Navy SEAL Sniper killed in Texas Gun Range.

[Dominarch's Hope]

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013 ... -Gun-Range

Chris Kyle, former Navy SEAL and author of the New York Times bestseller American Sniper, was one of two victims killed in a shooting at a Texas gun range Saturday.
According to a local news station, police have arrested a suspect in the slayings. The suspect reportedly shot Kyle at point-blank range while he attempted to aid a fellow veteran.
Kyle reportedly achieved 160 kills as a sniper in the Navy SEALs. His author profile at Amazon.com summarizes the extensive decorations he received while serving:
SEAL Team 3 Chief Chris Kyle served four combat tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom and elsewhere. For his bravery in battle, he was awarded two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation. Additionally, he received the Grateful Nation Award, given by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Following his combat deployments, he became chief instructor for training Naval Special Warfare Sniper and Counter-Sniper teams, and he authored the Naval Special Warfare Sniper Doctrine, the first Navy SEAL sniper manual.
The shooting occurred in Erath County, Texas, some 50 miles from Fort Worth.

[Dominarch's Hope]

More.

http://sofrep.com/16838/chris-kyle-anot ... z2Jo0UzzIa

I am saddened to have to announce the tragic loss of another one of our own.  This has been a hard year for the Special Operations community, perhaps the SEAL community most of all.

Today Chris Kyle was shot and killed at a shooting range at the Rough Creek Lodge in Texas, murdered along with a second individual.

Chris had been volunteering his time to help Marine Corps veterans suffering from PTSD and mentoring them.  Part of this process involved taking these veterans to the range where one of them snapped and killed Chris and his neighbor for reasons that remain unknown at this time.  The perpetrator then stole Chris’ vehicle in an attempt to escape but we have received word that the police have since arrested him.

Chris Kyle served as a sniper in the US Navy SEALs and is best known to the American public from writing his memoir, “American Sniper.”  After his service, Chris ran a training program called The Craft.  Although recognized as America’s deadliest sniper, Chris was known to friends as a very down to earth and humble man.  He was also a friend of SOFREP and worked closely with Brandon Webb on a recent project of ours.

I just got off the phone with Brandon who is understandably upset over losing another friend not long after laying Glen Doherty to rest a few months ago.  The entire SOF community is still in shock over this incident, and we will have more to say on the matter as the situation develops.

Right now it is simply the time to have a moment of silence for Chris Kyle and his friend who was murdered alongside him.

[Aaron MkII]

Interesting. I do a bit of this myself, taking buddies with PTSD to shoot. I wonder if there were any warning signs. Cause there is always that guy who you just shouldn't let handle weapons till he's healthier.

[Malivotti]

Aaron the only stuff I know about is from my own experiences, what is called hypervigilence, increased irritability, heightened 'fight or flight' response, lack of sleep and withdrawal of social contact. Or as I call it I get twitchy and paranoid.

The thing is each person is different, each person may present any combination of symptoms. Also some people show more outward signs, some people just keep shit bottled up inside until things just go totally fucked up.

If you don't know the guy, try to bring along some of his buddies they might see something that stranger might miss. Family may or may not be a good thing usually they know the guy BUT he or she might be better at hiding things from family. Very true in soldiers and other high stress jobs. Usually guys in that situation try to keep bad shit separate from family. Military is famous for 'for don't explain, don't complain'

This might not be a good sign but scents, for me a hospital 'smell' will get me going bad and a coworker said I looked like I was smelling something before my last freak out.

Only other thing I can say is trust your instincts, if someone feels 'off' or 'weird' play it safe, targets will wait.

[Aaron MkII]

Yeah. I have PTSD, so I know my warning signs and those of a couple guys that I know well but for the guys I don’t know particularly well, I prefer them to be in higher spirits.

That said, my wife and I have been much more attentive since a friends girlfriend muzzle swept my wife. Fortunately it was unloaded and I was there to grab it.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

I actually feel as much sorrow for the murderer as for his victims. He might have not controlled himself, and done so in the worst possible manner, but arguably it should have been the others' job to control him. I should probably blame both parties, but for once I can't will myself to do it.

[Aaron MkII]

Since retiring from the Navy SEALs, Chris Kyle, whom the Pentagon has deemed as among America’s deadliest snipers, would occasionally take fellow veterans shooting as a kind of therapy to salve battlefield scars.
Enlarge This Image

Paul Moseley/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, via Associated Press
Chris Kyle in 2012.

Connect With Us on Twitter
Follow @NYTNational for breaking news and headlines.
Twitter List: Reporters and Editors
Mr. Kyle, 38, author of the best-selling book “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,” was with a struggling former soldier on just such an outing on Saturday, hoping that a day at a shooting range would bring some relief, said a friend, Travis Cox.

But the Texas authorities said Sunday that the troubled veteran turned on Mr. Kyle and a second man, Chad Littlefield, shooting and killing both before fleeing in a pickup truck.

“Chad and Chris had taken a veteran out to shoot to try to help him,” Mr. Cox said. “And they were killed.”

