Rob O'Neill - Disputed Claims Surrounding the Bin Laden Raid | SRS #027

hey everybody welcome back i hope you're having  a fantastic week even though it's only uh. monday but uh but hey if you're  not and it's off to a rough start. it's about to get better because i have a  phenomenal interview lined up for you guys. rob has been a long time coming on this show  and we finally got it done and i think you guys. are really going to enjoy it we talk about his  entire career and we get into some philosophical. type stuff that i think you all are going  to find extremely interesting as well and.

i want to tell you all about the vigilance  elite newsletter that we're kicking off. all kinds of good stuff coming through that  especially the exclusive content that's only. for newsletter people and uh all kinds of other  stuff when the gummy bears are gonna release. new products all that stuff it's all coming out on  the newsletter it's our only way to get directly.

to you without any algorithms in the way so  anyways it's free sign up links in the description. and on another note i just want to personally  thank all of you for being here i love you all. thank you and enjoy the show.

you guys are here because this is not a drill uh  this is real we found a thing and this thing is. in a house and this house is in a bowl and  this bowl is in a country and you guys are. gonna you're gonna go get this thing and you're  gonna bring it back to us and show it to us.

good evening tonight i can report to the  american people and to the world that the. united states has conducted an operation that  killed osama bin laden the leader of al-qaeda. and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder  of thousands of innocent men women and children.

i said you guys realize this is a one-way mission. we're targeting uh al qaeda in places  where they've never seen guys like us. the reason you guys are here is this is as  close as we've ever been to osama bin laden. good evening the al qaeda leader osama  bin laden is dead killed by american.

special forces who raided his hideout in  pakistan in the early hours of the morning. and i remember putting my first foot  came out i'm looking at bin laden's. house and i remember thinking [ __ ] it  i guess we'll start the war from here. these remarkable pictures  from right inside his compound. show us exactly where osama  bin laden was finally killed. the woman that found bin laden said i don't  know what it looks like inside but there will.

be a stairwell going to the second floor and you  will run into khalid bin laden and he's 20 years. old that's bin laden's son and that is his last  line of defense he will be armed on the stairwell. the blood you can see on the floor evidence of  how he was shot in the head through his left eye. simply because he went this way i turn this  way and standing three feet in front of me.

is osama bin laden and he's got his  hands on a mall his wife's shoulders. i turn around and um i kind of froze and  i'm okay other navy seals are now coming. in the room a lot of guys are in there  and one of my guys came up to me and uh. he said um are you good and i said  no no what are we supposed to do now.

so.

rob o'neal welcome to the show man thanks for  having me i'm happy to be here it's great it's. been a long time coming it has yeah i think we've  been promising to do this for a while yeah never. never got around to it i even i haven't lived  near here for a couple years and i don't know. how i didn't make it here yeah well it's life gets  in the way right yeah it does life happens around. you but uh well we had a great conversation about  the upcoming alien invasion that's going to happen. i'm i'm at a point right now where nothing would  surprise me right no and even if aliens showed.

up i would question are those really aliens or  just the government just the final push that's. what i'm saying and i don't know what to believe  i mean i've seen enough stuff to be i believe a. lot of things now and there's other stuff that i  i'm not sure if i believe it so it's just a it's. a crazy world it's to the point where no matter  what happens i'm not going to be surprised no i. mean consider a few years ago that a lockdown  was just something you see in a movie there's.

no way this would really happen and it did  and we fell for it yeah hook line and singer. all of us even if you're you know the anti-master  you still stay in your house it's not like you're. you're not going to fly without it yeah you're  not traveling without it so yeah well actually. i got everybody i get everybody a gift and i was  going to get you a delta sky miles oh thank you. but can i open it now yeah  go ahead what do we got here.

these are gummy bears those are gummy bears  well thank you go good with uh your beer. company that's great that's your beer that's  right oh you're awesome i need to get some of. that beard yeah i'll definitely i'll definitely  get you some not a problem at all brewing company. we'll send you out as soon as we get done with  this yeah i'll put it right there on the bar. very cool you know we'll drink it during the show  yeah we have we have a beer uh for every branch we. have jar head um soldier beer cat shot for pilots  special hops which i thought was pretty special. special hops is an ipa it's really good  we just came out with uh neptune's beer.

uh to sort of commemorate neptune's spear which  is commonly mispronounced it's neptune's spear as. in king neptune's spear natural state people say  neptune spear but that's you know it's the two. s's in a row yeah what do you got any what's your  favorite flavor ipa ipa that's my favorite special. hops but but the the um when when neptune's  beer is available it's gonna be i think 12. so that might be my new favorite nice nice you  gonna get into hard stuff at all or stupid uh.

not just yet but if if the opportunity arises  um probably well i'm sure that's gonna come but. well hey i just want to start you got a hell of a  career let's go through the your entire career you. know hit the high points obviously the bin laden  raid but i want to start with you know where you. grew up montana what was your childhood like well  it was uh kind of living in a bubble that you you. know there's nothing on the other side of that  mountain butte montana montana is the center of.

the universe and people from anywhere else are  probably going to be better than you kind of a. weird situation a fear of success i guess um so  i grew up hunting that was a normal thing it was. normal to hunt elk it was normal to go uh mule  deer whitetail hunting fishing and i played a lot. of basketball um that was that was going to be my  plan i was going to get so good at basketball that. i would get college paid for and then i was going  to stay in butte montana and be a stock broker or. something like that you know get an nba maybe from  montana tech where i did go for a year nice were.

you pretty tired with your old man yeah yeah we we  kind of did everything together we started hunting. basically the same reason i joined the navy  because he got dumped he got a second divorce and. we just had to do something so we started hunting  we have i think the first time we went hunting it. was in a it was in a two-door datsun car my uncle  jack's and we didn't know what we were doing we. didn't know how to side in a weapon um kind of  went out we got we got a doe tag for an antelope. and we went out all we knew how to do was get  uh the the cooler stocked um yeah you know i.

mean like sodas and twinkies and sandwiches and  stuff yeah yeah we used to call it the buffet and. that was kind of it it was uh there was basketball  season there was hunting season there was fishing. and then um hanging out in butte montana which  i thought was a big city at the time because. i didn't you know we didn't really go anywhere  do you miss it there uh i do i love to go back. i i sometimes get jealous of people  that have a normal job in a normal life. nine to five you know wake up  in the morning kiss your kids.

go to work have lunch come home be with your  kids i totally understand that yeah just a. normal life i mean like yeah it's kind of cool  i don't have really [ __ ] to worry about yeah. but uh yeah what so what did your old man do he  was a stock broker oh he was a stockbroker now he. does weird [ __ ] like he bought a a really fast  harley and he's 73 and uh i think it scares him. but uh he bought it and he's uh actually taking  his a road test soon dude the cone thing oh [ __ ].

he's like brand new on a bike yeah wait he had one  before he had a honda shadow i remember growing up. but i don't think he ever wrote it i think he  just had it yeah but he's good he's still a fly. fisherman he's put a a basketball court in um  in his backyard oh no he plays in the winter in. montana he'll go out and shovel it and shoot free  throws he's still really good he's got a good shot. so when did you if that was the plan what  how the hell did the seal teams and the navy. well this thing the seal teams was an accident  um because it was it wasn't necessarily getting.

dumped by a girl but it was a situation that  you know i started once i joined the navy i. realized most people are similar you get to an  age where i just got to get out of here and that. was where i was at i bad relationship basketball  wasn't i was playing but it wasn't fun anymore. and it's i need to go on an adventure and i had  two friends that always wanted to be marines. growing i grew up with them jim mcbride and ben  walsheski and they all i'm talking high in tights.

growing up marine corps stickers on their first  trucks they're you know they were marines and then. and then i would see them come they were two years  older than me i would see them come back to butte. montana and like it was like watching someone from  full metal jacket walk into i was in the vu villa. and ben walked in i'm like holy [ __ ] i mean  that's a marine like that guy i still wasn't going. to join i was still playing basketball and i was  like that's a [ __ ] marine though i'd like to i'm. going to watch this guy kick someone's ass in here  can't touch him and then when it was time to leave.

um like because as a young man you you can go out  and see the world for free by joining the military. yeah and i i again full metal jacket like everyone  else i watched that a thousand times and i was. like you know what i'm gonna do that because  i guarantee um boot camp is gonna suck but i. wanna meet that drill instructor you know just how  funny he is but brutal and i want to be tough like. a marine so i went to join the marine corps just  went down there and there was a my wife calls me.

the luckiest unlucky man in the world she i think  whatever's saying like go through life i think. one of her sayings is you could trip over your  dick but you're going to land in a pot of gold. so uh i went i went in to join the marine corps  and as luck would have it the marine wasn't there. he was literally out to lunch and the navy guy was  the navy guy west and i went over to him because. my two friends and i'm everyone's heard this joke  before but my two friends ben and jim said the. marine corps is actually part of the department  of the navy it's just the men's department.

and that's why i went in there because if they're  part of the department he'll know where he is and. then he'll you know i i said um hey where's the  where's the marine when's it gonna be back and. you know so he's sitting there he's a navy chief  khakis anchors i didn't know what the [ __ ] that. meant but he's a chief so he's clever and he  said why why do you want the i said i want to. be a sniper and i grew up hunting marines have the  best snipers in the world i read carlos hathcock's. book like i want to do that and he goes look no  further my friend we have snipers in the navy.

all you have to do is become a navy seal first  no big deal we'll send you right to sniper. and i didn't know what that was right i'm  from montana and i didn't know how to swim. and me being a naive young man i i thought you  know um i don't know what a seal is but this guy. here is a professional recruiter why would he lie  to me and i signed it and i signed the contract. to go the only thing i did right um was i learned  early in life to get it in writing whatever you're.

doing fine we can do business on a handshake but  sign this first yeah so i got in writing it was. called the dive fairer program the dive the dive  fairer program which meant um you get like a 2 500. bonus you are guaranteed a chance to go to buds  basically underwater demolition seal training. you're guaranteed a chance and i didn't i mean  i didn't know that all that meant is you can go. and fail and then you're going to the fleet yeah  and so i signed that and um yeah that was it and. then he started showing me videos of buds i  didn't know what that was i the only thing i.

knew about um navy seals was um watching charlie  sheen's character jump off the bridge in the. movie navy seals eddie braun is his name he's  he's still is his stunt man which is awesome. uh very good guy very good stunt man i guess  during that scene too i'm kind of jumping. around eddie brown said all right i'm going to  do this you get one take and he then the famous. uh jumping up there yeah anyway i that's why i  thought it wasn't that i knew something about. um sit-ups with two thousand pound logs.

my buddies that i grew up with that i thought knew  a lot about um the military said there's no [ __ ]. way in hell you're gonna make it through what  did you just do i took my mom to the recruiting. station to have her watch videos and she didn't  tell me to my face but she's like there's no. [ __ ] way you can make it to the stream and uh  the only person that says that i think really. believed in me was my father um just because i um  because of our attitudes with uh free throws and.

master the basics um free throws that's if  i could describe life it would be how to be. successful in life free throws because it's master  the basics do your thing shoot here muscle memory. you want to be great do it a thousand times you  want to be really great do it 10 000 times do. everything like you do anything we would do drills  my father and me um we would play every single day. and um anything from an hour of one-on-one  to three hours of five on five but we were.

not allowed to leave the gym until one of  us made at least 20 free throws in a row. so that start with a make and then you keep  shooting and um that's something else too about. like stances with shooting and all that stuff  when you make your first free throw you don't move. you're in the position i hate watching basketball  players now they make a free throw and then i. gotta go give everyone five [ __ ] you it's your  job you made a free throw make the second one. and then talk about how awesome you are but we  couldn't leave the gym until one of us made 20. in a row and that could take five minutes that  could take three hours damn but we uh we got we.

got so good at i think we made ourselves there's a  there's a um a steakhouse in butte montana called. the derby and like montana's like i said how we  don't know how good it is because we're just there. don't realize how great the stakes are at the  derby in butte montana um we would start our. season off 20 in a row to leave the gym 20 for a  steak now it stays at 20 to leave the gym but now. it goes up by 5. 25 for a steak 34 steak 35 for  a steak 20 believe the gym 50 for a steak and we.

get to the point my father made 91 in a row and  that was the family record for a week because. the next week i made 105 in a row in a row in a  row and you know what's funny is like a lot well. a lot of things in life only two of us saw it  so you can take my word forward or tell me yeah. yeah so um um i he believed in me  and um so being lucky instead of good. um i had my student id to montana tech they had  a pool so that meant i could still get into the.

pool like at five in the morning and i went  up there and i'm like okay the breaststroke. is one of the strokes it can't be that hard  it's 25 meters down 25 meters back i'll swim. a thousand meters and gauge it yeah from there  and like anything with like everything was going. fine until i entered the water and that's when  the problem started i made it to the deep end. i almost didn't make it back and i was like  i'm [ __ ] i just signed a contract with the.

government to be a navy seal and i don't know how  to swim holy so i i was trying and i'm busting my. ass doing whatever and uh my friend so i i'm  in there for and just dying i'm trying to get. out my friend mike driscoll i went to high school  with him one of the few people in montana who did. swim and i believe he did go on to swim at notre  dame and he said rob don't take this the wrong way. it's great to see you i've just literally  never seen you in the pool before. what gives and i said i just i just joined the  navy i'm going to be a seal and he goes oh no.

not like that he goes come here and then he showed  me um he showed me the how to do the breaststroke. how to do the side stroke and so with repetition  i just um i would go there every day and i. still have my um there's a little packet you get  when you join the navy that folder and even like. there's the buds warning order and all that yeah  i still have that with my i would write my times. down for the 500 yard swim that you had to do  no [ __ ] you still have that i still have it i. found it in a one of the kit bags that we all keep  because i might need this sleeping bag something.

um but and then i was i was up there i was getting  pretty decent and then jim mcbride the marine. who's actually he was enlisted he actually i think  he just retired as a lieutenant colonel which is. awesome semper fi that's what he was going to do  he was going to be a marine he he went to aircrew. school in in the marine corps and they taught  him how to really do the combat recovery stroke. and he goes just do this a couple times and  just like when i saw ben in the vue villa. i was watching jim swim and i'm like okay  i this is next level [ __ ] now i gotta get.

this so i just you know i got proficient i  thought yeah and then i did get to boot camp. and you know i actually failed the the screening  test the first time because i took it like an. [ __ ] um after you get those 90 shots and you're  just sick as a dog cotton mouth whatever um and i. was i remember sitting there how many people try  out in in boot camp at the time there must have. been 400 people what year is this 1996 96 and uh  looking at this bleachers and i still had that.

