Interesting Article on Tactics of Seal Sniper

[Speedo66]

I found his choice of weapons and tactics interesting. Gets into the mindset necessary to function as a sniper, and live with yourself. Long, but good read.


NEWS
Meet the Navy SEAL who became the real-life Jason Bourne

By Chris Martin
December 7, 2014 | 7:38am

Meet the Navy SEAL who became the real-life Jason Bourne
Chris Kyle, former Navy SEAL and author of the book "American Sniper," which was turned into a movie that is coming out on Christmas Day.
Photo: AP
With 160 confirmed kills, Chris Kyle was the deadliest sniper in US military history — and is the subject of a buzzed-about new film, “American Sniper,” starring Bradley Cooper as Kyle and directed by Clint Eastwood. In his new book, “Modern American Snipers,” author Chris Martin tells the history of these special warriors and how technology and skill produced a soldier who could shoot someone from a mile away. In this excerpt, he explains Kyle’s success — and reveals the one person who got the better of him.
Word of Chris Kyle’s accomplishments had just started filtering through the usual SEAL channels, but his status as an emerging historical figure was still largely unknown. However, one SEAL officer was keenly aware of what the big Texan had been up to.

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Copyrighted material trimmed. Read more here: http://nypost.com/2014/12/07/meet-the-deadliest-sniper-in-us-military-history/

 

[allaroundhunter]

That isn't just an interesting article, that is one heck of a book. I have read it no fewer than 4 times and I always enjoy it more.

Taya and their 2 kids still live fairly close to some land my family owns and I have met her once. Chris was without a doubt an awesome guy, and Taya is amazing in her own right for persevering as she has since Chris' passing. But reading how Chris spoke about her, I don't think it surprises him one bit to see how she is handling everything.

 

[taliv]

He lost all credibility when he said "real life Jason Bourne". By the fourth time he said "real life Jason Bourne" I stopped reading.

 

[dmancornell]

I found his choice of weapons and tactics interesting

No mention of his baiting tactics or the part in his book where he boasted about shooting every male he saw? Here is the part, verbatim:

Our ROEs when the war kicked off were pretty simple: If you see anyone from about sixteen to sixty-five and they’re male, shoot ‘em. Kill every male you see. That wasn’t the official language, but that was the idea.

 

[herrwalther]

No mention of his baiting tactics or the part in his book where he boasted about shooting every male he saw? Here is the part, verbatim:

And do you honestly believe we follow ROE like that when we get it? We used the classification MAM or Military Aged Male to denote anyone old enough to be capable of using a firearm. In that part of the world, a 7 year old can and has used an AKM. Did we shoot every 7 year old? Of course not but they were in our ROE.

I really wished I could have met Chris Kyle before he was killed. He was scheduled to attend a conference at my alma mater which I had plane tickets for, planned the trip for months. Got a huge cancel with his death.

 

[dmancornell]

And do you honestly believe we follow ROE like that when we get it? We used the classification MAM or Military Aged Male to denote anyone old enough to be capable of using a firearm. In that part of the world, a 7 year old can and has used an AKM. Did we shoot every 7 year old? Of course not but they were in our ROE.

Those are his words. At face value, it is an open admission of a war crime. Insert the context of his story where he describes his war as a "crusade" against "sub-human savages" (again, his words), and the Pentagon's admission that soldiers were ordered to "bait" targets in Iraq, then yes, it is likely Kyle has gunned down unarmed civilians.

Considering how war crimes should be a serious matter, one wonders why his editor did not raise a red flag on this casual confession. Perhaps they figure the target audience only cares about war crimes when they're committed by others.

Then again Chris Kyle has demonstrated a total lack of credibility in matters unrelated to warfare (i.e. the Jesse Ventura non-incident, the SuperDome looters story, the carjacking story, his lies about donating his book proceeds to veteran organizations, etc.), so maybe he was making it up. You decide.

 

[TomJ]

Those are his words. At face value, it is an open admission of a war crime. Insert the context of his story where he describes his war as a "crusade" against "sub-human savages" (again, his words), and the Pentagon's admission that soldiers were ordered to "bait" targets in Iraq, then yes, it is likely Kyle has gunned down unarmed civilians.

