He self-medicated with marijuana, Gipson said, which helped him eat and sleep.

He carried a seat belt cutter in his car — a response to seeing some friends burned alive in a vehicle while deployed abroad. read more here

Some will remember him as a sniper. Some will remember him as a veteran reaching out to make the lives of other veterans better. When you see the movie remember the price paid is not over when they come home.

Congress Got It Wrong With Clay Hunt Suicide Bill

Stateside Suicides Won't Change with Repeating Failures
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 17, 2015

Coming out against something so popular isn't easy but it would be harder for me to simply follow everyone else for me. I've looked into the eyes of far too many families after it was too late to prevent a stateside suicide of someone they loved. I've talked to too many veterans after they survived combat and then repeated attempts to end their own lives. They waited, hoped, prayed, Congress would finally get it right but more were failed by them than helped by them.

It is far too easy to simply support Clay Hunt's family on this bill instead of looking back at all the other families having to travel to Washington hoping to make a difference. They have done it for years. They have been wondering where all the outrage has been for their sake. Where are the editorials about holding someone accountable? Where are the editorials brave enough to mention how many other lives could have been saved if Congress ever once took a look at what they already did and failed with?

It isn't the money. It isn't the worthiness of Clay Hunt to have his name attached to a bill promoted as saving lives. It is the fact that there have been many more bills, just like this and suicides went up. It is the fact that Congress has not gotten a single bill written worthy of the suffering of any of them.

After years of Congress telling us they were doing something to save lives the results are veterans committing suicide at double the rate of the civilian population yet are only 7% of the general public. Younger veterans, OEF and OIF veterans, are committing suicide triple their peer rate. My heart breaks for Hunt's family. It breaks more knowing that they joined many more families hoping their loss will save lives only to discover, more suffered the same fate.

This bill should not be passed until Congress stops repeating what they have already done since 2007 with the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention BIll. That bill was pushed by another grieving family thinking they were going to make a difference only to discover Congress didn't know what they were doing. Clay Hunt deserved better than this bill and so did all the others.

The money Congress spent along with the DOD and the VA have been in the billions a year but the price cannot be measured with a dollar sign. It is measured by the tears shed for someone who should not be dead.

A soldier's suicide, our second chance
Star Tribune
Article by: EDITORIAL BOARD
January 16, 2015

It’s an outrage that vets’ legislation didn’t clear Congress last year.

The impromptu YouTube video made by Clay Hunt’s mom and stepdad last month wasn’t meant to be a tear-jerker. But it’s hard to watch the footage without being affected by the raw, emotional pain the couple shares.

Hunt, a Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, took his own life in 2011 after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. In mid-December, a much-needed bill named after the young Texan, one that would improve veterans’ mental health care and access to it, was poised to easily clear the U.S. Senate after unanimously passing the House. Then it hit a roadblock by the name of Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican known as “Dr. No” for both his medical degree and his willingness to single-handedly kill bills through procedural gamesmanship.

The last-ditch video by Susan and Richard Selke was shot near Coburn’s office as they became aware that he had concerns about the bill’s expense, $22 million over five years, and necessity. Hoping Coburn would see the video, Selke asks the senator, as a fellow father, to reconsider.

“I know there are things in there [the bill] that might have saved Clay’s life, might have saved some other veteran’s life,’’ Selke said, clearly struggling to hold back tears. “It’s on your back. This is personal. Please, please don’t say no.”
read more here

A Father-to-Father Message to Sen. Coburn from Clay Hunt's Step-Dad
Can you listen to their heartbreak and then tell them honestly this bill will make a difference knowing what you know now? I can't. What I can tell them is everyday I fought to try and prevent someone like Clay from committing suicide. He did everything right. He tried to get help. He got involved with other veterans. He volunteered with TEAM Rubicon responding to disasters around the world. What more could he have done? Nothing. The rest of us should have been up to the challenge and fought for them. What excuses will we have the next time another family goes to a funeral and then to Washington hoping to make a difference?

