Brad Proffit
English 111
Matt Williams
10-21-15
Chris Kyle: The Devil of Ramadi Over the course of the last 100 years, many people have taken the opportunity to change the world for the better. Someone that has stood out to is a man by the name of Scott “Chris” Kyle. Chris Kyle is a man of a rare breed. He is someone that dedicated his life to standing up to those who couldn’t stand up for themselves. A sheepdog, in a sense, to the sheep.
Chris Kyle is one of the deadliest human beings in modern military history. He currently holds the record for the most confirmed kills in the US military. As deadly as this man was, he was not a cold blooded murderer. Chris Kyle was a sniper in one of the Navy’s prestigious SEAL teams. Kyle has been accredited with 160 confirmed combat kills and over 200 unconfirmed kills by the US Department of Defense. In contrast to his military career, Kyle was also a family man and an author. After his time in the Navy, he wrote the best selling book American Sniper. This book was later made into the award winning movie American Sniper, titled after the
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Taya, at the time, was a pharmaceutical drug representative that had recently moved to California from her home in Oregon. She met Chris through one of his fellow SEAL team members. As they got better acquainted, Taya asked Kyle what he did for a living. Kyle told her he drove an ice cream truck. Taya wasn’t fooled. Of course this wasn’t outside of the normal for Chris to keep what he did in the navy a secret. On multiple occasions Kyle told people ridiculous answers when they would ask him what he did for a job. Sometimes he would tell people that he sits inside ATM machines and divvy out money to people that would use them. Other times he would say that he polishes dolphins for the navy. Taya and Chris dated for some time before getting married in 2002 and having two
Carlos had always regarded himself last, and placed his family, his brother and sister Marines, and his country first. Carlos always reminded himself of what Captain Jim Land taught him. "A sniper's best defenses are cover and concealment and long-range accuracy. Most important, one shot, one kill." With that strategy, Carlos Hathcock became the most famous sniper in United States History. While the standard reward on a US sniper was eight dollars, the head of the White Feather, as the enemies knew him was about 30,000 dollars. Maybe that was because his mission always came first.
Although Chris McCandless' life at home growing up was hounded by his so called "ignorant" father or his "bigot" parents, made the best out of his life whenever he could. He was on the cross country team when he was younger, and they all ran out into the wild almost, purposely getting lost. Being on that team and experiencing that made him happier and started his interest and passion for embracing nature. Chris even found solace and was content with providing food, such as hamburgers, stated by his cross country teammate Eric Hathway, providing company to people less fortunate than him. Taking hikes with his grandfather and doing things as mentioned previously (cross country), eventually influenced him to make his greatest adventure and unbeknownst
Who was Chris McCandless? Many will argue that Chris was one thing or another, but one thing that I will argue is that McCandless was many things. Just like everyone on earth we all have many traits, most of us cannot be summed up into one word let alone Chris. I believe Chris to be a pioneer, stubborn and most importantly, himself. Even in a modern society where your life is almost mapped out for you; Chris blazed his own trail, and did something that no other man could do.
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, it’s what’s inside counts” This quote reminds people about how they should not judge other people from the outside but look deep into their true personalities. Looking from the appearance and how Chris lives, everyone would assume that Chris is a crazy, foolish person and does everything without thinking. If people try to know more about Chris, they would have different perspective. Chris is intelligent, determined, independent and follows what he believes. He went into the wilderness to escape from the society that tries to suppress him and look for the meaning of life.
Chris was so dedicated to his Country, GOD, and Family, not always in that order for the last two, that he became known as the LEGEND. His career as a Sniper would lead him to 160 confirmed kills; some say it was more.
Kyle, C with McEwen, S., DeFrelice, J. (2012) American sniper: the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. American sniper : the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. Chris Kyle Author. Retrieved from http://libserve.ivytech.edu.allstate.libproxy.ivytech.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=514&recCount=20&recPointer=0&bibId=366194
Karlinksy, Neal. "" Chris McCandless Inspires Adventures but at What Cost."" Http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3680748&page=1. N.p., n.d. Web.
