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tenderfoot

(8,438 posts) Sat Jul 9, 2016, 11:43 AM Jul 2016

Navy shoots down ‘American Sniper’ Chris Kyle’s overstated claims of medals received

Ressponding to reports that famed “American Sniper” Chris Kyle embellished his war record with claims of medals he never received, the US Navy has released his records showing he overstated his valor awards in his best-selling book.

In an unusual move, the Navy released the late Navy Seal’s discharge paperwork showing a discrepancy between what he stated in the book — which went on to become a box office smash — and what he was actually awarded, reports USAToday,

According to the Navy, no records were found for two of six Bronze Stars with combat ‘V’ and the second Silver Star, two of which he had said he received. The Navy did state that famed sniper had earned a single Silver Star and four Bronze Stars during his ten years of service.

“After thoroughly reviewing all available records, the Navy determined an error was made in the issuance of Chief Petty Officer Chris Kyle’s form DD214,” Ensign Marc Rockwellpate, a Navy spokesman, said in a statement. “Specifically, the DD 214 did not accurately reflect the decorations and awards to which Kyle was officially entitled. After notifying his family of the error, the Navy issued a corrected copy of the DD 214, which accurately reflects Kyle’s years of honorable and extraordinary Navy service.”

Kyle never corrected the official record, which has cast a shadow over other claims made in his book.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/07/navy-shoots-down-american-sniper-chris-kyles-overstated-claims-of-medals-received

Made for a great movie though!

Is every right wing hero under the sun a complete fraud or what?

18 replies

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Navy shoots down ‘American Sniper’ Chris Kyle’s overstated claims of medals received (Original Post) tenderfoot Jul 2016 OP

Well, there are a couple of ways to look at this. malthaussen Jul 2016 #1

He IS a liar and no one MADE him one except himself Ohioblue22 Jul 2016 #3

He lied about New Orleans. He lied about Ventura. Make of it what you will. seabeyond Jul 2016 #5

Personally, I expect every personal memoir to be careless with the truth... malthaussen Jul 2016 #7

I agree. That was the interesting conversation I was having with son, when he went to the movie seabeyond Jul 2016 #8

For what it may be worth to your son... malthaussen Jul 2016 #11

Ah ha. I am pretty confident on that too, with you. seabeyond Jul 2016 #12

Why lie? 4 bronze and a silver not enough? All this does is expose him as a fraud. Rex Jul 2016 #15

"Expose him as a fraud?" malthaussen Jul 2016 #18

Not surprising macho-man bragging about what a brave hero his with his gun Ohioblue22 Jul 2016 #2

I was invited to a luncheon and listened to the wife speak. Convention of sorts, for a charity. seabeyond Jul 2016 #4

On one hand sarisataka Jul 2016 #6

This seems to be a routine correction of a service record gratuitous Jul 2016 #14

I am not a fan of beating down the fallen DVRacer Jul 2016 #9

But what about the families about all the Iraqis, including women and children .......... marmar Jul 2016 #16

I can't bring myself to trash-talk his life and service. IADEMO2004 Jul 2016 #10

My brother's DD-214 is also inaccurate. malthaussen Jul 2016 #13

In 2015, the Navy made more than 3,800 corrections pintobean Jul 2016 #17

malthaussen

(17,216 posts)

1. Well, there are a couple of ways to look at this.

Reply to tenderfoot (Original post)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 11:57 AM

Jul 2016

You're going to make a liar of him for one lousy silver star and a couple of bronzes? He still has a silver and four bronze to his credit. If this "casts a shadow" over other claims, then I suspect the credulity of the reader is more at fault than the malevolence of the author (who was only trying to make a buck, after all).

-- Mal

Ohioblue22

(1,430 posts)

3. He IS a liar and no one MADE him one except himself

Reply to malthaussen (Reply #1)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:02 PM

Jul 2016

seabeyond

(110,159 posts)

5. He lied about New Orleans. He lied about Ventura. Make of it what you will.

Reply to malthaussen (Reply #1)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:07 PM

Jul 2016

malthaussen

(17,216 posts)

7. Personally, I expect every personal memoir to be careless with the truth...

Reply to seabeyond (Reply #5)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:23 PM

Jul 2016

... especially when it stands in the way of a better story. And Hollywood adaptations are generally even more careless with the source materials. The point is never veracity.

The man was clearly making bank on marketing a reputation as a tough guy, an "American Hero," if you will (though I personally don't see a lot heroic about being a sniper -- and my brother was a sniper). I guess I don't expect such blatant exploitation to have much grounding in the facts, and so making a few inflated claims about fruit salad -- especially when he already had a pretty fair collection of the stuff -- doesn't seem to me to be any more reprehensible than trading on his ability to shoot people from 1000 yards.

-- Mal

seabeyond

(110,159 posts)

8. I agree. That was the interesting conversation I was having with son, when he went to the movie

Reply to malthaussen (Reply #7)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:25 PM

Jul 2016

I get that.

malthaussen

(17,216 posts)

11. For what it may be worth to your son...

Reply to seabeyond (Reply #8)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:35 PM

Jul 2016

... I tend to agree with his crazy mom more often than not, and I'm even a straight male not related to her.

-- Mal

seabeyond

(110,159 posts)

12. Ah ha. I am pretty confident on that too, with you.

Reply to malthaussen (Reply #11)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:37 PM

Jul 2016

Rex

(65,616 posts)

15. Why lie? 4 bronze and a silver not enough? All this does is expose him as a fraud.

Reply to malthaussen (Reply #1)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:44 PM

Jul 2016

Says all I need to know about his character.

malthaussen

(17,216 posts)

18. "Expose him as a fraud?"