The police identified the gunman as Eddie Ray Routh, 25, who had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and had suffered from mental illness. The police offered no information about a possible motive.

Mr. Routh shot the men about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Rough Creek Lodge, an exclusive shooting range near Glen Rose, Tex., about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Sgt. Lonny Haschel, a spokesman for the State Department of Public Safety’s Highway Patrol Division, said in a statement. Mr. Routh was arrested on Saturday night at his home in Lancaster, a suburb south of Dallas. He has been charged with two counts of capital murder, Mr. Haschel said.

Mr. Cox, the director of a foundation that Mr. Kyle created, said he did not know Mr. Routh. Mr. Kyle, he said, had devoted his life since his retirement from the military to helping fellow soldiers overcome post-traumatic stress.

In 2011, Mr. Kyle created the FITCO Cares Foundation to provide veterans with exercise equipment and counseling. He believed that exercise and the camaraderie of fellow veterans could help former soldiers ease into civilian life. “He served this country with extreme honor, but came home and was a servant leader in helping his brothers and sisters dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder,” Mr. Cox, also a former military sniper, said by telephone.

Mr. Kyle, who lived outside of Dallas, had his own difficulties adjusting after retiring from the SEALs in 2009. He was deployed in Iraq during the worst years of the insurgency, perched in or on top of bombed-out apartment buildings with his .300 Winchester Magnum.

His job was to provide “overwatch,” preventing enemy fighters from ambushing Marines as they moved through Iraqi towns.

He did not think the job would be difficult, he wrote in his book, but two weeks into the war, he found himself staring through his scope into the face of an unconventional enemy. A woman with a child had pulled a grenade from beneath her clothes as several Marines approached. He hesitated, he wrote, but then fired the shot.

“It was my duty to shoot, and I don’t regret it,” he wrote. “My shots saved several Americans, whose lives were clearly worth more than that woman’s twisted soul.”

Over time, his hesitation diminished and he became better at his job. He was credited with more than 150 deaths. He became the scourge of Iraqi insurgents, who put a price on his head and were said to have called him the “Devil of Ramadi.” In his book, he describes taking out a fighter wielding a rocket launcher 2,100 yards away, a very long distance for a sniper and the longest for Mr. Kyle.

“Maybe the way I jerked the trigger to the right adjusted for the wind,” he wrote. “Maybe gravity shifted and put that bullet right where it had to be.”

“Whatever, I watched through my scope as the shot hit the Iraqi, who tumbled over the wall to the ground.”

Mr. Kyle received two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars for valor.

He would later describe his service in humble terms, preferring to talk not about the enemies killed, but the lives saved.

“I feel pretty good because I am not just killing someone, I am also saving people,” he said in a January 2012 interview with The Dallas Morning News. “What keeps me up at night is not the people that I have killed, it is the people I wasn’t able to save.”

In an interview with The New York Times in March, Mr. Kyle said that he had hesitated to write a book about his experiences. But he was persuaded to do so after hearing that other books about SEALs were in the works.

“I wanted to tell my story as a SEAL,” he said. “This is about all the hardships that everybody has to go through to get the respect and the honor.”

But he also wanted his sense of humor to come out, he said, noting that he tried to “write in a Texas drawl.”

The book, which was published in January of last year, spent months on The New York Times best-seller list and turned Mr. Kyle into a celebrity. He appeared on talk shows like “Conan” with Conan O’Brien.

He also played a role in the NBC reality program “Stars Earn Stripes,” in which celebrities were paired with elite soldiers to carry out military-style missions.

For all his success, friends and fellow veterans described Mr. Kyle as a humble warrior and down-to-earth family man who loved his wife and two children. In gatherings with other veterans, he would deflect the praise of well-wishers and play up the achievements of his comrades.

“He wasn’t the ‘American Sniper’ to all of his friends,” Mr. Cox said. “He was Chris Kyle, and he was right alongside you. He was proud to be a veteran, and he would do anything he could to serve veterans.”

Manny Fernandez and Julie Bosman contributed reporting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/us/ch ... ml?hp&_r=1&

[Stark]

That's a pretty scary look into the mind of military people. No wonder he started a charity to absolve himself.

[Aaron MkII]

That's a pretty scary look into the mind of military people. No wonder he started a charity to absolve himself.

Yeah, I'm not sure what to say about that. It's not an attitude I've encountered much among regular troops. A lot of us considered the SF guys to be nuts.

[Stark]

Maybe they had to be. Maybe it's a coping mechanism for their specific mix of huge duty pressure and terrible activities.

Like, more in your face traumatic shit than regulars combined with more institutional and team pressure to perform, or something.

[Aaron MkII]

Yeah, I get what your saying.

[Spoonist]

Aaron what is the thought behind using the gun range as some sort of part of therapy for PTSD?
I've too little insight into this but over here if you are diagnosed with PTSD and get the disability money, they revoke your license and place your weapons in storage due to the risks.
The treatments over here are mainly CBT with added EMDR and BEP treatments depending on severity. But since our troops are not as forward deployed we get less of PTSD from the military and more of it from the civilian side, like crimes etc.

