Chris Kyle Quotes

The Navy credits me with more kills as a sniper than any other American service member, past or present.

And I got used to the battles. Getting shot at was just part of the job. RPG round? Just another day at the office.

There's definitely still a lot of hurt from losing my guys or the fact that I got out and I felt like it wasn't my time yet.

John M. Browning: American Gunmaker.

I hope the legend of Chris Kyle continues to grow and touch more and more people. I hope, too, that the movie will give people a small understanding of the massive sacrifice these guys make in going to war. It's hard to comprehend the journey and hardship these servicemen and their families go through. There is tremendous patriotism behind it but beyond that there is a great sacrifice SEALs and all our military make. If this movie can offer a small window into that world, I'll be very happy.

I hated running, but I was beginning to develop the right mind-set: Do whatever it takes. THIS

Right away he'd cuss me out, tell me I was a worthless piece of shit. But I never got pissed at David. In my mind, I thought, I'm better than that and I'll show you. As it happens,

Despite what your momma told you, Violence does solve problems,

But the essence of what was said is accurate.

I was coming off months of anxiety for his safety and frustration that he chose to keep going back. I wanted to count on him, but I couldn't. His Team could, and total strangers who happened to be in the military could, but the kids and I certainly could not.

Just because war is hell doesn't mean you can't have a little fun.

AT ANOTHER LOCATION, WE FOUND BARRELS OF CHEMICAL material that was intended for use as biochemical weapons. Everyone talks about there being no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but they seem to be referring to completed nuclear bombs, not the many deadly chemical weapons or precursors that Saddam had stockpiled. Maybe the reason is that the writing on the barrels showed that the chemicals came from France and Germany, our supposed Western allies. The thing I always wonder about is how much Saddam was able to hide before we actually invaded. We'd given so much warning before we came in, that he surely had time to move and bury tons of material. Where it went, where it will turn up, what it will poison - I think those are pretty good questions that have never been answered.

It's funny
sometimes the strongest individuals feel the worst when events are out of their control, and they can't really be there for the people they love. I've felt it myself.

As it happened, the guy who was the honor man or best in our class was part of our platoon. He never had as many kills as I did, though, at least partly because he was sent to the Philippines for a few months while I spent my time in Iraq. You need skill to be a sniper, but you also need opportunity. And luck.

coming from the Iraqis, who were trying

Get it. I, of course, had to stay in my push-up

While at BUD/S - Marcus Luttrell.

Strangely, though, I like helos. During this workup, my platoon worked with MH-6 Little Birds. Those are very small, very fast scout-and-attack helicopters adapted for Special Operations work. Our versions had benches fitted to each side; three SEALs can sit on each bench. I loved them. True, I was scared

If you hate the war, that's fine. But you should still support the troops. They don't get to pick where they're deployed. They just gave the American people a blank check for anything up to and including the value of their lives, and the least everyone else can do is be thankful. Buy them dinner. Mow their yard. Bake them cookies.

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. On top of all the shit they went through in Vietnam, they had to come home to a country that spat on them.

I'm just trying to get back to normal life.

Not the work, really, but what went along with it. The bureaucracy. The fact that he had to work in an office. He really hated having to wear a suit and tie every day.

Great way to fight a war - be prepared to defend yourself for winning.

It is our duty to serve those who serve us.

It was always a delicate balance, life and death, comedy and tragedy.

WATCHING THE CITY, WE WERE also watching warily for an Iraqi sniper known as Mustafa. From the reports we heard, Mustafa was an Olympics marksman who was using his skills against Americans and Iraqi police and soldiers. Several videos had been made and posted, boasting of his ability. I never saw him, but other snipers later killed an Iraqi sniper we think was him.

I'm a better husband and father than I was a killer.

Savage, despicable evil. That's what we were fighting in Iraq.

You're in a combat zone one day. You come home, and then you have to readjust, and it takes a few days. We just sit in the house, hang with the family and then things get better.

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

I'd put him in the spot where he got hit. It was my fault he got shot. A hundred kills? Two hundred? More? What did they mean if my brother was dead?

I would love for people to be able to think of me as a guy who stood up for what he believed in and helped make a difference for the vets.

command master chief, whom I'll call Primo, was another top-notch commander. He didn't give a flying fuck about promotions, about looking good, or covering his butt: he was all about successful missions and getting the job done. And he was a Texan - as you can tell, I'm a little partial - which meant he was a bad-ass.

