This post was originally published July 8 at 5:14 p.m. and has been updated.

The Navy has concluded there is no evidence that famed Navy SEAL Chris Kyle received two of the valor awards he had claimed in his best-selling memoir, including a second Silver Star. 

In an unusual move, the service has re-issued the DD-214 discharge paperwork to support the medals that the late Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Chris Kyle received during his 10-year Navy career, finding no records for two of six Bronze Stars with combat 'V' and the second Silver Star, two of which he had claimed in "American Sniper." However, the renowned SEAL sniper had earned the Silver Star and four Bronze Stars, the review confirmed. 

The Navy’s reissuing of the late Kyle's DD-214 adjusts his confirmed valor awards and continues to raise questions about other elements of Kyle's legendary story, including stories he told after he left the service in 2009. Already a combat hero, the second Silver Star would have made Kyle one of the Navy's most decorated service members in the post-9/11 era, which has drawn heavily on the skill and secrecy of special operations troops.

Navy officials say they found no evidence of any tampering with his original DD-214 and said reissuing the DD214 on June 14 fixed a discrepancy that had come to light. The service, officials say, reissues thousands of discharge papers every year.

“In 2015 alone the Navy corrected more than 3,800 DD-214s,” said Navy spokesman Ens. Marc Rockwellpate.

In its “very thorough” review of Kyle’s record, the Navy reviewed records from Navy Special Warfare Command, the awards board, which adjudicates major awards for the service such as Silver Stars, and Navy Personnel Command, Rockwellpate said.

“After thoroughly reviewing all available records, the Navy determined an error was made in the issuance of Chief Petty Officer Chris Kyle’s form DD-214,” he said. “Specifically, the DD-214 did not accurately reflect the decorations and awards to which Kyle was officially entitled.

“After notifying his family of the error, the Navy issued a corrected copy of the DD-214, which accurately reflects Kyle’s years of honorable and extraordinary Navy service.”

In his runaway bestseller “American Sniper,” Kyle, along with his co-authors Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice, made the claim that prompted the review: “All told, I would end my career as a SEAL with two Silver Stars and five Bronze [Stars], all for valor,” Kyle wrote. 

The original DD-214 actually lists six Bronze Stars with 'V,' but they are noted in separate boxes on the form, which is one of many bizarre entries on the document.  The new DD-214 uncovers other, more puzzling discrepancies. It removes a Navy Commendation Medal with 'V' and five Armed Services Expeditionary medals, but adds three Iraq Campaign Medals, four Sea Service Deployment ribbons and, fittingly, a Rifle Medal (Expert).

Kyle's co-authors defended his combat valor and blamed the Navy's records-keeping for the discrepancies, which are tougher to resolve after Kyle's 2013 death at the hands of a fellow veteran he had befriended.

“In revising the discharge documents, the Navy is now admitting to sloppy record-keeping, either in 2009 or today,” DeFelice said in an email. “However, I find it difficult to believe their records have become more complete in the years since the discharge papers were first issued.

“I don't know who or what or why things got fouled up, but the bottom line is this: Chris saved countless lives on the battlefield, was awarded numerous medals for valor, and should have gotten even more.”

McEwen, the other co-author, said he stands by the medal count and by Kyle.

“I have been presented with no information that in any way questions the valor or medal count of my friend and American hero, Chris Kyle,” McEwen said. “I grow tired of the constant attacks on his reputation, and question the motivation of those making the attacks.”

McEwen said people need to weigh Kyle’s record by the number of lives he saved with his sniper rifle.

“I have another question to be asked and answered: how many American Warriors are alive today because of Chris Kyle? That is a number I would love to see,” McEwen said. “I can guarantee it is in the 100s.  It is far more important than medal counts.”

Kyle's widow, Taya, did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment and a representative of the family's foundation declined to comment on her behalf.

"Taya will not be making any comments at this time," Stewart Smith, a spokesman for the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation, said in an email June 28.  

Experts say it’s rare that the military reviews and reissues DD-214s of its own volition, and that the vast majority of corrections are initiated by service members and veterans.

A verified Silver Star citation for Kyle, contained in Military Times Hall of Valor database, dates to a 2006 deployment to Ramadi, Iraq. It credits him with killing 91 enemy combatants between April and August of that year.

Doug Sterner, an Army veteran who maintains the database as one of the nation’s foremost experts on military decorations and valor, said the Navy's review is more evidence that Kyle earned only one Silver Star. Sterner recently obtained a comprehensive record of the more than 100 Silver Stars with classified citations issued to SEALs since 9/11 and a second Silver Star for Kyle is not among them.

“Chris Kyle, I don't know what to make of the situation,” Sterner said in a phone interview. "Obviously he only got one Silver Star. We know that he did not get a classified award. The bottom line is he served, he got one Silver Star — which is one more than I got — and he was human enough to make the mistake of exaggerating his record.”

Disputed legacy

Kyle has long been the subject of a cultural debate over his legacy.

To his critics, Kyle is a serial fable-weaver at best who is quoted in multiple news outlets, including the New Yorker magazine, lying about shooting looters during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath in New Orleans and about killing two carjackers in 2010 in a Dallas news magazine.

“The real American Sniper was a hate-filled killer. Why are simplistic patriots treating him as a hero?” asks Lindy West in 2015 article in the The Guardian.

Kyle's supporters, including former Texas Governor Rick Perry, have blasted media outlets that have raised questions about Kyle's record.

“This article is part of a disturbing trend in the left-leaning press to undermine the heroism of men and women who are willing to risk their lives in the defense of our nation’s freedom,” Perry wrote of the online magazine The Intercept article that first revealed Kyle's medal discrepancy.

Teammates who served with Kyle said that questionable claims aside, Kyle was a devastating sniper.

"He was pretty damn effective," said one former SEAL, who asked to remain anonymous so as not to fray ties to the SEAL community, a close-knit group that is urged to shun the spotlight. "Leadership kept putting him in the worst situations because they knew he was effective."

The SEAL also laughed off suggestions, which have dogged Kyle since the book was released, that he was killing indiscriminately, saying that the amount of bureaucracy and persistent overhead surveillance on today's battlefield wouldn't allow for a sniper to kill random civilians without serious consequences. 

Kyle's verified Silver Star citation highlights his uncommon skill and effectiveness on the battlefield, crediting Kyle with killing a staggering number of terrorists and helping U.S. forces take Ramadi from Al Qaeda in 2006.

"Petty Officer Kyle's heroic actions, professionalism and incredible sniper skills had tremendous impact in the success of U.S. and Iraqi Forces in routing the insurgency and seizing key areas of the City of Ar Ramadi, the epicenter of Al Qaeda and insurgent activity in Iraq," the citation reads. "During 32 sniper overwatch missions, he personally accounted for 91 confirmed enemy fighters killed and dozens more probably killed or wounded."