“One was to be a cowboy and another was to be in the military. I grew up extremely patriotic and riding horses.”

The Navy credits me with more kills as a sniper than any other American service member, past or present.

You’re not just going out there, maybe sacrificing your own life. There’s also sacrifices still going on at home. You can serve in the military and have a good marriage, but you just need to be aware of it so you can take those steps to take care of it.

But real life doesn’t travel in a perfect straight line; it doesn’t necessarily have that ‘all lived happily ever after’ bit. You have to work on where you’re going.

It’s funny – sometimes the strongest individuals feel the worst when events are out of their control, and they can’t really be there for the people they love. I’ve felt it myself.

I just want to get the bad guys but if I can’t see them, I can’t shoot them.

I have a master chief that always said, punch and run.

I am a much better father and husband than I ever was a sniper.

I thought I should be stronger than was possible.

I don’t shoot people with Korans. I’d like to, but I don’t.

I really don’t care what people think of me.

War is hell. Hollywood fantasizes about it and makes it look good; war sucks.

Other people are talking about writing books about my life, or about some of the things I’ve done. I find it strange, but I also feel it’s my life and my story, and I guess I better be the one to get it on paper the way it actually happened.

There’s no reason someone who has fought for their country should be homeless or jobless.

I’m just trying to be the me that I am and not all of this other crap. I just want to be the family man, and if somehow I can make the money to get my ranch and get the hell away from everybody else, that would be awesome.

I really don’t care what people think of me. I’ve got my family. I’ve got my friends. Yes, I have been trained to be a little more aggressive if I need to be, but I don’t go around thumping people.

Savage, despicable evil. That’s what we were fighting in Iraq.

The only thing that disturbs me is that many psychopaths say they had a very happy childhood.

I see my parents as tiny children who need love. I have compassion for my parents’ childhoods. I now know that I chose them because they were perfect for what I had to learn. I forgive them and set them free, and I set myself free.

I was raised in church. I was brought up in that life, and I think that it’s very important for everybody to be in touch with their spirituality and to have a relationship with God.

When you grow up on a dairy farm, cows don’t take a day off. So you work every day and my dad always said, ‘No one can outwork you,’

I wasn’t blessed with a healthy childhood self esteem but now that I have built it up by myself it’s even stronger.

Childlike surrender and trust, I believe, is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship.

All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair.

My memories of camp – I was four years old to eight years old – they’re fond memories.