The deadly marksman
Kyle went to serve in the Iraqi battlefield four times. Fearful local militants called him the "Ramadi Devil" and offered a reward of up to 80,000 U.S. dollars.
Kyle's full name is Christopher Scott Kyle. He was born on April 8, 1974 in Odessa, Texas. Father is a teacher in holiday school. When Kyle was just 8 years old, his father bought him a rifle and then gave him a shotgun.
Under the leadership of his father, Kyle fell in love with hunting since he was a child. The father and son often went to the wild to hunt wild birds and deer together. After graduating from high school, Kyle went to work on the farm and became a professional herder. In the meantime, one of his arms was injured and he had to stop grazing. After healed, he had the idea of joining the army.
At the recruiting scene, he applied to join the US Marine Corps, but was directly rejected because of an old illness on his arm. However, his hunting and shooting experience from an early age attracted the attention of recruiters from the Army and Navy. Soon, he received a call from the military and was recruited into a basic training school for the Navy SEALs for training. In 1999, he formally joined the Navy.
In the SEAL third commando team, Kyle's shooting talent can be fully utilized. During the Iraq War, he served in the Iraqi battlefield four times, participated in arduous street fighting, and won the reputation of a "legendary" marksman among his comrades.
In the city of Ramadi in central Iraq, local militants who heard the news called Kyle a "Ramadi Demon" and offered a reward of $20,000 to kill him. The bounty was later raised to $80,000.
Kyle once quickly picked up the gun and pulled the trigger from 1920 meters away, and shot the Iraqi militants accurately and accurately.
In an interview with Time magazine in 2012, Kyle talked about the mood of the sniper. "There, I don't think of them as human beings," he said. "I don't think about whether they have family members. I just want to ensure the safety of my comrades. If I shoot them to death, they will not be able to install improvised explosive devices. At that time. , You won’t hesitate.”
According to Kyle’s memories in his autobiography, his most legendary sniper operation took place in Sadr City in 2008. At that time, he was on a mission outside the city and saw an militant carrying a rocket launcher close to a US military convoy about 1920 meters away. Kyle immediately picked up the gun and pulled the trigger, shooting the militant accurately and accurately, setting the record for the farthest he successfully sniped.
During his service in Iraq, Kyle was shot twice and suffered 6 bomb attacks. It can be described as a catastrophe.
By the time he retired in 2009, Kyle had shot and killed 255 people on the battlefield, of which 160 were confirmed by the military as the "most deadly sniper" in the history of the US military. The previous record was set by the Marine Corps sniper Carlos Hatchcock in the Vietnam War, confirming the shooting and killing of 93 people.
Killed a veteran with a gun
In the process of helping a veteran with psychological trauma, 38-year-old Kyle was shot and killed in the back by the veteran.
During his ten years in service, Kyle received two Silver Star Medals, 5 Purple Star Medals and other honors. After retiring, he, his wife Taya and two children moved to Midlothian, Texas, and set up a company to provide combat and weapons training services for the military, police, businesses and individuals.
In 2012, Kyle's autobiography "American Sniper" co-authored with others was published and was a great success. It has been on the "New York Times" bestseller list for 37 consecutive weeks. Subsequently, his other co-authored book "American Guns-Viewing American History from 10 Weapons" was also successfully published, telling about 10 classic weapons he used.
In addition to starting a company and writing books, Kyle is also committed to helping retired veterans overcome "post-traumatic stress disorder." He co-founded a non-profit organization called "FITCO Care Foundation" and established the "Hero Project" to provide physical rehabilitation equipment, personal training, life assistance, psychotherapy, etc. for veterans who have suffered physical and psychological injuries. service.
However, it was in the process of helping a veteran to treat his psychological trauma that the 38-year-old Kyle was shot and killed. On February 2, 2013, Kyle was shot and killed by a U.S. Marine Corps veteran Eddie Ray Routh at a shooting range in Texas. According to media reports, Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield took Lawth to the shooting range to help him treat post-traumatic stress disorder, but Lawth shot him from behind.