small town mentality i remember looking at the  navy seal flag the unofficial navy seal flag. i'm watching this arrogant team guy i didn't  know what to think of navy so he came out. there like did this perfect dive that like greg  louganis would have loved for a number of reasons. but uh and then he got out and kind of  just gave us the stink eye and he and. i remember looking thinking there's no [ __ ]  way why look at all these guys trying out and.

and then uh but then i started talking to  other guys that were from brooklyn uh some. some dudes that that joined the navy to get  out of compton guys from south florida and i. started to realize that okay everyone's scared  everyone's kind of the same we're all the same. and and then and then started saying i mean later  on in life i realized that i don't give a [ __ ]. if you're the ceo of a major company you're the  guy in bin laden's bedroom we've all had our first. day yeah and we've all been scared admitted i mean  we'll talk about the one percenters later which.

exists um that aren't scared it will pass they're  they but the rest of us get scared um the rest of. us have been nervous but if you can just take  it increments at a time and so the next time. i got there i i lost the intimidation i gave up  the [ __ ] with i just got shots no [ __ ] that. do the swim do the pull-ups do the sit up do the  push-up do the damn run and get on with your life. and and that was it i mean and you know just being  in boot camp and i kind of i'm a big believer in. um wherever you are be there so i i got into um  the classes we were taking okay i'm going to be a.

navy seal but i want to learn about naval customs  and courtesies traditions i want to learn with the. horn like i paid attention i was interested in  this the the whatever they i was interested in. how to make a bed how to fold your your shirts  i still do it and um i got into it and then i. did you know i got the contract in there with  the you know now you're with a navy seal chief. and you you you know you're gonna get your orders  yeah and uh part of the die fair program i didn't.

realize this was you have to be a corpsman  okay i didn't see that in the fine print but. i i finagled my weight when you go up to get your  rates i made up some [ __ ] and i i found out what. the shortest a school was so i could get to buds  right away and it was a aircrew survival equipment. or a parachute rigger so i would get that i knew i  would finish boot camp go to millington tennessee.

it was like a two or three week a school and i i  was with marines now but i mean i'm talking huge. dude i had there's one huge marine one white dude  one black dude huge marines i'm still intimidated. by marines and then this big black marine  this i'll never forget he's a staff sergeant. he taught me how to wind a bobbin and how to  sew and at first i thought okay i'm into some. [ __ ] but i don't know and then i'm like  wait a minute sewing might be an awesome. trait i'm going to pay attention this a big tough  marine taught me how to sew i learned about cyclic.

rate of fire for a console machine you know  what was [ __ ] and but that in the teams it. turns out to be a good thing but before we had  all the high speed kit that they you need to. cut this pocket off so here where do you want your  stuff and but never tell anyone you're good at it. because then your first lpo he'll have you sewing  everyone's uniforms yeah you have a year work up. to get all 100 of these blouses or whatever yeah  i went to millington and um went back to butte. montana for uh leave and then drove my truck to  coronado and the first place i stopped in uh in.

coronado was uh it was right by the hotel del and  uh i just wanted to get in the ocean to you know. if i was uh talking to 19 year old rob o'neill  now i'm like dude you're gonna get ocean time. just stay out yeah don't take cold showers you  just my thing about the cold showers when i when. um i talk to young kids young men that want to be  seals and they'll say um what should i be doing to. get ready for buds and i'll say well let me answer  your question with a question what are you doing. to get ready for buds and they say  taking cold showers to get used to it.

and i'm like you know what stop that right now  and i'm going to tell you what i'm going to. give you an example if i told you in 30 days i'm  going to kick you in the nuts as hard as i can. and in order to get ready for it you had your  best friend kick you in the nuts every single. day guess what it's still going to suck when i do  it yeah don't prepare for [ __ ] it's just take it. like a man every single time yeah so i got there  and uh it was a thursday night and i was in the i. got into the the um the pacific ocean and all of  a sudden there were these these boats rolling by.

and there was chem lights on the side of them  and it took me a second to realize oh [ __ ]. i'm checking into class 208 that's 207 and this  is hell week and i still get goosebumps thinking. about it like damn boy you talk about swimming  you just jumped in with both feet and it's about. to be on and then um yeah i got a hotel i checked  in on a friday which was stupid wait till monday. like why do you want quarter deck watch when  you can at least go have your last beer in peace.

yeah and then uh 208 started butts class 208  um uh you know it's typical uh starts off with. at the time i think we call the ptrr yep that's  what they called it they didn't have quite the. pipeline they do now they're doing it better now  with actually getting guys ready with prep and. nutrition yeah you know this is back in the day  when you had a navy seal as a skydive instructor. and you eat [ __ ] he doesn't tell you how to  work your canopy laughs at you they have so many. guys signing up now apparently this is this is uh  from this family that i used to train when i did.

tactics and stuff he this kid went in they have  so many people signing up to be seals now that. are go to buds i guess that they have to  they can't even take them all really yeah. they're they're showing up and they sent this  guy out to the fleet for two years but broke. his contract that's how many people are signing  well that's what tells you about a contract with. the government they can tell you go yourself yeah  yeah we've seen plenty of that lately yeah but um.

so you're not checking in though it goes from  watching a special on on a cable news special. about some reporter that went to but now you're  at buds yeah and and i don't know what the [ __ ]. and they brought us into a classroom  and we were still in our whites our. dressing whites with like the i didn't  i think what you have one little. service medal yeah yeah and we check in and this  instructor came this instructor came in and he. goes hey anybody want to quit and he was [ __ ]  around like a team guy joke this dude goes i do.

right off me i never thought his joke he's like  no he he just he got orders to buzz to get off. the ship no she said he quit because he would  get like three weeks on should do whatever the. hell they want yeah so then he quit and then  um uh we had a uh an instructor named eshelman. and he's a legend if anyone knows who a  legend and he said um this is how i started.

i started to realize that they're training  you how to how to be successful in life he. said uh all right i know i mean and he buzz  instructors are not historically nice guys. but this guy was like he would say stuff look guys  i'm not here to intimidate i'm here to motivate. he was our class proctor so that is the one that  helps you through and he said i i know you've. seen the movies and probably read the books  regardless of what you've been told this. course is not impossible okay people  graduate look at me i am living proof.

so i will never ask you to do anything impossible  but i will make you do something very hard. followed by something very hard followed by  something very hard day after day after day. for eight straight months and that sounds like  a lot to get from not eight months from now but. don't think about that because that is not how  you achieve a long-term goal you do it like this. you wake up in the morning on time then you make  your bed the right way then you brush your teeth. you just started the day with three victories  that's three wins already make it to the 5 a.m. pt on time and as i'm beating you do not think  about the pain you're going through concentrate.

on your next goal in life which is breakfast  after breakfast make it to lunch after lunch. your next goal in life is dinner and after  dinner do everything you need to do to get. back into that perfectly made bed and because you  took the time in the morning to make your bed the. right way regardless of how bad today was and it  will be bad tomorrow's a clean slate tomorrow is. a fresh start and when you feel like quitting  which you will do not quit right now that's. emotion i want you to quit tomorrow if you can  keep quitting tomorrow you can do anything in life.

and that's what i i mean i thought i wasn't  gonna make i had to get up 15 minutes early. to put on sunscreen like i thought that would be  a reason a sunburn would get me out of buds um. you know little [ __ ] like that but it started to  enforce me [ __ ] that i'm gonna put sunscreen on. i'm gonna fail a swim but i'm not gonna  quit and and then you start seeing guys. quit and and one thing one problem too  is uh i called it sympathetic quitting. when when someone that you think is tougher than  you because he's louder than you quits well if he.

can't make it i can't make it and they i'm  sure you saw two in buds yeah someone well. should they just follow him like it's like [ __ ]  him like even in the movies when you see someone. go into the bell and the other students are like  no no it's like [ __ ] you quit i don't want you. yeah join them i'm not quitting yeah and  then it just you know it turns into uh. hell week um and i you know all of a sudden it's  breakout like we're in the tent i know it's coming. and breakout starts which is organized chaos  they're you know get a muster get your broke.

and like [ __ ] they're not going to they got they  got instructors like that are retired in there to. [ __ ] with you yeah just to realize the chaos and  and there was a guy that quit right off the bat. in breakout and i'm like dude this is the  best part like this is this is done the. movies and then um and then again it's  just the uh i i did have someone say. you're obviously your next goal is your next  meal your long-term goal right now is sunrise. of wednesday and if if you can live the sunrise  you'll probably be so doped up from lack of sleep.

that you can they'll just push you through yeah  and then all of a sudden it's friday and then uh. um we did you know the mud pits the famous [ __ ]  at the end like the bacteria infested cesspool. whatever and uh i remember we had admiral richards  was gonna secure us and a typical admiral he was. three hours late so they have to beat us for  an extra three it's like could someone just. secure this [ __ ] can i get a gatorade just let  us go yeah hey i remember he said he's shaking. everyone's hands and like he's like the first  animal i've ever met and he's like congratulations.

o'neill thank you adam because now wipe that  [ __ ] off your face and like roger that yeah. and then all of a sudden hell week's over and then  um and then you're in the walk week where they're. actually letting you recover and then i'll never  forget our first swim because now you're done with. hell week and obviously hell week i think is the  reason that navy seals in combat will walk three. miles out of their way to avoid getting their  boots wet yeah you get tortured and um our first. two mile swim they had us line up and face the  ocean the first time getting in the ocean after.

hell week and they made us line up and we're just  staring at it and the same instructor echelman he. comes walking up and down he's like first time  in the ocean since hillary clinton's kind of. spooky isn't it and then you do that you the  hydro recon and then boom you get your uh blue. helmet here and die face what did you find did did  you make it through all at once yeah you were no. original yeah oh that's not very many of those  i know and and i it didn't make sense to me. because i mean pool comp uh they have you do the  test on friday twice and if you fail you have to.

do it monday and then if you fail that you're  done and a lot of people don't realize a lot. of dudes fail pool comp and you can get kicked  out for failing pool cup most guys get rolled. to make it again but i failed twice on um on  friday and then i i remember just practicing uh. uh untying nuts practice breath holds how am i  gonna get through this and and that started to. start to enforce that failure is sometimes a  learning lesson you can learn don't be afraid of.

failure just don't quit and then i i went through  and um i i i think i untied most of the knots and. uh you know you come up at the end i feel fine  and then this instructor's here and i just hear. o'neill pass i'm like [ __ ] yeah and he grabbed  me he goes you untied three of my whammy knots. [ __ ] and then you get on indian diaphase and  now and that's where you learn that the navy can. make anything suck because diving scuba diving  i don't know if you know this is fun not in the.

[ __ ] nation no so you know you do a little bit  of open circuit stuff then you do the cool uh. 120 feet dive in the pacific which is neat then  you get into a dragger and then just learning how. to count kicks and then ship attack [ __ ] and you  know dive medicine uh die physics and you know the. classroom stuff where that now this is where the  meatheads who can run five miles they fail yeah. because now you gotta learn about boyle's law  you gotta learn about the bends learn about uh. uh ages artillery gas embolisms [ __ ] like that  and all of a sudden you're done with that and now. it's third phase and at this point no one had no  one had told me that san clemente island is by far.

the worst part i i mean i thought hell week was  bad i thought pool comp was bad the [ __ ] island. for me was the worst 40 straight days of nothing  but getting beat and i'm convinced the instructors. are you know hitting the sauce a little bit  they're reminding us that no one you know we're. killing you on one of the nicest beaches in the  world nobody can hear you scream out here and uh. yeah i mean you know it's and their thing was um  wet and sandy every hour on the hour for 24 hours.

it doesn't matter what you're doing you need  to run to the surf kit and your swim buddy. goes with you every hour on the hour and i have  pictures of like i mean you can be in your there's. no point in even going to bed just sleep on the  floor and then they'll they're watching or we. think they're watching yeah i mean they might not  be but what if they are you know um uh yeah i had. i had a uh my swim buddy kept he just got uh some  sort of homesick or some sort of island fever and. he kept [ __ ] everything up he like he he forgot  to put the buff buffer in his gun in the spring.

and um and the instructor said did you do a  function check on this and he's like yes i did. he's like he pulls it back there's no spring so  obviously the gun doesn't work he goes all right. you two wet and sandy every hour and so i'm  getting punished for this guy for my swim. buddy and then i'll never forget i think seal  team three was out there so the buds compound. is here and then the kick-ass uh seal compound  like for navy seals and they're still legends. to us um they they [ __ ] up uh a demo shot in  the bay there uh they didn't they didn't double.

double [ __ ] whatever it didn't go off it didn't  go off so now you've got all these charges in the. water don't go off and there's like this i'm going  to screw up the regulations for the navy but i. think it's uh 48 hours no one can even get in eod  can't even go in there because it might go and. and any everyone knows that an explosion  of water is way worse than an explosion. on land because water doesn't compress so um  my buddy [ __ ] up again and they're like okay. god and the instructor goes well i can't get you  guys wet every hour on the i can't put you in the.

surf every hour on there because i have demo  shots and i go i will hit him with the [ __ ]. hose every hour on the hour let me do it lay off  spray this [ __ ] so yeah but then the island ends. you know you take the c-130 back  and now they're saying okay um. well they they read our orders on the island where  we're going so and i i don't know if if they still. do this but we used to do a dream sheet you put  your top three seal teams in a row to me was like.

this is cool where do i want to go and i think  an uh a guy that i knew said um don't put i. mean obviously put which team you want first  but then put the other teams on that coast. because you might not get two but you will get  eight which is awesome whatever you do do not. put sdv anywhere yeah i mean it sounded like a  good deal at the time because you get free fall. and that's like the only good deal but apparently  stv is a [ __ ] yeah so uh i put seal team two.

seal team eight seal team four because they're all  on the east coast uh and at the time uh the only. real work we were getting was bosnia kosovo  and seal team two that was their al so i kind. of wanted to go to seal team two plus you know one  of the first two seal teams yeah to me just seemed. like a to me i still love to say seal team too  that's awesome and um i'll never forget they were. reading our orders and they're like so and so seal  team three so and so steal team one they go o'neil. sdv sorry seal team two in that one second  i'm like no sdv2 you're ready to quit right.

there you made it all the way through you're like  12-hour dives in the chesapeake bay in february. [ __ ] that no thank you yeah but i got skill  team too and then and then all of a sudden. you're um you know get go to medical get your  [ __ ] done go to dental get checked up and then. go to fort benning and it's like holy [ __ ] buds  is over yeah now what i have to be an abc what. does that even mean and then you go to benning  and and uh i never worked with um the army before.