Camp Pendleton Grounds Site of Acjachemen Natives Conversion

What California Indians lost under Junipero Serra, soon to be saint 
LA Times
Karin Klein
January 16, 2015

Through those records, many of today’s Acjachemen know which villages were their ancestral homes. Some can trace their roots back to Panhe, which means they know where their ancestors stood 9,000 years ago.

An early photo of Mission San Juan Capistrano
one of the missions overseen by Father Junipero Serra
(Los Angeles Times)

Is there a word for the extinction of cultures? Not the people of those cultures, but the cultures themselves?

I ask because one of the notable consequences of the California mission movement founded by and overseen by Father Junipero Serra was the loss of various Native American cultures, to the point where many Indian groups cannot now get tribal recognition.

It seems odd that Pope Francis, known for his cultural sensitivity and appreciation for diversity, has chosen to confer sainthood on Serra, who played such a big role in obliterating indigenous culture in coastal California.

Several years ago, I was honored with an invitation to attend a traditional Acjachemen ceremony in San Onofre State Beach, just south of the Orange County border.

The members were celebrating the fact that the Coastal Commission had put a halt to a massive toll-road project that would have encroached on the site of the ancient Acjachemen village of Panhe, which their ancestors had inhabited continuously for 9,000 years, until shortly after the arrival of the Spanish. In fact, it was at Panhe that the first christening took place in California; the actual spot is on Camp Pendleton.
read more here

Vietnam Veteran with PTSD Proves It Ain't Over Yet

A veteran remembers 
Willits News
By Karen Rifkin
POSTED: 01/16/2015

In the early 1980s, when the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was built, Anthony flew to D.C. to see it. "I walked across the green and saw vets dressed in their camouflage; I couldn't get closer than 100 yards and turned and got back on the plane for home. I didn't relate to being a Vietnam vet; I didn't talk with other men."

Tony Anthony, veteran. (Photo by Nathan DeHart)

It was 1967 and Tony Anthony was in his second year of college. "It seemed like all the guys were there to stay out of the Army; to me that felt like fraud." So he quit school, got a job and three months later was drafted. Afterward his head was spinning, "Oh my God, what have I done?"

Vietnam was raging; it was the height of the war and he was drafted in November of that year, the largest draft month ever. Completing his basic training in Fort Dix, New Jersey, he remembers it as being his coldest winter ever.

"The commander there had it in for college guys. There were eight of us; he put us all in the infantry and we were shipped to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, for advanced infantry training," Anthony said.

"Even though I was drafted, I had been fighting the whole thing, but when we got to Fort Jackson, the guys who were training us had just returned and were missing body parts. I got serious then; I had to listen if I wanted to survive."

Graduating at the top of his class, his reward was being allowed to stay and teach the next cadre while the rest of his unit was sent to Vietnam. Seven months later Anthony was shipped out on his own.

"It was one thing going with a unit and a much harder thing to go on your own," he said.
read more here

John Preston, Iraq Veteran, Song to Fight Silent War of PTSD

East Bay Veteran Moved to Revive Music Career to Help Fight "Silent War" 
NBC Bay News
By Garvin Thomas
Jan 16, 2015

John Preston thinks the third time is the charm.

After two, failed runs at rock stardom John feels he finally has the right music, and the right message, to make the big time.

"How I feel right now is that, where we are at in life, we've written a hit," John says.

The 32-year-old Iraq War veteran and Palo Alto firefighter has recently released a single and EP, Your War Is Over, pledging 30% of the sales to a non profit that helps veterans struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

"Somewhere along the way something blessed me with a talent," John says. "We're going to take whatever I can do with that talent to raise awareness for the rest of the country."

John grew in up rural Kentucky, dreaming of being a rock star. Still, he always knew he would first follow in the steps of his father and two older brothers by enlisting in the Marines. John signed up in 2000. He was on a training exercise in Southern California on 9/11.
read more here