Routh is 27 years old and served in the Marine Corps from 2006 to 2010. He was stationed in Iraq in 2007 and Haiti in 2010. He was unemployed for a long time after he retired. Shortly before the incident, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was just discharged from a psychiatric hospital.
The police said it was impossible to infer from Lawth’s confession that he shot Kyle to death. The police charged Lawth with one serious murder and two murder charges.
Cruel irony
Kyle and a friend helped veteran Lawth treat PTSD, but Lawth shot him from behind.
As a veteran, Kyle invested a lot of energy and enthusiasm during his lifetime to help veterans overcome the psychological trauma after the war. He has been interviewed by the US "Gun" website and talked about the difficulties faced by veterans after returning to society from the battlefield. Former SEAL member Brandon Webb said: "Chris has always been very supportive of everything about the veterans. This is a big matter that he really cares about. Unfortunately, many people don't understand how much time he has invested in this. "What's more sad is that it wasn't until Kyle became an indirect victim of post-traumatic stress disorder and paid the price of his life for this that the psychological problems of the veterans regained attention. "This is perhaps the cruelest irony," said Jeffrey Lieberman, a psychiatrist at Columbia University's New York City Medical Center.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a disease that cannot be completely cured by current medicine. Patients often have the following symptoms: entangled with nightmarish memories, suffering from immersive fears and fears; certain pictures, sounds, and even smells may be disturbed. Had unpleasant memories; unwilling to talk to others, highly nervous; anxious, irritable, insomnia, unable to concentrate, easily frightened, and loss of confidence in the future.
Research data from the RAND Corporation, the largest comprehensive military research organization in the United States, in 2013 showed that among the approximately 2.3 million U.S. military veterans who participated in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least 20% suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Among them, only half sought treatment, and less than half of the veterans received "minimal adequate treatment."
The invisible killer
retired veterans are both violent and suicidal. On average, about 5,000 veterans commit suicide each year.
According to another research data by RAND, due to the torture of post-traumatic stress disorder, the violent and suicidal tendencies of retired veterans are high. On average, about 5,000 veterans commit suicide each year.
For this reason, some experts liken post-traumatic stress disorder to the "invisible killer" faced by veterans.
A survey conducted by the US "New York Times" a few years ago found that hundreds of homicides were related to American veterans returning from the front lines in Iraq or Afghanistan, and there may be more similar cases that have not been publicly reported. War trauma and service pressure seem to be important inducements for most homicides.
The New York Times reported that many veterans returning from service have developed the habit of not leaving their bodies with guns, even holding guns at the door. One night in the summer of 2005, Matthew Sapi, an Iraqi war veteran, went to a convenience store with a gun and knocked down two gang members on the way, causing one death and one injury.
Sapi was only 20 years old at the time. After returning to China, he was always troubled by the nightmare of an Iraqi civilian killed by his army. He often needed to get drunk to fall asleep.
"Matthew knew he couldn't take the AK-47 to the convenience store," said detective Laura Anderson. "But he was afraid of being killed in this area. He was a trained soldier. In his mind, he We need weapons to defend themselves.” What is
even more sad is that in homicide cases involving veterans, a considerable part of the victims are relatives, children or friends of veterans.
One of the victims was a two-year-old girl, Christina Lewis. Her father, a 20-year-old American soldier in Iraq, had a foot blown off in Fallujah and suffered a brain injury. While returning to China to recuperate, he threw his daughter against the wall and killed him.
In another case, Stephen Sherwood committed suicide after shooting his wife nine days after returning from Iraq. A few months before the accident, other soldiers of Sherwood's tank unit died in a rocket attack. He escaped because he returned to China to celebrate his son's first birthday on vacation.
Sherwood's father said: "When he returned to Iraq, everyone died, and he had a survivor's self-blame." After that, his wife asked him for a divorce. After Sherwood returned to China again, a tragedy happened.
According to Xinhua News Agency
View more about American Sniper reviews
