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Sign up now, at 22 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:57.840 Chumba Casino dot com. 23 00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:03.759 No person has every y loss, each acting Clay. 24 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:16.640 You are now listening to True Murder The Most Shocking 25 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:19.760 Killers in True Crime History and the authors that have 26 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:27.120 written about them Gasey, Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker, DTK. Every 27 00:01:27.159 --> 00:01:30.840 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 28 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:35.480 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your host, 29 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:38.319 journalist and author Dan Zufansky. 30 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.640 Good Evening. This is your host Dan Zuvanski for the 31 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:54.840 program True Murder, The most Shocking Killers in True crime 32 00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:58.640 History and the authors that have written about them. American 33 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:03.400 Sniper is the astonished, ushing autobiography of Seal Chief Chris Kyle, 34 00:02:03.959 --> 00:02:05.959 who is the record holder for most kills for a 35 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:09.639 sniper in US military history. Kyle has more than one 36 00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:13.919 hundred and fifty officially confirmed kills. The previous American record 37 00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:17.360 was one hundred and nine. Through his remarkable career, total 38 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:20.960 has though his remarkable total has not been made official 39 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:24.680 by the Pentagon. In this New York Times best selling memoir, 40 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:28.360 Kyle shares the true story of his extraordinary decade long career, 41 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:33.560 including his multiple combat tours in Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, 42 00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:37.000 and Elsewhere from nineteen ninety nine to two thousand and nine. 43 00:02:37.879 --> 00:02:40.479 Kyle's riveting first person account of how he went from 44 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:45.319 Texas rodeo cowboy to expert marksmen in Feared Assassin offers 45 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:48.360 a fascinating view of modern day warfare and one of 46 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:51.400 the most in depth and illuminating looks into the secret 47 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:54.919 world the special ops ever written. The book that we're 48 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:58.599 featuring this evening is American Sniper, the Autobiography of the 49 00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:02.400 most lethal sniper in US military history, with my special 50 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:06.319 guest author Jim D. Falice. Welcome to the program, and 51 00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:08.479 thank you for greeing this interview. Jim D. 52 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:12.319 Falice, Nice a lot, Dan, It's a pleasure to be here. 53 00:03:13.479 --> 00:03:16.919 Oh, it's my pleasure. This is quite a unique book, 54 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:19.479 even for this program where we have our share of 55 00:03:19.560 --> 00:03:24.520 unique books. This is a fascinating memoir of a pretty 56 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:29.680 fascinating guy. So congratulations. First off, give us a little 57 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:34.400 bit of your background, Jim, because it's very interesting to 58 00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:38.479 know how you came to this story and tell us 59 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:41.319 really how you came to be able to be the 60 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:45.000 author of this American Sniper, why you wanted to do it, 61 00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:48.120 how you came to be involved with this tell us 62 00:03:48.120 --> 00:03:51.120 a little bit about your background and that story how 63 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:52.800 you came to write American Sniper. 64 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:57.639 Well, even though I'm primarily known as a novelist, I 65 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:05.840 have actually done a number of nonfiction books and helped 66 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:13.479 helped a couple of celebrities write their memoirs. Until American Sniper, 67 00:04:13.479 --> 00:04:17.000 though I had never helped a military person actually write 68 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:20.839 a memoir. But I was very interested in, you know, 69 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:28.480 getting that opportunity. And it happened that the publisher, excuse me, 70 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:34.160 my publishers, HarperCollins, was interested in had heard about Chris 71 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:40.639 and approached Chris about about doing a book, and when 72 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:46.759 he indicated that he was interested, they contacted me and said, hey, 73 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:48.639 we know that you've been looking for you know, we 74 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:51.240 know you've been looking for a really good topic, really 75 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:55.399 good subject. Would you be interested in, you know, talking 76 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:57.439 to this seal. At the time, they didn't really know 77 00:04:57.480 --> 00:05:00.439 all that much about Chris, and they knew that he 78 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:05.480 had the record or was was talked about as having 79 00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:09.519 the record of kills, but they didn't really know all 80 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:14.560 that much about him, so they kind of they gave him, 81 00:05:14.759 --> 00:05:19.879 actually they gave his lawyer my phone number, and Chris 82 00:05:19.879 --> 00:05:23.800 and I had a conversation on the phone, and I 83 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:27.480 still remember it because we I said, Chris, why you know, 84 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:29.920 why do you why do you want to tell your story? 