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Famed "American Sniper" murdered at U.S. gun range.


BlackJesus

  

11 members have voted

  1. 1. I see this as mostly ... (CLICK ALL that apply) ???

    • Sad Tragedy
      7
    • Karma
      1
    • Reeping what you sew --- living by the sword ...
      1
    • Ironic & telling, Iraq safer than Texas
      1
    • Isolated anomaly
      3
    • Poor decision on his part, bring PTSD guy to gun range
      5
    • Govt Conspiracy --- or something fishy
      1


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[quote]
[img]http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/02/04/kyle042way-8e0bece34620a9df9592b5c9e3221fb9895a3fe8-s4.jpg[/img]

Chris Kyle, a former Navy SEAL who wrote the best-selling book [i]American Sniper[/i] about his service in Iraq, was shot and killed at a gun range in Texas, multiple outlets reported Saturday night. A second man was also killed.

According to local TV station KHOU, officials said that Kyle was shot at point-blank range "while helping another soldier who was recovering from post traumatic stress syndrome" at a range near the town of Glen Rose.

The Dallas Morning News reports that Lancaster, Texas police arrested a suspect, 25-year-old Eddie Ray Routh, after a brief chase.

Kyle had become well-known for his exploits in Iraq, where he deployed four times, set the record for sniper kills at 150, received numerous commendations, and, according to the Stephenville Empire Tribune, was given the nickname "The Devil of Ramadi" by insurgents.
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[b]Now setting aside my initial thought, which was the passage from [color=#696969]Hosea 8:7 - "They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind"[/color], or any accusations of circular Karma (since Kyle was unremorseful about all the Iraqis he killed, with his first one being a woman who cradled a toddler in one hand and a grenade in the other); I did find it tragically ironic that five tours in war-torn Iraq were safer than the good ol’ U$A, making me think of the quote by the late Hunter S. Thompson:

[i]"America, a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable." [/i]

P.S. ~ Now while I'm no pacifist and enjoy guns, of more ironic note is the fact that Kyle had recently started a security company whose motto was: "Despite what your momma told you, Violence does solve problems." ... You almost can't make this stuff up.[/b]
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[quote[b]] [u][size=5]Chris Kyle, America's deadliest sniper, offered no regrets[/size][/u][/b]
[size=5]By Alan Duke, CNN[/size]
[size=5]February 4, 2013[/size]

[background=transparent][img]http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130203092212-nr-kaye-intv-kos-friend-of-former-navy-seal-00000806-story-top.jpg[/img][/background]

[b][color=#FF0000]"Despite what your momma told you, Violence does solve problems," Kyle's company motto says[/color][/b]

[b](CNN)[/b] -- [b]Chris Kyle had no regrets about any of the 160 people he killed as a Navy SEAL sniper[/b] during his five combat tours in Iraq.

[b]His first kill was a woman who cradled a toddler with one hand and held a grenade in the other.[/b]

"I had to do it to protect the Marines," Kyle told Time magazine a year ago. "You want to lose your own guys, or would you rather take one of them out?"

Standing 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighing a muscular 220 pounds, Kyle developed a deadly reputation in Iraq, prompting insurgents to put a bounty on his head, according to his autobiography.

"I'm a better husband and father than I was a killer," he told Time. "I'm pretty comfortable with not having to kill anyone. Now, don't take deer hunting away from me."

When Kyle's military career ended after a decade, he joined other former SEALs to start Craft International, a security company with the motto "Despite what your momma told you, Violence does solve problems."

He also became a best-selling author, a reality TV personality, a supporter of fellow vets suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, an avid hunter and [b]an outspoken opponent of gun control[/b].

Kyle, 38, was shot to death Saturday -- by a former Marine, police say -- w[b]hile shooting for fun on a Texas gun range.[/b] Another veteran was also fatally shot.

A west Texas native, Kyle studied agriculture at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, after graduating from high school in 1992. He left college after two years to work as a ranch hand until he joined the Navy in 1999.

He left the Navy as a chief petty officer in 2009 with a chest full of medals, including two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars, according to his service record released by the Pentagon.

It was another distinction accumulated during Kyle's five tours of Iraq that has brought him the most attention. He wrote about it in a best-selling book published a year ago, titled [b][i]"American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History."[/i][/b]

Although the military does not release such statistics, the book claimed K[b]yle had 160 confirmed combat kills from a distance of up to 2,100 yards.[/b] He holds the record for a U.S. military sniper, previously set at 93 by Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock during the Vietnam war.

