The first interview

Two or three weeks before American Sniper was published, Chris Kyle came up to New York for an interview with Time magazine. The interview was condensed for publication; the magazine has now made the full transcript available on the web here:

http://time.com/3674546/chris-kyle-american-sniper-interview/

It was the first time that Chris talked to the media about the book and his experiences. I still vividly remember him sitting across from the interviewer, Belinda Luscombe, as she asked him the questions.

Belinda Luscombe was extremely professional and gracious, and Chris responded in kind. I doubt that all of her personal opinions would have matched up with Chris's, but you would never have known that from her manner. I still think of this as one of the best and respectful interviews that Chris gave, and admire Luscombe for her skill.

Here's a very brief excerpt; I highly recommend the whole interview:

So why did you decide to do the book?

Well, because I’m not trying to glorify myself. In fact, when we started the book I didn’t want to put the number [of kills] in there. I wanted to be able to get it out about not the sacrifices that the military members make, but the sacrifices that their families have to go through about the single mothers now raising their children and doing all the day-to-day house chores. But then also stories about my guys who deserve to be out there. They didn’t get the Medal of Honor so you don’t know about them, but they died heroes and people should know about them.