While serving in iraq from 2003 to 2009 u. S. Navy s. E. A. L. Sniper chris kyle accumulated more officially confirmed kills than any other sniper in u. S. Military history. In his bestselling autobiography, american sniper now a major motion picture, mr. Kyle described his early career as a professional rodeo rider. The challenges he had to overcome become a s. E. A. L. And experiences in iraq. Chris kyle died on february 2 2013 at the age of 38. This program is from 2012. Its about an hour. Host chris kyle why did you decide to join the navy . Guest actually i grew up thinking the marines were the biggest baddest guys on the block in my eyes wanted to be one so i went to enlist and try to become a marine and a marine recruiter was out to lunch and then in the strip mall all of a sudden there youve got the Army Recruiter in the Navy Recruiter coming out to be snipers themselves and pick you up and get you to come to them. I talked to each one of them and the Navy Recruiter sold me on being a s. E. A. L. Host at that moment you knew you wanted to be a s. E. A. L. . Guest yeah i mean everything he was telling me which they recruit are built it up to where was more of a jason bourne typing that he sold me that the navy s. E. A. L. S do all the stuff that you never hear about and all this great adventure and you are going to be the most highly trained person out there. Youll be able to have all the skills shooting and handtohand and i thought that sounds great. If they are the best i want to be the best. Host what. Host what was your. Guest well the initial boot camp to become a s. E. A. L. Is called blood and that was basically felt like seven months long standing there with your feet shoulder width width apart getting kicked in the job. It was wet and sandy every day and there were times that i thought about quitting but i didnt know if i was too lazy to get up from where it was and find the bell to ring up but somehow i managed to make it through. Host when did you serve . Guest i went in and 99 and got out in february of 99 and got out in november of 2009. Host chris kyle is the author of a 13 week bestseller and heres the cover of the book. Its called american sniper the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in military history. He is our guest for the next hour here on booktv on cspan2. We are going to put the numbers up on the screen if you would like to talk with mr. Kyle. 202 is the area code 7370001 in eastern and central timezones and in the mountain pacific time zone 7370002 and we have set aside a third line this morning for iraq and afghanistan vets and active duty 202 6280205. You can also contact us electronically. You can send an email to booktv at cspan. Org or send a tweak to twitter. Com booktv. Chris kyle in your book you write you were not the best shot at all in your class. Or before you went into the seals. Guest no sir i never claimed to be the greatest sniper. Through Sniper School i was middle of the pack and when we graduated i almost failed out of Sniper School. Everyone tends to think when you get the number of kills that all of a sudden you are this great sniper. Thats not the measure of a sniper. The measure of the true greatness of the snipers to roll everything all into one. I mean its the stalking in the observation come everything and that is why in my mind carlos 93 confirmed kills i think he is the greatest sniper ever in history. Not just america but all over the world. He is the guy that would go and buy himself sneak in, take a shot with a lot less capable weapons and we have today and optics that he would take that shot and sneak back out undetected and i think thats the true measure of a sniper is being able to get in and identify your target, take a shot in get out jim mertens jim anderson sent an email mr. Kyle how many and confirmed kills that he had or were all of years confirm . Did you ever trained with the m. 25 . Guest i never use that rifle and as far as dan confirmed kills you never count those. There is no point in trying to keep track of what could have been or might have been. You are just wasting your time. Your whole thing is youre out there to try to take these bad guys off the streets and make it safer for your guys to allow for more of your guys to be able to make it home. The ideal thing if i knew the number of lives they saved that something i would love to be known for but you cant calculate that. Host what was your reaction at the time to a kill . Guest i mean when you are looking at these people you are not thinking of them more or less as people. They are a target because most of the time they are actively engaging in trying to kill your guys so you were trying to see yourself as a Guardian Angel to protect the guys on the ground who are in danger. You are so removed from it you dont want to think about it at the family and what is their job and one of a gun. You just try to in your mind think i want this guy to be able to go my guy i want him to safely be able to go home so im going to take up this target to allow them to do that. Host where did you serve . Guest iraq. Host but when . Guest i was over for the invasion in 03 went back in 04 and then was attached to the marine corps for the battle of fallujah, sent back to baghdad and onto the nia. I did a little bit on haifa street for the elections and then went back in 06 and spent all that time and ramadi for the battle of ramadi. And then went back again in 08, was sent out west but then send our call for s. E. A. L. Snipers to come to baghdad and help secure the green zone by going into sadr city. Host chris kyle why did you leave the seals in 2009 . Guest being a s. E. A. L. Is extremely tough on your marriage. We have got extremely high divorce rates. It was about 95 divorce and my wife and i constantly struggled trying to keep the marriage afloat and even when you are not deployed when you are come home your training is not at home so you are never really truly home. And it was causing stress on the marriage and i finally got to the point to where