CHAPTER 11

Decisiveness amid Uncertainty

Leif Babin

SNIPER OVERWATCH, RAMADI, IRAQ: TAKE THE SHOT
“I’ve got a guy with a scoped weapon in the second-story window of
building 127,” said Chris.
This was a bit out of the ordinary. Chris Kyle^1 was Charlie Platoon’s
point man and lead sniper—the most experienced sniper in the platoon
and one of the best in the SEAL Teams. He had been nicknamed “The
Legend” in jest on a previous deployment to Iraq. But as a driver of our
sniper operations in Ramadi, he was racking up confirmed kills on
enemy fighters at a rate that promised to surpass the most successful
snipers in U.S. military history.
What made Chris Kyle such a great sniper was not that he was the
most exceptional marksman. His secret was that he practiced Extreme
Ownership of his craft. Intimately involved in planning and scouting
potential sniper overwatch positions, he put himself in the right place at
the right time to maximize his effectiveness. While others might get
bored and lose focus after an hour of two of staring through the reticle of
their sniper scope, Chris maintained discipline and stayed vigilant. He