Considering how war crimes should be a serious matter, one wonders why his editor did not raise a red flag on this casual confession. Perhaps they figure the target audience only cares about war crimes when they're committed by others.

Then again Chris Kyle has demonstrated a total lack of credibility in matters unrelated to warfare (i.e. the Jesse Ventura non-incident, the SuperDome looters story, the carjacking story, his lies about donating his book proceeds to veteran organizations, etc.), so maybe he was making it up. You decide.

On 9/11/2001, terrorists killed approximately 3000 Americans who were guilty of nothing. People like Chris Kyle and their families made incredible sacrifices to make sure it didn't happen again. Maybe we should just say thank you.

I read his book as well, and am not quite sure what else to say to someone who takes things out of context to criticize a man who gave him the freedom to speak his mind.

 

[Walkalong]

The Jason Bourne movie was based on a work of fiction.

 

[moxie]

Charges or criticisms leveled against him are all moot, since he was killed in Feb. 2013. His killer is STILL languishing in the local County Jail.

 

[Old Dog]

Well, well, well ... dmancornell quoted

Our ROEs when the war kicked off were pretty simple

Yep, and for those of us who were actually there, we can tell you that after the "shock'n'awe" stage of the invasion, in the initial part of the war (that Kyle refers to), ANY male you saw on the street was 99% up to no good ... Not "war crimes," rather, self-defense and defense of our own people.

Perhaps some folks should retreat back down to mom's basement and play a video game or two instead of reading internet forum threads that bring out their inner-crusader (at least this person isn't cop-bashing this time, simply Navy SEAL-bashing).

Yeah, the article is fairly stupid. OP, you're probably better off reading the book.

At any rate, Kyle is an American hero; he may have been human, had a bit of an ego and perhaps embellished a bit, but that doesn't take away his documented accomplishments.

 

[dmancornell]

Well, well, well ... dmancornell quoted Yep, and for those of us who were actually there, we can tell you that after the "shock'n'awe" stage of the invasion, in the initial part of the war (that Kyle refers to), ANY male you saw on the street was 99% up to no good ... Not "war crimes," rather, self-defense and defense of our own people.

I recall the participants at My Lai said the same thing about how "everyone you see is a VC". My Lai was undoubtedly a war crime, and if Chris Kyle actually carried out his claimed RoE, then he is also undoubtedly guilty of war crimes.

In any case I have no "inner-crusader" inside me, I have no desire to be a war criminal. OP's post is a puff piece to promote Eastwood's film in time for awards season, I am merely inserting the proper context on Chris Kyle's "tactics" which range from morally questionable to outright criminal.

 

[ClickClickD'oh]

No mention of his baiting tactics...

What, you think he was deer hunting? I missed the part where baiting the enemy was wrong. Let me guess, ambushes are SUPER BAD! Maybe snipers should wear Blaze Orange... You know, so everyone knows there is a sniper around and is on their best behavior..

 

[19-3Ben]

So, is this thread actually related to real firearms used (a THR topic) or has it become an excuse to assess the credibility of the late Mr. Kyle? (not THR topic)

 

[herrwalther]

In any case I have no "inner-crusader" inside me, I have no desire to be a war criminal. OP's post is a puff piece to promote Eastwood's film in time for awards season, I am merely inserting the proper context on Chris Kyle's "tactics" which range from morally questionable to outright criminal.

Killing an unarmed target is not a war crime. Especially if they are a HVT or High Value Target. That has been part of the ROE since the initial invasion of Iraq. HVTs were being let go because they did not have weapons and hits were called off. Baiting a target is not a war crime either.

 

[Sam1911]

And on those wise words (which all should read and understand), we're done here.

If you feel that Chris Kyle or other soldiers who've killed sizable numbers of combatants and have written about it are guilty of war crimes, there are some forums out there where your ideas can be thoughtfully discussed and debated. I suggest www.lightfighter.net to start out.

 

[taliv]

So, is this thread actually related to real firearms used (a THR topic) or has it become an excuse to assess the credibility of the late Mr. Kyle? (not THR topic)

I thought it was about tactics, per the thread title, which would be on topic. I guess that was misleading though as there doesn't appear to be any mention of it in the article