Kyle seemed humble during a guest appearance to promote his book on TBS' "Conan" last year.

"I had more kills, but that doesn't mean I'm better than (Hathcock) is," Kyle said. "I was just put into a position where I had more opportunities. I definitely cheated. I used a ballistic computer that tells me everything to do. So, [b]I was just a monkey on a gun[/b]."

He showed O'Brien a sense of humor when talking about the $80,000 bounty placed on his head by Iraqi insurgents. "I was worried about my wife coming home, because I thought my wife would turn me in," he joked.

Kyle modestly acknowledged to the Time interviewer that he was "decent" at killing.

"The first time killing someone, you're not even sure you can do it," he said. "You think you can, but you never know until you actually are put in that position and you do it. ... And then, you're worried when you get home, are the politicians going to hang you out to dry and put you on trial for murder?"

[b]Did he regret any of his 160 kills? "No, not at all,"[/b] he told Time.

Kyle's opinion of the American public's ability to understand war was poor.

"For the most part, the public is very soft, you live in a dream world," he said. "You have no idea what goes on the other side of the world, the harsh realities of what these people are doing to themselves and then to our guys. There are certain things that need to be done to take care of them."

His combat persona, though, could be turned on and off, he said.

"You're a little more aggressive when you're at work and when you come home, you relax and try to be the different person," he said.

Kyle helped established the FITCO Cares foundation, a charity that helps U.S. war vets "who have survived combat but are still fighting to survive post-traumatic stress disorder," the group's website said.

Life back home was a challenge for Kyle, who acknowledged that he turned to alcohol for comfort at one point. "After I was discharged from the military, it was difficult trying to become a civilian," he told a lawyer during a deposition for a lawsuit last November.

"You're in a combat zone one day," he said. "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. But it's simple things of trash blowing across the road, reminded of an (improvised explosive device), you might want to swerve. So that's why you just stay at home."

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura filed a lawsuit last year accusing Kyle of defaming him in the book by exaggerating his description of a fight between the two at the wake for SEAL Mikey Monsoor, who was killed in Iraq in 2006.

The book quoted Ventura, also a Navy veteran, as saying he "hates America" and telling Kyle, who was mourning the death of a SEAL teammate, "You deserve to lose a few." Kyle described punching Ventura out at the Coronado, California, bar.

In the suit, Ventura denied making the statements in the book, contending that "the entire story about a confrontation with and physical assault and battery of Governor Ventura was false and defamatory."

At his deposition last November, Kyle continued to insist his book accurately described his clash with Ventura.

"He was complaining about the war, that we shouldn't be there," Kyle testified. "Complaining about Bush, that, you know, Bush was a war criminal. How we were killing innocent men and women and children overseas."

Kyle acknowledged in his deposition saying that he hated Ventura "with a passion."

His relationship with another politician was warmer. [b]His company did some security work for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin[/b], whom he met while on the "Stars Earn Stripes" reality TV show with her husband, Todd.

"Chris was a wonderful man, a good friend, and a true American hero who loved our country and served honorably. He was loved and admired by so many, and he will never be forgotten," the Palins said in a statement Sunday.

Much of Kyle's time since leaving the military was spent building Craft International, which offers military training for law enforcement and provides security services.

His company also organizes "civilian and corporate shoots" at gun ranges, he said. "It is only fun day shoots, self-defense, or weapons familiarization," he said.

In a Guns.com interview at a gun dealers convention in Las Vegas last month,[b] K[b]yle [/b]was asked about President Barack Obama's gun control proposals, which he said he believed to be aimed at "trying to ban everything."[/b]

Banning 30-round magazines for assault rifles would be "opening the door to start taking more of our rights," he said.
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[url="http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/03/us/texas-sniper-killed-kyle-profile/index.html"]http://www.cnn.com/2...file/index.html[/url]
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[quote name='Bunghole' timestamp='1360017033' post='1213064']
Hunter was a weird dude. Him saying stuff like that is ironic given his highly unsafe practices with his own vast supply of firearms.
[/quote]
[size=4][color=#000000][b]Hunt[b]er, one [/b]of my favorite writers and personalities of all time, wasn’t immune to the sentiment of the quote, he realized he was also a product of an American environment that produced him. He had a high degree of self-loathing, which is what I believe makes his critiques so authentic and poignant.[/b][/color][/size]
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[quote name='CincyInDC' timestamp='1360061148' post='1213134']
Seriously though, that PTSD guy shouldn't have been allowed to have a gun.
[/quote]

