Chief Chris Kyle was a Navy Seal for ten years. He served four combat tours in Iraq, earned numerous medals, saved countless lives and accomplished more than most men walking around in this great country ever will. He has now retold his experiences in the new autobiography “American Sniper,” which hits book shelves today.

Chief Kyle tells his story in what must be dubbed a “no bull” manner. He has little time for political correctness or even political incorrectness. He’s certainly not a writer. But that is what makes what is written so good and his story so compelling. Chief Kyle ignores irony and trying to push either a political agenda or an emotional one. He simply writes his story. The emotions and everything else come naturally through. You can feel Chief Kyle sitting in a chair allowing us the privilege of hearing his story, his story of bravery. Bravery is too clichéd a word, though. What Chief Kyle experienced is beyond bravery. His pureness in his patriotism, his Christianity, his need for battle, his love for family breathes a freshness into the words on each page. Chief Kyle gives himself to us for 379 pages despite already giving us so much.

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Although CBS’-TVs new cop show Hawaii Five-0 is a reboot of a highly popular 1970s CBS series that entered the poplar lexicon (with police departments across the nation being popularly referred to as Five-O), there’s nothing old-fashioned about the current version.

Whether you consider that a good thing or bad will depend on whether you still enjoy the conventions of contemporary action-oriented cop shows:

• Breakdowns of authority, corruption in the police department,  government unable to protect its own, let alone the public—check.
• A non-nonsense team leader who even argues with state’s governor and orders her around, which she accepts without objection—check.
• A big action scene on a regular schedule, in this case once every ten minutes of screen time—check.
• The police cutting corners in the interests of justice.
• A team of police officers with a past of personal tragedies and/or cute personality quirks—check.

There’s nothing retro about the show, and the main characters are all common contemporary types. There’s the  stolid but tormented team leader; the sharp-tongued second-in-command who’s struggling to stay connected to his young daughter after a messy divorce; the ethnic male who knows the details of the local crime scene, and the beautiful female cop with a mean left hook. (more…)

A few weeks ago I was extended a great privilege from Gary Williams, the author of SEAL of Honor: Operation Red Wings and the Life of Lt. Michael P. Murphy, USN. Williams has written a superb new biography of Murphy, who was killed in action on June 28, 2005 during Operation Red Wings and received from President George W. Bush the Medal of Honor for his gallantry in combat.

Gary asked me to deliver a speech during a SEAL of Honor book event this May. Of course, I readily accepted. I never pass up an opportunity to praise our men and women in uniform, but I am Army not Navy, I am a paratrooper not a SEAL, and I had never had the privilege of meeting Michael Murphy.

So I had some work to do to get to know this man on my own terms before I could speak with the authenticity that I desired. I already knew that Lieutenant Murphy and I shared one significant thing in common, which was that we both fought the Taliban in the Korengal Valley. (more…)

July 2006

Dear Family:

Glory is something that some men chase and others find themselves stumbling upon, not expecting it to find them. Either way it is a noble gesture that one finds bestowed upon them. My question is, when does glory fade away and become a wrongful crusade, or an unjustified means which consumes one completely?

I have seen war. I have seen death, the sorrow that encompasses your entire being as a man breathes his last. I can only pray and hope that none of you will ever have to experience some of these things I have seen and felt here. I have felt fear and have felt adrenaline pump through my veins making me seem invincible. I will be honest and say that some of the things I have seen here are unjustified and uncalled for. However, for the most part we are helping this country. It will take more years than most expect, but we will get Iraq to stand on its own feet.

Marc Alan Lee

Most of what I have seen here I will never really mention or speak of, only due to the nature of those involved. I have seen a man give his food to a hungry child and family. Today I saw a hospital that most of us would refuse to receive treatment from. The filth and smell would allow most of us to not be able to stand to enter, let alone get medicine from. However, you will be relieved to know that coalition forces have started to provide security for and supply medicine and equipment to help aid in the cause.

I have seen amazing things happen here; however I have seen the sad part of war, too. I have seen the morals of a man who cares nothing of human life. . .  (more…)