needed to decide is it going to be god country and family ores are going to be god, family, country and i chose to hang it up and quit and get everything back to my family now. Host and your wife is today a . And you have children as well . Guest yes sir i do. I have a son and a daughter. Host George Lerner emails into mr. Kyle after returning to the u. S. Numerous times did your tours have their regressive impact on your family and if so what did the military do to ameliorate them . Guest well, the first time i went over it was definitely difficult because at the time we were really getting the coverage while we were there. As far as all the support behind the troops, with everybody protesting us we felt like america was against us. And we thought this is going to bf vietnam. When they come home are people going to spit on us but toward the end of the deployment we were able to get a few more channels and see a lot more of the actual coverage that was going on and all the support so that definitely helped it out. But when i came home it was difficult because you leave from a war zone one day and you are home the very next day. They fly a straight home and it takes a little bit. You know i would always have about a month off to where you react to make yourself. You spend a week at home and just hang out with a family and try to get to know them again and hope that my kids werent afraid of me and they remembered that i was daddy trade but especially the first time i was a little upset coming home. I saw everybody doing their daytoday normal lives and i was thinking they dont even know theres a war going on. There are people dying but as i continued doing this i came to the realization that is why we are doing it. We are over there fighting so everybody can lead their normal daytoday lives. Thats what its all about. Host chris kyle what was your first confirmed kill . Guest we were in the city and we were trying to soften up some of the locations. We were going to make it safe but just try to make it as little as possible at something to it and wild in the city the marines started to approach. The people came out to show that they were supportive of the military and they werent going to fight. At that time there was a woman who came out and she had something in her hands. I was watching her. I was relaying back to my chief everything she had and what she was doing. He informed me that it was a chinese great grenada and told me i had to take the shot because she started approaching the marines. At this point i had never killed anyone so it definitely made me pause but also the fact it was difficult. We tried to radio the marines to let them handle it. I didnt want to have to be the one to take the womans life. We couldnt raise him on the radio so i ended up having to take the shot but in my mind she was dead anyway. She was either going to kill herself by the grenade being a suicide bomber or she would die by my bullet. I would rather shoot her than to sit there and watch her blow up the marines. Chris kyle right as the americans organized a woman took something she had said a grenade and i didnt realize at first. It looks yellow until the chief describing what i saw as he watched himself. Its yellow shes got a grenade to the chief. Its a chinese grenade. Get the grenade. I hesitated. Someone must turn to get the marines on the radio but a good reason. They were coming down the street heading towards the women. Schute said the chief. I push my finger against the trigger and the bullet left out. I shot. The grenade dropped. I fired again as the grenade blew up. It was the first time id killed anyone while i was on the sniper rifle in the first time in iraq and the only time i killed anyone other than a male combatant. The first call for chris kyle comes from arthur in norfolk virginia. Go ahead arthur. Caller hey thank you for your service everybodys service in iraq and afghanistan. My question is if you could speak to the gold star mothers and wives on behalf of their sons and daughters who died over there what would you tell them about the war and about. I appreciate their sacrifice. In fact im very close with some of them because some of those that died were my guys. I remained close with those families. As far as telling them their sons or daughters sacrificed and was it worth it and he wore no matter where it is not a single American Life is worth it but for the overall cause, to be able to make a play safer in the world, these guys and girls are out there putting their lives on the line and they are cherokee rose. There is no cause. They are out there because their country sends you out there to you dont have to believe in the war and you dont get to choose where you go. You just have that sense of honor that you are going to serve this country no matter where congress or the president tells you you were going to go. You just go and you do your duty. You are fighting for the guy or the girl on the right and left of you. I hate to say it but i wasnt really fighting for america. I was fighting for my guys. I wanted to make sure every one of those guys came home. Host chris kyle writes the reminder of what we are fighting for cause tears as well as blood and sweat to run freely from all of us. I have lived the literal meaning of the land of the free and the home of the brave. I feel it in my heart. I feel it in my chest and then mr. Kyle in a different chapter you write when i was heading out it happened that i passed a small group of protesters demonstrating against the war. They were protesting the wrong people. We didnt vote in congress to go to war. I signed up to protect this country. I do not choose the words. Happens that i love to fight but i do not choose which battles to go to. You also made to them. I had to wonder why these people were protesting in the congressional hearings are in washington. Clanon freeman michigan you are on with chris kyle, the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in military history. Caller thank you gentlemen. My question for mr. Kyle