Ding, ding, ding... we have a winner!!! Isn't all that complicated... only our politicians that are more worried about re-election than doing what is right can manage to screw this up.
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[quote name='Orange 'n Black' timestamp='1360091528' post='1213186']
It's a shame. Notable fact: Range shooting is a pretty common coping activity for vets with PTSD.
[/quote]

I would not have understood that was a coping activity before this incident. Certain veterans have different types of "triggers" and need to be exposed to them by a professional (as stated below) but do not know if I would have considered Kyle a professional therapist and or medical professional. However, he did found an organization to help vets suffering from PTSD and may have received guidance on how to conduct these "trigger exposures." Expecting those suffering from PTSD (estimated at over 500,000 veterans) to just wake up and feel normal is not going to happen without exposure to their triggers. 18 Veterans a day commit suicide. Something needs to be done.

http://morethancoping.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/former-navy-seal-chris-kyle-killing-puts-spotlight-on-ptsd/

[quote]The shooting death of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, an advocate for veterans’ mental health, has pushed the problem of post-traumatic stress disorder among American troops to the fore.

Kyle, who was known as America’s deadliest sniper, was killed Saturday at a gun range in Erath County, Texas. The suspect, identified by police as 25-year-old Eddie Ray Routh, is a veteran who served in Iraq and Haiti and who police say may have been suffering from some type of mental illness from being in the military.

A second man, identified by police as 35-year-old Chad Littlefield, was also shot at point-blank range and killed. Kyle and Littlefield had taken Routh to the shooting range to aid his recovery, police said.

“My heart is breaking,” Travis Cox, director of FITCO Cares, the non-profit foundation Kyle co-founded to help ease veterans back into civilian life, said in a statement. “Chris died doing what he filled his heart with passion — serving soldiers struggling with the fight to overcome PTSD. His service, life and premature death will never be in vain.”

Routh will be charged with two counts of capital murder, police said today.

While the details of Routh’s mental health are unclear, up to 20 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD, according to a 2008 RAND study.

“The symptoms can range from mildly disturbing to wholly incapacitating,” said Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, chair of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City and president elect of the American Psychiatric Association, describing the nightmares and flashbacks that can haunt soldiers long after their return to civilian life. “And we’re still limited in our understanding of why it occurs, what it consists of and the best approaches to treatment.”

One treatment approach involves the slow, steady, re-exposure of patients to their PTSD triggers, according to George Everly, associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

“It makes sense, in a way, re-exposing people to the thing they fear of in small doses, almost like an inoculation so the body says, ‘this is uncomfortable, but I can handle it,’” Everly said. “Under proper, controlled conditions, re-exposure therapy is certainly one of the most popular treatments for PTSD when done by a professional.”

Although Kyle was known to take veterans battling PTSD to the shooting range, it’s unclear whether Routh suffered from the disorder and whether the activity was intended to expose him to any PSTD triggers, such as gunfire.

“Kind of have an idea that maybe that’s why they were at the range, for some type of therapy that Mr. Kyle assists people with,” Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant told reporters today. “I don’t know if it’s called shooting therapy, I don’t have any idea but that’s what little bit of information that we can gather so far.”

The shooting is the latest in a string of tragedies stirring debates around gun control and mental health. But Lieberman said the mentally ill “do not contribute substantially to the overall rates of gun violence in this country.”

“People with mental illness tend to be overrepresented in these sorts of tragedies largely because their symptoms have gone untreated — they lack access to care or they lack insight to the fact they need care,” he said.

Shooting Is Latest in String of Tragedies

Lieberman said discriminating against people with mental illness is “not the solution to violence in our country,” but added that improving access to care for the mentally ill “would reduce these extremely rare but nevertheless tragic, senseless events.”

Veterans have the option to seek treatment through Veterans Affairs hospitals, but Lieberman said many “fall through the cracks and never get connected to the help they need.”

Several charities founded by veterans work to improve access to private mental health care, including FITCO Cares.

“It sounds like serviceman Kyle was among those trying to help his colleagues,” Lieberman said. “That may be one of the cruelest ironies.”

“This is a remarkable tragedy involving a true American hero who was reaching out, trying to help people of similar backgrounds, and it went terribly wrong,” Everly said.

Kyle, author of the bestselling book “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,” [b]leaves behind a wife and two children[/b].

“We have lost more than we can replace,” “American Sniper” co-author Scott McEwen said in a statement to ABC News. “Chris was a patriot, a great father, and a true supporter of this country and its ideals. This is a tragedy for all of us. I send my deepest prayers and thoughts to his wife and two children.”[/quote]



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