and it was just cool again because i you know  looked up to the army rangers or [ __ ] studs. and i went and there there these are kids that  look like me in army uniforms and like they're. asking me about buds and i'm asking them about  basic and then we're going through um through. airborne which is just a clown show yeah just i  mean because the army makes those instructors do. to keep your attention that ridiculous dancing  around [ __ ] well they hate us too oh they. they i would hate us imagine the worst thing  that they could have done is send i didn't mean.

to say clown show airborne obviously rich history  just some of the [ __ ] they did was clunch yeah. um but um yeah i mean imagine taking someone  at 19 or 20 years old just finished the hardest. military training in the world and you know  your punishment is due to to do ten push-ups. you need to do two pull-ups before you go in  the chow hole all right yeah two pull-ups how. many times a hundred but no i mean that was cool  and then but but then in their defense too and. obviously you know inner service we make fun of  each other you know that um but then the first.

jump i i mean it took a while like i'm convinced  you can teach someone how to fall and push them on. a plane in one day but they take their time and  you're in those gravel pits or whatever falling. but the first time i jumped the first time  under canopy and i landed in one of the. black hats one instructor said i was that and i  was like that is the coolest thing i've ever done. so that was awesome you'd see and then all  of a sudden bam you go to seal team too. you didn't have uh skt back then no no  we went through sealed tactical training.

what was that i went through sqt so i don't know  what that was well um it's a 13-week course that. they ran two times a year so you get there you're  in the training department with the older guys and. then you um you um wait until you're classed up  so you can volunteer to you're you know picking. up brass and [ __ ] okay actually that's where i  met don shipley senior chief don shipley the first. i think one of the first hills i've ever met he  came in uh just if if don shipley to this day it's.

one of the coolest [ __ ] i've ever met he came in  and his cac i'm a new guy like i'm trying to blend. into the nothing he came in in his khakis and  goes oh [ __ ] it who wants to come with me the. chief's club get a beer i was like i would love to  no you're not going i would and a ship would just. turn out to be like he was he was so cool and we  did uh we would i would volunteer to jump with the. platoons um just to get i want to get the gold  wings that's your next go i don't haven't tried. it yet you have to get through sealed tactical  training which is 13 weeks and then a six month.

probationary period so i want to get the gold  wings at least so i'm i'm a new meat but i'm not. that new yeah and i remember jumping once with  don shipley and just like i mean so you're just. statically in jumps and he turns back he's doing  the the jump master win thing and he kind of goes. we had dudes in the trees like he's like uh yeah  let's go to the bar well yeah we're not steering. this canopy just get out of here and then  so sct was um was uh we first part was in um.

uh puerto rico for uh combat diving and that was  different than um than bud's diving because now. i mean they're legitimately teaching you how to  dive how to do your kitkat how to get your your. [ __ ] right you're wearing the the wetsuit you  want or don't want what makes you comfortable. and then just doing like a turtle backing  which you know that's the worst part but. then you do the four hour dives and two a  day and then up to camp uh or fort ap hill. in northern virginia and then you do all the  land warfare that it's basically land warfare. uh then demo a lot of demo one of the best uh  demo experiences i had best and worst was um.

so master chief pig wagner was running  it he's a vietnam guy and and he's up. there running the show because he didn't  give a [ __ ] and we had always read that. you can light c4 on fire and it won't  do anything it'll turn into a vapor. we'd read it i ain't doing it right so he pulled  us out the first day and he's like yeah okay. you two are going to come up here and you're  going to like this and around the class improve.

and i remember i don't know if i had the letter  or bob my buddy had a lighter but one of us did. and as soon as it flicked he set  off a four pound charge in the woods. they did that same [ __ ] to me did you blush  they did they did that yeah apparently it's a good. go-to but yeah it worked but then then you light  it like you can do this and then you learn about. c4 like you can you can do anything to c4 it's not  i mean it needs that violent uh blasting cap yeah. basically yeah so we did that and then you go  back to seal team two and then they have a um.

uh six months of your in uh they're  observing you like and so seal team two. they're keeping time how fast do you run the old  course how fast was your base tour how fast was. your swim they're timing you and they're watching  and they're being pricks and i had a dude check in. uh his last name was courier master chief i  didn't know he was a master i didn't know he. was about to be the command master chief because  young looking guy red hair looks nice and um he. seemed like a nice yeah he had a damn locker and  i didn't i've never seen him before and he's a.

young looking dude i'm like you know i'm about  to be a team guy and so anyway so we went to uh. we we're going to the oak course so there's two  old courses at little creek as you know this. there's a small one in the big one and the small  one is just for time it's like you're running in. your you know monkey bars or whatever uh parallel  lad or whatever they call it [ __ ] and then you. jump over this run you're running it for time you  do three of those then do a big loop and do three. more and then you go back to the team and you know  whoever wins wins and i was chasing art tulkey.

so i'm a new guy 20 years old and art toki  is one of the one percenters who he will he. will beat you at everything um so i'm i want to i  can run i'm still fast from buzz and so i'm like. going through the little thing and then i'm going  through the tires and uh i hear that dude courier. um yelling at me stop skipping every other  tire i'm just trying to haul ass so i'm. running around and i'm he goes uh he yells  at me from one of the he's yelling across. now of course at me he's like i thought i said  you should stop skipping into the tire and i.

yelled at him and if you were [ __ ] fast enough  you see me skipping every other monkey bar. so um i'm just yelling a team guy  because my trident board is that day. now i get my my cami's on i go to the trident  board guess who's in the center of it that guy. mark courier the command master chief oh [ __ ]  yeah and i just told him to [ __ ] himself on. the old course so he decided not to try it and he  goes you're the guy skipping every other monkey. bar why do you do that you need to cheat and  i said i go you had to beat our tokyo you do.

so that was a long tried import i did get  it that day and then and then now you get. assigned to a platoon right on and that's  just one i mean that's that's like a brief. it's a every moment in time of how to get there  and then now you then you get your trident and. then you get your blood wings i'm not they're  allowed to do that yeah and now your navy seal. so looking back through that whole pipeline  was was there ever time you wanted to quit. every day in buds yeah what got you through  um everyone who said i couldn't do it.

yeah just i don't i'm not going to go home with  this seems to be the common denominator i think. it is i mean it's not because uh well because it  wasn't hard i want to quit every day yeah [ __ ]. those ocean swims yeah [ __ ] the the conditioning  runs the mind the mind games on the soft sand runs. when you're finally coming back after five miles  you go right to the compound right past it what. was the hardest part for you um i think the swims  just because my times were just there they they. put me with a good swimmer because i wasn't a good  swimmer and he could guide the key you know as.

we know the key to ocean swims is guiding getting  there straight because if you're doing this number. you're just adding to it so i would just stare  at monty and uh and he would swim and i would. just kick and we you know yeah that was that so  you got into team two right started team two and. what were you guys doing what  was going on in the world um. a little bit of bosnia still um sarajevo okay and  i don't think anybody had killed anybody yet so we.

didn't really know what was happening but that's  kind of what it wasn't and i was assigned to. um a marg platoon on an amfib ship um the uss  austin which is an austin class lpd which means. it's the original so we crossed the ocean on a on  a flat bottom lpd which is horrific and as a navy. seal on a boat you don't have much to do um i i  did i took advantage of it i would go around to.

different shops and see how um how they worked  what the quartermasters doing what they do in. the airloft how's the what's steering like  and uh boats is made cool [ __ ] um and. and that's that's another part where a lot of team  guys if you can imagine are cocky to fleet sailors. and i would tell a lot of seals because i  did a couple cruises on ships i would say. you know there are guys in the ship that  work a hell of a lot harder than you do. navy lies no joke yeah and i just tried to learn  about it um and um i met the marines we had my.

first time working with amphibious reconnaissance  uh cool dudes great dudes and we went over that. and all we were gonna do was um training exercises  we went i mean we went to road to spain i don't. know how many times italy like 11 times and  um we did get so i actually i'm sorry i went. through sniper school before that deployment  so they turns out chief john judy who was my. recruiter did not lie to me they would send me to  sniper school and just get through buttons first. i'd love to see him again i mean that was awesome  he was he was never he was never mean to me he. just kind of yeah you're good um and so i did  go to sniper school camp atterbury which is.

awesome and and that sniper course is based  off of uh the marine corps sniper school um. so when i got on on the ship when we're  not doing anything i would get with the. the recon snipers and we would just talk about  ballistics and talk about minutes of angle and. how you do this how do you set up your hindsight  what do you prefer as far as taking shots and. picking picking their brains because you know  there's no internet and there's you can read. your books you can lift yeah what are you gonna  do for the next 10 hours so [ __ ] with them. um and then we actually got called in to uh  at the time it was a real real world mission.

to go into albania because there was an  exercise going on with some admirals and i think. like the president of albania and then there was a  terrorist threat so this is 1998 and that was the. first time in the navy that i'd heard osama bin  laden oh al-qaeda is threatening this exercise al. qaeda is run by like one of the briefs osama bin  laden like i heard him because of the thing in in. 93 when they bombed yeah okay i know who that is  but he wasn't you know yeah osama bin laden yet.

um and so we i mean i did get briefed on it  and you know we're never going to see him but. i i got to set up like my first range card i'm  overwatching this award ceremony which is kind. of cool i mean if al qaeda pops out i'll just i'll  shoot one of them and that'll be it that'll be it. go get a beer that's it um no that was like the  first thing like we did we did some security on um. on the housing complex the embassy and that's  actually the first time i saw seal team six guys. because i had been told they were doing um psd  personal protection on a lot of uh big wigs at the.

embassy and uh i i've been told that ceo team six  had been disbanded it doesn't exist anymore and i. saw them one of the older guys the potentials  yeah those are those are dev group guys that's. still team six i was like those [ __ ] guys are  legends yeah first time i saw them for some urban. line and then we go back to virginia beach after  eight months at sea and um start another workup. and then it's a part of the team guy life where  you know they call them the one hump chumps. the most cocky guys in the seal team are the guys  with one platoon because i know everything now i'm.

gonna meet anymore yeah you are to somebody i ran  into a guy you know your heritage um you're a meat. to somebody you're a new guy to somebody i ran  into it so i'm a cocky one-hump chump i'm at the. seal reunion in virginia beach and you know i see  those old-school badass dudes like the big trident. hats yeah and i saw this old dude he's a little  too old whatever me being cocky and i go hey uh. what what buds class were you oh [ __ ] and he  said uh well i went through hell week in um 1944.

and i said there was no hell week in 1940 he  said there was on omaha beach know your heritage. i'm like holy [ __ ] damn dude yeah old school  guy i mean that's again goosebumps holy [ __ ]. so that's when i learned to just you don't know  don't talk [ __ ] you don't know who knows what. yeah never start a fight because you're probably  going to lose that's [ __ ] cool yeah that's kind. of that's a cool thing it's like i want to [ __ ]  with an old guy come on yeah yeah yeah and then.

another platoon we uh we got spun up quickly to do  a strike platoon on um the uss kennedy so we did a. shortened workup and they actually the only reason  i got in they made a quick platoon of experience. guys i don't know why but i got picked because uh  i was a sniper and they needed a sniper one of our. guys was a radio guy they picked him and another  guy um just a linguist or some [ __ ] and then. we got into a a pretty stacked platoon and uh we  went overseas and and we did a couple things we um. we we were doing the the interdiction  operations in the persian gulf.

where you like you're taking down dows a date  smuggler we uh we i uh we took down the uss or the. the russian tanker volgeneft which was a big  deal at the time it was a smuggled iraqi oil. you know i mean the the closest we got to combat  was i think we confiscated their steak knives and. then we drove it to oman and then we finished that  platoon and then we timed another platinum and um. i did a yukon this time so i went to germany were  you getting discouraged at all or uh no because i.

thought i was getting real work i mean we really  went in with loaded weapons we really took down. ships and not a lot going on yeah and then uh i  knew we'd get to we'd do a pump in kosovo on this. one for sure and i'm like okay that's i mean there  have been a couple shoot shootouts there i will. get to um to try out my hide side skills because  i guess a lot of a lot of the seals a lot of that. we're doing it we're getting compromised um by  farmers and that's how you start learning okay.

you're in someone's backyard they they're gonna  recognize you yeah and so we learned about that. you know i did a couple hide sites in kosovo  camp bon steel ate really good food and then. we left um back to germany and now we're oh i've  been to kosovo i'm this is my third platoon you. know i can be the [ __ ] at jb's gallery  of girls when i go back home or whatever. is that place still there i have no idea  that i love that place it was called. stopless go not topless because they had little  things on wasn't it right next to the uh what.

was that bar right next to it it was right next  to it the brass the the brass bell the brass. i wonder if i don't know if it's still there i  haven't been back there but yeah we so we're back. in uh at unit two up in germany just finished  kosovo and then i was in the um uh operations. room uh type we did have email at the time because  it was september 2001 and um we saw the tv come. on and they had a picture of the twin towers the  north tower was on fire and they said um obviously.

this is breaking news a small plane has hit the  world trade center and we're looking at it and. you know we're trying to think through it like  that's a that's a nice day man that's clear and. that is not a small hole because that's a huge  building that's a big [ __ ] hole man and then the. second one hit yeah and we're kind of and someone  did say that's osama bin laden that's al-qaeda man. everything everything that we know just changed  right now so we're deployed and it's like well. all right i mean where do you want us to go  we're overseas and it didn't happen um they.

did obviously sent guys right in and then we went  back and i i put in that's what i put in my um. uh my package for um green team do i want to go  to steel team six now so when you saw the when. you saw the planes hit the towers did you have any  recollection of bin laden's name from before when. you were gone oh yeah yeah cause we talked about  al-qaeda just in some some briefs here and there. okay yeah and we knew they were a threat but we  never knew it was that we when they first hit.

we're thinking we're going to sudan or something  where we fight in africa or whatever and then. they obviously figured out where they were and i  put in my package and i had to i had enough time. between going going to green team um to do another  deployment so i got on another another marg. deployment and i'm like this is going to be sweet  because we're going to go in with the marines. through turkey and we're going to because now it's  2003 i mean that's kind of a jump some time there. but we're gonna now we're invading iraq  and we talked about this earlier like. for whatever iraq was worth i was excited because  we're going to invade a country i'm a navy seal.

and we are going to we're going to kill yeah  and i want to because we're all still fired up. about i mean that's that's how we got away with  invading iraq because of what happened on 9 11. um and then with me being the i don't know what  it is about me but there this turned out to be um. a problem in monrovia liberia with the embassy  there was a civil war and they wanted to evacuate. the embassy so they literally turned us around  so the marines are off oh shh and they're going.