85 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:31.480 Why was it? Why do you want to write a book? 86 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:34.680 And he said, I want to honor the people I 87 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:37.600 served with and I want to help the families of 88 00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:41.879 the two guys who I couldn't save. And I said, 89 00:05:41.959 --> 00:05:43.519 you know what, that's a that's a hell of a 90 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:46.600 good reason to write a book, A really good reason 91 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:49.360 to write a book. And I think from that moment on, 92 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:53.959 I was I was hooked, and I would have you know, 93 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:55.240 I knew, I knew it was going to be a 94 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:55.800 great book. 95 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:03.240 Now us a little bit of the background here. We're 96 00:06:03.319 --> 00:06:06.560 talking about Texas here in terms of where he was 97 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:10.560 born and raised and and just for the record too, 98 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:15.000 where are you originally from? And how much connection do 99 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:17.800 you have the sort of this kind of the lifestyle 100 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:21.639 that he or the upbringing that he had in Texas itself. 101 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:26.120 But tell us then about a little bit about where 102 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:29.040 he grew up specifically in Texas. 103 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:31.439 Sure, And you know, it's it's kind of an amazing 104 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:34.879 thing because I'm I don't know how much my accent 105 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:37.519 gives me away. But I'm in New York kind of 106 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:42.839 a New York city. I'm born in Bread although at 107 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:45.920 I don't we live now, we live outside the city. 108 00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:50.360 Chris was Chris was a good old boy. Chris was 109 00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:54.319 was Texas born and bred and raised, and except while 110 00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:58.199 he was in the Navy and the seal, has had 111 00:06:58.279 --> 00:07:02.720 lived all his life in uh in Texas and still 112 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:06.000 had quite a lot of uh the Texas twang in 113 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:12.040 him and went to went to the length, you know, 114 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:14.360 just to kind of preserve that heritage. He he had 115 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:17.040 two kids, and when each of one of them was born, 116 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:20.160 he was happened to be uh stationed out in California, 117 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:23.959 and that's where obviously they had the the children. But 118 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:28.319 he had his father ship him a little box of 119 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:31.360 Texas dirt, and so that when each one of his 120 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:35.920 children was born, the first thing that their feet stepped 121 00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:40.000 on was was Texas dirt. And uh so he was 122 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:45.319 very much, very much, uh you know, a Texas character. 123 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:50.240 He in high school, he started uh riding rodeo. He 124 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:53.120 uh went through with a lot of different events and 125 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:57.439 eventually got pretty good at buston broncos and went a 126 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:01.639 whole bunch of a whole bunch of belt, which is 127 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:03.759 you know, kind of the prize that you win when 128 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:08.560 you're on the circuit, and you know, a lot of 129 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:11.720 He couldn't couldn't survive on that for a long time, 130 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:14.319 but it, you know, kept him in beer money through 131 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:19.720 the first couple of years in college. And eventually he 132 00:08:19.720 --> 00:08:21.879 he when he got out of college, he became a 133 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:26.160 cowboy and he loved he loved the life. They just 134 00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:30.040 loved it to death. But you can't get rich. You 135 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:33.320 can't get rich being a cowboy. And eventually, eventually he 136 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:36.000 decided he wanted to do something else, and he had 137 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:39.000 always wanted to be he'd actually always wanted to be 138 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:43.679 a marine. And so he went one day to the 139 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:48.240 recruiting office and the marine recruiter happened to be out 140 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:52.399 for lunch, and he was, you know, the kind of 141 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:54.440 went to the door, door was closed, realized the guy 142 00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:56.519 was out for lunch, and you know, made a U turn, 143 00:08:57.080 --> 00:08:58.919 was on his way out of the building and the 144 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:03.320 he heard a voice say, hey, hey, boy son, come here, 145 00:09:03.799 --> 00:09:05.879 come over here. So what do you what are you doing? 