The most Lethal American Sniper

War is a way of life. There will always be war. Violent wars about race, religion, revenge, economics, and territory. People have been so familiar with war, they don’t know it is happening. Not all war is killing, People fight the war on hunger, diseases, and oppression of rights. The war in 2003 was revenge. American Sniper is an autobiography about Chris Kyle’s journey through training, combat and his choices that have to be made in war. In the first few chapters Kyle talks about growing up in Texas and how it affected his choice to join the SEALS. Growing up in Texas, Kyle learned how to hunt “ I've always loved guns and I always loved hunting. I don't remember when I started hunting, but it would have been when I was very young”(8). This is how most Texans have been raised. Loving guns, hunting and patriotism. That is the influence that Kyle had when signing up for the military. Like all training, the military beats you down mentally and physically.

To be a SEAL you have to go through three stages in training; BUD/S, hell week, and SQTS. BUD/S is about 6 months and helps train future SEALS. BUD/S is mainly training for working with boats, and aquatics. It prepares you for one of the toughest weeks of your life: hell week. Hell week is continuous week that filters out the fragile. Kyle right before hell week “fractured his foot in a boating accident”(30), he is forced to keep going through the pain in Hell week. After Hell Week Kyle is forced to be rolled back and has to wait until there is another troop to start training with. Kyle says “that Hell Week is more psychological than physically tough,... you know you can ring the bell and quit at anytime.” After the Roll back Kyle had to wait 3 months, to go through the rest of BUD/S and move on to SQTs. Seal qualification training is more training in and around water than on land, which Kyle complained about a lot.

Once 9/11 happened everything was happening at high speed. Kyle went to war and was soon finding himself in unpredictable combat situations, “ I pushed my finger against the trigger. The bullet leapt out. I shot, the grenade dropped. I fired again as the grenade blew up. It was the first time I had killed anyone while I was on the sniper rifle. And that was the first time in Iraq--and the only time--I killed anyone other than a male combatant” (3). During that time he had killed a little boy and a woman, they are the one of the many casualties of war. What is interesting is Kyle’s Wife’s role throughout the book. She writes about the strain that war has on a family. Her mentality is you put God first, family second, and country last (213). Kyle thought that country came second and family was last (213).

This put strains on the family when they started to have children. She talked about the high number of divorces happen with military families and she did not want to be another statistic. Although she does not have that many entries in the book, her words are powerful and relatable. After coming home Kyle became very upset with the American people, he was angry that the people were protesting the war saying, “ These mother f***ers protesting the troops who were going over to fight. They were protesting the wrong people. We didn't vote in congress; we didn’t vote to go to war” (118). Veterans and all active service members need to be treated with the most respect.

They went to war and are willing to lay down their life for their country. People need to be more educated on who makes the decisions to go to war; instead of blaming people that are laying down their life to protect citizens. The author of the Kirkus review thought that “The highlights of the narrative are the grim yet often funny accounts of Kyle’s violent battles all over Iraq, most of which are described crisply.” The review is right, Kyle balances the often violent and gruesome fights with comical relief. The Kirkus review had many great points saying “Kyle is unapologetic about his own conservative persona.” This is very true Chris Kyle doesn’t care about how his thoughts and feelings affect other people. Which is something we should all admire in this controversial and politically correct world. The second book review from the L.A times is very graceful to the American sniper despite the paper’s liberal background.

The only thing the review says “Kyle is unpossessed by political correctness” and that is well known if you have read the book. Tony Perry writes “‘American Sniper" is about one man's evolution from restless civilian to dedicated killer. For those who like their American military personnel to be diffident and dutifully respectful of their enemies, this book is not for them.” Which is right Kyle could be a little more sensitive to the insurgents that he has killed, but the ones he did kill were trying to/ killed his brothers. This book is important because this was Kyle’s first hand perspective of war that we won’t be able to hear from him again. This book is testifies what Kyle saw in war and could be provide evidence for ongoing kill investigations. American Sniper is an important book because it gives us details the media may not have had or could release, due to the graphic material. American Sniper is a biased book it is from Kyle’s prospective from being in the war.

The intended audience is for mature young adults and people that can handle intense situations and very explicit language . Kyle is not a professional writer; so he does not write professionally, Kyle uses cuss words quite frequently. He writes how he talks, often saying “ain’t”. Which for some people can get very annoying quickly. Kyle also makes very offensive remarks to the Muslim community calling the native people “towelheads” (398). Kyle is very blunt about who he kills and how he kills them; it is very graphic at times. To understand what he saw his writing had to be graphic and that is understandable because it is way worse in real life.

Anytime you read this book you instantly feel for Chris when he loses friends and comrades. Kyle's book was beautiful, emotional, intriguing and a real page turner. The American sniper makes you realise that SEALs are just like any other people. They have marital problems, they deal with grief and problems with their faith. Chris Kyle helps readers realize it is more than killing people from far away; it is the companionship and hard work paying off. Americans need to be like Chris; hard working, patriotic and giving. It is hard knowing that Chris went through so much in the war and died trying to help others. Rest in Peace, Chris Kyle (1974-2013).

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