man i mean and they and we did talk to  them afterwards and they invaded iraq. i mean that's [ __ ] an invasion so  um but we went back and and um so. instead of going into a gunfight i did my my first  and only real world hydrographic reconnaissance. so and the what the the funniest part of that  was because you know you always get um um. briefed on dangerous marine life but whatever  i don't give a [ __ ] that's they're not going.

to hurt you but this one we paid attention to  and said because you're going to be swimming in. on the coast of africa and there's every  man-eating shark you can imagine is here and um. i there shouldn't be any but um if you see  saltwater crocodiles they're 20 feet long they'll. eat you and then now there aren't any there  aren't any hippos but those are the deadliest. animal in africa they kill more people than  anything oh and here's your landing point. it's called black mamba point the reason it's  called black mama points is because it's full.

of black mamas and they're very aggressive  they'll chase you and they'll kill you. after that it's like all right so and then even  when we flooded the the the well deck of the of. the uss lasalle to get off there were hammerheads  like swimming into the ship holy [ __ ] what the. [ __ ] is this yeah like can we just go to the  [ __ ] inventor can we go to iraq yeah but i know. we went into the did a hydro recon it was kind  of cool because we did the the no [ __ ] thing. and the marines did come i think the marines came  in by helicopter it's like you're welcome oh man.

dude but yeah then we um so we didn't have time  to invade iraq and then we went back and then. i was a master at arms at seal team four for um  like january to march when green team started. so i ran pt and then uh went to selection and  so then you go over there and it's like all. right here [ __ ] because i mean green team is um  you're putting your trident on you're betting your. trident right now because you'll either be the  guy that made it or the guy that tried and didn't. yeah that's a lot of i mean that's a lot to to  deal with and you can get kicked out of selection.

for anything like i've seen really really good  dudes just [ __ ] something up and they're gone. yeah have a bad day and everyone has a bad day  throw the wrong shot though you're [ __ ] out. back when you went through though there probably  wasn't as many guys going to green team no i don't. think so how many guys we're going in um we went  with about 60. we got like 30 through okay that's. half i think 60 but i mean they did spin up to the  point where they did two they were doing two green. teams a year yeah and that was just a different  animal um because you're not gonna get quitters.

you usually won't get quitters so they're trying  to they're trying to find guys who can think. through problems who can think who can who can  make decisions you know rapidly who's not going. to freeze at the door and i've seen dudes do it  you know in a in a close quarters combat situation. you got a breaching problem i've seen guys freeze  at the door like they they forget to look for the. hinges they forget which goes where and it's all  right and it's sort of the if you want to be fast.

slow down if you want to deal with chaos breathe  and i tell people that now uh at boardrooms if. you're having a shitty meeting stand up and  breathe and that's so you know learning the. uh the slowest smooth is fast and you'll get  through it and i you know i've had days where. because cqb is notoriously hardest part of green  team when you're because it just they really just. hammer you for um i've had days where i can do  no wrong three runs in a row everything's smooth. it's [ __ ] easy to the point where the last  one of the day they have me carrying a broom.

because they told me i'm not safe with a gun just  getting in your head and what they will do there. is uh punish you for things you didn't screw up  but hammer you for it like what can you give me. an example um over penetration you you're  supposed to be six six inches from the wall. you're four inches from the wall get outside  and they just are hammering you tire drags. sweating dehydrated uh getting in your own head  what did i do i know i didn't [ __ ] that they.

know you didn't [ __ ] it up but they you don't  know that they know that you didn't [ __ ] up. because and as soon as you're done getting beat  they put you right back in the front of the train. and you're and this is when you haul ask through  that you're not slowing down on this you're. running fast because what they're telling you  is um we've just punished you for something. you didn't [ __ ] up can you get over it or is it  gonna stay in your head okay and some of the best. advice again in life is whatever it is get over  it learn from it and get the [ __ ] over it uh you. know you're not getting that playback learn and  move on what how would you compare green team to.

buds is it is it harder harder different because  you're doing the 10 mile run in the morning. but then it's not then it's just tactics with  skydiving it's just a lot of [ __ ] uh hey host. halos combat jumps all that stuff um and then  the cqb is just it's repetition and it's just uh. it's just it's the constant scrutiny it's it's  so many instructors hammering you at once it and.

it's just it's a mind game i mean it's it is the  best time of your life it's just hard yeah what uh. would you say there's like a certain attribute  they're looking for in an operator to get over. there or you know it's it's hard to say because  you it's like buds where you can't pick who's. going to make it and who's not i mean i mean you  can he's going to make he's but i don't know about. these guys like the gray man he's going to the  gray man wins there too um um i think but the.

green team's more of a if if they like you from  the beginning or if like it's kind of a good old. boy network too like someone says hey you do  want this guy they're going to i mean you know. they're going to hammer them they're not going  to know that they're kind of looking out for them. but if they don't like you you're [ __ ] like if  like they'll if they pass your picture around the. the the uh the team rooms and someone knows you  from cp shuckers well [ __ ] him that's it that's.

all it takes could be damn that's how it was i  think then uh and i was fortunate i was i was. liked by a few a few guys and um you know i [ __ ]  things up i mean everyone [ __ ] things up but uh. i think i kind of got it um just slowing it down  the realization it's like with a golf swing if. you watch yourself swing how fast you bring it  up slow the [ __ ] down keep your head still. let's uh let's take a quick break and  then we'll get into the rest of it.

hey guys let me tell you about this subscription  service that i've been working real hard on. called vigilance elite patreon basically  on patreon we haven't broken up into three. different tiers we got tier one tier two and  tier three let's dive in our tier one patrons. get all the behind-the-scenes footage  of the sean ryan show that could include. behind the scenes photos that could be side  conversations that we have in between breaks.

that could be specific questions that our patrons  give us for the guests on the sean ryan show and. a ton of bonus content that doesn't really fit  into any specific category for our tier 2 patrons. they get access to our tactical training library  which consists of well over 100 videos we've. broken those videos up into separate categories  and those categories are rifle fundamentals.

pistol fundamentals drills tactics driving  gear and weapon setups and everybody's favorite. mindset also on tier 2 you will get a live update  from me on the first and the 15th of every month. where we talk about the upcoming guests on the  sean ryan show plus all the benefits of tier one. our top tier which is tier three gets full access  to all the other tiers plus they get full access.

to me where we do video teleconferencing  vtc once a month we discuss anything from. tactics to current events to who's coming on the  show i take suggestions and it's very interactive. no matter what tier you choose the support  is greatly appreciated and it is the only. thing that makes this show drive on so thank  you for all the support see you on patreon.

all right so we kind of got through green team yep. you're showing up you're done how do you how  do they figure out what squadron you're doing. once once you do realize that seal team 6  exists and it's not a you know a development. squad it is i mean you're developing [ __ ]  but then you're shooting people um with it uh. um the squadrons at the time or the two original  squadrons were um blue and gold for navy.

and and actually the reason it's called seal  theme six is because mars dick marsenko just. a phenomenal ultimate navy seal who was the  commanding officer he called it six because he. knew russia would say they're seal team one two  and six where the hell are three four and five. not you know not just a hat rack yeah um but we  we there were so when i got there there was there. was blue and gold and gold uh they absorbed into  red squadron which is the one i wanted to go to.

um why did you want to go there um that  well because of neil roberts okay uh. he was he was obviously roberts ridge and  that was red squadron red team at the time. that went into tucker gar and he fell out of  the helicopter and that that's the first time. it really sunk in that um we're fighting  some [ __ ] animals this is al-qaeda. and they're not going to just kill you did you  know neil i did he was one of the first navy.

seals i met i met don shipley i met neil roberts  neil roberts took me and my friend matt to lunch. at arby's i'll never forget that brand new guy  steel team too and he was just always so willing. to help you with anything from the finance rate  you're getting on that car at that stupid used. car lot off base to here's where you put your 60  pouches okay look come here this girl's crazy get. away from her neil roberts is the guy and you  know his name is neil roberts robert o'neill. uh and he was a red hair i mean a complete stud  like he was way better than me like i think his.

old course time is on his headstone still  because he had the record for so long which. i think is [ __ ] awesome yeah but he was just he  was a one percenter um and uh but in in every way. salt of the earth um nicest guy in the world he  can murder you with a knife like just awesome guy. and just because of the the fight at talker gar  the the the story of what happened everything from. chapman to to slab what they did on that mount  brett morgani the guys how they how they just.

never leave anyone behind and they went back  and they got in one of the worst gunfights. you could imagine close close quarters  with pkms getting shot at you at night. and just to hear and i'm not going to tell  their story i wasn't there but just to hear them. um debrief us i was like okay i want to go to i  mean the bones man blue team awesome gold team. doesn't take [ __ ] awesome but i just wanted red  um i mean i'll i'll go to the other ones because.

just i mean it was even cool to go through green  team because the instructors were all at squadrons. and as a new guy looking at the trident i felt  like that looking at the bones looking at the. at the crusader yeah looking at the the the red  man and i just wanted red team i just i felt it. did they give you a choice or no  that you get picked they have um. they uh they they actually have drafts and um  every year one team is first and then they should. rotate and then every every time you're at your  pick one troop or one team gets their first pick.

so you actually go through uh you actually go  through a process i actually picked dj shipley. and i'll never forget when it was my turn to  pick i was like that guy's still available. our team just got better no [ __ ] so how's  it how's it work then do they do do you oh the. instructor's giving you yeah yeah because you  had inside yeah you're you're playing the good. old boy network like your red team instructors are  coming up to red team saying i'm not going to say.

anything you want this guy here's the order that  you want to go and we want him in the squadron but. like if your team can get him um yeah it's [ __ ]  awesome so i just i got red and i don't know why. but i remember that they posted the uh uh lists  on the on the cork board and it's like okay you. see the guys it's like oh sweet man no um  reeves got gold and that's awesome and um. uh my coke is going to golden oh look at me  and nate red and this and it's just i mean. it's interesting you all made it so you're going  to know each other we call it the second deck once.

you get to the second deck is when you're part  of a squadron and then going into the second deck. for the first day is um [ __ ] i'm a new guy  again and the first thing i remember walking. into the red red team room was uh obviously it's  the way it's just the the way it's designed the. memorabilia [ __ ] neil roberts [ __ ] bent saw  is up there in a frame above the desk where he. used to sit wow but it's like it's from reading  history to being now you're a part of it but now.

it's like holy [ __ ] i'm scared of these guys um  what impressed me the most was how fast they could. do cqb like like if you're not in the front  you're they're gone they're gonna dust this. place but the second thing was how funny they  were the humor and the camaraderie like oh my. god i thought i was funny i gotta step up because  these dudes are funny and they're just good dudes. like uh and i i maintain that uh up until  the last day my last day at seal team six.

i was lucky because every single day i got to  go to work with people who were better than me. and and we didn't necessarily undermine each other  we would we would ask each other questions well. you did this why why does that work and what do  you think about that how should i carry this i got. to a point where i was telling uh telling my guys  you don't need to carry a pistol and they're like. why is that i'm like well if you get into a room  and you your primary goes down your buddy already. killed him and if you go outside with a pistol  just [ __ ] bring it bring a cleaning rod or throw. rocks at him clean your [ __ ] gun this pistol's  not doing [ __ ] it's weight you're carrying wait.

take that [ __ ] off your gun it's not a space  gun you need you need your eotech and a laser. and an extra battery for your nods because it's  gonna fail yeah change your batteries every day. yeah but uh yeah the first day they're just  watching them work and then seeing how how. they work together and the humor and the  camaraderie and that's what i think makes a. great team is morale they always made sure morale  was high um little things like uh you guys have. anything to do go home be with your kids we're  not doing [ __ ] today leave and uh it was um.

it was a uh big boy mentality like um  our first muster is going to be 10 a.m. i'm i'm just assuming you will have gone  and worked out by then yeah and we did and. it wasn't like organized pt or march to the  surf zone it's like do your thing can you can. you carry me if i get shot in my body armor are  you doing those workouts then we have no problem.

and then uh and then you do that you know we got  there we're doing a work and it was just like now. it's like over there it wasn't new guy it was  like newer guy and instead of like [ __ ] you. idiots like here let me show you how that come on  let me let me show you a quick way to make that. seven foot charger c6 watches so it's actually  pretty [ __ ] welcoming yeah it is a green team. they [ __ ] hammer you yeah but it's they all  they all go through it and then once you're. through like i i saw um green team instructors  that i thought were the the meanest [ __ ] in.

the world once you get to the second deck it's  forgotten it's a game which is i want you uh. it's the same in buds they're [ __ ] hammering you  because i will have to go to war with you i might. can you can you do it yeah but then you get up  there and it's like i mean you get you got friends. everywhere you know everybody and um and now  we're going to war and i mean other than a couple. things um we weren't losing a lot of fights so  we didn't really hit you know my first deployment. well that's when it hit because my first  deployment was to um jalalabad afghanistan we were.

running a safe house which is um some guys  cooler than me and probably a three-letter agency. carried a briefcase full of money and  bought a small hotel and then hired locals. to be security and plumbers and [ __ ] cooks and  then here's your safe house and you're it's a. safe house because you're you're stimulating the  economy you're paying the guards and they will. work for money um you're shopping in the bazaars  you're eating shawarmas out in town and then.

you know the pet family around you doesn't  want to get mortar so they'll make sure that. taliban doesn't come in that's my first one and i  didn't um i'd never been to war and i'd only seen. it on tv so i assumed it was as bad as it was  on tv i assumed there's a suicide bomber around. every corner everyone's going to be shooting at  you it's going to blow up all the time and it. took a while to realize that in a war zone most  of the people just want to get on with their. lives and raise their families most the people  are not combatants they're just [ __ ] over it.

um but the first few times we were doing some new  technology in jalalabad we're doing uh um so it's. now we're doing mount in jbed so hold on just for  the audience mountains military operations urban. terrain so it's it's uh urban urban fighting so  it's like everywhere it's a it's a not just a. 360 range it's everything ranging you can get  shot at from anywhere and you don't even know. why something can blow up everything next can  blow up um and i remember thinking that i'm i'm. kind of wasting my energy jumping behind [ __ ]  and you know there's i think we have four dudes.

that's four guys from red team two included  so three uh seals one eod but at that time. eod was going through green team with us so  i mean they're shooters and uh i remember. jumping around like looking and i looked  at my uh my boss who was uh he was involved. in operation anaconda where um robert's ridge  happened and he he'd been awarded a silver star. for some of the [ __ ] they did and i was watching  him and i remember looking over and he's got like. body armor short sleeves big old beard like he's  got one of those one of those cop radios and just.

