Navy Documents: 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle Distorted His Military Record

Chris Kyle, the legendary American Sniper who wrote a best-selling book by that name which was made into the highest grossing film of 2014, embellished his service record in the Navy SEALs, The Intercept reports.

Kyle was murdered in 2013 in Texas by a former Marine suffering from PTSD. Internal Navy documents obtained by The Intercept revealed that Kyle's claims of the number of medals he won were false and that he had been warned by Navy officials about the inaccuracies before his novel was published in 2012.

Kyle wrote in his book that he won two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars, all for valor, but the documents showed that he had actually won only one Silver Star and three Bronze Stars.

Among the military community, exaggerating medals and achievement is considered very
dishonorable.

Although there has always been people who claimed that Kyle exaggerated his exploits, without disputing his heroism in battle, this is the first time an official document had discredited a main claim.

It was, however, not the first time that someone disputed Kyle's claims.

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura won a $1.8 million defamation lawsuit against Kyle for his claim in the book that he had a 2006 bar fight with someone who insulted the Navy SEALs, a man Kyle later claimed was Ventura.

After the verdict, which occurred after Kyle had been murdered, Ventura told CNN: "Imagine, I took on this alleged dead war hero and his grieving widow, how much evidence there must have been for the jury to have overwhelmingly sided with me as well as the judge."

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