Posted on 01/07/2015 6:57:52 AM PST by FreeAtlanta
Chris Kyle was Derek's teammate through 10 years of training and battle. They both suffer/suffered from PTSD to some extent and took great care of each other because of it.
2006 in Ramadi was horrible for young men that never had any more aggressive physical contact with another human than on a Texas football field.
They lost many friends. Chris became the armed services number #1 sniper of all time. Not something he was happy about, other than the fact that in so doing, he saved a lot of American lives.
Three years ago, his wife Taya asked him to leave the SEAL teams as he had a huge bounty on his head by Al Qaeda. He did and wrote the book "The American Sniper." 100% of the proceeds from the book went to two of the SEAL families who had lost their sons in Iraq .
That was the kind of guy Chris was. He formed a company in Dallas to train military, police and I think firemen as far as protecting themselves in difficult situations. He also formed a foundation to work with military people suffering from PTSD. Chris was a giver not a taker.
He, along with a friend and neighbor, Chad Littlefield, were murdered trying to help a young man that had served six months in Iraq and claimed to have PTSD.
Now I need to tell you about all of the blessings.
Southwest Airlines flew in any SEAL and their family from any airport they flew into... free of charge.
The employees donated buddy passes and one lady worked for four days without much of a break to see that it happened.
Volunteers were at both airports in Dallas to drive them to the hotel.
The Marriott Hotel reduced their rates to $45 a night and cleared the hotel for only SEALs and family.
The Midlothian, TX, Police Department paid the $45 a night for each room. I would guess there were about 200 people staying at the hotel, 100 of them were SEALs. Two large buses were chartered (an unknown donor paid the bill) to transport people to the different events and they also had a few rental cars (donated). The police and secret service were on duty 24 hours during the stay at our hotel.
At the Kyle house, the Texas DPS parked a large motor home in front to block the view from reporters. It remained there the entire five days for the SEALs to congregate in and all to use the restroom so as not to have to go in the house. Taya, their two small children and both sets of parents were staying in the home.
Only a hand full of SEALs went into the home as they had different duties and meetings were held sometimes on an hourly basis. It was a huge coordination of many different events and security. Derek was assigned to be a Pall Bearer, to escort Chris' body when it was transferred from the Midlothian Funeral Home to the Arlington Funeral Home, and to be with Taya. A tough job.
Taya seldom came out of her bedroom. The house was full with people from the church and other family members that would come each day to help. I spent one morning in a bedroom with Chris’ mom and the next morning with Chad Littlefield's parents (the other man murdered with Chris). A tough job.
George W Bush and his wife Laura met and talked to everyone on the Seal Team one on one. They went behind closed doors with Taya for quite a while. They had prayer with us all. You can tell when people were sincere and caring.
Nolan Ryan sent his cooking team, a huge grill and lots of steaks, chicken and hamburgers. They set up in the front yard and fed people all day long including the 200 SEALs and their families. The next day a local BBQ restaurant set up a buffet in front of the house and fed all once again. Food was plentiful and all were taken care of. The family's church kept those inside the house well fed.
Jerry Jones, the man everyone loves to hate, was a rock star. He made sure that we all were taken care of. His wife and he were just making sure everyone was taken care of….Class... He donated the use of Cowboy Stadium for the services as it was determined that so many wanted to attend.
The charter buses transported us to the stadium on Monday at 10:30 am. Every car, bus, motorcycle was searched with bomb dogs and police. I am not sure if kooks were making threats trying to make a name for themselves or if so many SEALs in one place was a security risk, I don't know. We willingly obliged. No purses went into the stadium!
We were taken to The Legends room high up and a large buffet was available. That was for about 300 people. We were growing.
A Medal of Honor recipient was there, lots of secret service and police and Sarah Palin and her husband. She looked nice. This was a very formal military service.
The service started at 1:00 pm and when we were escorted onto the field I was shocked. We heard that about 10,000 people had come to attend also. They were seated in the stadium seats behind us. It was a beautiful and emotional service.
The Bagpipe and drum corps were wonderful and the Texas A&M men's choir stood through the entire service and sang right at the end. We were all in tears.
The next day was the 200-mile procession from Midlothian, TX to Austin for burial. It was a cold, drizzly, windy day, but the people were out. We had dozens of police motorcycles riders, freedom riders, five chartered buses and lots of cars. You had to have a pass to be in the procession and still it was huge.
