American Sniper author Chris Kyle shot dead in Texas

[Sakobav]

From BBC news

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21313208

"Iraq veteran and ex-US Navy seal Chris Kyle, known as the deadliest sniper in US history, has been shot dead on a Texas shooting range, reports say.

His body was found at Rough Creek Lodge range on Saturday with that of another man. A suspect was arrested.

Mr Kyle, 38, wrote the 2012 bestseller American Sniper, about the psychology of a sniper, in which he said that he had killed more than 250 people.

He served four tours of duty in Iraq and was decorated for bravery.

The gunman opened fire at about 15:30 local time (21:30 GMT) then fled in a pick-up truck belonging to one of the victims, local media reported.

Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant said the motive for the killings was unclear, and was unable to explain how the two men were shot."

[Hammerhead]

Kyle, 38, who is survived by a wife and two children, was the author of American Sniper, a 2012 autobiography.

A 1992 graduate of Midlothian High School, he attended Tarleton State University. He tried to join the Navy in 1996 but was rejected after a physical exam revealed pins in his arm from a rodeo injury.

Three years later, Kyle was working on a ranch in Colorado when a Navy recruiter called. He was trained as a sniper and served 10 years.

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/chris-ky ... Stripes%29

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I got this off SIGForum:

There are many Forum members who are Texans. I have an old friend and mentor who is also a Texan, and he sent me this. The author is the mother of a teammate of Kyle's through 10 years of training and deployments. Sometimes Texans can be annoyingly proud of their state--sometimes they have every right to be.

quote:
I just wanted to share with you all that out of a
horrible tragedy we were blessed by so many people. Chris was Derek's
teammate through 10 years of training and battle. They both
suffer/suffered from PTSD to some extent and took great care of each
other because of it. 2006 in Ramadi was horrible for young men that
never had any more aggressive physical contact with another human than
on a Texas football field. They lost many friends. Chris became the
armed services number #1 sniper of all time. Not something he was
happy about, other than the fact that in so doing, he saved a lot of
American lives. Three years ago, his wife Taya asked him to leave the
SEAL teams as he had a huge bounty on his head by Al Qaeda. He did
and wrote the book The American Sniper. 100% of the proceeds from the
book went to two of the SEAL families who had lost their sons in Iraq.
That was the guy Chris was. He formed a company in Dallas to train
military, police and I think firemen as far as protecting themselves
in difficult situations. He also formed a foundation to work with
military people suffering from PTSD. Chris was a giver not a taker.
He along with a friend and neighbor, Chad Littlefield, were murdered
trying to help a young man that had served 6 months in Iraq and
claiming to have PTSD.

Now I need to tell you about all of the blessings.
Southwest Airlines flew in any SEAL and their family from any airport
they flew into free of charge. The employees donated buddy passes and
one lady worked for 4 days without much of a break to see that it
happened. Volunteers were at both airports in Dallas to drive them to
the hotel. The Marriott Hotel reduced their rates to $45 a night and
cleared the hotel for only SEALs and family. The Midlothian, Tx.
Police Department paid the $45 a night for each room. I would guess
there were about 200 people staying at the hotel. 100 of them SEALs.
Two large buses were chartered (unknown donor paid the bill) to
transport people to the different events and they also had a few rent
cars (donated). The police and secret service were on duty 24 hours
during the stay at our hotel.

At the house the Texas DPS parked a large motor home in
front to block the view from reporters. It remained there the entire
5 days for the SEALs to congregate in and all to use the restroom so
as not to have to go in the house. Taya, their two small children and
both sets of parents were staying in the home. Only a hand full of
SEALs went into the home as they had different duties and meetings
were held sometimes on a hourly basis. It was a huge coordination of
many different events and security. Derek was assigned to be a pall
bearer, to escort Chris' body when it was transferred from Midlothian
Funeral Home to Arlington Funeral Home and to be with Taya. Tough
job. Taya seldom came out of her bedroom. The home was full with
people from the church and other family members that would come each
day to help. I spent one morning in a bedroom with Chris' mom and the
next morning with Chad Littlefield's parents (the other man murdered
with Chris). Tough job.

Nolan Ryan sent his cooking team, a huge grill and lots
of steaks, chicken and hamburgers. They set up in the front yard and
fed people all day long. The 200 SEALs and their family. The next day
a local BBQ restaurant set up a buffet in front of the house and fed
all once again. Food was plentiful and all were taken care of. The
family’s church kept those inside the house well fed.

Jerry Jones, the man everyone loves to hate, was a rock
star. He donated use of Cowboy Stadium for the services as it was
determined that so many wanted to attend. The charter buses
transported us to the stadium on Monday at 10:30. Every car, bus,
motorcycle was searched with bomb dogs and police. I am not sure if
kooks were making threats trying to make a name for themselves or if
so many SEALs in one place was a security risk...I don't know. We
willing obliged. No purses ino the stadium! We were taken to The
Legends room high up and a large buffet was available. That was about
300 people. We were growing. A Medal of Honor recipient was there,
lots of secret service and police and Sarah Palin and her husband.
She looked nice, this was a very formal military service. The service
started at 1:00 and when we were escorted onto the field I was
shocked. We heard that about 10,000 people had come to attend also.
They were seated in the stadium seats behind us. It was a beautiful
and emotional service. Bagpipe and drum corps were wonderful and the
A&M men’s choir stood through the entire service and sang right at the
end. We were all in tears.

The next day was the 200 mile procession from
Midlothian, Tx. to Austin for burial. It was a cold, drizzly, windy
day, but the people were out. We had dozens of police motorcycles
riders, freedom riders 5 chartered buses and lots of cars. You had to
have a pass to be in the procession and still it was huge. Two
helicopters circled the procession with snipers sitting out the side
door for protection. It was the longest funeral procession ever in
the state of Texas. People were everywhere. The entire route was
shut down ahead of us, the people were lined up on the side of the
road the entire way. Firemen down on one knee, police officers
holding their hats over their hearts, children waving flags, veterans
saluting as we went by.. Every bridge had fire trucks with large flags
displayed from their tall ladders....people all along the entire 200
miles standing in the cold weather. It was so heartwarming. Taya
rode in the hearse with Chris' body so Derek rode the route with us.
I was so grateful to have that time with him.

The services were at Texas National Cemetery. Very few
are buried there and you have to apply to get in. It is like people
from Civil War, Medal of Honor winners a few from the Alamo and all
the historical people of Texas. It was a nice service and the Freedom
Riders surrounded the outside of the entire cemetery to keep the crazy
church people from Kansas that protests at military funerals away from
us. Each SEAL put his Trident ( metal SEAL badge) on the top of
Chris' casket one at a time. A lot hit it in with one blow, Derek was
the only one to take 4 taps to put his in and it was almost like he
was caressing it as he did it. Another tearful moment.

After the service the governor's wife, Anita Perry,
invited us to the governor's mansion. She stood at the door and
greeted each of us individually and gave each of the SEALs a coin of
Texas (she was a sincere, compassionate, and gracious hostess). We
were able to tour the ground floor and then went into the garden for
beverages and BBQ. So many of the team guys said that after they get
out they are moving to Texas. They remarked that they had never felt
so much love and hospitality. The charter buses then took the guys to
the airport to catch their returning flights. Derek just now called
and after a 20 hours flight he is back in his spot, in a dangerous
land on the other side of the world, protecting America.

I just wanted to share with the events of a quite an
emotional, but blessed week.

copied from here

Another emotional and moving read.
Video and news coverage here

images from here

RIP soldier!