is in the wake of the Trayvon Martin case and the shooting at the college in oakland last week i think it was and a lot of other cases like that. What do you think of this hypergun culture we have in america where anyone who wants a gun can get one and use it if they like and specifically what is the opinion on gun control . Thank you very much. Host mr. Kyle . Guest i am 100 behind the second amendment, the right to own and bear arms. I am here in texas and that is a big part of the culture here. Its my right to be able to have it but its also everybodys responsibility to learn the safety and learn everything about those weapons. There are certain people that dont deserve a weapon. The people who are going to go out and actually act stupid. As far as the Trayvon Martin thing i have been kept up with that so i can tell you everything thats going on there. I havent heard all the facts and for the most part i have heard one side of the story so i cant comment on that one. All the School Shootings especially in california i know its difficult to be able to carry a gun. Only a few people are legally going to be able to do that so i dont know why hes doing that but apparently gun control itself the only thing its going to do is take the guns out of lawabiding citizens hands. The criminals are still going to happen. Host carl from murray kentucky email sent to you mr. Kyle, what inspired you to write the autobiography . Guest actually was dead set against it. It is something that i felt like these guys who got out and did this kind of thing, they were selling out. I did not want to be a sellout. Its basically cashing it in for a publicity and i was completely against it. But then as i found out there were two other offers who were seeking my story, they were going to write the book. If the book was going to be written i wanted to make sure was done the right way. I didnt want someone else writing a book about made and it being another chest beating story saying hey look at me and what ive done. This way i wrote it and it gets the credit to the proper people the guys around me that with each are heroes. The only reason i look good is because of those guys and their heroics. So this story gives credit to those whether its the seals come the soldiers of the marines. Those guys that fought around man beside me they were awesome and i owe them everything. So im calling them out and putting them up on a pedestal. Letting everybody know hey this is what goes on overseas. The story in my book are not just unique to me as a s. E. A. L. They are unique to every combat vet. These are the hardships that they face. They may not have gone. The exact same story as i did but very similar. So this is just raising the awareness of hey look what your church are going through. But then at the same time you hear my wife. Shes telling the hardships of the family back home. When someone deploys and goes overseas to fight a war its not just them thats in the fight now. Its the entire family thats left behind. So the whole point behind this is i dont even care about the numbers. I dont want the hype but i will stand up and i will be an activist for vets to make sure that they get the proper thank you. Today there is a lot of lip service and im not saying people dont mean it when they say it but going to an airport saying thank you definitely means a lot to the guys. Why cant we take a step further and show our thanks random acts of kindness. You dont even have to get money that mother yard cook them a meal, to babysit so they can take a nap or go on that day. Just little random acts of kindness to show your thanks and thats going to blow them away. Host chris kyle this book is written in the vernacular with a lot of swearing in the book. Guest yes sir and in the military there is a lot of cussing. That is part of the military culture. It is a rough and gruff type of society and we are not politically correct so i dont talk like that on a daily basis especially now here in the civilian world. But in that time its also kind of the way of a stress reliever. You are constantly in hectic situations and this is the way of voicing it and getting it out and then moving on. Host you write about how your wife heard one of your firefights. Guest yes sir it was deadly something i never intended. I didnt realize that the phone wasnt turned off but i thought i was calling it a good time. Usually at night we arent as busy and this night we were an abortion when she was still on the line. Host and what was her reaction . Guest well definitely upsetting. There were several times when i would call home and when she would answer the phone and realized them is my voice on the other line she would cry. There were a couple of times we were in a Helicopter Crash. I would eyes come back and they would see on the news. The media calls the s. E. A. L. S the special forces. This special forces or whatever one calls the green berets. Special operations or spec ops includes everybody rangers so i would always come back and say i was in a Helicopter Crash. In case you hear about it, no big deal. And then another time i wasnt able to call her back and i wasnt in a Helicopter Crash this time. It was actually sf guys and they killed everybody on board in the same thing. When i called she broke down. Host how many Helicopter Crashes were you in . How many times were you injured . Guest several. I dont exactly know how many times. Host were you overshot . Guest i was shot twice. Host where . Guest i was shot or i took around across the top of the helmet and i took one in the back and when the site. Host how long ago put you out of service . Guest fortunately for me it was superficial wounds but the one the back hit the body armor which slowed me down just enough to wear was basically barely punctured my back and it was no big deal. It was just get it cleaned up and you are right back in the fight. Host mark in Virginia Beach or were on with other chris kyle former navy s. E. A. L. Caller hey chris harry doing . I appreciate so much the work you have