Two helicopters circled the procession with snipers sitting out the side door for protection. It was the longest funeral procession ever in the state of Texas. People were everywhere. The entire route was shut down ahead of us. The people were lined up on the side of the road the entire way. Firemen were down on one knee. Police officers were holding their hats over their hearts, children waving flags, veterans saluting as we went by.
Every bridge had fire trucks with large flags displayed from their tall ladders, people all along the entire 200 miles were standing in the cold weather. It was so heart-warming. Taya rode in the hearse with Chris' body so Derek rode the route with us. I was so grateful to have that time with him.
The service was at Texas National Cemetery. Very few are buried there and you have to apply to get in. It is like people from the Civil War, Medal of Honor winners, a few from the Alamo and all the historical people of Texas. It was a nice service and the Freedom Riders surrounded the outside of the entire cemetery to keep the crazy church people from Kansas that protest at military funerals away from us.
Each SEAL put his Trident (metal SEAL badge) on the top of Chris' casket, one at a time. A lot hit it in with one blow. Derek was the only one to take four taps to put his in and it was almost like he was caressing it as he did it. Another tearful moment.
After the service Governor Rick Perry and his wife, Anita, invited us to the governor's mansion. She stood at the door, greeted each of us individually, and gave each of the SEALs a coin of Texas. She was a sincere, compassionate, and gracious hostess.
We were able to tour the ground floor and then went into the garden for beverages and BBQ. So many of the Seal team guys said that after they get out they are moving to Texas. They remarked that they had never felt so much love and hospitality. The charter buses then took the guys to the airport to catch their returning flights. Derek just now called and after a 20 hours flight he is back in his spot, in a dangerous land on the other side of the world, protecting America.
We just wanted to share with you, the events of a quite emotional, but blessed week.
Punch-line:
To this day, no one in the White House has ever acknowledged Chris Kyle!
However, the President can call some sport person and congratulate him on announcing to the world that he is gay??? What the hell is happening to our society, our honor and our pride??
Thank you for posting this. I’m a crusty old man but the tears have melted the crust. I’ve lived in Texas for 50 years and love the people.
Anything from obama would be a stain compared to what this man has accomplished with his life.
Chris Kyle was a true American and a true hero.
I shouldn’t have read that at work.
Lots of prayers for the family. God Bless our Military and Texas.
I attended this memorial service. Very powerful and respectful
FreeAtlanta,
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This is the type of thing that can, probably will and should go viral and be shared.
(Just my opinion)
I hope the new movie does justice to this man's life.
Compare and contrast the behavior described in this email with that of Odungo. He gave a very fake and obviously insincere blah-blah about the murder of James Foley and then immediately went back to playing golf! He did not supply any comfort or inconvenience himself in any way to personally answer some needs of the bereaved family.
Odungo does not have a normal personality setup. He is all about himself and all about pleasing his shadowy masters. He is a complete disgrace to this country and the damage he has caused already and will continue to cause will set us back decades. He is a clear and present danger which has failed to be addressed by our completely cowardly Keystone Kops, otherwise known as our Congress. Their continuance of that conscienceless moron Boehner as Speaker is but the latest evidence of how much they truly deserve this moniker.
Wow, Texas is awesome! Thank God for Chris Kyle!
To support Chris’s company buy a hat with his logo on it there really cool check his website out Craft Int’l.
Thanks for sharing. But it’s a little blurry. Wait that’s just a little water in my eyes.
I really don’t expect anything different from “President” Narcissism. And it shows that the majority of voters aren’t sane, since they elected that abomination. Twice. That, of course, begs the question: Is the US worthy of such service and sacrifice anymore?
I also had to refocus a few times while reading it.
We lost a great man.
Thank you so much for whoever posted this story .. I was always upset because we couldn’t seem to get any kind of info re this final tribute for Chris Kyle.
I’m so glad to see that Chris and his family got the very special treatment they deserved.
But, why was anybody concerned that Obama didn’t respond ..?? If you don’t know the answer to that question .. you’re not paying attention.
Yeah must be the type face.
I like to think God gained a great warrior.
Sued the widow of Kyle and now the publisher- taking money away from members of Dead Seal family...
I like to think that God allowed us to borrow a great warrior from Him.
My heart just breaks. O great God of Creation, comfort this noble warrior's family, friends, and shipmates. And comfort all who bear the scars of combat, and their families as well.
Ping
Thanks nit, I received an email on this too and need to go back and reread it. Texans honor Military.
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