Today marks the second anniversary of the death of Chris Kyle. I still can’t watch his wife, Taya, talk about it without feeling an open wound in my heart. The funeral televised from the Cowboy’s Stadium was amazing, but painful.
The kind of pain that knocks the wind out of you and takes your breath away. The kind of pain that leaves you gasping for air just to prove that this is real and not a horrible nightmare.
I have no personal ties to the Kyle family, but there is something between military wives that I can’t explain. We all dance between the world of wives and widows experiencing a mixture of relief and survivor’s guilt with each knock on a neighbor’s door.
Chris went into a war zone with a bounty on his head and a target on his back. He did four tours in Iraq. He was shot twice and escaped six IED blasts. The minute the first shot rang out from his gun he gave away his location, but he made it home . . .only to be killed on United States soil by a fellow soldier in a place that was as familiar as home to a sniper, the gun range.
Knowing how the movie ends I still haven’t been able to watch it. If you read the book, American Sniper, then you have read about Chris’s life in his own words. He was a Texan all the way; bigger than life.
Chris grew up hunting, played sports, and went on to be a professional rodeo cowboy. However, he injured his arm bringing his rodeo career to an end. After his arm healed he joined the military ultimately working his way into SEAL Team 3.becoming a sniper.
There is a famous story about the first shot Chris took during his sniper career. The story was originally reported by CNN and later told by Chris in his book American Sniper. According to the tale, a woman, cradling a toddler, was moving towards a group of Marines carrying a grenade. Chris took the shot killing her and saving the Marines. The quote from his book read, “The woman was already dead. I was just making sure she didn’t take any Marines with her.”
The insurgents named him, Shaitan Ar-Ramadi (The Devil of Ramadi). However, Chris admitted during an interview that he didn’t think the insurgents could tell the difference between him and other snipers.
When Chris returned home he started a company training law enforcement and the military. He worked with non-profits to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder. He went on a reality television show. He wrote a book. And he gave lots and lots of interviews. America fell in love with their American sniper. His straight shooting Texas charm gave a human quality to the Devil of Ramadi.
The details of Chris’s death still seem vague. The trial for Eddie Ray Routh, the man accused of killing Chis, is set for this month. Perhaps the world will have a better understanding then of how a hero can escape a war zone and be killed on US soil by a man he called friend.
Chris left behind a wife and two children.
Thanks to the state of Texas he also left behind a legacy that will help other veterans. On August 2013, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed the “Chris Kyle Bill” to recognize military training in order to obtaining occupational licenses in the state of Texas.
The governor current governor, Greg Abbott, declared Feb. 2, Chris Kyle Day.
Carrie D. Cox is host of The Military Mamas Radio Show, a talk radio program for veterans, active duty military and their families. She also works as the co-host of TWT-TV a veteran-owned small business. She grew up in Covington and graduated from Holmes High School. She moved away as a military spouse but returned several years ago and began writing and teaching. She has a doctorate and holds degrees in public relations, psychology, conflict management, neurolinguistics programming and forensic psychological profiling. Email: carriedcox@yahoo.com