146 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:07.440 What are you trying to sign up for? And you know, 147 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:09.440 Chris told him I wanted to be a marine, and 148 00:09:10.039 --> 00:09:13.240 you know, he told him why, and the recruiters said, well, 149 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:16.159 you know, I'm with the Navy. You ever hear the seals? 150 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:21.080 And you know, from that little, short brief conversation, the 151 00:09:21.159 --> 00:09:22.399 whole career was born. 152 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:26.759 Tell us a little bit about the relationship that he 153 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:30.519 had with his family growing up, Well, what kind of 154 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:35.840 family life he really had, and initially he had, Well, 155 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:37.519 like a lot of people in Texas and a lot 156 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:41.399 of people in general, have hunting in terms of an 157 00:09:41.399 --> 00:09:45.960 experience when they're young, how important was hunting and how 158 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:48.480 important was hunting with the family that he grew up 159 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:49.279 with in Texas. 160 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:52.120 Yeah, I think that was, you know, just as you say, 161 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:57.039 that was, you know, a really affirmative experience for him. 162 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:02.320 He and his dad at a very early age, his 163 00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:05.679 dad took him out uh to learn to learn how 164 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:08.240 to haunt UH, showed him and his he has he 165 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:12.159 Chris has a younger brother, a few years younger, and 166 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:15.360 both of them, you know, were taught from a very 167 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:21.320 early age to respect respect guns, UH, to also to 168 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:25.960 respect hunting. They would not basically they would eat anything 169 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:29.279 they they killed. So you know, whether it was when 170 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:32.600 they were little, you know, if they if they got 171 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:36.240 a squirrel, they'd have squirrels too, and more often when 172 00:10:36.679 --> 00:10:39.799 as they they got a little older, hunting deer and 173 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:45.879 you know, other other sorts of animals. He was Chris 174 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:49.360 was a fairly decent shot from a young age, but 175 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:54.200 not necessarily you know, a champion, but he he grew 176 00:10:54.279 --> 00:10:57.320 up around around guns and you know, in just the 177 00:10:57.320 --> 00:11:01.679 outdoor life, and he really liked He liked the life 178 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:04.519 and he liked the skills that he developed as a 179 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:05.080 young man. 180 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:09.639 When was he born? What year was he born? 181 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:13.840 Boy, you know, I'm gonna i'd actually, off the top 182 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:16.039 of my head, I can't remember. I had to look 183 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:16.720 it up. 184 00:11:18.279 --> 00:11:22.600 Well, we'll say roughly so that he was born roughly 185 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:26.720 in the in the in the seventies, he was he 186 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:27.720 was still a young man. 187 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:37.759 Well he died, so you got me Dan, So you know, now. 188 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:40.720 I just want to have a context because we're going 189 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:42.559 to be talking about Iraq, but we're also going to 190 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:46.039 be talking about obviously, Well, the question I want to 191 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:51.080 ask was growing up and with his family's background, was 192 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:56.159 there any military background and in terms of a teenager 193 00:11:56.200 --> 00:11:59.799 having an attitude and and certainly Chris had one, Uh, 194 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:05.240 what was his what was his earliest opinion about war? 195 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:11.320 I think that y you know, I think that y yuh, 196 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:14.799 Chris wasn't particularly philosophical about a lot of things. He's 197 00:12:14.919 --> 00:12:20.120 very patriotic, uh he he very much you know, believed 198 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:25.840 in America. And he he also one thing that was 199 