>
>
> This is why
> America will remain strong. We take care of our own as well
> as others who may not deserve taking care of. I just wanted
> to share with you all that out of a horrible
> tragedy we were blessed by so many people.
>
>
> Chris Kyle was
> Derek's teammate through 10 years of training and
> battle. They both suffer/suffered from PTSD to some extent
> and took great care of each
> other because of it.
>
> 2006 in
> Ramadi was horrible for young men that never had any more
> aggressive physical contact
> with another human than
> on a Texas football field.
>
>
> They lost many
> friends. Chris became the armed services number #1 sniper of
> all time. Not something he was happy about, other than the
> fact that in so
> doing, he saved a lot of American lives.
>
> Three years
> ago, his wife Taya asked him to leave the SEAL teams because
> he had a huge bounty on his head by Al Qaeda. He did and
> wrote the book "The American Sniper." 100% of
> the proceeds from the book went to two of the SEAL families
> who had lost their sons in Iraq.
>
>
> That was the kind of
> guy Chris was. He formed a company in Dallas to train
> military, police and I think firemen how to protect
> themselves in difficult
> situations. He also formed a foundation to work with
> military people suffering from PTSD. Chris was a giver not a
> taker.
>
> He, along with a
> friend and neighbor, Chad Littlefield, were murdered trying
> to help a young man that had served six months in Iraq and
> claimed to have
> PTSD.
> Now I need to tell you
> about all of the blessings.
>
> Southwest Airlines
> flew in any SEAL and their family from any airport to the
> funeral... free of charge.
>
> The employees donated
> buddy passes and one lady worked for four days without much
> of a break to see that it happened.
> Volunteers were at
> both airports in Dallas to drive them to the
> hotel.
>
> The Marriott Hotel
> reduced their rates to $45 a night and cleared the hotel for
> only SEALs and family.
>
> The
> Midlothian, TX Police Department paid the $45 a night for
> each room. I would guess there were about 200 people staying
> at the hotel, 100 of them were SEALs. Two large buses
> were chartered (an unknown donor paid the bill) to
> transport people to the different events and they also had a
> few rental cars (donated). The police and secret service
> were on duty 24 hours during the stay at our
> hotel.
>
>
> At the Kyle house, the
> Texas DPS parked a large motor home in front to block the
> view from reporters. It remained there the entire five days
> for the
> SEALs to meet in and so they could use the restroom there
> instead of the bathroom in the house. Taya, their two small
> children and both sets of parents were staying in the
> home.
>
> Only a hand
> full of SEALs went into the home as they had different
> duties and meetings were held sometimes on a hourly basis.
> It was a huge coordination of many different events
> and security. Derek was assigned to be a Pall Bearer, to
> escort Chris' body when it was transferred from the
> Midlothian Funeral Home to the Arlington Funeral Home, and
> to be with Taya. A tough job.
>
>
> Taya seldom
> came out of her bedroom. The house was full with people from
> the church and other family members that would come each day
> to help. I spent one morning in a bedroom
> with Chris' mom and the next morning with Chad
> Littlefield's parents (the other man murdered with
> Chris). A tough job.
> George W Bush and his
> wife Laura met and talked to everyone on the Seal Team one
> on one. They went behind closed doors with Taya for quite a
> while. They
> had prayer with us all. You can tell when people were
> sincere and caring
>
> Nolan Ryan
> sent his cooking team, a huge grill and lots of steaks,
> chicken and hamburgers. They set up in the front yard and
> fed people all day long including the 200 SEALs and
> their families. The next day a local BBQ restaurant set up
> a buffet in front of the house and fed all once again. Food
> was plentiful and all were taken care of. The family's
> church kept those inside the house well fed.
>
>
> Jerry Jones, the man
> everyone loves to hate, was a rock star. 0He made sure that
> we all were taken care of. His wife and he were just making
> sure everyone
> was taken care of….Class... He donated the use of Cowboy
> Stadium for the services because so many wanted to
> attend.
