Myisha Nawar
With the emergence of Memorial Day, media outlets are springing on the legacy of Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL who wrote the best selling autobiography which was whirled into the blockbuster Clint Eastwood film American Sniper, with reports proclaiming fraud about his military record. The Intercept pioneered the story claiming that the website managed to lay hands on classified internal Navy documents and that Kyle falsified his military record. However, an analysis of the newly released documents and other materials points to such pronouncements as premature and inaccurate.
New Documents and new accusations: Kyle was killed in February 2013 by a former Marine four years after the decorated SEAL was discharged from the Navy. The cynicism toward Kyle’s account origins from dubious allegations that the former SEAL publicly made in the past. Now come assertions that Kyle exaggerated his medal haul. The headline and analysis that has emerged from other news outlets take a tough stance. The New York Daily News proclaimed “American Sniper Chris Kyle lied about his military accomplishments, Navy SEAL knew, chose not to correct it.” Despite the rush to judgment, the truth about Kyle’s actual medal counts lack more clarity than the accusatory headlines limelight.
New details of Kyle’s service: The navy released seven evaluation reports, known internally as E1-E6, containing performance ratings and comments from Kyle’s “Reporting Senior”.
These documents also cover the arc of the sniper’s military career from June 2003 to September 2009. A few separation documents indicate that he was discharged from the Navy on November 4, 2009.