American Sniper: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

In 1997, Chris Kyle joins the navy and begins his time in boot camp. He works hard, and, over the course of three months, gets into the best shape of his life. Afterwards, he begins training for Basic Underwater Demolition/Scuba (BUD/S), a skillset necessary to become a SEAL. Boot camp for BUD/S is even more rigorous than ordinary boot camp. Kyle is hosed in the face to train for oxygen deprivation, and does thousands of pushups and pull-ups every week. The physical exertion of BUD/S boot camp is immense; however, the real challenges are psychological—drill sergeants yell at the recruits constantly, and dare them to quit the program. Because he has a swaggering, “cowboy” attitude, the drill sergeants often single out Kyle—however, in the long run, their bullying and intimidation make Kyle a better athlete and soldier.

Toward the end of his time in boot camp, Kyle participates in Hell Week—the infamous six days during which recruits work, exercise, and barely sleep. The purpose of Hell Week is to weed out the weakest recruits, leaving only those who have “what it takes” to be SEALs. Just before Hell Week, Kyle fractures his foot in a boating accident. However, he refuses to show up for Hell Week in a cast, knowing that he’d have to start his training all over again. Hell Week began with a drill sergeant waking up the troops in the middle of the night by firing blank bullets into the air. Kyle and his fellow recruits swim, jog, do pushups and pull-ups, and generally work harder than they ever have in their lives.

During Hell Week, recruits have the option of ringing a bell at any time—after ringing the bell, the recruits are taken away from the SEALs for good; they’ve failed boot camp. Kyle concentrates on completing Hell Week, never giving into the temptation to ring the bell. In general, Kyle remembers Hell Week being one of the most challenging experiences of his life—but later, after he arrives in Iraq, he says, he’ll think “Hell Week was a cakewalk.”

After Hell Week, Kyle and the other remaining recruits enter “walk week”—a brief recovery period. During this time, Kyle discovers that he has a perforated eardrum. He receives medical attention, but is sent back to training immediately afterwards. He then begins phase two of boot camp: the “dive phase,” in which he learns how to maneuver in the water. Kyle never feels entirely comfortable in the water, and barely scrapes by. Furthermore, during this time, he isn’t allowed to chew tobacco. This poses a problem, since Kyle has always loved tobacco. He sneaks tobacco into camp, and chews it during drills. One day, his sergeant catches him chewing, and orders him to eat his entire can of tobacco, and then do hundreds of pushups. The sergeant is disappointed when Kyle doesn’t throw up—nevertheless, the experience leaves Kyle exhausted. Later on, Kyle becomes good friends with the sergeant, and learns that the sergeant likes chewing tobacco, too.

BUD/S training ends, and Kyle “survives.” Afterwards, he heads to advance training. There, he reunites with his friend, Marcus Luttrell. Kyle first met Luttrell in basic training, and they got along because they were both “Texas boys.” During advance training, Luttrell and Kyle partner up for diving exercises. Luttrell is the first to notice that Kyle has an “O2 hit”—i.e., he’s ascended too quickly, leaving too much oxygen in his bloodstream (a potentially lethal condition). Luttrell and Kyle remain friends, though they later end up on different SEAL teams. After advance training, Kyle is assigned to his top choice for SEAL team: Team 3, the California-based team that saw duty in the Middle East.

After he moves to Team 3 in Long Beach, Kyle falls in love with a woman named Taya. They meet at a bar one night: Taya asks Kyle what he does, and Kyle replies that he’s an ice cream truck driver (there’s an unwritten rule that SEALs don’t talk about being SEALs with civilians). Taya quickly deduces that Kyle is in the SEALs, since her sister’s ex-husband was a SEAL, too. She tells Kyle that she finds SEALs to be arrogant. Instead of getting offended, Kyle earnestly tells Taya, “I would lay down my life for my country. How is that self-centered?” Taya is impressed with Kyle’s humility, and Kyle senses that “this was someone I wanted to spend a lot of time with.” Quickly, they become a couple.

On September 11, 2001, Kyle awakes to a call from Taya, telling him that terrorists have bombed the World Trade Center. Kyle immediately drives to the Team 3 base for further instructions. As it turns out, Team 3 doesn’t see active duty for a full year. When Team 3 does ship out to the Middle East, its target is Saddam Hussein, not Osama Bin Laden (the terrorist who claimed to have planned the 9/11 attacks).

Kyle takes a moment to explain how the SEALs function. SEALs are trained for diving, but the majority of their work takes place on land. Usually, SEAL teams are assigned “direct action”—in other words, short, challenging missions with one clear directive. After 9/11, SEALs were trained for land duty, since most of them would be shipping to Iraq and Afghanistan. In the early 2000s, there was a vigorous debate about whether SEALs should continue to be trained for the water or not. Kyle feels much more comfortable on land than in the water.

In the year leading up to active duty, Kyle trains hard. Team 3 is divided into platoons, and each platoon is made to compete against the others—only one will be shipped off to fight. To prepare for worst-case scenarios, Kyle and his fellow soldiers are water-boarded and forced to run through tear gas. Kyle and the rest of his platoon work hard to outshine the other platoons. In the end, Kyle’s platoon ranks second, meaning that they’ll stay behind. Afterwards, Kyle and his platoon continue to train for active duty. They go through elaborate drills designed to prepare them for interacting with civilians in Iraq or Afghanistan.

During Kyle’s time in training, he gets word that Team 3 will be shipped out to Iraq. Assuming that he’ll be in the Middle East soon, Kyle marries Taya. Kyle is deeply in love with Taya but also frightened that the marriage won’t last. The divorce rate for SEALs is very high—about ninety percent. But Kyle is so in love with Taya that he ignores the odds. Kyle and Taya are still married today.

Kyle gets into fights during his time in Team 3. In California, he goes to bars with his friends, and often fights with other patrons. There are always “assholes” in the bar, he explains—most people just ignore them, but SEALs don’t. Kyle is arrested for bar fighting on more than one occasion.

Kyle experiences a lot of hazing during his time in Team 3. One night, his fellow soldiers handcuff him and conduct a “kangaroo court.” They accuse him of being arrogant and overly ambitious, and make him drink a shot of Jack Daniels for each of his “felony counts.” In the end, Kyle passes out, and the other SEALs draw Playboy bunnies on his chest and back—just days before he leaves for his honeymoon. The honeymoon lasts a mere three days, much to Taya’s annoyance—afterwards, Kyle returns to the SEALs and “got back to work.”