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:29.279 very important for him growing up was to stand up 200 00:12:29.320 --> 00:12:32.399 for other people. He he was egs, he was the 201 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:36.480 epitome of the older brother. Uh. His his younger brother 202 00:12:36.679 --> 00:12:38.840 was I think three or four years younger than him. 203 00:12:38.919 --> 00:12:44.120 And there's a lot of stories uh, you know, among 204 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:49.000 not only Chris, but among uh Chris's brother's friends, uh 205 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:51.799 about you know how Chris you know, had st had 206 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:54.440 stood up for younger kids and smaller kids who were 207 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:57.759 being picked on. So he really had kind of that 208 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:01.799 protective gene almost in him when he when he was 209 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:06.360 a kid. I think that when he got into the 210 00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:09.240 the reason that he got into the military was a 211 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:14.600 combination of you know, of patriotism and also and also adventure. 212 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:17.799 I think, like a lot of young men, you know, 213 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:21.080 he wanted he not only wanted to serve his country, 214 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:22.840 but he also wanted to you know, to kind of 215 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:27.440 you know, put himself, not to have put himself in 216 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:30.600 kind of an action type you know, situation, and you know, 217 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:34.879 test himself in different ways, and you know, being a 218 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:38.279 seal was in a lot of ways the ultimate and 219 00:13:38.440 --> 00:13:41.000 the ultimate test for you know, for a young man, 220 00:13:41.879 --> 00:13:47.519 especially one that is not only patriotic, but is you 221 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:50.519 know kind of thinks of themselves as a as kind 222 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:53.879 of a tough fighter and or that kind of person. 223 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:59.559 Right right now, tell us where Tea fits in here 224 00:13:59.559 --> 00:14:04.120 in terms of time timeline, in terms of when did 225 00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:08.000 he meet and is that the way pronounce Tella or yeah, yeah. 226 00:14:07.879 --> 00:14:15.200 Absolutely is his wife and actually they met. They met 227 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:21.600 in the nineties when shortly after Chris had had qualified 228 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:23.799 to become a seal and was still it was still 229 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:30.720 though in his training. Seals have a kind of we 230 00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:33.399 think of a seal as someone who you know, has 231 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:37.360 passed the basic requirements and buds and gone through the 232 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:41.360 regular courses and now they've become a seal. Well to this, 233 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:44.639 to the seals, that's just kind of the first that's 234 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:46.879 kind of the first rung. You now have to go 235 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:50.480 through all this training and prove yourself before the other 236 00:14:50.519 --> 00:14:53.440 people and the you know, the teams will really accept 237 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:56.440 you as a as a seal, and Chris was in 238 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:59.200 that stage where he had passed through kind of the 239 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:03.879 preliminary all the preliminaries, and the world called him a seal, 240 00:15:03.960 --> 00:15:06.080 but he was still trying to prove himself to the 241 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:08.720 you know, to the teams or to the to the 242 00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:14.120 seals themselves. And they were in Chris was in San Diego, 243 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:20.799 and Taya one night came down with a friend and 244 00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:25.279 met him or was hanging out in a bar, and basically, 245 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:28.159 depending on which one of them is telling the story, 246 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:30.519 either she picked him up or he picked her up, 247 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:37.000 and they started joking and drinking and joking, and Taya 248 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:41.240 coin to Taya. At the end of the night, she 249 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:45.360 had drunk so much unfortunately she threw up, and when 250 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:47.200 he still called her the next I think it was 251 00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:49.080 the next day, and was still called her, she knew 252 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:50.159 that it must be true love. 253 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:57.480 Sure, yeah, interesting, yeah, so she was. She was obviously 254 00:15:57.879 --> 00:16:04.559 understanding how passionate he was about the military and especially 255 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:07.799 or specifically the seals as well. And did she understand 256 00:16:08.519 --> 00:16:12.480 and or did he explain or did she somehow have 257 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:16.399 some military history herself within her family? How did she 258 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:20.799 come to accept everything that she felt she