As was seen in the movie, Chris Kyle had to endure his struggle with PTSD with little or no available help when he initially returned home (Hoge,2014). He had the unwavering support of his wife however she is portrayed as not being able to understand the difficulty her husband is having returning home after war. Chris Kyle found it difficult to talk about some of the gruesome things he had both witnessed and done while incombat - not uncommon in soldiers dealing with PTSD (Zoellner, 2001 and Treitschke, 2015).They showed how he struggled to reconnect with his wife and children to the point he was willing to go back to serve three more tours of duty feeling that was all he knew to do to cope(Treitschke, 2015). He had earned the nickname "Punisher" because of his reputation as a sniper on the battlefield, yet seemed to be unable to identify with himself as Chris Kyle ("Chris KyleAmerican Sniper"). He simply could not go back to his life as it was prior to his first deployment for
Chris McCandless was a “real gung ho,” said Jim Gallien, one of the characters in the book who was the last person to see Chris alive. Chris set high standards for himself, and was hired by a various amount of people throughout his journey. All of the employers have quoted him to be a hard worker, and reliable. Wayne Westerberg
The son of a church deacon, Kyle grew up on a ranch and experienced a childhood that was shaped by outdoor pursuits. He loved to hunt deer and pheasant and later competed in a number of bronco busting contests.For two years he studied agriculture at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, before leaving for a job as a ranch hand. His lifelong interest in the military eventually led him to the Navy in 1999, where he quickly gained admittance to the SEALS, the force’s elite special operations unit.After weathering a demanding selection process, Kyle was selected for and trained as a sniper. Over the course of his 10-year military career, Kyle served four combat deployments to
Burres said "I thought Alex had lost his mind when he told us about his 'great Alaskan odyssey, ' as he called it” (Krakauer 45). "Alex is a nut in my book, wrote a resident of Healy” (Krakauer 71). "why would anyone intending to 'live off the land for a few months, ' forget Boy Scout rule number one, be prepared. Why would any son cause his parents and family, such permanent and perplexing pain?" (Krakauer 71). There were many more people that thought Chris was a reckless idiot, but there were also many people that didn 't think Chris was a reckless idiot, and instead thought that Chris was Intelligent and brave. There were many people that Chris met during his travels, and was able to truly touch their hearts and change their lives forever. Jim Gallien, Wayne Westerberg, Jon Krakauer, Walt McCandless, Billie McCandless, Carine McCandless, Charlie, Ronald Franz, and Jan Burres were some of them. Chris knew these people in life or met them before the great Alaskan odyssey. Chris definitely made an impact in all these people 's lives and these people probably wouldn 't call Chris a reckless idiot, but instead would call Chris intelligent and courageous. One of the people that Chris met Before the Alaskan trip that really stuck out was Ronald
He left and “walked into the wild”, as he said, to escape his problems (Krakauer, 69). He never confronted his dad about his feelings. Carine McCandless talks about this personality trait in Chris saying, “Chris was the sort of person who brooded on things. If something bothered him; he wouldn’t come right out and say it” (Krakauer, 122). He changed his name, He wasn’t trying to take pride in his “adventure”. It was an extra and unnecessary precaution to ensure that his problems would not affect his escape. Chris McCandless changed his name and then continued his life ignoring all of the problems he had ever
Ultimate freedom is an odyssey everyone, at least once in their lifetime, tries to conquer. Chris McCandless did everything in his power to try and capture that freedom he was searching for. He ultimately gave up his own life during that quest. Did he find what he was searching for? We may never know. Very many people have diverse opinions on this character. Chris McCandless was not selfish. He was a young, well-educated boy. His parents handed him everything on a silver platter; he wanted to prove not only to himself but to everyone else he could do things on his own. His possessions did not define who he was as a person. He thought towards everyone else he was just another brick in the wall, a pretty rich boy, and that did not “fly” with him. He had to prove his worth.
In comparison, Chris Keller is seen as more of a noble character rather than an ‘average Joe’, as he would put himself on the line for someone else; ‘man for man’. Unlike Joe, Chris didn’t have a fate ...
Chris grew up in a stable home with a mother, a father, a sister, and an older brother. He learned how to live life very differently than anyone I’ve every met because he had to learn how to provide and to survive on his own. Even though he had both a mother and a father living with him, they still did not have enough money to provide everything for him immediately after his birth. He learned how to be independent and that has made him the person he is today. When he was fourteen, his family moved from a low income neighborhood to an upper middle class neighborhood. From rages to riches, some people might say, but that was not the case. Chris was still the same cheap guy.