done as active duty and he talked about not wanting to cash in and all that other stuff but what do you think about people who leave active duty and continue their work as a contractor . What are your thoughts on that and what happened to you and your wife after the book lacks. Guest esparza contractors, you have got these guys that this is what we are trying to do and some of the guys have degrees in some of the guys dont but this is what we know this is what we love. You go to be a contractor and one of the biggest things you miss when you leave are the guys guys. You hate to give that up. So to be a contractor you are surrounded by those guys again. You can kind of do some the same styles of work. Its mainly protection but at least you are getting paid extremely well and you are spending time overseas with their guys again. I respect that. The job has got to get done so why not be the one to make the money doing at . Not all these contractors out there were these wild cowboys figures only been a few or some incidences where someone has gone off the reservation done something stupid but for the most part these guys are out there every day trying to help out. You never hear about it because they are not messing up. As far as me i am international which does have a contracting side but im the training side. We train the military trying to get back to them and help them prepare before they deploy but also Law Enforcement helping those guys. They are the First Responders here and i wanted give back to my community and make sure these guys are prepared. Not that im a onestop shop and if you come here now you know ripping but at least i have another tool for you to put in your toolbox that hopefully comes in handy and help somebody out. We also have the civilian side where the corporate retreats will take you out to be a marksmanship training to where we have all these machine guns and things that you cant own but we can bring them out and you can shoot machine guns and have fun. Host chris kyle you have a photo in your book of a platoon of s. E. A. L. Team three and several of the faces are blacked out. Why is that ended this book have to go through initial betting . Guest yes those spaces are blacked out. Some of the basis are elbowed out of respect for them i wanted to protect their identify their identity. We do try to conceal their identities. We are not out there saying hey look at me im a navy s. E. A. L. As far as going through channels when the book was written it was heavily involved with some of my buddies helping me with the different stories. I couldnt remember all of them so they were relaying some of the stories back. But then i had to turn it in to the dod and the department of defense did their check on it. You got all the seal teams and everybody you work for goods there had chop on it says you make sure you didnt say anything that was unclassified or anything more or less you dont want to hurt a bunch of feelings if you dont have to. Host was anything taken out of the original manuscript . Guest there were a few things were taken out. Host lisa from Burlington North carolina qrm booktv with chris kyle. Hello . Host lisa please go ahead with your question or comment. You are on. Kay in omaha nebraska, good afternoon. Caller hi there, i just wanted to thank you. I never call on the phone and i was just getting ready to hang up but i just wanted you to know that my dad was commander of the American Legion and on memorial day we all marched out out of town and went out to the cemetery and pay their respects and the guys shot off the guns. It was just so aweinspiring for me as a kid to see it. My grandmother was post commander of the American Legion for women. I just wanted to say that its coming up now and im going out in march by myself but thank you very much. Guest thank you maam and thank your family for everything they have done and are doing. I really appreciated and its one thing that we do as a family on memorial day. Theres a National Cemetery out here and we take the entire family out there and we will find a tombstone and lay a rosanna. Its to show the kids that we are honoring these guys who have come before us for their sacrifice. I want them to understand it and be supportive of the military. You dont have to support the wars, no care about that but the men and women wearing that uniform are true heroes. Like i said before they dont decide where they go but they are willing to do whatever their country asked. Host chris kyle is joining us from tell us and beer in Fremont California aqr on with chris kyle author of american sniper. Caller hey how are you doing . Host please go ahead. We are listening. Caller i just wanted to let you know that i do appreciate all that you have done for our country because its very important to have someone like you available. I know that all you guys risk every bit of your lives just to do this. I just want to cry out for you. I do have worries in part because it takes you to keep us at a level that we appreciate. That is the most important key factor to win wars and i just wanted to let you know you are my hero and you will always be my hero. My dad fought from 1941 to 1944 in that war. I wish they would open up doors to receive compensation for what you do. Its gallant and my dad today is living to see on may 4, 90 years of surviving so i just wanted to let you know you are appreciated. Guest thank you sir. I really appreciate that and i really respect your father for everything he has done. I know longer wear the uniform so my heroes are all those men and women wearing it and the men and women that have come before us they have definitely set the bar high and those are some high standards to try to live up to. Host chris kyle are there any female snipers . Guest not that i know of. As far as i know being a sniper is still being on the frontline and the last that i was told anyone in combat the closest you get to being on the front lines as a woman would be a pilot. Host the next call for chris kyle comes from dave in idabel