American Sniper is the story of Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle. Kyle is known for being the “most lethal sniper” that the U.S. military has ever seen. Chris Kyle exemplifies what it means to be a leader. On and off the battlefield we see time and time again, we see Kyle prove himself as a great leader.
Very early on in the movie there is a scene with Chris Kyle as a boy taking to his father at the dinner table. His father explains to him that there are three different kinds of people in this world, the sheep, the wolf and the sheepdog. The sheep represents the innocent people that try to live their lives without thinking about the evils that are out there. The wolves are the people that pray on the weaker people for their own benefit. The sheepdogs are those that feel the need to protect the weak from those that seek to hurt them. Chris Kyle is the embodiment of the sheepdog. In the film we see Kyle as he commits his entire life to protecting those that can’t protect themselves. This dedication to his task is one of the many examples of Chris being an extraordinary leader. In his quest to fight for what he believes in, we see Kyle make so many sacrifices. If there is a job that needs to be done, Chris Kyle will be the first to sign up for it. At times, it almost seems that he no longer cares about his own well-being and solely focuses on the well-being of the people around him. Another major sacrifice we see that Kyle makes for the greater good is the fact that he continues to go back to war for tour after tour even though he has done more than his fair share of active duty. He just couldn’t walk away from a job that he felt was undone.
Another great example of superior leadership shown by Chris Kyle is something that most people might not expect or think about often. This act of leadership I’m talking about is when Chris Kyle finally decides to go home. Constantly fighting in a war to the extent that Chris Kyle did during his military career can really take its toll on a person. It got so bad for Chris Kyle that by the end he just couldn’t take the pressure anymore and he had a mental breakdown on the battlefield. He then quickly stepped away from the military and let someone else do the fighting. Chris may have wanted to do more, but at the mental state that he was at, he might not have had much more he could have gave. Chris did what any reasonable leader would do and stepped down from his leadership position when he was no longer the optimal person to be the leader in that situation anymore. There was also another reason why it was important for Chris Kyle to return home is so that he may be a leader for his family. Being a leader in the military separated Kyle from his family. He needed to go back for them as much as he needed to go back for himself.
His service in the military was not the end of Kyle’s leadership. As I said in the previous paragraph Kyle became a leader for his family. However, he also found another way to find be a leader outside of the doing tour after tour in the Middle East. He took the initiative to help fellow soldiers who have returned home and suffer from PTSD. This goes to show that leadership doesn’t have to end. Just become he does fight wars anymore it doesn’t mean that he is no longer a sheepdog. He has stayed decided that his time is better spent helping those that fought the same fight he did and didn’t come out as fortunate. Chris Kyle may have met and unfortunate death through his leadership initiative, but he was a true leader to the very end.
Chris Kyle is truly an amazing individual. He is a natural leader whose leadership skills are unparalleled. Through the film American Sniper, we got a look at these great examples of leadership and through some of the lessons we learn from the life story of Chris Kyle, we can become better leaders in our everyday lives.