That doesn't sound too smart, I thought. If we come in from every direction, we'll be shooting each other. Usually our ambushes are planned in an L-shape to avoid that. I looked at the chief. The chief looked at me. Suddenly, his serious expression gave way to a shit-ass grin. With that, the rest of the platoon bum-rushed me. I hit the floor a second later. They cuffed me to a chair, and then began my kangaroo court.

Every night someone on the other side of the river would stand up and take a shot at us. We would dutifully call it in and ask for permission to return fire. The answer was always a very distinct, "NO!" Very loud and clear.

Obviously, I can't write about most of that; what I saw of the overall battle was like looking at an enormous landscape painting through a tiny straw. W

I've lived the literal meaning of the "land of the free" and "home of the brave." It's not corny for me. I feel it in my heart. I feel it in my chest. Even at a ball game, when someone talks during the anthem or doesn't take off his hat, it pisses me off. I'm not one to be quiet about it, either.

I don't have to psych myself up, or do something special mentally - I look through the scope, get my target in the cross hairs, and kill my enemy, before he kills one of my people.

You have to slow your heart rate, stay calm. You have to shoot in between your heartbeats.

What wounded veteran's don't need is sympathy. THey need to be treated like the men they are: equals, heroes, and people who still have tremendous value for society.

I felt sad for everything he'd been through. And I felt terribly torn about needing him. I did need him, tremendously. But at the same time, I had to get along without him so much that I developed an attitude that I didn't need him, or at least that I shouldn't need him. - Taya Kyle, his wife

I don't shoot people with Korans. I'd like to, but I don't

It's not a problem taking out someone who wants your people dead. That's not a problem at all.

Every time I kill someone, he can't plant an I.E.D. You don't think twice about it.

three guys with RPGs taking aim at us

I don't care how much money you get," my dad used to tell me. "It's not worth it if you're not happy." That's the most valuable piece of advice he ever gave me: Do what you want in life. To this day I've tried to follow that philosophy.

MY REGRETS ARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE I COULDN'T SAVE - Marines, soldiers, my buddies. I still feel their loss. I still ache for my failure to protect them.

The number is not important to me. I only wish I had killed more. Not for bragging rights, but because I believe the world is a better place without savages out there taking American lives.

My dad has a story about hearing from me at work one day when I hadn't had a chance to call in a while. He picked up the phone and was surprised to hear my voice. He was even more surprised that I was whispering. "Chris, why is your voice so hushed?" he asked. "I'm on an op, Dad. I don't want them to know where I'm at." "Oh," he answered, a little shaken.

Why do SEALs fight so much? I haven't made a scientific study of it, but I think a lot is owed to pent-up aggression. We're trained to go out and kill people. And then, at the same time, we're also being taught to think of ourselves as invincible bad-asses.

The good people of this world are very far from being satisfied with each other and my arms are the best peacemakers." - Samuel Colt, 1852

Saddam had buried a bunch of his fighters in the desert. He had them covered with plastic and then tried to hide them. Probably he figured we'd come through like we did in Desert Storm, hit quick and then leave. He was wrong about that.

Let me say for the record that I believe the credit in Ramadi and in all of Iraq should go to the Army and Marine warriors who fought there as well as the SEALs. It should be fairly proportioned out. Yes, SEALs did a good job, and gave their blood. But as we told the Army and Marine officers and enlisted men we fought beside, we're no better than those men when it comes to courage and worth.

The tribal leaders saw that we were bad-asses, and they'd better get their act together, work together, and stop accommodating the insurgents. Force moved that battle. We killed the bad guys and brought the leaders to the peace table. That is how the world works.

I thought I should be stronger than was possible.

I can stand before God with a clear conscience about doing my job. But I truly, deeply hated the evil that woman possessed. I hate it to this day.

The media cause more problems than they do good.

You miss them so much when they deploy, and you want them to be home, but then when they are, things aren't perfect. And you feel as if they should be. Depending on the deployment and what I'd been through, I also had emotions ranging from sadness to anxiety to anger.

I am not a fan of politics.

