The legendary sniper with 160 kills who survived four Iraq tours but died at a Texas gun range

Chris Kyle, the legendary American Sniper

Chris Kyle became America’s deadliest sniper with 160 confirmed kills across four tours in Iraq.

The Texas-born Navy SEAL earned an $80,000 bounty on his head from insurgents who called him “the Devil of Ramadi.” His story ended tragically in 2013 when he was murdered at a gun range while helping a fellow veteran.

Here’s his complete story, plus how you can visit the Chris Kyle Memorial Plaza in Odessa, Texas today.

Chris Kyle grew up shooting

Christopher Scott Kyle was born on April 8, 1974, in Odessa, Texas, where his parents Wayne and Deby Lynn raised their boys the old-fashioned way. Wayne worked as a church deacon and Sunday school teacher who believed kids should learn practical skills early.

When Chris turned eight, his father bought him a bolt-action .30-06 Springfield rifle and taught him to hunt deer, pheasant, and quail across Texas. The Kyle family ran a small cattle ranch where Chris and his younger brother Jeff worked hard, taking care of up to 150 head of cattle while getting really good with guns.

A horse ended his rodeo career

Chris did well at Midlothian High School, playing baseball and football while getting into rodeo competition. After graduating in 1992, he became a professional bronco rider while studying agriculture at Tarleton State University, planning to manage ranches like his dad.

His rodeo career ended badly when a bucking horse landed right on top of him during a competition in Rendon, Texas. The accident broke his ribs, messed up his shoulder, hurt his kidney and lung, and left him with pins in his arm that would later cause problems when he tried to join the military.

He barely made it through SEAL training

Kyle walked into a shopping mall recruiting office in 1996, looking for the Army but finding only a Navy recruiter who talked up the SEALs. He joined in February 1999 but got rejected for SEAL training right away because of those pins in his arm.

Kyle wouldn’t give up, doing well enough in underwater training that commanders let him try the tough 24-week BUD/S program at NAB Coronado, California. He made it through the brutal training that breaks most guys, graduating with Class 233 in March 2001 and getting assigned to SEAL Team 3 as a sniper just months before 9/11 happened.

His first kill was a woman

Kyle’s first real combat came during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, where he watched over Marines from rooftops in the dangerous city of Nasiriya. Through his rifle scope, he saw a woman walking toward a group of Marines while holding a baby in one hand and a grenade in the other.

The choice was terrible, but Kyle pulled the trigger on his .300 Winchester Magnum, killing the woman before she could hurt the Marines below. That first kill bothered him personally but showed his complete dedication to keeping American troops alive, no matter what it cost him inside.

Fellow SEALs started calling him Legend

Kyle went on four tough combat tours that covered every major American fight in Iraq from the invasion through battles in Fallujah (2004), Ramadi (2006), and Sadr City (2008). Other SEALs started calling him “Legend” as a joke, but the nickname became real as more enemies died.

Kyle didn’t just stay behind his rifle scope but joined Marines in nasty house-to-house fighting where insurgents hid around every corner. The Marines he protected thought of him as their guardian angel, and Kyle called them “my boys” because of the bonds they formed in combat.

Enemies put eighty thousand on his head

Ramadi in 2006 became Kyle’s deadliest assignment, where he hunted insurgents through the most dangerous city in Iraq and killed 91 confirmed targets in brutal street fighting. Enemy fighters started calling him the “Devil of Ramadi” and put a $20,000 bounty on his head that eventually grew to $80,000.

Insurgents learned to spot him by his Crusader cross tattoo, turning the religious symbol into a way to identify their biggest threat. Kyle didn’t care about the target on his back, knowing every shot aimed at him meant one less bullet flying at American troops.

He broke every American sniper record

Kyle’s rifle reached out across incredible distances to find enemy fighters who thought they were safe. He racked up 160 confirmed kills, smashing the previous American record of 109 set by Vietnam sniper Carlos Hathcock.

Most targets dropped between 600 and 1,000 yards, but Kyle’s longest shot went an amazing 2,100 yards to stop an insurgent carrying a rocket-propelled grenade in 2008. The Pentagon officially confirmed more than 150 kills, though Kyle knew his real count was higher.

Every shot got written up in detailed reports that could be checked later if anyone questioned what happened.

War took a heavy physical toll

Four tours of constant fighting left Kyle’s body beaten up and his mind damaged. Enemy bullets hit him twice, and six IED explosions nearly killed him in huge blasts that left him with hearing problems and head injuries.

The military gave him a Silver Star and four Bronze Stars with “V” devices for fighting bravery, plus a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and many other awards.

By 2009, his physical wounds had healed but the emotional damage was wrecking his marriage to Taya and hurting his relationship with their two kids. Kyle had to choose between war and family.

His book made him famous nationwide

Kyle came back to Texas and started Craft International, a training company that taught military and police tactics with the motto “Despite what your momma told you, violence does solve problems.” His 2012 book “American Sniper” became a huge hit, staying on The New York Times bestseller list for 37 weeks and making Kyle famous across the country.

He appeared on talk shows like Conan O’Brien’s program and NBC’s “Stars Earn Stripes,” while also working with the FITCO Cares Foundation to give fitness equipment and support to wounded veterans dealing with PTSD and disabilities.

Helping another veteran got him killed

February 2, 2013, started as Kyle trying to help a fellow veteran deal with war’s invisible wounds. Eddie Ray Routh, a 25-year-old former Marine struggling with PTSD and mental illness, needed the kind of help that only another warrior could give.

Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield picked up the troubled veteran and drove to the Rough Creek Lodge shooting range near Glen Rose, Texas, hoping some therapeutic shooting might help. During the drive, Routh acted so strange that Kyle got worried, texting Littlefield: “This dude is straight-up nuts.”

While Kyle and Littlefield walked out to set up targets, Routh grabbed Kyle’s own guns and shot both men dead, then stole Kyle’s Ford F-350 and drove away.

The killer got life without parole

Police caught Routh after a high-speed chase, and on February 24, 2015, a jury said he wasn’t insane and convicted him of murder, giving him life in prison without any chance of getting out. Kyle’s funeral at Cowboys Stadium brought over 7,000 people who came to honor America’s deadliest sniper, and he was buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.

Clint Eastwood made Kyle’s story into the 2014 movie “American Sniper,” with Bradley Cooper playing Kyle in a film that got six Oscar nominations and became the biggest war movie ever made. Texas Governor Greg Abbott made February 2 into Chris Kyle Day, while a bronze statue in Kyle’s hometown of Odessa makes sure people remember the American sniper.

Visiting The Chris Kyle "American Sniper" Memorial

The Chris Kyle Memorial Plaza in Odessa, Texas sits at 8050 E. Highway 191 behind the Medical Center Health System, where Kyle was born in 1974. You’ll find a 2,800 square foot monument made of granite and Texas limestone with a central bronze sculpture of Kyle flanked by two plazas representing his fallen team members.

Black granite memorial walls display Chris’s actual medals and accomplishments, plus they work as benches where you can sit and reflect. The plaza features Texas live oak trees that came directly from George W. Bush’s ranch near Crawford, and Texas and U.S. flags get raised and lowered every day. The memorial stays open 24/7 with no admission fees.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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