It was my duty to shoot the enemy, and I don't regret it. My regrets are for the people I couldn't save: Marines, soldiers, buddies. I'm not naive, and I don't romanticize war. The worst moments of my life have come as a SEAL. But I can stand before God with a clear conscience about doing my job.
Chris Kyle
You have to slow your heart rate, stay calm. You have to shoot in between your heartbeats.
Savage, despicable evil. That's what we were fighting in Iraq. That's why a lot of people, myself included, called the enemy 'savages.' There really was no other way to describe what we encountered there.
I'm just trying to get back to normal life.
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.
I really don't care what people think of me. I've got my family. I've got my friends. Yes, I have been trained to be a little more aggressive if I need to be, but I don't go around thumping people.
Every person I killed I strongly believe that they were bad. When I do go face God there is going to be lots of things I will have to account for but killing any of those people is not one of them.
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.
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.
The Navy credits me with more kills as a sniper than any other American service member, past or present.
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.
I'm just trying to be the me that I am and not all of this other crap. I just want to be the family man, and if somehow I can make the money to get my ranch and get the hell away from everybody else, that would be awesome.
The media cause more problems than they do good.
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.
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.
Other people are talking about writing books about my life, or about some of the things I've done. I find it strange, but I also feel it's my life and my story, and I guess I better be the one to get it on paper the way it actually happened.
After I was discharged from the military, it was difficult trying to become a civilian.
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.
War is hell. Hollywood fantasizes about it and makes it look good... war sucks.
I'm a better husband and father than I was a killer.
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.
But even before I was in the military, I was extremely jumpy when asleep.
I like war.
I am not a fan of politics.
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.
I really don't care what people think of me.
