An American Patriot

I will lose a lot of you on this post.  It’s long and it is controversial.  But I have to write it.  I’m sorry.  Come back for the next post if this one is hard to read.  I know it is a bit messy.

War is such a controversial subject, with most people holding deep convictions on the subject.  I thought I had better pass on this one; keep my thoughts to myself.  But the book and all that it entailed, won’t leave my mind. 

American Sniper, by Navy Seal Chris Kyle, probably isn’t one of the best books that I have ever read, and it most likely isn’t one of the most well-written books in my collection; but I know for a fact it is one of those that will stay with me for a life-time.  It is without a doubt, thought provoking. I will want to talk about it; I will point to factual evidence from it; I will point to the passion; and I will reflect on the simple message given by a down-to-earth man, written from that honest spot deep in his heart that often times never gets past ones own understanding and ability to acknowledge, much less into the pages of a book for all of America to read.

I can’t say I loved it. It is often times heart-breaking and probably offers more information than we really need…But…his story won’t leave me. Truthfully, I guess I did love it. Kyle's passion, his stories of commitment and faith and duty just won't leave me! I don't want his stories to leave me, either...ever.

As a warning: There is some bad language in this book…it is raw; plain and simple.  Most have probably heard the old saying: “He cusses like a sailor!”  Well, he does and most likely magnified 10 times over; after all he’s a SEAL!  ;-) But getting away from all of that, this man definitely has a story to tell.  And honestly – I believe it is one that should be heard.

American Sniper is the auto-biography of “the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history”.  He’s kind of the modern day Alvin York. In reality, both men are record-breaking heroes! But in my opinion they are not heroes for their records; but rather, for their desire to fight for their country; protect and save their fellow soldier, fellow SEAL, or any life that deserved protection for that matter. The biggest difference is probably that Alvin York originally struggled with conviction about whether war was right or wrong. Chris Kyle never doubted for a moment that he would one day serve.

Chris Kyle first caught my attention when he was interviewed on Fox News Channel by Bill O’Reilly. It was a mediocre interview, but there was something about Chief Chris Kyle that spoke volumes…way more than any 10 minute, lame interview could bring out.

Yeah it was lame, Mr. O’Reilly. O’Reilly was more interested in finding out if Kyle “liked” killing and whether or not it was Jessie Ventura that he knocked out in a bar fight. (It was, though Kyle had attempted to protect Ventura’s identity.) But O’Reilly seemed to be more interested in the trivial rather than the amazing story of sacrifice and heroism that this patriot has to tell. But hey, at least the interview got me to buy the book!

Kyle begins the book with the beginning of his life. Raised in a Christian family with a strong faith and work ethic, Kyle grew up as a modern day cowboy in north-central Texas.  For some reason, it didn’t surprise me to learn his background when I began reading the book. He speaks with the utmost respect of his parents and home life. Later, he shows the same respect for his wife and kids. He professes his faith in Jesus, and in spite of his life-style and language, one can’t help but know his faith is real by the conviction with which he speaks of God’s grace.  He doesn’t believe he will be held accountable for the lives he took, and neither do I. I believe he will be receiving “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” for the lives that he saved.

Kyle writes with such open candor, hiding nothing, it seems.  He writes with humility, and pride, discounting his own ability, and crediting his brothers in arms. He admits his faults and seeks to improve them.  He tells the real story of that war, and he unashamedly admits we have an evil enemy and he knows who it is.  He doesn’t care so much about the kills he made, that everyone else seems to want to talk about; though he has no regrets for any he had to kill.  He admits his only regrets are about the people he couldn’t save. He felt guilt whenever home on leave, and he always felt he hadn’t done enough for his country. Let me give just a taste of an attitude that makes common, ordinary men heroes.

“My regrets are about the people I couldn’t save – Marines, soldiers, buddies. I still feel their loss.  I still ache for my failure to protect them.
I’m not naïve and I’m beyond romanticizing war and what I had to do there.  The worst moments of my life have come as a SEAL. Losing my buddies. Having a kid die on me.

I’m sure some of the things I went through pale in comparison to what some of the guys went through in World War II and other conflicts…..and Vietnam, they had to come home to a country that spat on them.” 

Obviously, Kyle couldn’t touch on all his experiences when one considers that he had four deployments as a sniper. What I found interesting, is that which he did choose to write.

I would like to share one of his most poignant stories.  He shared the experience of one of his closest buddies, Ryan Job, getting shot in the face.  No one expected Ryan to live; he recovered miraculously, though blinded for the rest of his life. Chris shared many stories about Ryan that it almost feels like you know him, too. Kyle explains how Ryan was hit, and tells of his courage, his strength and why he was able to walk on his own two feet from battle. It is beyond heroic, but what touched me most was reading how when Ryan was back in the states recovering in the hospital, someone asked if he needed anything.  Though completely blind, he requested to be wheeled out to sit by a flag, so that he could have some time alone in front of our nation’s symbol. If he couldn’t see it, he at least wanted to hear the sound it made while flapping in the wind. 