and i remember looking at him thinking i want to  be cool like that i want to look cool like that. and uh we got we got back and i i told him i'm  not kissing your ass but how weren't you afraid. and he goes well how do you know i wasn't afraid  i said because you didn't look like it and he goes. that's right you don't know if i'm afraid but if  i show you that i'm calm you'll be calm calm is. contagious and and that's how you learn it's like  okay that's [ __ ] cool i just got to look cool.

and so we did a couple things here and there  like one of the one of the funniest things i saw. was um we we learned that if you run into  a a foreign fighter is uh anyone not from. afghanistan or if you're in iraq anyone  not from iraq so you got jordanians or. saudi arabians if you run into them  they look different they speak arabic. they're there for one reason right they're not  teaching school they're al-qaeda yeah we ran. into uh i was uh i got a very short course on how  to be a battlefield interrogator so my job was to.

and we invented these tactics as we went along  uh as soon as we took a house down shots fired or. not whoever's surviving we're interrogating them  right now you know put the interpreter behind him. i'm interrogating you because you catch them with  their pants down they're nervous they don't know. how to how to act i ran into a saudi arabian's big  fat dude and i instantly started laughing i i said. to him through the interpreter i said you don't  know what that t-shirt you're wearing says do. you and he had no idea his t-shirt said it's not  a beer belly it's a fuel tank for a sex machine.

and so i'm like you just you just saved  yourself a beating because that's awesome. i wish you had a picture of that yeah oh i i wish  i had that shirt if i'd known him better take it. from him made an ft out of it um but yeah i mean  so we were doing that kind of stuff and and um. it was it was that's what we do i'm getting to  know the locals i'm getting to know a little bit. of the traditions how you do this getting another  local food um you know even driving to assad about.

up to konar river at the time because we were  doing it right and we didn't we hadn't pissed. off everyone yet but there's ieds but um one one  night we we would drive dirt bikes around town um. locals that we would purchase the the local bikes  you know put on the the protect drive to this is. when the airfield wasn't built up this is like  there was still russian [ __ ] there and like the. rangers stayed there the ranger sniper teams were  there a couple marines were there and stuff and we. they're putting up a few tents here in there and  uh they said hey some guys uh from the east coast.

just flew in um some helicopters i was like [ __ ]  let's go see him and so we drove over there that. turned out to be a turbine 33 and we i bullshitted  with some of those dudes talked to dan healy. about um sam adams uh i went to sniper school  with dan healy and he loves sam adams he's a. new englander and uh we're like what's the what's  the deal and they said um we just inserted four. snipers into um the korengal the congo valley  they're looking for a mod shaw and then once they. find him with eyes on um we're gonna go hit the  house and and we were like [ __ ] yeah can we go.

and so we were we were trying to work at scheme  because our headshed from from six was in bagram. and they told us no no one from seal team  six is getting on those helicopters we. think there's missiles and um we're like yeah  cool man [ __ ] have a have a good fight and. i had a some of my guys were down from  that so we took them back to our uh our. safe house and we had some contingency funds  that you're supposed to use to build up the um.

the um the infrastructure so we had some  dude build this stupid cold tub like the. size of a hot tub but it's cold and we were  just sitting there we could get heineken um. over there so we were sitting there having  actually the the heineken story is funny because. when i first got there they had a place where we  could send the interpreter to get booze for us. i mean obviously no one drinks overseas but um we  sent them there and the the price was um i want to. say 20 bucks for a bottle of stolichnaya vodka and  30 bucks for a case of heineken and so we sent the.

terps out my trip was larry because we couldn't  pronounce his name so he's just larry and we sent. him out to get some stuff and uh i'm i'm the newer  guy there but i'm now you know i'm i'm over there. and uh he came back with nothing he said yeah the  the guy running the shop said i know who you're. selling this to these are for the americans and  the prices went from 20 and 30 to 50 and 60. i'm like [ __ ] this are you kidding me get your  [ __ ] on so we roll over there we go to the guy. look i can appreciate inflation uh 20 30 you  go 25 35 that's fine you raise it that high.

you can't sell booze in the islamic republic of  afghanistan i'm going to take it all for free. and put you in jail and he goes 25 and 35 he's  fine my friend i'm like [ __ ] couldn't we just. done this in the first place so we're um  we're in the we're at the safe house and um. we were actually technically a ranger  major was in charge of us we did have a. senior enlisted guys with us but the  ranger major was kind of running it between.

jalalabad airfield and our safe house and he came  out we're so weird drinking heineken in this uh. tub and he said hey your boys just got [ __ ] up  we got to go oh [ __ ] and we're like whoa what. do you what do you mean he goes yeah they shot  a hilo down and we we gotta we gotta we gotta go. that was your first deployment over there that  first one how long were you in the country. i was almost done so three and a half months and  that was this is june and um we we rolled over i. ran into a few guys i knew from from seal team  two that put me through training master chiefs.

that were there and uh you know and uh the other  helicopter that got that missed and i don't know. if it was three four or three two uh got missed  the pilots landed in the wrong spot on the on the. uh the a different base on in jalalabad  because they were something happened so. other guys were coming in they didn't get shot  down and i remember they said yeah it just it. just came out of the valley and turned and it it  it hit and it went down at 3-3 went down and and.

one of them missed us damn so we're talking to  guys that just got shot at by surface-to-air. missiles even though technically that's  not what happened they're telling me. face-to-face missiles were coming out of  that valley and it was so it was more of. a holy [ __ ] the the i mean it's good to see  you because the world's still a decent place. because you're still alive or whatever the  [ __ ] we're saying and they they came out. and said look um we need there's a crash site we  got to get up there and they're not going to fly. us because they're shooting down helicopters  now so figure it out and we're running around.

this makeshift airfield and i'll there's a there's  like a bee hut full of rangers and we're like hey. we we here's the situation and we told them and  we're like um i need five guys and uh all 20 of. them jumped up and said we should you know we  should take us 10 minutes to get ready we'll. be out in three and then they came out the we  decided go get whatever vehicle you can steal. [ __ ] commandeer we're driving as far as we can  and then we're humping up into the into the valley.

and um we you know we we didn't know we didn't  know if there were survivors we didn't know what. happened but we knew taliban was up there and  so we um we drove as far as we could and then we. started walking um up up and this is daytime it's  i don't know 90 to 100 degrees fahrenheit humidity. and we're humping up to i mean to the point where  there were dudes like i carry too many mags um. because it's so there were dudes passing [ __ ]  back to like like who's taking it just drop it so. keep water maybe we can get airlift or something  and and then we you know we humped up for um for.

10 hours so we're not quite there yet and i  remember looking around saying hey did any of. you guys call home before we left on this thing  and they're like no why it's like well all our. families know is a bunch of seals from virginia  just got killed and they haven't heard from us. and so that's going through your mind too we're  we're sticking each other with ivs hanging them. in trees and stuff and i remember looking at  a guy saying uh you know this is why training. is so hard because if we were going to quit right  now where the [ __ ] are we going to go right here.

so we we kept going up they did fly in um  they did fly in a helicopter from bogom more. of red squadron they got to the  crash site first so they i mean. i don't know who wants that job but they  got the job and they're going to go to. the crash site find find it and um you  know some of the stories that i've heard. were like lou langlais was looking at the  crash site and he said i'm going to go um. um try to get some intel from the village  and he looked over and said i just never.

want to die like that you know and lou was on  extortion one seven damn and you just hear safe. stories about you know it's life is fragile  man and uh um so we started humping back down. we're trying to leave this the sun's  going down and then we spotted some um. some taliban on the opposite ridge line and  you know we're like [ __ ] it let's call in. who wants to hit him and the cloud cover was  coming in and nobody nobody wanted to to um. uh to to get under it [ __ ] you're in  the western himalayas man this is a new.

[ __ ] but the a-10s would and that's the  first time i've seen an a-10 get called in. and it just it was so low and and um it came over  us and the an a10 obviously shoots what is it. how many around three thousand rounds a minute or  something so i don't know someone's gonna correct. me but that's a lot it's so much it sounds  like a growl and when it when it came over us. the first thing we heard was the bullets going  supersonic then we heard it no so we saw the.

smoke heard him super sonic heard him hit  then we heard shoot so it's and like that's. when he there was a marine i know people have  heard this seen the meme but i'm pretty sure. it was coined that day there was like a marine  or a young private in the army that said it is. true what they say but doesn't kill you makes you  stronger except an a10 an 18 will [ __ ] kill you. oh [ __ ] so well then well then we we walked  down and um we're closer to asada bad than we.

are and we should have been maybe two days  and we're closer to asada bed than we are. to jalalabad so we're gonna go to abad um and  we're gonna rack out there they've got beds um or. floor i don't give a [ __ ] we've been awake for  so long and that's when the dude that got the note. from marcus um he showed up so he's got this  you were there when that guy showed up the guy. showed up and because we had an argument with the  um you know i'm not trying to ruffle any feathers. here but we had an argument with the agency  because they don't they never want to burn a. source which is fine that's a thing gathering  intel but this guy knows where marcus is and.

you're taking us there right now and and i don't  give a [ __ ] if they kill you what's worth. thinking their agency's yelling and they something  along the lines of well we're not sure if this is. him because he didn't cross the t's in his name  latrell and we're like yeah but it's on tack notes. and he got his [ __ ] social right it's him we're  going so there was a big argument there i'm pretty. sure i know a guy got fired for that um one of the  rangers got fired i think banned from the country. but he made the call we're gonna go so then we got  back in the car we drove around patch river valley.

um you're going around about up to pesh which now  you're in in no man's land and um marcus i guess. had gone from the coronal into the shariak valley  which are two i mean these are two neighboring. valleys and people don't understand in afghanistan  there have been families living in these valleys. for 10 000 years that i've never met yeah like  they don't you don't you're not allowed in and. hate each other hate yeah they'll cut your head  off and like put like old school dracula put it. on the steak type [ __ ] so we're driving  in there and this is a part where i've seen.

afghanistan's a different world and people don't  understand that if they if they when i first got. to red team i was asking guys what's afghanistan  like they said you just have to see it because. you're not going to believe me yeah and so we  went up there and it's they don't have water and. i remember seeing that there's k i'm a father  and i've seen these kids i remember handing a. bottle of water to a little girl she opened it  dumped it out so she could play with the plastic. so then we're pumping up again um another mountain  and it's just steep terrain and then we we knew he.

was up and over marcus is down in this village and  we got up um almost to the top and one of my guys. said um one of my guys said um i gotta sit down  i can't i can't i can't go anymore we've been. awake for three three and a half days i can't  go and i said that's okay we'll just tell mrs. latrell marcus his mom that we didn't we were this  close but we didn't get him because you got tired. and he goes yeah you're right and i said do  me i said do me a favor tell that [ __ ] to. me in one minute because i don't think i can go  any further and so we're just whatever trying.

to get up to the top and that's you know rangers  came in helos they did get marcus out and then um. now we're just in the sheriff valley it's like  all right well let's try to live our way out of. this one so wait you weren't with the rangers it  was just for you guys no no no we we were with. rangers and we were there were marines and [ __ ]  there too i'll never forget seeing marines because. like we got to choose what we would wear i had  no body armor a couple mags in a uh shirt they're. wearing full like fur sergeant told me i need to  wear all this [ __ ] like i said at the beginning.

marines are [ __ ] bad [ __ ] they will they  will take shitty gear and make it suck even more. semper fi baby but yeah the rangers  flew in and and that was ballsy too. because one of our options was um i mean we  well i let me back up when we had that dude. uh afghanistan might as well be the 13th  century we showed this guy an aerial photo. of his village on an ipad i might as well have  just showed him an actual picture of allah this.

dude looking at an ipad like one minute you're  [ __ ] your animal now you're looking at an ipad. so we were gonna fly in he could couldn't really  pick it up but we they uh we we thought this could. be a mud suck we're just gonna walk brain just  [ __ ] being rangers man we'll do it and they did. and they got and then we lived our way out  and then the you know the remaining two or.

three weeks is a miserable deployment we lost so  many great guys on that on the gila yeah and then. so that's deployment number one damn dude yeah  that's uh it was intense i mean because we i mean. at first we were just having fun and  it wasn't real i mean it was real. but like the fighting's over army the green berets  and cia took care of that [ __ ] they bought the. [ __ ] out and we're just we're going to rebuild  or something and then delta's going to find bin. laden we're just going to do this the food was  great yeah what so what were you guys doing before.

that we were just testing new technology trying to  find um we found a few minor al-qaeda guys in town. we we actually there's a video online where we  found we we put these um there was an al-qaeda. guy working at a gas station he was laundering  money and funding [ __ ] because that's one of. the major ways there's only a few roads obviously  and um we the rrd rangers the the uh and they're. awesome dudes um they went out on an rns and  they really watched this damn gas station in.

it for five days which just sucks like in the  heat and then we they know they had eyes on. whatever they and we rolled from the safe house  30 seconds grabbed the student and rolled out. with them there's a video that they made of us  rolling up we wear this ridiculous hodgie gear. i mean i don't blend in i don't know if you know  you don't blend it no we go to war with scotland. i'm in there but um we you know we roll up we run  in we run out we got this dude the van takes away. they made a video if you if you can find it online  it says a snatch and grab at the grab and go and.

it's literally a 30-second mission and that that  was uh we just rolled him out through him and flew. the ball but we were just we were using technology  to track al-qaeda and see what they're doing and. mainly i mean we're just rolling them up to get  intel we're trying to to build the network to find. there's not a lot of al qaeda in afghanistan  at this point they all went to pakistan. okay so not a lot i mean a couple dudes and up  in the coronal but most of them went over to. the federally administrative tribal area the  fatah and they're all over there on that side.

and that's another story that i have uh two  deployments later let's go and do it okay. well i mean we did go to iraq next we'll go we'll  we'll jump to this and then we'll go to iraq okay. um so my uh next deployment to afghanistan i would  instead of being a member at the jbad safehouse. i was in charge of the assad about safe house so  i'm the team leader there which means i have one. other guy with me from from red team uh and then  we have a few augments that are that are probably.

going to screen for dev group uh but aren't there  yet so they come over to learn what we're doing. and then and we're working with the agency running  sources back and forth and mainly this is just for. drone strikes so we can get intel hit these  guys or whatever and we we were getting bored. and a very important lesson i learned on this  deployment is never die because you got bored.

