Bill Text: TX HCR85 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Directing the governor of the State of Texas to posthumously award the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor to Chief Petty Officer Christopher Scott Kyle.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 14-2)
Status: (Passed) 2015-06-18 - Signed by the Governor [HCR85 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-HCR85-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Directing the governor of the State of Texas to posthumously award the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor to Chief Petty Officer Christopher Scott Kyle.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 14-2)
Status: (Passed) 2015-06-18 - Signed by the Governor [HCR85 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-HCR85-Comm_Sub.html
84R13729 JGH-D | ||
By: Wray, Geren, Flynn, Blanco, et al. | H.C.R. No. 85 |
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WHEREAS, The Texas Legislative Medal of Honor was established | ||
to recognize gallant and intrepid service by a member of the state | ||
or federal military forces, and U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Chris | ||
Kyle, the most successful sniper in U.S. military history, proved | ||
himself a deserving recipient of this prestigious award; and | ||
WHEREAS, Born in Odessa on April 8, 1974, Christopher Scott | ||
Kyle learned patience and marksmanship at an early age; his father | ||
bought him a rifle when he was eight, and he hunted on the family | ||
ranch for pheasant and deer; after high school, he worked as a ranch | ||
hand and a professional rodeo rider until he was injured; despite | ||
the pins in his arm from his rodeo injuries, he actively sought to | ||
serve his nation, and thanks to his grit and determination, he was | ||
accepted into the elite Navy SEALs unit in 1999; and | ||
WHEREAS, Chief Petty Officer Kyle served four tours of duty | ||
in Iraq as a member of SEAL Team 3, and he fought in every major | ||
battle of Operation Iraqi Freedom, including engagements in Ramadi, | ||
Fallujah, and Baghdad; working in hot, dirty, and dangerous | ||
conditions, Chief Kyle put himself in harm's way on a daily basis, | ||
setting up his sniper's post in abandoned buildings, sometimes for | ||
as long as five weeks at a time, watching tirelessly through his | ||
scope for enemy combatants and, through his efforts, saving | ||
countless American lives; and | ||
WHEREAS, Known by his peers as "the Legend" for his uncanny | ||
skill, Chief Kyle often successfully took long-range shots, and in | ||
Sadr City in 2008, after he spotted an insurgent approaching an army | ||
convoy with a rocket launcher, he shot the man from a distance of | ||
2,100 yards, or 1.2 miles; as feared by the enemy as he was | ||
celebrated by his fellow Americans, Chief Kyle was nicknamed | ||
Al-Shaitan Ramadi, or "The Devil of Ramadi," by the insurgents, who | ||
put an $80,000 price on his head; and | ||
WHEREAS, Chief Kyle regularly demonstrated conspicuous | ||
gallantry in the thick of combat; during the second battle for | ||
Fallujah in November 2004, two Marines and two journalists were | ||
trapped near a heavily fortified enemy position, and as the Marines | ||
around him provided covering fire, Chief Kyle dashed through enemy | ||
fire, joined the trapped men, and provided suppressing fire to | ||
enable them to escape; then, as he made his own escape, he | ||
discovered one of the Marines wounded in the road, and, with enemy | ||
rounds thudding all around him, he grabbed his wounded comrade by | ||
his body armor and dragged him 50 yards to safety; he then returned | ||
to the battle until the last enemy insurgent was killed; and | ||
WHEREAS, Chief Kyle's bravery that day earned him one of his | ||
five Bronze Stars with Valor, and he also received two Silver Stars | ||
along with many other decorations; he was shot twice and survived | ||
six IED explosions, and by the time he left the navy to return to his | ||
family in Texas in 2009, he was credited with the highest number of | ||
confirmed kills in U.S. military history; and | ||
WHEREAS, Chief Kyle continued to distinguish himself in | ||
civilian life, running a security training company and publishing a | ||
best-selling combat memoir, which inspired an award-winning motion | ||
picture; he worked with the FITCO Cares Foundation to provide | ||
support to disabled veterans, and, tragically, he died while trying | ||
to help another veteran; such was the respect and admiration he had | ||
earned from his fellow Texans that his funeral procession from | ||
Midlothian to Austin stretched for more than 200 miles, one of the | ||
longest memorial processions in American history; and | ||
WHEREAS, Chris Kyle repeatedly risked his life to save the | ||
lives of his fellow soldiers and to advance their mission, and for | ||
his remarkable heroism he is most assuredly deserving of this | ||
state's supreme military award; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby direct the governor of the State of Texas to posthumously | ||
award the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor to Christopher Scott | ||
Kyle in recognition of his valiant service during Operation Iraqi | ||
Freedom. |