needed to 259 00:16:20.840 --> 00:16:24.000 accept in partnering up with Chris Kyle. 260 00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:27.639 I think it was a really a process, and a 261 00:16:27.720 --> 00:16:30.480 long process. I don't think that first of all, I 262 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:35.240 don't think that anyone completely understands what it means to 263 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:40.120 deploy into a combat situation. If you're a the soldier 264 00:16:40.679 --> 00:16:43.320 of that you know that's going there before you've actually 265 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.879 done it, or be the you know, the spouse or 266 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:49.399 the kids you know of the family. It's one thing 267 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:53.399 to read a book about it, or see a movie 268 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:56.200 about it, or even hears somebody that's been there, and 269 00:16:56.279 --> 00:16:59.600 quite another thing to actually emotionally experience it. And at 270 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:04.519 the point when they met, not only had head you know, 271 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:08.400 neither Chris nor Taya head you know head deployment or 272 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:12.839 been through a deployment. And yeah, I think that Chris 273 00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:14.759 was still learning what it meant to be a seal 274 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:18.440 and Taya was at that point anyway, learning what. 275 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:20.319 It meant to Hello. 276 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:22.599 It is Ryan, And we could all use an extra 277 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:24.799 bright spot in our day, couldn't we just to make 278 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:27.519 up for things like sitting in traffic, doing the dishes, 279 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:30.240 counting or steps, you know, all the mundane stuff. 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And we talk a little 302 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:34.119 bit about actually we talk a lot about about kind 303 00:18:34.119 --> 00:18:36.720 of some of the trials and tribulations. They went through 304 00:18:38.839 --> 00:18:40.079 through it in the book. 305 00:18:43.559 --> 00:18:45.839 Now with this, what is the again, what is the 306 00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:51.319 timeline in terms of the Iraq War and the spring 307 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:56.640 of two thousand and three and the initiative by the 308 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:01.720 United States and Taya and their first born So sure 309 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:02.599 of an idea. 310 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:07.559 Yeah, Chris, Chris and Taya, you know, meet and their 311 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:13.240 relationship starts getting you know, hot and heavy right before 312 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:16.079 nine to eleven. As a matter of fact, on the 313 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:19.960 morning of nine to eleven, they they wake up and 314 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:26.039 they find that the towers that have been struck and Chris, uh, 315 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:28.000 we have a funny story in the Book of Chris 316 00:19:28.039 --> 00:19:30.559 basically races to his base to report to the base, 317 00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:34.119 gets pulled over by a by one of the local policemen. 318 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:39.200 Uh who you know. And Chris, being Chris, was always 319 00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:42.000 no matter what the situation was, no matter how much 320 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:44.920 stress he was, he was always respectful, even to cops. 321 00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:49.000 As a police officer came up and Chris said, uh, uh, 322 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:50.880 I'm sorry, I know you got to give me a ticket. 323 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:52.279 Go hey, give me the ticket, but I gotta get 324 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:54.519 to the base. And the the cop looked in the 325 00:19:54.599 --> 00:19:57.039 back and saw you know, I saw his gear and 326 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:02.000 realized he was he was military, and so the cop said, well, 327 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:04.440 you know, what's your unit and Chris said he was 328 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:07.640 a CEL and the cop said, alright, up, follow me, 329 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.559 I'm a cop pavement escort. Not quite as fast as 330 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:14.079 Chris had been going uh to the base, but uh 331 00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:20.640 they went pretty fast. I As it happened, Uh, Chris 332 00:20:20.920 --> 00:20:25.000 was not actually needed uh to you know, to go 333 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:30.200 to Afghanisty and after nine to eleven, but he started 334 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:33.079 training up to go to to Iraq as the build 335 00:20:33.160 --> 00:20:34.400 up for Iraq happened. 