Chris Kyle

joannaauthor ♦ February 4, 2015 ♦ Leave a comment

I saw American Sniper two weeks ago.  I’ve been too sick to blog, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the movie and I have been able to read all of the controversy on social media surrounding Chris Kyle.  What’s real? What’s been embellished, exaggerated or just down right faked? Was Chris really a hero?  Did he lie?

Allow me to add my opinion to this. I’m prefacing this by stating again, this is my opinion,

My first impression after watching the movie was that it was well done and that it showed the kind of person and warrior he was.

Then all of the controversy started with what might be real and what might not be.  None of that changed the movie or my impression of Chris Kyle.  The way I see it, if part of the movie, or the book, or the stories were embellished, they didn’t happen to Chris Kyle, but they happened to some SEAL, some sniper somewhere, sometime.  I’m not trying to take anything away from Chris, because he obviously accomplished and sacrificed a lot. What I’m saying is- let’s not split hairs.  Chris could be the embodiment of all of the Special Forces that leave their families behind, that sacrifice, that miss their children and spouses. Many have had their breakdowns, their struggles off and on the battlefield.

For those of you that are familiar with the 82nd Airborne, you know of Iron Mike- the statue of a paratrooper. I remember being a little kid and asking my parents “but who is Mike?”  My parents explained that Iron Mike was every paratrooper, every Soldier that came through Bragg.  In a way, I think that Chris Kyle’s  American Sniper is the SEAL’s Iron Mike.  It happened- to someone, somewhere.