do everything like you do anything and always  follow your rules people die because they take. shortcuts or they get bored i got bored and uh  i came up with a plan with this the chief of. of base who was uh he had actually been with the  agency fighting um with the mujahideen against the. russians so this dude knew the area and so he and  i over over cocktails i think the agency calls it. fellowship over fellowship we came up with a plan  that we know as per rules of engagement uh if we.

have troops in contact and positive  identification on the border we can pursue. i want to say 10 clicks inside of pakistan so we  knew there was a about a click in a click and a. half and there were two al-qaeda safe houses  so we figured if we go up there on the border. and sort of show ourselves they'll shoot at us  we'll call air support we can hit these houses. that's going to be a good mission cross  border up this is badass so that's the plan.

and everything went to [ __ ] because  we get up there i got a couple um. a couple army guys and then a few afghans and  we had actually we had put on um the brown. tiger stripe stuff and i don't even know if  that's legal so we don't look like americans so. we're trying to if the if the if al qaeda or the  taliban sees us they're not worried about air. support because this is simply you know a a afghan  army yeah we'll kill them we didn't we didn't put. that together because that like a truck came up  and some dudes got out and it's like it's like.

i'm almost a flash checkpoint and they walk up and  they're yelling us to come talk to them for tea. and i was like yeah you guys go talk to him don't  don't tell him there's americans here whatever. so they went down there and they kind of came  back and they said yeah they wanted t but we're. not falling for that so they went to this thing  we got the high ground here it's it's 11 30 in the. morning we we stayed overnight we're up there 11  30 in the morning and then another truck came up. full of guys and then another truck came  up full of guys and then another one.

now we have a little bit of high ground  but there's a lot of dudes down there and. this is some serious [ __ ] ambush [ __ ]  i'm in charge i'm i'm you know an e637 but. i'm the ground force commander of this  one it's my call it's like well i mean. we can get the [ __ ] out here right now they want  me they might not notice so i'm like yeah you know. we're going to beat it so uh we had some guys  below us a semi-mortar team that but they you. know whatever they weren't us army we didn't know  if they could do it so we're running down to them.

i'm explaining what's happening and we gotta  haul ass or maybe we can we can get uh x-fil. and that's when one of the  afghan guys i was with said the. the first words i ever heard him speak in  english he pointed up and yelled bad guys. and i remember looking up and uh now this is gonna  be a real gun fight in the mountains at high noon. and watching dudes run that fast in in the had  brown brown [ __ ] like brown uniforms almost on.

so these are these are it's a it turns out to be a  mix of uh al qaeda taliban and pack mill pakistan. military no and we're looking up and they're  they're surrounding us and they're falling ass. and they they just start zipping ring  rounds at us and you can you can hear them. you know and the scariest ones were the the  ricochets so we're like we're like we can't. move now we're pinned then they got us on like  three sides um we had separated i had a new guy.

it wasn't he was a he was a seal team four uh  he he had he was my radio guy he'd never ever. called in real world close air support and i need  him now and he's out he's maybe 100 yards away. i had heard up to this point some  of our standard operating procedures. that originated from vietnam were lines  of gear how you wear your gear in lines.

first line second line third line your first  line gear is your most important it's closest. to your body it's on your belt it's it's it's um  you know an extra mag in a pocket in copenhagen. whatever uh cash second line gives your second  most important stuff magazines grenades maybe. some more water and your third line gear is your  least important stuff and your rucksack so that's. your sleeping bag and ground pad extra sucks foot  powder the reason so i've been told you keep it.

that way is because if you need to run you can  start ditching your [ __ ] in order to get lighter. now that's the first time i've ever ever heard  anyone do it i dropped my ruck i sprint over to. tony i gotta get to him because he you know and  people just eating dirt i lay next to him and uh. um i said okay here's the deal that what up on  the thing where they set the flash checkpoint. um hit that first and he said i  can't we don't have any air support.

i'm like okay this is bad get you got to get  some whatever it takes you know we've been up. there for a day and a half they lost interest  in whatever and the other people whatever. so we're laying there and i'm  just right next to him and and um. the rounds are getting so close that they were  hitting air bursts above us with rpgs where. explosion and they're shooting mortars at us too  um that you'd hear an explosion and look back to. are my legs still there [ __ ] yeah i mean nothing  was hitting i don't know how i don't know how. it got so bad um we did we did this for an hour  where it's not even there the worst feeling i've.

ever had in the world is having someone shoot  effective fire at me but realizing i can't shoot. back because my rounds probably won't reach him  and if i lift my head up i'm done like we were. seeing tracers uh right between us and um how  many of you guys were there um a total of six. five or six americans that's it maybe 15 afghans  how about the oppose the oh i don't know i. there was a lot there was three or four truckloads  full of them [ __ ] and um so so we're up there.

this is all happening and they they now they  were to the point they were so close that i. had a dude shooting at me um he looked like me  he had a red beard a white guy shooting a pkm. but he's yelling allahu akbar god is great in  arabic so now i'm seeing this [ __ ] and again. we don't have i don't even have night vision  because i don't need it it's daytime it's semi. whatever and um that's when you start to think  okay not only is that al qaeda that's a chechen.

this is where you save at least one bullet for  yourself yeah i'm not the those guys will skin. you alive and we and and this is all happening  and finally tony said all right i got one. i got one i said austin hit that [ __ ] checkpoint  get it in here now and he said okay i can't th the. batteries in my radio just died because we had  been out there and it had been on and they just. they died and so one of my jokes about this is  um um i don't believe in micromanaging you teach.

your people how to do it let them do it but right  now i figured it was a proper time to micromanage. i said change the [ __ ] batteries and he said i  can't i'm not carrying the spares remember you are. they're in the rucksack so i  said something i mean i don't. have a choice at this point i said something  along the lines of don't tell mom i did this. and i ran so i'm running to that thing and i  don't know i don't know it's i'm saying 100 yards. and i don't know how i hadn't been hit at this  point and naturally i know where they're packed.

they're probably at the bottom of this [ __ ]  thing there's an opening stamp thing i grabbed. the two old school batteries now i'm running back  [ __ ] the rucksack i have the batteries and i. i chucked him to him and now we're calling it air  support and uh there was a funny story something. uh okay no what what he said was uh bombs away two  minutes out and i'm like two minutes what did he. [ __ ] drop this from the space shuttle is  that the first nothing takes two minutes.

to fall anywhere well it turns out it was  i think it was a it was bones it was a b1. and he was at 60 000 feet and he just dropped. three j dams uh three two thousand pounders shh  and it's danger close but like whatever and uh. uh one of the guys said to me um this  is dangerous what do we what do we do. if it hits us i said not a problem  plug your ears and then they don't.

they don't they don't whistle  they sizzle it sound like bacon. and then we let the whole hillside  lit up and like i'm watching dudes. on fire running around that we just hit with with  that's that's the first time i was like i will. never make another joke about the air force that  is the thank you that i heard that was america. just that's and now now they're running al  qaeda and i'm not finally getting some shots. off i think i killed the chechen they're running  up the hill we're [ __ ] lighting them up um.

uh and it turned the tide there and then we called  them in again it actually got to the point where. we bombed pakistan for four hours one of the  guys we called in his call sign was dude one two. which i thought was just awesome and he was  you know now we're calling him where he's. flying upside down and he's he's like wanting us  to describe what we see and it's like you know. can you see the the peak with the snow yes  can you see the the intersection the river. yes that's one unit of measure i want you  to take two of those units please at zero.

nine seven magnetic all this [ __ ] but like the  first thing that the conversation i had with him. was so awesome he cause you know we had adrenaline  going he wants you to calm down so he said. just talk to me like i'm a man and i  said i see why women find you attracted. so yeah so we so we get done with that and we can  find and then at this point you know we got more. fast movers the coyotes showed up and they're just  bad [ __ ] and then we can call in to um a couple. 60s we have some army pilots coming they're going  to pick us up we're going to we're going to bounce.

uh so i they called us in i got on the starboard  side the right side of this this this uh this. blackhawk and we're now we're leaving and it's  it's a it's a maybe a 10-minute flight back to. april that's how close we were to this right on  the border and that's the first time i saw the um. the battlefield that we just created and it  is scorched earth and i'm thinking oh man. we just bombed pakistan that is an international  incident yeah then i thought i'm in charge.

i'm probably going to hear about this oh [ __ ]  and i was right because we landed at abad and. they had already flown a two-star general  in there to meet with us and and he said uh. and i'm in a good mood at this point  i was gonna die for the past six hours. now i'm gonna live and i'm in a good mood  and he said hey o'neil you realize we're not. at war with pakistan right and i said yeah  man but we were today and you should have.

yes sir and then he and he said yeah there's  gonna be an investigation obviously and uh. you're either going to get a silver star or  you're going to spend the rest of your life in. leavenworth [ __ ] and you think waiting an hour  for a bomb is a long time try waiting three weeks. for that decision to be made we got lucky though  and the footage is still on on on the internet. where pakistan was saying it was an unprovoked  attack by american forces like they always do. because it turns out pakistan [ __ ] lies  to us um they had the footage as they're. getting the stuff okay well really now look  at this here's your guys attacking my guys and.

they said there were some like a 21 martyrs from  the pack we killed like 21 pakistanis that were. fighting us wow so that's like a so i did get  a superstar that you did yeah yeah that was my. first silver star what's actually funny is i've  been i've been lying to my mom my entire career. because it's easier to go to war than to send  someone that you love to war so but they're. worrying is not going to affect how you do so  don't make them worry just lie to them no we're. not doing [ __ ] don't worry mom iraq's not what  you think we're not ever my mother came down to um.

to virginia beach for my the presentation of  the silver star and they actually read the. unclassified version of what happened and she's  sitting there listening and i remember saying. mom i promise you i'll never get another silver  star now fast forwarding to the day after the. bin laden raid i said mom i think i lie to  you i think i'm getting sick of silver stuff. yeah damn dude that's crazy and that was just  because um another rule in life you don't need.

to go looking for it don't go looking for it no if  it's meant to find you it'll just find you don't. like uh well like thanks to jiu jitsu don't fight  anyone in a bar you don't know who's a black belt. very true don't go looking for it if you get in  a bar fight and someone starts with a leg kick. apologize i'll buy him a drink no my bad i was  wrong exhale through the nose damn yeah well let's. uh let's take a quick break and then when we come  back we'll talk about we'll get into iraq cool.

so. okay.

all right so we're back from  the break let's talk about iraq. iraq again was one of those things where um i  i hadn't been and i and i knew it was it was. it was more dangerous than afghanistan at the  time because foreign fighters had realized it'll. be easier to kill americans in iraq because we can  get there a lot easier than to go to afghanistan. and um and they and they they had learned our  tactics they they knew what we were doing they.

knew that one of our tactics was um if there's  an open door we're gonna run into it because. a lot of this stupid um not stupid but just  arrogant special forces um not special forces. all of us were there there's going to be a fight  anyway let's just get it over with that was the. mentality the time i'll kind of knew that so leave  the door open have machine guns inside and then. just drill the first four guys in the room and  they they did that um and so we went over there um. our our army counterparts took some pretty  heavy casualties and and that's when we kind.

of um started to learn that the one of the worst  things you can have nothing on them those guys are. complete studs um but one of the worst things you  can say when you're running a team is well this. is the way we've always done it it's like wait a  minute why are we running into why are we running. in there how about we just how about we stop why  don't we just clear the room from the door we in. we invented combat clearance we why are we  sprinting at night through houses with white. lights when we can put our nods down and own  it and why are we yelling stop yelling when.

you turn a corner and you point your gun  up i don't need to hear you yell stairwell. i'll assume there's a stairwell shut the  [ __ ] up quite so we started training on um um. silent runs and we learned when we were silent  not only were faster and more efficient we. were communicating at the highest levels  simply by reading off each other you don't. you know there's no reason to um to give someone  your position and and then we so we just started. reinventing tactics not just we at red squadron  or seal team six delta was on board with all.

this stuff and then we're all and what we were  really good about too i mean i mentioned a cross. um a rivalry type thing between services that  wasn't us or delta we we would cross train with. each other and then most importantly the guys who  just got back would debrief the guys about to go. over and we would take them on um even when we got  like when we're leaving our our relief squadron. we would take them on a shakeout op like here's  what we're doing here's how it works everything. from intel uh to workout schedules to here's what  you should do and here's the dangerous part here's.

what we're looking for we you know we did a lot  of that stuff and and um it was everything from. uh snipers realizing that they're  they're climbing the roof so they. um okay i don't i mean i'm not saying i  agree with this in iraq but i don't need. body armor i need to be light i don't need  this many magazines i haven't shot that much. um but again too be careful what you wish for  we had i had a sniper mind that i was telling. him because he's climbing he's climbing every  building and he's you know he's the first one out.

there leading the patrol and we're doing you know  we realized that you don't need to land on the x. land over here we'll walk in and when they figure  that out we'll take motorbikes and then we'll walk. in um i had one sniper that i was saying um we  had an argument at six i was a sniper at two. but then i i said i you can be an assaulter or  a sniper at seal team six and i said i wanna be. an assaulter my joke was and again joking but not  seeing the future i said i know snipers are going. to kill more people but i think assaulters  are going to kill kill more famous people.

you said that yeah it's a joke it's like the thing  with my mom we're not doing anything snipers will. kill more people assaulters will kill more famous  people damn talk about throwing some [ __ ] out. into the universe that's what i'm saying so we had  this one sniper and he he got to the point i think. where he was carrying one mag of 556. he loved  the 556 with the with the the 14 inch upper and. then one mag in a harness and like no water like  that's his loadout that's it and i'm like dude.

i know we're i i know our plan is to only be here  during one cycle of darkness but you're gonna. eventually you're gonna want more bullets than  that and i think our last gun fight on that trip. to uh to iraq he was we were in a weird gunfight  and this snipes were up top and he was blasting. out and he my nickname was nisro navy seal rob  o'neal nisro that's some of my friends at the. bar could you what up mine israel uh and he yelled  daddy goes nisro i need a mag and i said no dude i.

told you to carry more bullets and he literally  goes come on i can still hear him screaming. but um but we were we were learning stuff  like that we learned you don't need to rush. the first kill that i ever got was in on  that iraq deployment is when we just decided. um because we were still in between the  nods up or even look under him white light. fast we said we're gonna go slow we're  gonna we're gonna we're gonna go in quiet. we're not gonna blow the door we're gonna pick  the lock we figured out ways to break the glass.

