A sniper rifle owned by former U.S. Navy Seals Ryan Job, who was featured in the movie American Sniper, sits on display at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis on Tuesday afternoon. Job shown in the film getting shot through the lens of his sniper rifle while working with the protagonist of the film, U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle. Job died in 2009. The rifle that is on display at the museum was one that Job's dad gave to him after his service in Iraq.
Ryan Job
The Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis has a sniper rifle on temporary display that belonged to Ryan Job, a Navy SEAL with Team 3 who was friends with Chris Kyle, the man who inspired the book and movie “American Sniper.”
Job also was depicted in the film.
Chip Duncan, executive director of the museum, said he typically does not accept items on loan, but said this time he did so because of how unique the item is and because of the story behind it.
Job was born and raised in Washington. He graduated from Issaquah High School in 1999. He attended the University of Washington for three years before he enlisted in the Navy in 2002. After he completed the Navy’s elite SEAL training in 2004, he was ordered to SEAL team 3.
Job was deployed as a member of Task Unit Bruiser to Ramadi, Iraq, in April 2006. On Aug. 2, 2006, he was providing overwatch security for Iraqi and Coalition Forces when he was struck in the face by an enemy sniper. He was blinded permanently and medically retired from the Navy, according to his obituary.
Job did not let his disability slow him down. He went on to summit Mount Rainier in 2008 and helped other injured veterans do the same.
“Ryan put others before himself, both in military service and in his personal life,” according to his obituary.
Duncan said Job died of an accidental overdose while undergoing major reconstructive surgery in September 2009.
Job’s father, Eric, wanted to get a similar rifle to what his son used in Iraq to commemorate his son’s summit of Mount Rainier. Duncan said Eric reached out to Kyle, the man who was depicted in the American Sniper book and movie, since he was his son’s good friend.
Kyle recommended a Sako TRG 42 firearm and suggested he also get a Nightforce optic scope. The rifle has Craft International, the company Kyle founded, on one side of the scope.
Kyle was the president of Craft International, a tactical training company for law enforcement and military members.
The company’s logo of the Punisher skull with a cross over the right eye paid tribute to Job, as did the motto of the company: “Despite what your momma told you, violence does solve problems.” The motto was something Job told Kyle while he was recovering in the hospital from his initial wounds, Duncan said.
“Chris remembered that,” Duncan said. “When Chris got out and after Ryan was accidentally killed, Chris really put Ryan into the company to keep his memory alive.”
Kyle was later killed in February 2013 when he and his friend Chad Littlefield were shot by Eddie Ray Routh at the Rough Creek Ranch-Lodge-Resort shooting range in Erath County, Texas. The duo had reportedly taken Routh to the range to help him with his post-traumatic stress disorder. Both were killed.
The rifle that Kyle helped personalize for Job is now on display at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis. The keepsake piece is unique, Duncan said.
“My personal feeling is it fits in with the museum’s mission that our veterans should not be forgotten,” he said, adding that both Job and Kyle were portrayed in the American Sniper movie bringing it into people’s memories but not to the forefront of people’s minds. “We had two great members of the SEAL team that are no longer with us that did some incredible work in Iraq.”
Duncan said he talked to Job’s dad, Eric, and said the family was “just a great American family.”
“He raised his kids right, they hunted and cared for values, and those were the kinds of things that got him into the Navy SEALS,” he said.
The rifle will be on display until April.