These are the types of patriots that serve and protect us.  No one is going to tell them there is not a war to fight. No one is going to tell them that we don’t have an enemy…No one better dare tell these men that “our biggest enemy is our own government”.  These men have lived differently. These men believe in what they do; the acts they take; the sacrifice they make.

I admire this man of courage who stands in his convictions. If you choose to read the book, you will see a man who doesn’t back down, and who isn’t afraid to say what he thinks.  One such example would be the way he expressed his opinion on the ROE’s (Rules of Engagement) of the war.  I want to include it here because I also believe so strongly in what he says:

“For some reason, a lot of people back home – not all people – didn’t accept that we were at war.  They didn’t accept that war means death, violent death most times.  A lot of people, not just politicians, wanted to impose ridiculous fantasies on us, hold us to some standard of behavior that no human being could maintain. 
I’m not saying war crimes should be committed. I am saying that warriors need to be let loose to fight war without their hands tied behind their backs.

According to the ROEs I followed in Iraq, if someone came into my house, shot my wife, my kids, and threw his gun down, I was supposed to NOT shoot him.  I was supposed to take him gently into custody.

Would you?

You can argue that my success proves the ROEs worked.  But I feel that I could have been more effective, probably protected more people and helped bring the war to a quicker conclusion without them.”

Kyle also tells the story of a time his team took over a house and the men inside all decked out in military gear, just didn’t seem right. Turned out there were a few who were light skinned and blond.  They were not Arabs or Iraqi’s; they were Chechens* recruited for a “holy war” against the West.  This is one of the reasons I know I will be talking about this book for a long time! It details just who our enemy is. It is different than any other; we are not fighting a particular country, we are fighting a religion that has no bounds.

A few days ago, I ran into a friend when my family and I went out to dinner.  Now, I love this family, but he and I differ quite a bit on politics.  We both have very political minds and he and I have had some political discussions from time to time.  We almost always disagree, but we can do so amicably.  He started it.  ;-)  He made the statement that we shouldn’t be at war just because of 9/11.

“Those guys were from Saudi Arabia”, he stated. “Why are we in Iraq and Afghanistan?” 

Respectfully, I have to say my friend just doesn’t get it.  He doesn’t understand who the enemy is.  This book can help educate him in that fact. We have an enemy throughout a number of countries, including our own!  Recently there was controversy about being in what a reporter called “peaceful Yemen”.  Yeah, right! Yemen is the new training ground for our most evil enemy.

I couldn’t help but weep when I read the final chapter of American Sniper and I stopped to think of all that our American military goes through regardless of branch. Yeah, I would say we have a lot to learn from Chris Kyle. I’m also pretty sure there aren’t always a whole lot of people listening.

Personally, I believe men that lay their life on the line like that have a calling. It takes someone very special to be able to do what they do.  Kyle should have lost his life on a number of occasions, but he was spared. Miraculously he was spared. He took shots that saved lives that one would believe could never have been made; with the right rifle he hit an Iraqi who held a rocket launcher from 2100 yards, “plus a little change”.

God definitely had his back.

Kyle had no idea he would complete that shot; his biggest hope was just to scare the shooter off and at least warn the convoy. Kyle had no idea who the convoy was that was saved when he made that hit, other than it was Army. Neither did the Army convoy ever know who it was that fired or how close they came to loosing their lives that day.

I guess the underlying theme of this book and why I feel it is so important is best said in a statement Ryan Job made while still in battle.  Chris Kyle ended up using it as the theme for the business (training military and police officers) he started after he got out of the SEALs:

"Despite what your mama told you…violence does solve problems.”

As sad as it is, that statement is often true.  What many people neglect to see, if we wouldn’t mess around trying to be soft and politically correct, more lives would be saved in the long run.
Chief Kyle gives many examples of this throughout his book, one being after the success they had in Ramadi:

"It seemed the only news stories we read were about atrocities or how impossible it was going to be to pacify Ramadi.

Guess what? We killed all those bad guys, and what happened? The Iraqi tribal leaders finally realized we meant business, and they finally banded together not just to govern themselves, but to kick the insurgents out.  It took force; it took violence of action, to create a situation where there could be peace.”

And later in the book on the same topic:

“We went in and killed all the bad people we could find.  When we started, the decent (or potentially decent) Iraqis didn’t fear the United States; they did fear the terrorists. 

The U.S. told them, “We’ll make it better for you.”

The terrorists said, “We’ll cut your head off.” 
Who would you fear?” 

Our military had to also show strength.

"We showed we were a force to be reckoned with.  We killed the bad guys and brought the leaders to the peace table. That is how the world works."

Sadly, yeah, that seems to be true. And war is ugly and controversial; but unfortunately it is necessary if we truly desire peace.  These men get it.

* “Chechnya's long and violent guerrilla war has attracted a small number of Islamist militants from outside of Chechnya--some of whom are Arab fighters with possible links to al-Qaeda.” ~Council on Foreign Relations

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