bearcat6

Someone sent me this link. Interesting fellow. 255 confirmed kills: Meet Navy SEAL Chris Kyle... the deadliest sniper in US history | Mail Online

IrishCop

Just ordered his book from Amazon.

The comments from the brits (and a canadian) calling him a mass murderer and certain he would rot in hell set my teeth on edge, though.

Skeptic49

The sniper is an odd contradiction. They select specific targets with no collateral damage to speak of, yet still do not enjoy a good press.

Geoff
Who prefers those who select their targets, as opposed to calling in a ship load of 155s.

IrishCop

Agreed, Skeptic. I've always said a guy who sprays and prays scares me much less than a guy who can pick which button on my shirt he's gonna perforate.

WaltGraham

Imagine what would happen if a man in a bar told a group of Navy SEALs that he:

Disagrees with the war.
Believes they (the military) are murderers, killing innocent people… men, women and children
Thought they probably deserve to lose a few of their own.

You are probably wondering if the guy making the offensive comments is still alive.

He is alive, and he also happens to be Jesse Ventura, a SEAL alum/reservist and the former governor of Minnesota.

Source

stand watie

WaltGraham,

and Ventura, imVho, is a NUT, First Class.

fwiw, i shared a house with the Marine sniper who was third in RVN. - GREAT GUY, too.

yours, sw

bearcat6

There is some question about Ventura actually being a seal. I saw a navy officer who was a seal trainer on some hitler channel show. He said Ventura's MOS was underwater demolition team. Not to be sneezed at but not the seals either.

TommyGunn

I have heard this debate before; it shouldn't be hard to settle.
My father was U.D.T. during the Korean War. At that time there were no Seal Teams. President Kennedy commissioned the Seal Teams in 1963 IIRC.
From that point until the UDT was decommisioned, (circa 1983ish) if you wanted to be a U.S. Navy Seal you started out in the U.D.T. as Seal Teams were drawn from them.
This is why, to me, the Ventura thing is undecided territory. While he was active, if he had been a Seal, he would have HAD to have been U.D.T. before.
The U.S. Navy should have records to show what Ventura's history was while in service. I believe there is even a public forum listing real SEAL members, though I don't remember exactly what it was or how it worked.
I do know there's a gawdawful amount of wannabes that never were out there who "claim" they were Seals but were never in the Navy, and who would manage to drown in a thimbleful of water......
All I can do is hope Ventura isn't one of these .....

IrishCop

Thanks for that link, Walt. I was pretty sure that they were refering to Ventura when they talked about the incident. Nice to hear it from the sniper's mouth.

Ventura is another guy that just jumped off the deep end...that, or he mistakenly assumed that was the way to reboot his career after politics.

Gotta figure it's the deep end thing, though. What sane guy would tell a SEAL they deserve to "...lose a few guys" -during a wake!

stand watie

to all,

right before i retired from the army, THE ARMY TIMES reported that there are OVER 3,000 times as many people who CLAIM to have been a SEAL than ever went to the school, much less completed SEAL training.

thus, i take such claims "with a cup of salt", rather than a teaspoon.

yours, sw

WaltGraham

One that's stupid, or drunk, or both...

TommyGunn

This guy showed up in a segment on "The O'Reilly Factor" tonight. He said he had decked Jesse Ventura when Ventura said the Seals deserve to " '...lose a few guys' -during a wake!" as Irishcop put it.
While it seems he's acquired a bad press amongst some jackwagons in the peanut gallery, he said he did what he did in order to protect American servicemen and our allies. His only regrets were those whom he couldn't save.
He seemed a stand up guy.
I know that snipers often get a bad name in some circles; it's happened before. I never really understood why because they have their niche and snipers have done important work in many wars. Rather than try to cherry-pick which type of warrior to like or disdain, it seems more sensible to disdain war and our propensity for it in general, while realizing that it is also necessary sometimes to protect one's country and to preserve freedom and our way of life.
I say this guy is a hero, and God bless the U.S. Navy Seals and all others who put their lives on the line for America.

IrishCop

Of that I have no doubt!

On several occasions, I've had encounters with suspects who were quick to tell me they were ex-SEALS. These were generally pretty young guys, thinking that would get them a pass for whatever mischief they were doing. I started asking them what team they were with. Most stammered an answer, one (and this was years ago) promptly answered "Team 6". Yeah. Right. He still went to jail. They call it Special Ops for a reason. Even thought that part of the military has grown, it's still pretty small.

I've even had honest to god ex military folks throw out the "Black Ops" card. One retired USAF S.P. asked me "Ever done any Black Ops?" I said, "Uhhh, no." He proceeded to regale me with tales of his adventures.

What utter B.S.!! And from a grown man!

I've known EC-135, KC-135, B-52 and F-16 crewmen, and a couple of P.J.'s. My dad was in the (then) Electronic Security Service-basically the USAF's NSA. My younger brother was stationed at Groom Lake(aka Area 51) - he flew to and from duty in civies in a civilian airliner from Vegas.

NONE of these guys talked about what they did, or even the true capabilities of their aircrafts.

My brother and I would joke about aliens at his workplace; a KC Boomer once told me that I wouldn't believe some of the aircraft he refueled, but that's all he'd say.

Once, when I was about 17, we were stationed in then West Berlin. I came in late from a date, and my Dad was up and more than a little drunk.

A guy had been found dead on the Templehoff runway that morning. Story was he was "hit by a plane taking off" or some such rot.

I could tell my Dad was crying - not something I had seen before. I asked him what was wrong.

He said, "They got him. They got our best man and threw him in our own back yard." I tried to ask some questions, and Dad told me to never mind and go to bed.

Never asked him any more about it.

IrishCop

Here, here, Tommy! And while the Spec Ops guys get a lot of the glory-and don't get me wrong, they deserve it-they ordinary, everyday Soldier, Sailor, Airman and Marine are subjected to just as much danger, and act just as bravely, as the Spec Ops guys.

stand watie

IrishCop,

YEP. our Audie Murphy for ONE! - fwiw, my mother taught him English in freshman year of high school & his sisters in Vocational Home Economics, all 4 years.
(one of her most treasured things is the letter that he sent her, when he was hospitalized, recovering from a gunshot wound to the hip. - she keeps it in her Bible.)

when i was in the TX ARNG, we had the first Audie Murphy Day at the Greenville armory, on the Saturday nearest his birthday in 1971. - would you believe that NOBODY from his little hometown showed up, though we had MANY people from the surrounding counties? = if nothing else, we wild Texicans KNOW how to throw a party!
(most people, including historians, don't know this but Audie Murphy went to basic training as a TX National Guardsman, so he's also "one of ours". - at the completion of basic, he was assigned to Third Infantry Divison, where he became the Most Decorated Soldier of WWII.)

yours, sw

William R. Moore

"What color is the boathouse at Hereford?"

IrishCop

"You wanna tell me about an ambush? Huh? You wanna tell me about an ambush? I'll ambush you in a f&@%!$g cup of coffee!"

bearcat6

I've seen lots of guys on a corner with a sign saying " Please help homeless vet" When I get a chance I ask things like "What was your MOS?' "My what?" " What unit were you with?" My personal favorite answer to that question was " 103rd Airborne division."

phantom4570

DeNiro at his finest.

t-star

personally, i like the one" who was your d.i.?"- there's only a few "names" that you can answer with that one, althogh my info is somewhat dated now' the information about the boathouse at hereford is available on line, so a really good b/ser could bluff his way through it now