A sniper’s story: Biography spotlights prolific U.S. shooter who initially wasn’t allowed to enlist - Entertainment, Books - Navy Times

A sniper’s story: Biography spotlights prolific U.S. shooter who initially wasn’t allowed to enlist

The man who would become the nation’s deadliest sniper walked into a north Texas recruiting station in 1996 determined to become a Marine, but soon found himself lured into the office of an Army recruiter. He almost joined the Rangers until a Navy recruiter regaled him with stories of SEALs.

The smooth-talking sailor even convinced him to turn down an enlistment bonus if he wanted to guarantee SEAL training. Then the Navy didn’t want him after his entrance physical revealed the steel pins that had helped rebuild his arm after a rodeo accident.

Such was Chris Kyle’s introduction to the military. “They flat-out turned me down,” says Kyle, who was a real-life cowboy working as a ranch hand when he felt the tug — and then the shove-off — of military service. Three years later, however, the Navy was ready to reconsider, and Kyle was on his way.

He went on to become the deadliest sniper in U.S. history while serving near back-to-back combat tours with SEAL Team 3.

From his first tentative kill — an Iraqi woman who was preparing to ambush a group of Marines — to the 2,100-yard takedown of an insurgent readying an rocket-propelled grenade, Kyle has emerged from the shadows of special ops to tell his story in the just-released book “American Sniper.”

“People ask me all the time, ‘How many people have you killed?’” he writes. “My standard response is, ‘Does my answer make me more or less of a man?’ The Navy credits me with more kills as a sniper than any other American service member, past or present. I guess that’s true. They go back and forth on what the number is. One week, it’s 160 (the “official” number as of this writing, for what it’s worth), then the number is way higher, then it’s somewhere in between. If you want a number, ask the Navy — you may even get the truth if you catch them on the right day.”

Officials still aren’t talking. A Navy spokeswoman in Washington referred questions to Naval Special Warfare Command in San Diego, which referred questions to SEAL Team 3, which did not return calls.

Whatever the number, the count has well eclipsed the 93 credited to legendary Marine sharpshooter Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock during Vietnam and the less-well-known 109 kills by Army Staff Sgt. Adelbert F. Waldron III, also during Vietnam.

Known as the “Devil of Ramadi” by insurgents in Iraq, who put a $20,000 bounty on his head, and simply as “the Legend” among his fellow SEALs, Kyle rose to the rank of E-7 before deciding to leave the Navy in 2009.

“I definitely miss it, but you have to make a choice,” he says in a promotional video for the book. “And my family has to come first.”

He’s since launched a security contracting company and downplays his new place in the bloodiest of record books, saying his body count has as much to do with luck and undisciplined enemies as his own training and skill.

“It was surprising how many idiots you had to kill before they finally got the point.” Still, he concedes, “I happen to have been in some pretty badass situations.”

While some estimates put his body count as high 255, Kyle says he’s not saying.

“People always want a number. Even if the Navy would let me, I’m not going to give one.”