oklahoma on our iraq afghan vets line. Go ahead dave. Caller good morning. Im a sevenyear veteran and a 12 year veteran deployed seven times. I was a marine and Navy Corpsman trade i understand everything youre saying. I am right there with you. Thank you for showing me the way here. I was right there with your brother in fallujah and baghdad in 2002 until 2009. Guest well thank you for all your service and you know out of s. E. A. L. School, just because i made it through s. E. A. L. School doesnt make me any better than anybody else. Its just different strokes for different folks and there are definitely some outstanding people and all the other branches just regular true fighters and warriors. I just respect the hill out of everyone wearing that uniform. Host this email from john moffitt of San Francisco mr. Kyle have you read jar head by Anthony Swofford a marine corps sniper during the 90s . If so what did you think of this book lacks. Guest honestly i havent. Most of the folks, i idolized the man but other than that most of the books i have read were all fiction. It was usually reading about mitch rapp and all of his duties that he was doing out there. In fact i was not a big reader. Host what about marcus littrells book . Guest i did read that. Marcus is a good friend of mine and i definitely want to support him so i bought the book. I definitely read it and its a tough one to read but i appreciate his story and again and now book he is not saying hey look at me. Hes trying to highlight the friends that he lost and show the true heroes that they were. Host annex called for chris kyle american sniper comes from julio in chicago. Good afternoon. Caller good morning. Mr. Kyle i saw you on your previous publicity tour on the Oreilly Factor and you had mentioned you had punched governor Jesse Ventura. I saw an interview where governor ventura said that incident did not take place in california. Its obvious someone is lying and its either you are governor ventura. So what is going on here . Did this happen and if not why would you call out a navy s. E. A. L. S, someone who is well respected being a public figure like governor ventura . Guest my intention was never to call him out. It happened on a show. A caller called in and said tell them the story about this because there were other people that know this that were there but as far as anything else im not even going to talk about it at this time. Host you do write about Jesse Ventura in your book and did he not sue you . Guest oh he did. Host and that is unsettled at this point . Guest yes sir. Host ventura california ralph you are on the line with chris kyle. Caller mr. Kyle im a marine so i know what youre talking about when it comes to vietnam. My question for you was to talk a little bit about honor. Civilians dont seem to understand what it means in the military especially the s. E. A. L. S and special forces what honor really is. Thank you. Guest thank you for your service orr and i apologize for the reaction you got when you came home. As far as the honor when that flag is flying in the National Anthem is playing i feel chills and sometimes i get a little choked up. Everything that flag stands for there are guys who have died to be able to allow me to be at that sporting event or wherever i may be and hear that song and see that flag. I mean you are willing to put everything on the line. You are willing to die for your country whether you believe in the cause or not. Just because your country says we need this youre going to do something for the greater good. That was one of the big things i had a problem with getting out of the military was my whole job job, it was all for the greater good. It was for everybody in the country and now that im a civilian its for my own good. So it definitely cause some problems and i dont know i mean i grew up extremely patriotic. I loved this country and i love the troops even before i enlisted but i dont really know how to explain it. Its just a sensation inside you that you love this country. No matter whos in charge, democrat republican are white, or how bad things might be here this is still the greatest nation in the world. There is no other place id rather be. So its just that love of this country and you were willing to do whatever the country asked of you. Host where did you grow up in what were you doing before you join the navy . Guest i was born and raised here in texas. I was born in odessa but moved when i was young my dad worked for the phone company so we moved around a little bit all over texas. When i graduated school i ended up going to college. It was a smaller college at the time called carlson state. It was in stevensville texas. When i was down there i was working on ranches and i decided decided i had two dreams in life. One was to be a cowboy and the other one was to be in the military. So i was down there doing some rodeos and working on the ranches and i figured why do i need to be inschool . So i quit college and kept working as a cowboy for a living traveling around texas on different branches and new mexico and colorado until eventually i figured out all right, i have done this long enough. I have have one other dream so now its time to go and do it. Host two r. Scott mcewen and jim defelice . Scott is a lawyer in san diego. He is a man that i met through a former being around in hearing some of the stories from some of the guys talking with me and he was the one that approached me and said you need to write a book trade i want to help you do it. So he got me in touch with harpercollins who ended up wanting to publish this book and then jim defelice is the actual author. Hes the man that i spent the time with some, extended periods of time sitting down relaying all of my stories back to him and he would record it, take notes and write it back into his story format that would try to grab the reader and try to get my point across. Host edward in houston please go ahead with your question or comment for chris kyle. Caller yes im watching a program right now and