Over Memorial Day weekend, as we honored the fallen heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, a friend shared a Fox News interview with Taya Kyle, the widow of my friend and SEAL teammate, Chris Kyle. Sadly, she was defending her brave husband against false accusations.
Kyle served four tours in Iraq, including as a SEAL sniper in three of the most significant battles of the Iraq War: the Battle of Fallujah in 2004, the Battle of Ramadi in 2006, and the Battle of Route Gold (Baghdad and Sadr City) in 2008. He published a best-selling memoir, American Sniper, in 2012 which became a blockbuster movie of the same name in 2014. Chris was murdered in 2013 at the age of 38, by a troubled Marine veteran he was trying to help.
In the Battle of Ramadi in 2006, I was the platoon commander for Charlie Platoon, in SEAL Team 3’s Task Unit Bruiser. Chris was our lead sniper and point man. He was an outstanding SEAL, sniper, teammate, and friend.
Which is why it was so upsetting to those of us who fought alongside him when we learned that Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine, had been claiming—falsely—that he witnessed Kyle indiscriminately kill civilians during the Battle of Ramadi 20 years ago. But as painful as it has been for his comrades to listen to these accusations, it has surely been worse for his widow Taya and their children. “The truth is, it does hurt,” she told Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, who asked whether it’s hard to hear this kind of commentary from someone seeking elected office.