>
> The charter
> buses transported us to the stadium on Monday at 10:30 am.
> Every car, bus, motorcycle was searched with bomb dogs and
> police. I am not sure if kooks were making threats
> trying to make a name for themselves or if so many SEALs in
> one place was a security risk, I don't know. We
> willingly obliged. No purses went into the stadium!
>
>
> We were taken to The
> Legends room high up and a large buffet was available. That
> was for about 300 people. We were growing.
>
> A Medal of
> Honor recipient was there, lots of secret service and police
> and Sarah Palin and her husband. She looked nice, this was a
> very formal military service.
>
>
>
>
> The service started at
> 1:00 pm and when we were escorted onto the field I was
> shocked. We heard that about 10,000 people had come to
> attend also. They
> were seated in the stadium seats behind us. It was a
> beautiful and emotional service.
>
> The Bagpipe and drum
> corps were wonderful and the Texas A&M men's choir
> stood through the entire service and sang right at the end.
> We were all in tears.
>
> The next day was the
> 200-mile procession from Midlothian, TX to Austin for
> burial. It was a cold, drizzly, windy day, but the people
> were out. We had
> dozens of police motorcycles riders, freedom riders, five
> chartered buses and lots of cars. You had to have a
> pass to be in the procession and still it was huge.
> Two helicopters circled the procession with snipers sitting
> out the side door for protection.
> It was the longest funeral procession ever in the state of
> Texas. People were everywhere. The entire route was
> shut down ahead of us, the people were lined up on the side
> of the road the entire way. Firemen were down on one
> knee, police officers were holding
> their hats over their hearts, children waving flags,
> veterans saluting as we went by. Every bridge had fire
> trucks with large flags displayed from their tall ladders,
> people all along the entire 200 miles were standing in the
> cold weather. It was so heartwarming.
> Taya rode in the hearse with Chris' body so Derek rode
> the route with us. I was so grateful to have that time
> with him.
>
> The service was at
> Texas National Cemetery. Very few are buried there and you
> have to apply to get in. It is like people from the Civil
> War, Medal of
> Honor winners, a few from the Alamo and all the historical
> people of Texas. It was a nice service and the Freedom
> Riders surrounded the outside of the entire cemetery to keep
> the crazy church people from Kansas that protest at military
> funerals away from
> us.
>
> Each SEAL put his
> Trident (metal SEAL badge) on the top of Chris' casket,
> one at a time. A lot hit it in with one blow.
> Derek was the only one to
> take four taps to put
> his in and it was almost like he was caressing it as he did
> it. Another tearful moment.
>
> After the service
> Governor Rick Perry and his wife, Anita, invited us to the
> governor's mansion. She stood at the door,
> greeted each of us individually,
> and gave each of the SEALs a coin of Texas. She was a
> sincere, compassionate, and gracious hostess.
>
> We were able to tour
> the ground floor and then went into the garden for beverages
> and BBQ. So many of the Seal team guys said that after
> they get out
> they are moving to Texas. They remarked that they had
> never felt so much love and hospitality. The charter
> buses then took the guys to the airport to catch their
> returning flights. Derek just now called and
> after a 20 hours flight he is back in his spot,
> in a dangerous land on the other side of the world,
> protecting America.
>
> We just wanted to
> share with you, the events of a quite emotional, but blessed
> week.
>
> Punch-line:
>
>
> *To this day,* *no one
> in the White House* * has ever acknowledged Chris Kyle.* -
> his service, his death, his duty, his generosity, his
> caring, his life.
>
> However, the President
> can call a sports person and congratulate him on his bravery
> for announcing to the world that he is gay. He can say on
> national
> television say that someone, a man who has committed a
> crime, and was shot by police in the line of duty, would
> have made him a good son.
>
>
> The
> SEALS have asked that you please, keep this moving if you
> think Chris Kyle would have made a good son.