i wanted to find out if there was any information on the company you mentioned earlier that i can send him mail. My computer is not exactly active so im trying to find out as much information as they can on the company. Host why is that edward . Get. Caller its something ive been curious about for while and i now that im older im thinking about it. I dont know if i will be. Follow through on it and im just curious about it. I want to find out if there was anything he could send me for any information he could give me. Host chris kyle . Guest well, i think you are talking about Craft International the company i mentioned earlier the training site thats basically the military outsources a lot of its draining. Its awarded to dod contractors that they will send different units to places all around the United States. There are several Training Companies and we just happen to be based in texas. We have facilities elsewhere throughout the United States but we are training these guys not only in sniping but offroad driving, tactical driving handtohand anything that deals with weapons, all the different tactics we are teaching the military and the Law Enforcement. For the military we have hired, its not just s. E. A. L. S. I was a s. E. A. L. And there are few more working with us but i have a lot of special forces marines, army because when i have other units coming and i dont want just a s. E. A. L. Being up there and people think oh hes a s. E. A. L. And he has an ego and thinks he is better than me. Now i have a team of guys from all these different branches there were all coming together and saying look here something that can help. And then sometimes army and marines might have but little different lingo. Now at least you have the guy there that can speak your speak. We do the same thing with Law Enforcement. We have but cops heavily involved. We still have military instructors in there because i do feel some of the stuff the military does will benefit the police and vice versa. Some of the stuff the police do will help the military. Just trying to get a little more synergy going between everyone and getting everyone talking and try to come out with the best possible solution for everyone. Host chris kyle what is the web site . Guest it is the crafts. Com or craft by ntl. Com. Host the next call for chris kyle comes from jeff in aiken south carolina, navy vet. Go ahead. Caller hey chris i want to tell you i appreciated being of them. Ive served from 2000 to 2006 on iraq not the whole time in iraq and i also did small boats with team and im sure you know what they are. Then i got out and i discovered the same thing you did that the caliber of people that you deal with became an flt office and i did that for a few years. A lot of people maybe dont understand whats going on as an individual. If you could just kind of explain that you are not a coldblooded killer as much as you are doing a job. Thanks man. Guest thank you for your service. As far as being a sniper like i was saying before i am not out there trying to rack up these huge numbers. I dont care about the numbers and i would love to be known by the number of people i was actually able to save but im out there to make sure of the safety of everyone on the streets. I want every one of those guys and girls that go over there with me to be able to come home. Its not just those guys that im protecting. Im also out there protecting civilians in application. Some of these openair markets we were there to be able to provide that security so they could come back out and actually sell their goods without having to worry about someone smashing them off the street or blowing them up. They were out there in fear by cutting heads off and torturing people so we are just trying to make it safe. He cant think of the person that you are shooting as an actual person. Otherwise its going to tear you apart. You cant think of their family or anything. You are there to provide safety for your guys and the civilians that are out there. Like you said its a job. Its a difficult job and some people ive seen the comments of called me a coward for hiding shooting a guy from a mile away. Well theres a reason im shooting a guy from a mile away. I wasnt close enough and there were someone who was close enough that he was fixing to kill so wherever i can reach out and get used to be able to provide that security i will do it or did. Becoming a sniper, is there some kind of Aptitude Test for that . Just have good eye . How does one get assigned as a sniper . Guest well, as far as being assigned to sniper, we werent allowed at that time to be a new guy, a brand new guy thats never deployed to be a sniper. You had to show that you were responsible and mature enough to be able to conduct yourself and possibly pass through the course and then my chief nominated me to be able to go when i got back from mfirst and then my chief nominated me to be able to go when i got back from my first appointment. When you go as far as the Aptitude Test i honestly think that if something theyve all been trying to figure out about what kind of person does it take . Honestly i dont know. I am not a very patient man, so patients i dont because they require me to be the sniper. It is professional it is your professional discipline of doing the right they at the right time and knowing when you have to Pay Attention to detail and just take your time come the slowdown. Bb you have to call they call it rebadged come call it research, but the vegetation back under the least suit are you coming to a new environment and its not the same vegetation you have a you have on you come to see have to stop, take your time to take the old stuff off but the new stuff on. It is kind of like integrity. Doing the right to get the right time to be able to concentrate on the webpage and shoot and not actually be able to word all the Different Things involved with the actual shooting portion. There is actually portion. There is actually lot of math portion. Theres actually a lot of math involved, especially the