American Sniper’s Chris Kyle ‘Exaggerated’ Military Record

Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper’s Chris Kyle war biopic ‘American Sniper’ struck a chord with moviegoers when it was released in December, 2014, to the box office sum of $547.4 million.

Its depiction of both the Iraq War and Chris Kyle proved to be very divisive, though, and the new allegations that that the marksman “exaggerated the number of honours he earned during his military career” is only going to exacerbate this debate.

The Washington Examiner have alleged that Chris Kyle’s claim that he ended his service with “two Silver Stars and five Bronze [Stars], all for valour” were exaggerated. In fact, according to their investigation, Kyle only received one Silver Star and three Bronze Stars.

Their report also alleges that one of Chris Kyle’s former commanders, who has remained anonymous, told Kyle that his claim in the book was incorrect, before then advising him to change it.

The publication interviewed several Navy SEALS about Chris Kyle’s exaggeration, and while they insisted that his “heroism in combat” wasn’t up for debate they did believe that it was a “significant” blot on his reputation as “they consider battlefield embellishments to be dishonourable.”

While ‘American Sniper’ was met with mostly positive reviews, it was criticised by some for its treatment of Iraqi characters as well as not examining the legitimacy or the reasons why Chris Kyle had amassed a record of 255 kills, 160 of which were confirmed by the Department of Defence, during four tours of the Iraq War. This still makes him the deadliest marksman in U.S. military history.

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[Image via Warner Bros]