quietly and open it and just go inside wake them  up you know catch them when they're sleeping. see how many guys you can touch while they're  sleeping well we started having competitions. how many al-qaeda guys can you check for a  suicide bomb and then wake him up by saying. and then watching a grown man [ __ ] his pants  that was one of the greatest things ever but. one of the nights we were going into  this thing we had a we had a lane. uh a hallway and like the first time we're trying  this quiet and we're walking in this al qaeda dude. hops out he's got an ak-47 he could have killed  every single one of us but he couldn't see us.

so we hop back in the room and now we okay  there's [ __ ] we had a guy with us andy who. is a special boat service guy in sbs and brits  are the [ __ ] best they're they're as funny. or if not funnier than we are but i compare them  like we're the normal keys they're the sharp keys. on the piano like it sounds good but it's a little  off um he had a cloud of death over him the other. brits said you're going with andy he he gets in  fights like he just it follows him you will get.

like you're going to get in a fight and so andy  happened to be with us and then one of our guys. goes through we clear the room and one of our guy  his first kill blast this guy splits them wide. open and then we're kind of looking over there and  andy who's been in fights since the invasion like. andy can you go check that guy he walked over with  a white light and goes oh he's [ __ ] mates so. at this point now that they heard us shoot inside  um we got the d-boys hitting another target. our snipers are going hot so uh myself and  and one of my guys were like let's we got to.

get out and get into the ice this is these are  our first kills this actually turned out to be. the sniper who initiated the fire to rescue  captain phillips and smally pirates we got our. first kills together we went outside and we did  this cross pan that we'd always been working on. like if you're on this side you cover this way  he comes this way and then you wave and move or. whatever so we're out here these two dudes pop  up like pepper poppers so we get our first two. kills and i'm like [ __ ] i just killed that  guy in he goes yeah i just killed that guy go. okay what do we do now and he goes maybe  we should try one of those bounding things.

and then it kind of sinks in and that's that's  another you know we finished that off we. killed a bunch of dudes we got that was our first  major fight in iraq where the tactics were using. worked but how did they adjust to us how do we we  might need to readjust to this and and that was. another thing where um now co team six was getting  and fighting getting kills and it was just sort of. okay now and this is before the afghanistan huge  fight saying okay now i have my first kill now. i'm i'm part of the club and this is it i'm in  and then you know we finish iraq and we learn.

stuff and then we go back and we train and then  we keep talking to the other guys that are over. there learn new tactics what's working what's not  working do you like which barrel which magnifier. you're using with your optics um um we had to tell  some army guys like look that that that laser this. thing that pistol grip and all this is great in  iraq when you get to 10 000 feet in afghan you're. not gonna want that because weight is measured in  ounces and ounces equal pounds and it's gonna suck. what do you need you need you need a  neotech and an iron sight you're good.

that's it um so yeah so that was iraq so we  bounced from afghanistan iraq um afghanistan iraq. we i was um i was part my fourth deployment  was we call it the deployment that never was. because we had um so the commander of seal team  six just got us authorized for some reason we were. not authorized to fight the taliban in afghanistan  we were supposed to go only after al qaeda.

really yeah it was weird it was you know  and it's it's i mean it makes sense sort. of you want to just send the tier one  guys after the tier one targets but. you know we're getting bored and there's a lot  of fight in kandahar so that so they authorized. team six to start targeting taliban that's  when blue team went in there and just [ __ ]. crushed them gotten fights like epic [ __ ]  that you can i mean there's books out there. mob six by chef that's [ __ ] amazing i mean  he's just a [ __ ] stud and um just and so. our group went they wanted to all go to  afghanistan to include the headshed so the.

bosses the ceo of the whole team and they're  all there and they sent like a troop of us. 15 news to iraq and our boss his name is rich  davini and i can say that because he's made. himself public stud too he was a guy that taught  me nobody ever worked for me they were with me. and he agreed to work for delta like a lot of  arrogant team guys wouldn't want to work for. them he's like you know what if we're going to  get work it's going to be for them because like.

it or not the army runs the show so we started  working for delta and it happened to be during. the surge of the awakening when when um stan  crystal general excuse me mcchrystal realized. if we start killing al qaeda which are sunnis  that are hijacking sunnis we can get them to rise. up and help us and we can win this war and they  did guys like um uh stan mcchrystal bill mcraven. they were on the right track and they were  you know i would follow those guys to hell. but we started hitting those targets on basically  kill missions uh every night and we were to a.

point where with if we only killed 11 dudes  it was a waste of our time no [ __ ] yeah it. was insane we're targeting uh al qaeda in places  where they've never seen guys like us um like even. in terror we learn how to interrogate people like  you the cocky all kind of guy it's like i've seen. americans before and you say really do they look  like me and they kind of look at your tattoos i. had a demon hunter patch a beard like i'm not here  by accident my friend i'm here for you like just. [ __ ] awesome [ __ ] psychological warfare and  we called it the deployment that never was because. everyone's in afghanistan from our crew and  they're fighting and they don't give a [ __ ].

about us so as long as we keep doing this  um it's on and that was i mean i think the. iraq war was completely [ __ ] up but that was one  of the best summers of my life because at the time. um we were warriors and that's where we're here  to kill you yeah and we [ __ ] them up we we i. we didn't have one of our guys hurt we i don't  know how many kills we got but it was guys like. rich that were running the team like like we  would hit a target and because of the intel on. target the battlefield interrogation we would  hit a follow on target so it's like and so we.

would go over rangers and i love working with  them because you know you got they're obviously. capable of doing all this but they generally  would put like a machine gunner and they're kind. of blocking as we hit the point target once you  hear the rangers going hot and you know rangers. know like two things ruck hump and [ __ ] kill so  they're just awesome guys obviously they're better. than that i'm just i love rangers um but once you  hear them outside they can hear the 240 going hot. it's like okay it's it's a fight so we would go  from house to house and i'm talking we're getting.

we're getting kills in every every room um and  we're doing a quick um like a quick brief to the. boss like okay here we go hit this building right  here and i think you know i'm talking too fast. i talk fast it is and i look at rich and said all  right you know what sir i'm sorry you're in charge. and he looked at me and said oh make no mistake  i'm not in charge i'm responsible and that's a. great [ __ ] leader right there yeah and so we  would do that we had we had missions where um.

so you were hold on so you were just  you go hit a house you would do an. interrogation and then immediately from there  depending on what we found but we generally found. we generally found the guy we're looking for in  the first house or someone that knew who was we. there was jesus there was one guy and you've been  to iraq how it's [ __ ] up place too we were going. after a guy called uh like mullah muhammad one  arm because he's a mullah and he's got one arm. we grabbed a mullah pulled him back his name was  muhammad one arm but he was missing the wrong arm.

there was another one we'd grab the wrong guy  holy [ __ ] um but we would do stuff like uh um. the way that it worked for us is we we started in  al assad out west and we were hitting targets up. into syria and then we cleared it to you know we  got into fallujah got into ramadi got into baghdad. north of baghdad and it's not just us but we're  working with the army with the air force with. the marines and and we're getting [ __ ] done and  we're really winning this war and uh like there. were times too what i love about special operators  is they really know how to solve problems.

they came to us with um there was a problem um  north of baghdad i think it was called bakuba. whatever and it but it was a peninsula and it  was a small peninsula and but there it hadn't. been touched since the invasion on o3 so this  is 2007 this place hasn't been touched because. there's a 19 al-qaeda guys there and they're ied  makers they're improvised explosive device makers.

we haven't gotten to them because there's  one road in no one wants to drive that road. they're going to blow you up we're not going  to carpet bomb them because there are so many. innocent civilians there and i mean you do have  certain collateral damage but we're not going to. kill that many innocent people plus they're  getting bullied by al qaeda tortured like. we can't fast rope they're going to shoot  us down so they came to us and they said. can you guys solve this problem and being navy  seals were like well yeah it's gonna suck uh.

but we can swim in and it's not a swim like  a buds ocean swim it's like a swampy shitty. nasty whatever and you know there's water in  iraq and people don't realize that but we did. and we went in with um 17 seals and two dogs  two malinois and they're important to the story. because we got in there immediately  immediate gunfight but we cleared. 10 houses we killed all 19 guys didn't hurt one  woman or child then we left swam out uh the next. day the locals woke up and you know they're the  usual terror reigned by these al-qaeda [ __ ].

but now there's no one they're dead they're gone  and they had a block party so we have assets. above and they're watching this because you want  to see who you know i'm not going to give away. tactics but you want to see what happens after  yeah for follow on and there's this block party. going on the block party got so big um a reporter  from baghdad when a newspaper reporter from. baghdad went up there and interviewed the people  in the houses that we had taken down and asked who. came last night and the headline on the newspaper  said they were ninjas and they came with lions.

no [ __ ] yeah [ __ ] lions how cool  is that that's pretty badass yes. so but that's what we did  for that we um we got i mean. i mean watching what i was you know just  proud of my guys that's when i realized that. that right now and this is probably me just  being arrogant right now red team is the finding. finest fighting force in the world there's no one  that does i mean obviously there are guys that. do it like that but i'm here i see it now this is  my bubble these but i [ __ ] love these guys yeah.

and i think that was the most combat that  that we'd ever seen and that was that 2007. deployment to iraq damn how long are the  deployments over there four months yeah. and you guys were just hitting it every night  yep son of a [ __ ] we were in places where uh. we put up makeshift tents to sleep like not not  like but i mean it's not secure like there's a. there's concertina wire maybe in some iraqi  guards like you're you could be in it every. you know but like no internet no tvs uh the chow  hall is a mile and a half away or whatever and uh.

there's so nothing to do like i remember  guys singing i learned the cincinnati. bengals fight song because i was sleeping  in between two dudes from cincinnati. still know it let's go into a little more detail  so you swam in yeah which i mean it's not so. much even a swim it's just a really shitty  swamp where you're grabbing the dogs by the. by their um their handles and just inserting to  like you get under palm groves and the big grapes. with the huge rats running across it yeah and you  know the closer you get to target the dogs are.

barking they know you're coming and then you get  through their snipers start climbing and then uh. once the snipers get up there and you  just you hear them go hot um it's just on. but i mean it was we were we were good at  it so we're we're moving quickly through. houses um i mean not too but like we were  killing dudes in in in houses clearing. one man in blast him and then moved down the thing  and you're killing other dudes um and at the time. it's cool yeah you know the further you get away  from from that it's you know you start wondering.

what you're doing yeah does that bother you yeah  yeah there are certain guys i think about uh. there's there's one guy in particular  that i think about that i killed. uh he was the second guy i killed in this house  i entered the house killed the guy in the front i. went into a bedroom i did a one-man entry because  i'm an idiot and there was a guy that was um in. bed with his wife and he i gave him the courtesy  of calm down you know you're waking up just you. know obviously a guy with a green face is in your  room and it's scary calm down and there's a [ __ ].

ak-47 next to him like come on don't do that  he went for it i blasted him killed him and uh. and then his wife sees it so i just  shot this guy next to his wife and um. you start to wonder like now the only  reason i shot that guy is because i am in. his house and we were born on two separate  parts of the planet yeah and i don't know. i don't know him and then he's i mean the further  you get away from it it's like um what if we had. met somewhere else like in in a coffee shop in  france would we have shared a joke was he funny.

didn't matter damn yeah if i i think i  found the further you get away from war. the more it starts to sink in um that a  lot of guys are killing each other because. a lot of narcissists that are in  charge have you do it do you think. i i often wonder that too what would we have got  along or i don't it's crazy i feel like i would. have liked half of those people probably more than  more than the people that i'm around you probably.

have a lot more in common yeah it's crazy isn't  it yeah it is [ __ ] crazy it's insane to think. about it i mean because the the um the humanity of  it people don't realize the the humanity that uh. um this i mean this is uh people in there's these  are dudes in their house with their families. okay he's going for a gun he's got a gun he's  aiming at me now is he protecting his family. and that's not is he is he a carpenter he  needs an ak because he lives in [ __ ] ramadi. oh and and again it's be i think it's just  because uh one thing i started with the more.

senior that i got one thing that i disagreed with  was uh um patrol to contact and strike to develop. it's like look man you're gonna go to a house  and and find someone with a gun and kill him. because you went to it you're in his house i i  mean i remember um one of the things that where. i started to not turn but like say no more um was  i went into the wrong house and i'm on i was in a. swamp and i i was walking across this white carpet  and these only two people in the in the house.

were a woman and her ten-year-old daughter  and i looked down at their white carpet and. i remember thinking i understand why they hate  us imagine someone doing that here you know yeah. so i mean it's the shitty thing is you get you  get a lot the more time you get to think about. it the more you think about it and you start to  realize like it's it's it's a it's a big planet. it's a small world and uh you know it's just  a couple people sending us i mean he believed. in his cause i believe in my cause that's yeah  that's where i was gonna go too is it's you're.

i mean i don't know what the percentage of people  that actually stand up for what they believe in. but i thought it was a lot better a lot bigger  until until 2020 came around and then i realized. man the majority of these [ __ ] people are just  sheep that would just do whatever they're doing. whatever they're [ __ ] told and they turn it they  they turn it political yeah and more and and and. and we're going up against the the whatever  percent let's just call it the top one percent. that actually stands up for what they believe in  and it's just on the other side of the world and.

they just believe something different than what we  that's what they just and they believe it and uh. they just believe in their cause i mean yes  they're the bad guys to us but we're also the. bad guys to them yeah i mean they attack us  because we're the great satan yeah and they. and i you know i tell i i like think about  the crazy aunt you have at um thanksgiving. dinner that is so religious that she knows  everything they're just like her they just. believe something else yeah i mean the more  the more deep you get it's so frustrating yeah.

because you start to wonder who's calling the  shots but i mean that's that's what we did. like i said at the time 27 30 year old 32 year  old [ __ ] bring it i'll fight anybody here. and then you start to to question i mean. i mean i've had guys say do you think you know  are we are we going to get past this like are we. going to be good like with life so and you  know that's you know and the p i think the. ptsd comes it comes with it and that's real yeah  it's unfortunate and a lot of guys um and a lot.

of men and women went through a lot of [ __ ]  because some politician told them they had to. you're absolutely right that's i think that's a  why they recruit them young too that's crazy but. even even now thinking about iraq i can just i can  sometimes sit there and think so iraq the [ __ ]. was that all about i think about that too i think  it was all halliburton it was hollywood someone's. getting paid someone's getting paid for the  anthrax vaccinations smallpox all the all the the.

vehicles that we left the [ __ ] we brought over  every single round all the body armor someone's. getting paid for oh that's a big contract  somewhere yeah well i mean halliburton did what. they were oh yeah they were everything they were  they were the carpenters they were the chefs they. were the trash people they were the fuel people  they were they were the cleaning crew they were. everything every aspect of life in iraq that  was on an american base was held together by. halliburton who was tied to cheney yeah you know  so but but anyways moving on yeah moving on so.