A DRUNKEN brawl in Kuwait, since there really aren't any bars where you can drink alcohol. But it just so happened that there was a restaurant where we liked to eat, and where, not so coincidentally, it was easy to sneak in alcohol. We were there one night and started to get a

He'd already accepted that he was going to die, and he wanted to do it there, not at home from a disease he couldn't fight with a gun or his fists. "It doesn't matter," he told me. "I'll die and you'll find someone else. People die out here all the time. Their wives go on and find someone else.

PEOPLE TELL ME I SAVED HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF people. But I have to tell you: it's not the people you saved that you remember. It's the ones you couldn't save.

I don't know if I'm the best of the best. But I did know that if I quit, I wouldn't be.

spent a nervous night together. The next morning, the doctors performed a C-section. As they were working, they hit some kind of artery and splashed blood all over the place. I was deathly afraid for my

Then there were the groups organized primarily around religious beliefs. These identified themselves as mujahedeen, which basically means "people on jihad" - or murderers in the name of God. They were dedicated to killing Americans and Muslims who didn't believe in the brand of Islam that they believed in.

As far as I can see it, anyone who has a problem with what guys do over there is incapable of empathy. People want America to have a certain image when we fight. Yet I would guess if someone were shooting at them and they had to hold their family members while they bled out against an enemy who hid behind their children, played dead only to throw a grenade as they got closer, and who had no qualms about sending their toddler to die from a grenade from which they personally pulled the pin ... they would be less concerned with playing nicely.

If he thought investing his time could help a person, he did it. That to me is what a hero is all about. To me, that's as big a hero as you can be.

In the end, my story, in Iraq and afterward, is about more than just killing people or even fighting for my country. It's about being a man. And it's about love as well as hate.

But real life doesn't travel in a perfect straight line; it doesn't necessarily have that 'all lived happily ever after' bit. You have to work on where you're going.

None of my problems come from the people I've killed.

was too senior to do the bullshit jobs and too junior to do the political jobs. I was just right.

It's not the people you saved that you remember. It's the ones you couldn't save. Those are the ones you talk about. Those are the faces and situations that stay with you forever.

Im not a redneck, Im from Texas.

In my experience, Marines are gung ho no matter what. They will all fight to the death. Everyone of them just wants to get out there and kill. They are bad-ass, hard-charging mothers.

Working on a ranch is heaven. It's a hard life, featuring plenty of hard work, and yet at the same time it's an easy life. You're outside all the time. Most days it's just you and the animals. You don't have to deal with people or offices or any petty bullshit. You just do your job.

WHEN YOU'RE IN A PROFESSION WHERE YOUR JOB IS TO KILL people, you start getting creative about doing it.

Our top command wanted us to achieve 100 percent success, and to do it with 0 casualties. That may sound admirable - who doesn't want to succeed, and who wants anyone to get hurt? But in war those are incompatible and unrealistic. If 100 percent success, 0 casualties are your goal, you're going to conduct very few operations. You will never take any risks, realistic or otherwise.

I'm trying to raise the awareness of the troops that, when they deploy and go to war, it's not just them at war - it's also their family. Their family is having to go through all the hardships and the stresses.

The thing we all had in common wasn't muscle; it was the will to do whatever it takes.

I did want to be the top sniper.

You're not just going out there, maybe sacrificing your own life. There's also sacrifices still going on at home. You can serve in the military and have a good marriage, but you just need to be aware of it so you can take those steps to take care of it.

MY DAD WAS A DEACON, and my mom taught Sunday school. I remember a stretch when I was young when we would go to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday evening. Still, we didn't consider ourselves overly religious, just good people who believed in God and were involved in our church.

Despite what your momma told ya, violence does solve problems.

When I grew up, I only had two dreams. One was to be a cowboy and another was to be in the military. I grew up extremely patriotic and riding horses.

They naturally thought that anyone who was good should have a very high rank.

I don't know how high I went, I don't wanna know. Heights are not my favorite thing. It makes my balls go in my throat just thinking about it.

If you see anyone from about sixteen to sixty-five and they're male, shoot 'em. Kill every male you see.

No, the best way to stop a vehicle is to shoot the driver. And that you can do with a number of weapons.

He got up in front of the room and started telling us that we were doing things all wrong. He told us we should be winning their hearts and minds instead of killing them.

The strongest individuals feel the worst when events are out of their control, and they can't really be there for the people they love.