336 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:35.200 Uh. 337 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:39.200 Chris and and Taya married in that in that same 338 00:20:39.240 --> 00:20:44.599 time period and they actually have their as it worked out, 339 00:20:44.680 --> 00:20:48.000 both of their children right before deployments that Chris and 340 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:53.319 Chris went on, uh, which I'm sure was extremely stressful 341 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:56.799 for for both of them, but uh especially for Tay 342 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:00.000 as she was left uh the first time. You know, 343 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:03.480 she was a first time mother with you know, a 344 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:08.119 newborn and her husband. Suddenly you know, her husband was 345 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:10.279 there one day and then the next day was you know, 346 00:21:10.359 --> 00:21:13.880 off on the other side of the world. Uh, you know, 347 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:18.039 being shot at. So it was an extremely you know, 348 00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:22.039 extremely stressful experience, an experience I should should note that 349 00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:26.559 you know, the wives, you know, loved ones of service people, 350 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:31.240 you know of literally hundreds of thousands of service people 351 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:33.640 have gone through. It's just that we don't, you know, 352 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:37.599 we don't necessarily think about, you know, about that side 353 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:40.039 of the equation sometimes. 354 00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:46.680 Now you talk about the son being born just as 355 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:52.640 he's being deployed through Iraq, Is that correct? Or Afghanistan? 356 00:21:53.559 --> 00:21:56.440 Not? Actually it's Iraq. That all the all the deployments 357 00:21:56.440 --> 00:21:57.400 in the book are in Iraq. 358 00:21:58.279 --> 00:22:03.759 Okay, now with with his deployment, Now, how we've kind 359 00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:06.720 of skipped over some real important stuff. Number One, we're 360 00:22:06.759 --> 00:22:10.119 not I certainly don't know, but our audience certainly doesn't 361 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:13.440 know about what really a seal means in terms of 362 00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:17.440 what is their purpose in the military, you know, secretive. 363 00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:19.720 But tell us a little bit about the seals and 364 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:24.000 and how does he rise to the and to the 365 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:28.160 level that he is one of these again assassins? He's 366 00:22:28.200 --> 00:22:31.519 a sniper? How does that happen? You said he wasn't 367 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:33.440 really a marksman when he was young. How does he 368 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:37.039 get to this point? And and and how does he 369 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:39.799 why do they pick him? 370 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:43.799 Sure, let's let's just let's just hit on like kind 371 00:22:43.799 --> 00:22:47.880 of a common mis misconception. First, a lot of people 372 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:50.319 when when we use the word sniper, a lot of 373 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:54.720 people think of, you know, kind of a person stalking 374 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:58.559 high value target, so to speak, for for days and 375 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:02.640 days and days. And while that certainly is occasionally done 376 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:09.440 in contemporary military, the role of snackers on the battlefield 377 00:23:09.640 --> 00:23:13.839 has you know, has evolved as everything else has evolved. 378 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:18.039 And in the American military and actually in every pretty 379 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:22.680 much most Western I I'll make a blanket statement say 380 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:26.200 every other Western military. I may I may possibly be 381 00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:33.640 missing somebody, but most militaries use uh, snipers or really 382 00:23:33.640 --> 00:23:39.039 good marksmen to in situations where they need to be 383 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:44.400 able to not kill civilians and they need precision. They 384 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:49.039 want to have preci you know, precision shots where there's 385 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:54.200 potentially people around who may get hurt and the and 386 00:23:54.279 --> 00:23:57.319 so the ability and the equipment to be able to 387 00:23:57.559 --> 00:24:00.200 you know, to strike a combatant or an enemy me 388 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:04.640 at a thousand yards becomes kind of a premium in 389 00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:07.920 a war, especially in a place like Iraq, where all 390 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:11.480 of the time you had you know, you had civilians 391 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:15.920 all over the place. So it's kind of a misconception. 392 00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:19.759 And I think that you know that I certainly shared it, uh, 393 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:23.480 you know before you know, beforehand, not not really knowing 394 00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:27.519 you know, anything about the you know, contemporary tactics and strategies, 395 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:31.839 and the word sniper, you know, sounds sounds really cool. 396 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:35.079 But the odd thing is that it comes out of 397 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:39.160 a whole, you know, a whole movement to reduce collateral 398 00:24:39.240 --> 00:24:44.200 damage and and injuries. What happened with Chris. The Seals 399 00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:50.880 in American the American military, the Seals are an elite 400 00:24:51.079 --> 00:24:55.799 special operations unit that are they're trained to operate on 401 00:24:55.839 --> 00:24:58.599