Reply to Rex (Reply #15)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 01:12 PM

Jul 2016

My point is that if one couldn't figure that out before his "fraud" was exposed, that a few medals more or less is a damned odd thing to be indignant about. And it doesn't really expose him as a fraud. While "honest mistake" is a stretch (as noted elsewhere in the thread, not quite remembering how many silver stars one had been awarded is not credible), all this amounts to is stretching the truth, which is particularly silly because, as you note, the truth is already pretty impressive.

But I will agree, this tells us something about his character: that he needed to gild the lily. I wonder why?

-- Mal

Ohioblue22

(1,430 posts)

2. Not surprising macho-man bragging about what a brave hero his with his gun

Reply to tenderfoot (Original post)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:01 PM

Jul 2016

To some losers the gun makes the man .

seabeyond

(110,159 posts)

4. I was invited to a luncheon and listened to the wife speak. Convention of sorts, for a charity.

Reply to tenderfoot (Original post)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:06 PM

Jul 2016

The food was fun and meeting the women at my table. It was a woman's event. 8, 9 hundred.

I was invited before I knew who the speaker was. Then it is like, oh man. Being in Texas and an 18 yr old son that has had lots of conversations about this man, especially having gone to his movie and an active listening member of Du hearing all about this man, I walked in very informed. It was an interesting 45 minute conversation and had me leaving the convention stating....

I gotta get out of Texas. I do not belong here.

sarisataka

(18,755 posts)

6. On one hand

Reply to tenderfoot (Original post)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:19 PM

Jul 2016

-his original discharge paperwork apparently showed the awards he claimed. That was the Navy's error. After a few deployments you start to loose track of awards and decorations. I would have to check the see what my own total is.

On the other hand

-some awards stick with you. There are some rather low prestige awards I am very proud of because of the circumstances surrounding them. Also top awards are not easily forgotten. If I had received a Silver Star I would definitely know if it was one or two.

gratuitous

(82,849 posts)

14. This seems to be a routine correction of a service record

Reply to sarisataka (Reply #6)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:42 PM

Jul 2016

People who think he was a hero will still think that; people unimpressed by military citations will still think that. One billion people in China don't care one way or the other.

DVRacer

(707 posts)

9. I am not a fan of beating down the fallen

Reply to tenderfoot (Original post)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:28 PM

Jul 2016

Maybe it's just me but the died trying to help a fellow veteran come to grip with his demons. Let him rest in peace he served his country honorably told some sea stories. The rest to me is noise. I have awards like one Silver Star and two Bronze Stars reading the fluf letter that accompanied them doesn't at all sound like the real situation.

marmar

(77,088 posts)

16. But what about the families about all the Iraqis, including women and children ..........

Reply to DVRacer (Reply #9)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:45 PM

Jul 2016

..... that he bragged about killing? How is that serving your country honorably?

IADEMO2004

(5,557 posts)

10. I can't bring myself to trash-talk his life and service.

Reply to tenderfoot (Original post)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:33 PM

Jul 2016

Shades of gray in every story.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/05/25/navy-probes-discrepancies-seal-sniper-chris-kyles-medal-claims.html

Navy officials say they’re looking into the circumstances under which decorated Navy SEAL Chris Kyle was issued discharge papers containing more military valor awards than he apparently earned.

"We recognize that there is a discrepancy and we are looking into it right now," a Navy official, who asked for anonymity in order to discuss the situation, told Military.com.

The new probe comes in the wake of an investigative story by The Intercept, published Wednesday, that highlights Navy personnel documents showing Kyle earned only one Silver Star and three Bronze Stars, rather than the two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars that he publicly claimed.

malthaussen

(17,216 posts)

13. My brother's DD-214 is also inaccurate.

Reply to tenderfoot (Original post)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:38 PM

Jul 2016

I wonder how often errors are made on them. I wouldn't be surprised if it is fairly often.

-- Mal

pintobean

(18,101 posts)

17. In 2015, the Navy made more than 3,800 corrections

Reply to malthaussen (Reply #13)

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 12:51 PM

Jul 2016

Errors in the DD 214 form, the official certificate of a sailor’s service, are commonplace, one of the officials said. In 2015, the Navy made more than 3,800 corrections to sailors’ forms.

Kyle’s original form had other errors, including the omission of his Navy expert rifle medal. Indeed, the re-issued form from the Navy Personnel Command misspells rifle. The Navy is stressing to sailors the need to scrutinize the form before signing it. The DD 214, among other things, provides documentation of preference for veterans in hiring.

"This whole issue is very troubling and inexplicable, particularly because Kyle seemingly had no need to falsify his military records," said Dwight Mears, an Army veteran and former professor at West Point who has researched the military awards process. "It isn’t clear that he stood to benefit any more from the misrepresentations, as his service was impressive and almost equally as noteworthy without the addition of any unearned awards."

“THIS IS AN IMPORTANT FORM,” the header on Kyle's DD 214 reads. “SAFEGUARD IT.” Kyle’s revised form shows that he belonged to SEAL Team Three, based at North Island, Calif. His primary specialty: SEAL, and small arms marksmanship instructor. Box 24, near the bottom of the form, reads Character of Service. It's filled with one word: HONORABLE.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/07/08/navy-lowers-medal-count-seal-chris-kyle/86468402/

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