further distance to go. Host you were watching booktv on cspan2. Our guest is chris kyle author of the best selling book american sniper the autobiography of the ost lethal sniper in u. S. History. We have about 15 minutes left with our guest. Robert is activeduty in salt lake city. Proper, you were on booktv with chris kyl. Caller yes i just want to say thank you for all of your service. I joined in 1985 and im still currently in. I was away last week and i see your book and picked it up and i want to tell you it is a fantastic book. I havent been able to put it down and i think i have like 20 pages left. Thank you again for everything. Guest well, thank you, sir. Thank you for everything youve done and everything you continue to do for us. You are the reason this book is out here, to drop awareness to your sacrifices and hopefully the public will lift you up and say thank you in show you things. In fact the book all of my portion of the proceeds are going back to the two families of the guys i lost. Mark lee and ryan show. The other third of the money is going back to charities to help better it is. I am out here promoting this book. Unfortunately, this is not a happygolucky book. That was some of the best moments of my life, but also somewhat the worse. Everything i do this book to her and talk about is coming you agree with it and then you get stressed and especially the first time im talking with the author, you feel like you just got run over by a truck. I am doing this for these guys because i am highlighting nonand im not going to sit here and give you lip service. I give the money back to these guys. Host what was the book to her like for you . Guest it was fun but at the same time it was stressful. Theres always going to be peters out. Fortunately ive yet to see that. His emotional at times. Ive had family members stand in line to get up there and sign a book with me. They come up they are nervous because they want me to sign their book. They keep saying i swear you are not as nervous as i am. I am not super comfortable in front of big groups of people and oneonone. It is difficult for me but i do enjoy it and i do love seeing these guys in uniform standing there in line. In fact the first one i did was here in dallas and it was a rainy night. He was the night of the National Championship between alabama and lsu. I thought i was not actually because i wanted to watch the game and my publicist scheduled. But i thought thats right. Hardly anyone will show up and ill go catch it. Well 1200 people later in the game was over. So it was that not some often turn out. All of these people are now coming out and say thank you. Youve opened my eyes. I have a warm embrace me a letter saying i was not only against the war, i was against the military. Because she was raised in a military family. After reading my book she goes i understand. She said it made her cry and open her eyes to burn now she supports the troops. I just find it amazing that this book is reaching out and actually touching people in opening some eyes. When im doing this book signings, all of these people are standing in line to meet me which my mind. If they stand there in line to meet me then i will stand there. Im going to stand up as long as youre standing i will stand. Iowas tax you up little bit i want you to know that im a real person. Im your average everyday guy. I will take a picture for you. The kids brittany pictures and drawings theyve done. It is nice. Host language alert here dearest little bit firm transformers american sniper. Heres the chapter dont tell my mom. One kid hadnt made it. He was laid on his back crying in pain. I started laying down fire and ran up to grab him good when i got to him, i thought he was in pretty bad shape. I stopped and got an arm under each of his and started hauling him backwards. Somehow i managed to slip as i went yet i fell backward with him on top of me. By that point i was so tired and when did that just laid there a few minutes still in the line of fire is lit shot by. The kid was about 18 years old. He was really badly hurt. I could tell he was going to die. Please dont tell my mom i died and pay the matter. Shit, kid. I dont even know who you are. Im not telling your mom anything. Okay okay i said. Dont worry. I will make it sound great really. He died right there. He didnt here long enough to your my life about how everything was going to be okay. A bunch of marines came, they lifted him off of me and put them in the back of a hummer peer. The caught up on strike and check out the shooting positions for the fire had come from it the other end of the alley. I went back to my block and continue the fight. Next call is sean and okeechobee florida. You were on with chris kyle. Help caller thank you, chris. I want to say thank you for your service. I was in iraq and kuwait came down from florida did have the honor to last semester but the edt sale memorial and mouth was a very touching, very moving and it was great to be able to see a lot of this see how guys that do it every day. Your comments on seeing the flag and the National Lampoon starspangled banner. We read a toby keith concert and when he played american soldier, that just every hair on my body stood out. My wife looked over and they just dont get much been there done not. My question is that 17 18yearold kid. Was secured by for the next generation of kids that want to join the military combatants. Maybe not even combatant, but join the military and support their country. Host chris kyle. Host guest thank you for your service. Ive got two kids myself and i am never going to push them towards the military and im never going to push them away as one great dating come of the military as a volunteer force. If youre going to be there, i wanted to be because you want it and you will understand the honor that goes into serving your country. As far as preparing them when you sign to go into the military, theres you go to war. So just prepare yourself that you may be called upon by your country to put your life on