Murdered SEAL Chris Kyle spoke at Fellowship last year

It’s been stated repeatedly over the last two days, but celebrated Navy sniper Chris Kyle’s death along with that of his friend and military veteran Chad Littlefield is especially sad in that it came trying to help a military brother.

At an appearance at Fellowship Church in Grapevine last summer, Kyle told Pastor Ed Young that the divorce rate among SEALS is “95 percent” and that his marriage of 10 years almost led to divorce after he left the Navy in 2009 because he felt like his wife had made him get out. He said over the final three years of service, he was home only six months with wife Taya and his two children, 7 and 6.

“I felt like that was my calling—that that’s where I was supposed to be,” he said of his work in the war on terror.

He said the couple had worked through it and “patched things up.”

Speaking to Young about serving under authority and the social problems that are prevalent in America, Kyle told Young most of those problems stem from lack of solid parenting. Kyle credited his father for instilling in him a respect for authority.

“The biggest part of that, I believe, is Christianity—you believing in God and you have that faith. It will fix most things,” Kyle said.

When Young told him he had Kyle’s bestselling book on his Kindle but hadn’t yet read it, Kyle quipped that he was glad because the book had “a lot of bad words in it.”

Seems Kyle was a country boy with a big heart, and like some steeped in the military culture, not a role model in some ways and in other ways an exemplar for our sons (and daughters). However, the evidence suggests he had a Christian testimony. I’ll be interested in learning more on that if there’s more to tell.

Speaking of his 150-plus kills as a sniper, he told Young: “Whether I killed one person or a thousand, that doesn’t make me any more of a man. I’d love to be known for the number of people I saved.”