[Aaron MkII]

Socialization, mostly. That's what I use it for, and why I bring guys with me. Just a way to get guys out to talk and spend time with actual people. Its harder to fall into the bottle when people start taking you out.

I personally find shooting very relaxing as well. But my triggers aren't gun related.

I don't know if that answers your question, or if it makes sense at all.

[Spoonist]

Mostly curious so that definately answers the question. You don't want PTSD to isolate themselves, so I guess from that angle anything that gets them out and in a social context would be positive.

It's just that my cultural environment is so different that I wouldn't consider inviting someone to the range just for socialization. I've been in both the military and in marksmanship for sports. But over here you'd socialize before and after but usually never at the range. In our culture that would be what hunting is for, but I wouldn't take a mil PTSD with me hunting, and even a civ PTSD I'd be very reluctant.
So I just didn't catch the context. But thinking of my US visits it makes perfect sense from that pov.

[Knife]

Shooting is a hobby, so in the sense of socialization, it's something to get together about and do. Some people enjoy it and are good enough at it it becomes something for your hands to do while your mind relaxes. The only obvious problem is if someone is suicidal or homicidal such as the OP.

[Elfdart]

The man was a douche. Not only was he a paranoid gun nut "OH NOES, THEY'RE COMING FOR MAH GUNS!" and a racist psychopath who called Iraqis "savages" while bragging about how many he shot, but a prick who tried to make a name for himself by claiming he punched Jesse Ventura, then ran away (if true, he's pretty cowardly and if not, he's a liar).

I bet he wishes Obama had come for Routh's guns now...

[Aaron MkII]

Mostly curious so that definately answers the question. You don't want PTSD to isolate themselves, so I guess from that angle anything that gets them out and in a social context would be positive.

It's just that my cultural environment is so different that I wouldn't consider inviting someone to the range just for socialization. I've been in both the military and in marksmanship for sports. But over here you'd socialize before and after but usually never at the range. In our culture that would be what hunting is for, but I wouldn't take a mil PTSD with me hunting, and even a civ PTSD I'd be very reluctant.
So I just didn't catch the context. But thinking of my US visits it makes perfect sense from that pov.

Well, I'd be lying if I said my wife and I are not rethinking how we do this.

[madd0ct0r]

maybe computer games instead?

[Aaron MkII]

maybe computer games instead?

That's a good idea, thanks man. For the first couple times/getting to know them.

[His Divine Shadow]

It's just that my cultural environment is so different that I wouldn't consider inviting someone to the range just for socialization. I've been in both the military and in marksmanship for sports. But over here you'd socialize before and after but usually never at the range. In our culture that would be what hunting is for, but I wouldn't take a mil PTSD with me hunting, and even a civ PTSD I'd be very reluctant.

You must have been in some weird clubs then. Since that doesn't jive at all with the swedish or finnish culture I'm part of, socialization at the range is definitely a major thing of the finnish and swedish shooting culture, I can't even see how else it would even work.

[Spoonist]

But over here you'd socialize before and after but usually never at the range.

You must have been in some weird clubs then. Since that doesn't jive at all with the swedish or finnish culture I'm part of, socialization at the range is definitely a major thing of the finnish and swedish shooting culture, I can't even see how else it would even work.

Maybe - it was a very competetive place, or maybe it's just a broken dictionary/definitions on my part? Socialization would for me be lots of talking, maybe joking around, maybe some bantering, maybe serious discussions. The range would for me be the field where you do the actual target practice. There we would never socialize since you have the ear muffs, it would reduce your concentration and would disturb the other shooters. (Some would get really angry if you did that). Instead any socializing would be in the club house before or after practice. Same thing in the military as soon as you got to the field (range?) and were handed the ammo there would be no socialization, period.

(For me lots of the interaction between people in Mies vailla menneisyyttä would not be socializing for instance...)

[His Divine Shadow]

Well during the actual shooting there's no talking, because of the noise and concentration required :p But between shooting there is talk and stuff. I think the actual shooting is like 10-20% of the time spent of an average shooting event / range trip, you also tend to have coffee breaks in the middle, sometimes there's grilling afterwards too and so on. I do see a range trip as a way to go meet some people.

Of course sometimes I go to another range that tends to be deserted so then it's just me and target practice, I mostly go there just because it's close by.

[TheFeniX]

Meh, I like hearing people talk when I shoot. If it throws off your concentration, you really need to work on your shooting more.

That said, the only range I've not felt comfortable socializing in was this one in downtown College Station. It was like all those shooting ranges you see in cop movies except much more claustrophobic (which... is probably my problem with it). Anywhere else, I'll shoot while talking, taking a break, whatever, as would most people (with the exception of when they're shooting). Shooting matches are the best for this considering the large amounts of downtime you have.

If people annoy you, just make sure they stand to your right, and load up a 1911. Or an automatic .22 if you really want to be a dick.