the line. A lot of people say they dont understand the fighting over there and that is fine. You dont even listen to the people coming out against the war because what they need to be doing is protesting congress or protest the president. All of these politicians. Leave the military guys along. They are out there doing a job and extremely honorable job. Youll have some of the best moments of your life. You will have a brotherhood and you never lose contact with those people. They will be your family. Well have some of the worst moments of your life. It will be extreme obscene extreme lows. Just be prepared. Host mcavoy jacobo washington. Go ahead with your question or comment. Caller hi, chris. Thank you so much for taking so much time in talking with us and speaking today. Thank you for your service. Thank you are your sacrifice time away from your family and everything youve done for the story. I cant wait to read your book. And for your device that you are giving, just with what we can do for really our neighbors, family members coming back. Not just a simple thanks to the service, but you know what can we do for you. Can you go more into that . Guest i did see active valor. I did like it. I watched it one time. I dont know what theyre called it, but they gave us a special showing of it and it was all these military guys in there. It was definitely emotional. It was one of those different tanks i was involved with each has each of those missions were true missions. It definitely hurt to watch it and the next time i watch it it will be in my own home with no one else around. As far as giving back to the guys and showing your things, it is simple Little Things. If they own their house or if they have a house that has a yard or something, go mow the yard for them. Cook them something. Whether it is a meal or cookies. Come over and say hey do you need this story done or that sure whatever. Its simple Little Things and it will take some of your time. Depending which you want to do. It could take five minutes or could take all day long depending how much you want to do. These guys are out there willing to die for you. I feel like now it is our duty to give back to them and make sure that they know we appreciate everything that they are doing because i dont think most of the public fully understands and grass what these men and women were willing to do for safety and security. They are willing to die for us. People therell never meet but the least we can do is take some time out of our days and everybody stays extremely busy. It was not too many things that make you feel better inside. Weve been doing retreats for these guys, hunting, fishing, Different Things to get the nod and say look, i love you. Thank you. This is what i want to do for you. So lets go do this. One ive been involved with is called safeco. It go as a hero project. One thing when i got out i started drinking a lot and then i got way out of shape, refuse to work out and i was depressed. So i started working out again finally start getting back into shape than when i did back my head cleared out. When i did that come i went i went to the sky and said this helped me. Do you have some old equipment or something cheap i can buy to help put in these veterans homes because if they will like me when youre out of shape come you dont want to go to a gym and people look at you like you used to be back whatever and you feel bad about yourself. For the guys to come back injury, they dont want to go to the gym and people stare at them. So it is kind of turned this into a huge organization to where we take brandnew expensive equipment and put it in these guys engross homes so they can feel better within. But then it also has private trainers if you want it. It has a therapist if you need it. We are not only trying to get the body back, we are trying to help you and everything. Ptsd is nothing to be frowned on. These guys are still part of the society they gave to us. They can still be trusted. It is nothing to be looked down on. We need to help them. We always took time. Host chris kyle writes, i never really believed the iraqis to turn the country into a truly functioning democracy, but i thought at one point there was a chance. I dont know that i believe that now. Its a corrupt place. I didnt risk their life to bring democracy to iraq. I was an eye for my friends and countrymen. I went to work for my country not a, not iraq. My country set up better so it wouldnt make its way back to our shores. I never once thought for the iraqis. I could give a flying at about them. Debbie and denver. Youre on with american sniper, chris kyle. First of all thank you for serving. I come from a long line of military families. I remember my dad and my brother, both at the same time. My mother was a tough cookie. She was thickskinned. I remember as a child you werent able to ask a question either of them about the combat were killed or any war in now maysan is a combat veteran and hes going to iraq in the second floor. When he came home he was injured and i remembered the old days that you dont talk about it. I really want to reach out to my son [inaudible] guest well as far as not talking to him about it i think a lot of these guys that are having problems you know i think ptsd is something no matter how much you talk about it, i dont think ptsd is going to go away. It is something you have to learn to live with an workaround, but but its definitely something controllable and something that can be put to the back of your mind. Excuse me. But i also know that it is going to be difficult for them to talk to somebody who hasnt in the encino. Unless you have been there and witnessed it and gone through it and felt it they may have a hard time talking to you about it. The only thing you can do is be there for them. If they want to talk let them talk. Let them tell you what other and no matter how bad, how shocking it may be, just love them. Give them your undying support and let them know i am here for you. No matter what youve seen what youve done i am he