Ex-Navy SEAL Chris Kyle was one of two victims killed in a shooting at a Texas gun range Saturday.
According to a local news station, police have arrested a suspect in the slayings. The suspect reportedly shot Kyle at point-blank range while he attempted to aid a fellow veteran.
Kyle reportedly achieved 160 kills as a sniper in the Navy SEALs and wrote a New York Times bestseller: American Sniper about his exploits.
Kyle served four combat tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom and elsewhere. His decorations include two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation. Additionally, he received the Grateful Nation Award, given by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Following his combat deployments, he became chief instructor for training Naval Special Warfare Sniper and Counter-Sniper teams, and he authored the Naval Special Warfare Sniper Doctrine, the first Navy SEAL sniper manual.
The shooting occurred in Erath County, Texas, some 50 miles from Fort Worth. Chris Kyle was at a veterans' charity event helping a fellow military member learn sniper shooting technique. He was apparently shot by a Marine suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. The suspect, Eddie Ray Routh, has been arrested in Lancaster, Texas in connection with the shooting.
The media keeps saying "former Navy SEAL" - heads up Lamestream: there's no such thing as a "former" SEAL or Green Beret - the correct term is 'ex-' meaning 'out of'.
Chris Kyle was a better man than most; lived more in his short time on this Earth than most men would in ten lifetimes. He was a bona fide American Hero. Honor him.
STORMBRINGER SENDS
Too many losses of great second amendment Americans lately.
ReplyDeleteRest in peace ex SEAL Chris Kyle <3
ReplyDeleteR.I.P. Chris.
ReplyDeleteRIP, Rifleman. Your service is deeply respected. You were taken from us too young, too soon.
ReplyDelete(Taps played from a distance, like a ghostly memory)
R.I.P. to a good man.
ReplyDeleteBut SL, you might perhaps cut a little slack on the linguisitics. I don't know the protocols on your side of Big Green, but I can tell you it was rather firmly esconced in this young warrior's lexicon by They Of The Green D.I. Cover that all Marines no longer on active duty were "former" Marines, and that only such notorious douchebags as Charles Whitman, Lee Harvey Oswald, Congressman The Dishonorable Jack Murtha, and now the p.o.s. that apparently shot Chris Kyle have earned the pejorative appelation of being referred to as "EX-" Marines.
Given the media's usual bent, I'll be happy if they don't try to use this shooting as another idiot rationale to further restrict the Second Amendment.
May God bless him and grant him rest. We are free because he was brave.
ReplyDelete"PTSD" my ass.
ReplyDeleteI will second Aesop's comment. We were instructed back in the dawn-of-time when I was at Parris Island that "ex-Marine" was for those of the whitman/Oswald/Murtha ilk.
Boat Guy
To Aesop & Anonymous - the way it was explained to me: "There is no such thing as a FORMER Marine / Green Beret ..." etc
ReplyDeleteWhat is inferred is that once you have been selected, trained and completed whatever minimum service requirements exist, you are that forever.
Hence, I fell back on my Latin education: 'ex-' meaning 'out of'.
I present myself as ex-military, ex-Special Forces. I sometimes offer that there is no such thing as a former Green Beret.
Yes there are some shitstains out there who once served in Special Forces units; there are guys who if they were on fire I would not even piss on them to put them out. These men might be "former" Green Berets. I would suggest that they did not possess the minimum moral fiber required to earn the Green Beret; as such they were not ever Green Berets - they were merely serving in Special Forces units.
Another way it was put to m; "You earn the Green Beret EVERY DAY - and it ain't NEVER OVER."
Mark Twain strikes again.
ReplyDeleteIt seems the Army and the Marines are two services separated by a common language.
I'm hearing opinions that either a)The government needed him and have faked his death or b) he knew too much and the powers that be wanted him silenced.
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts?
Mom of a Marine