so where did you go after iraq so we did  afghanistan iraq afghanistan iraq and then. i did the rest was afghanistan i'm trying to think  of which ones i went to where we sent a small team. and so then it reversed um the majority went to  iraq because they got the debriefs on what we were. doing now the fighting center actually they sent  a small group of us up to bagram and i'm talking. a small group um eight guys and we were just  um we had the ability to augment other groups.

um and we would like if we went out on  hits which were rare we got it we did. find some ied guys we did get some shootout  uh shootouts there um winter time afghanistan. so not a lot to do we um got to know each  other really well we you know held training. reaching charges how to get better at stuff  working out uh a lot of um mma stuff which is a. pain in the ass when you when you're sparring with  guys that are bored that know how to fight yeah. because they just want to get after it um  you know a couple things here and there we um.

uh wasn't very exciting but we kind of did  that i'm trying to think of the other ones. um well let's talk about the alabama  okay so that so that was in 2009 and um. we were sort of aware of um the memorised  alabama getting hit by somali pirates but. we didn't know what was going to happen and i  was actually so we're state side and we were. we were the national mission force for it  for something like that that would happen.

i happened to be at my daughter's easter tea  party at her preschool on my birthday it was. good friday april 10 2009 so it was an easter  tea party and we were just giving the kids treats. i had a pink plate in my hand i'm  giving her cookies and cupcakes. and um we got the call um captain phillips they  gave they sent us a code that we knew what it was. and basically what they're saying is okay  he got captured you go and get him right now. so your [ __ ] had better be ready you have a  certain amount of time to get in there and a.

certain amount of time to take off and we had  been seal team six was designed to do this to. rescue american hostages at sea it had never  been done not one time it was [ __ ] like this. the first one one in eight years it had never  been done and we had been selling that we can. take i don't want to give away the timeline but we  can take off in a certain amount of hours and we. had the commanding officer of steel team six on my  bird and we took off at you know 59 minutes to you.

know whatever 59 like i could see that okay we did  it and certainly now we're taking now we're flying. and uh in that amount of time we not just me but  we as seal team sex we had thought of everything. every imaginable at sea rescue uh a nuclear  problem a yacht whatever we had never thought of. a a lifeboat a fully enclosed orange lifeboat  being towed by a navy destroyer no one thought.

of that for some reason so we okay we're like  well we have um we have 15 hours to come up. with something so everybody i don't the newest  goddamn guy on this plane think of something. a ram it with one of our birds more boats or heal  think of something and we're going to list all of. them and then we're going to start crossing them  off and we'll take the top five then from there. we'll get to the best one and um we we did not go  over there to kill those pirates we we went there.

to get richard phillips like we're just gonna we  if we can we'll just negotiate i mean we didn't. you know they're already negotiating they didn't  send an entire squadron negotiating we're plus we. you know we've been killing people all over the  world so we but we didn't we put the snipers down. when we got there to um watch them make sure  nothing unsafe happens as we're preparing for. the rescue and as we were preparing for the rescue  something very unsafe and they shot that's that's.

how it happened there was there was no three two  one execute it was just boom boom so it was all. just bam yeah someone shocked me read off each  other like the plan that i thought was gonna work. that we came up with was uh and i thought this  was brilliant this is why i was actually getting. coffee in the chief's mess because we're going  to do this plan was uh yeah i didn't do [ __ ]. on that [ __ ] thing yeah hold on you didn't that  was that was off camera so you were getting coffee. i was i was i had just made chief and i was so  happy to be in the chief's mess on a navy ship. that i mean they're bullshitting with like the  bosses made chief but we're talking about uh.

who are the redskins gonna draft or some [ __ ]  or they just whatever and the snipers took the. shot the plan that we came up with meaning me and  my team leader was these are not terrorists this. is brilliant these are not terrorists they're  criminals and now they're scared and they're. seasick which they don't like and they're out of  cot the drug they take yeah all we got to do is. bring them some water and some radios get them  some radios to the village elders let them talk.

and tell them we're going to bring them in they  just want to go home now we get them close you. know the sun comes down jam the comms pull them a  couple clicks up and my team will be on the beach. and once they get off we'll handle it we either  hey we're friends beat it or we shoot him and. then we take him so that's that's the plan that  i thought was gonna work so i'm talking football. with bmc and uh we got a message that someone  said yeah we got him and i was like got who. dude we got him but we got captain phillips  like holy [ __ ] good you guys are awesome.

yeah they got him and and um uh yeah they took the  shots um i think one of the coolest stories that. doesn't get enough credit is is uh you know the  slide for life the obstacle we have at buds yeah. where you climb up and you slide down a rope and  like the marines have it army has it i remember. seeing that thinking um the [ __ ] is the use  of this no one is ever gonna need to know how. to do this one guy needed to do it one time and it  was after they shot that sniper needed to go down.

and uh pull phillips out i'll tell you a story now  this is not my story it's just a good story so i'm. assuming it happened this way the sniper said um  and he's probably full of [ __ ] but he said um. when he was going in there he had to go to  his pistol and he did carry a pistol thank god. and he said but i'm going into the small space  and this is the only time in my life that i get. to rescue someone so i got to think of something  cool to say right do i say we're a seal team. and he said he went in there and they've been  using this entire boat as a toilet for like four.

days and it's in the african heat and now there's  three dudes laying in it and their heads are split. open and he said that he kind of thinks something  cool to say he looks at richard phillips and said. i'm definitely gonna need therapy after this  [ __ ] that's what i say i need therapy holy. [ __ ] but i mean the thing about that though was  um from virginia beach 15 hours and 46 minutes.

later we had a full head count in the indian ocean  we rescued richard phillips on easter sunday the. thing that people don't think about is i mentioned  we hadn't done that in 28 years so imagine this. those snipers were in their own beds in virginia  beach four days before that on a long weekend. um it's a long weekend we've never done this i'm  gonna skip work and i'll sign in my gun on tuesday. you know their guns did not need to be sighted in  for the most difficult shots of their lives but.

their guns were sighted in for the most difficult  shots in their lives because they were prepared. well crazy those snipers are just complete bad  asses how many snipers were there i won i mean. we we jumped in with 103 people like this is the  only everyone just jumped in with 103 i think yeah. i think we had 98 canopies five tandems or some  [ __ ] um yeah i mean everybody every swing and. dick that was in virginia beach was going on this  mission uh and just because everybody wanted to go. everybody wanted to be on the op this is a real  jump yeah the first one um i want to say i mean.

you brought 108 people we had dudes i swear  to god for riding desks that were like yep. i have a trident i haven't operated 12 years  but i'm jumping i can still remember this stuff. um we had dudes um their first that was their  first jump they were tandem in uh con guys. oh wow yeah so i mean there's a there's a sniper  team there but i i there was three i want to see. the shot [ __ ] i thought it was this i thought it  was like five or six of you guys i didn't realize. you brought everybody in there was there was dudes  there was dudes in there before us um from uh from.

a more advanced squadron that i'm not gonna  get into they were sort of there but then they. you know we we they were already overseas  they they brought us in from virginia beach. okay and those i mean the snipers that's  just i think this is cool yeah so was it. three simultaneous you know what i don't think  so but that's what the debrief said all right. i wasn't there i was i mean i wasn't  there yeah but they i know they got them. well it's cool that you're a part of it yeah yeah  it's actually pretty [ __ ] funny you're in the.

chief smash [ __ ] in belfast i think it's awesome  because if people say um you know you're telling. stories that aren't true it's like no i really  wasn't the chiefsman like whatever do you mean. holy [ __ ] so but yeah then that was that and um  so now that's the pinnacle we've done the hostage. rescue um we've been in the gun fights we've done  this and then um we're going to go i'm going to. go to afghanistan again and this time so i'd been  at an outstation i'd been on the strike teams i'd.

run the out stations now i'm the senior enlisted  um running all of them i'm the senior enlisted. for all the outstations and my job simply now  is to work with the agency get intel from these. different places try to frank um um cross-border  operations again um and so at this point. osama bin laden is a ghost and i'm not he's not  even on my [ __ ] radar oh i i was at the point. just being at seal team six i was i remember  thinking i hope i get to meet the guy from delta.

that kills bin laden that's i this is as close  as this is awesome i hope i meet him so like one. of the big we did a um we the the biggest thing  we did on this one was we found an al-qaeda guy. abu iklaus al-masri or some [ __ ] like  that who was the tier one target in coringa. and we did a snatch and grab on a on a highway  and got him um this other strike team we're doing. we're doing stuff one one of the newer  guys first deployment with red team. actually got six kills at once with  a saw which i thought like that's.

that's pretty cool yeah but we're watching  this and then but it's so this is uh this is um. uh january of 2011. and that's all we're doing  and you know trying to develop [ __ ] but i'm. more planning uh training trips before when  we get back making sure the guys on my team. are running their trips the right way where  we're going to go and we planned uh the first. um trip back for my team my troop actually was to  go to miami to dive or because our biggest concern. is more piracy the pirates have been adjusting  to what we're doing they had mother ships.

can we do open water dives on a ship that's  not a shift that is anchored how do we find. it what can we do and we're just coming up with  [ __ ] but we're done with deployment and we're. also in south beach so i want guys to have fun  we're going to train but then we're going to. go to happy hour you know hang out on the beach  have some drinks and we're going to train tomorrow. and um we were down there we're staying at  the courtyard marriott near south beach and. we're outside well before we went on this trip our  boss the the commanding officer red squadron was.

coming on the trip and we're kind of like that's  a drag because we can't have as much fun with. the ceo there but he got pulled they're like yeah  you've got to go to dc for something so we're good. we didn't know why the ceo and the master  chief went to dc but we're down there and. then my boss got a call uh my my troop commander  and he said hey um we gotta go we gotta go back. to virginia beach so pack your ship as soon as  you can we're gonna get the first flights out of. here look what the hell all right what's going  on what the [ __ ] i don't know so we flew back.

um to virginia beach and they brought 28 of us  into a room now we've got guys on different trips. that got pulled in senior guys from like there  was a rock climbing trip in nevada but they got. the senior guys got got called in and then other  guys came in from arizona and we're here and. other dudes are junior guys at seal team six  are there but they're not into this secret. room and they they said uh all right you  guys are here because this is not a drill.

uh this is real we found a thing and this thing  is in a house and this house is in a bowl and this. bowl is in a country and you guys are gonna you're  gonna go get this thing and you're gonna bring it. back to us and show it to us and we're like okay  no sweat first we're wondering why i asked but. okay well what's the thing well we can't can't  tell you okay well uh how are we getting there. can't tell you what country is this we  can't tell you how are we getting there.

can't tell you how much air support none  like all right that's an answer no air. support so let me know and they said also we  we're not we're only bringing shooters only. seals are going on this um so we can't  bring our kick-ass air force cct the. radio guys we can't bring the pjs who are  paramedics or [ __ ] medics so if you know. any medical [ __ ] you bring some medical [ __ ]  if you know how to use radio you're the radio guy. and uh keep it light because we only have a  certain so we're like what the [ __ ] is going on. and so we would walk around we're trying to get  our [ __ ] ready we we knew there would be two two.

birds that's all we knew we assumed it would be  ospreys off of a flat top going into libya because. the arab spring had just started and they're we're  going to go get qaddafi and they want to enter or. interrogate them so we're going to get them  in it's got to be that but we're walking down. we're in the new building where the all the cages  are together on the bottom and we're running into. guys from other squads and they're like hey man  what we heard something's going on what's going. on and we're literally like i have no [ __ ] idea  and they they got mad at us because they thought.

we were lying to them it's like i i and we'd run  into them when we'd go out at night like i guys. i don't know what we're doing but we're getting  our [ __ ] ready this went on until friday and um. they said okay everyone go home be with  your kids and you're coming back on sunday. and we're going to drive you somewhere and  we're going to read you in on what this is. and we're like okay what's who's going to be there  at the read-in and the tired bosses were like oh.

probably the vice president the secretary  of defense the secretary of the navy. and we're like oh my god and then they're  going down the list they said something. blah blah blah they said ctc pad blah blah  blah they're going down the list i'm like. see ctc pad that's cia counter terrorism uh  pakistan afghanistan if we're going to libya. and i didn't say anything but you know we  went home hung out with the kids we came back. on sunday and they split us up into vans we had  four guys in my van i got my buddy driving my.

other buddy up front my troop commander my boss  is right here and then i'm sitting here and. i explained to that on the drive down we're going  somewhere in north carolina and i explained to. them exactly what i just said here and i said  um this isn't gaddafi they found bin laden and. my boss looked at me and and there was no chairs  he goes that's exactly what i was thinking so we. just start talking about this and uh my buddy  drive in the van i'll never forget the way he. looked at me in the mirror and he said man o'neil  if we kill osama bin laden i will suck yo dick.

and we had to laugh about it then um you know fast  forwarding obviously three weeks to the day we're. looking down at bin laden in his house and i said  well now's a good time as any i guess he's like. oh [ __ ] you and i'm like your bet but but we  got down there and um they uh they they put us. all into a room and um the commanding officer of  seal team six so each squadron had a commanding. officer but six was like a group so that commander  that ceo came in and i'll never forget the way he.

said the reason you guys are here is this is  as close as we've ever been to osama bin laden. and i mean it sinks in but there's you  know we're professionals and we're like. okay are we going right now we i mean we're ready  and they they explained to us they brought in the. agency team which is mostly women and  explained to us if they went into such. depth of how they found him in these long briefs  we're all almost like look it we believe you i.

don't need to know this [ __ ] just you tell me  where he is i'll carry the gun in the sledgehammer. and um they you know they were very cool the  way they talked to us and and then they had a. they told us that the president  had uh he had about five options. to get him and they said you know obviously um  carpet bombed the [ __ ] out of it hit and i. think the air force wanted like 22 jdms to make  sure and it's like all right holy [ __ ] you're. gonna kill everyone around yeah so that's a i mean  we'll never know if we got him there was something. of a they called him the pacer they could see  him walking outside we can hit him with one bomb.

but i mean we know how that works you [ __ ]  up that one you you'll never find him again. they we actually laughed at this one they said  we can do a joint op with the pakistanis and it. was like oh yeah tell them about it yeah he's  [ __ ] out of there um or you're an option. and then you guys can figure out a way and so  you know we're thinking everything jumping in. no can't do this and whatever and um but and  and even the the president didn't know about the.

i guess that the chief staff of the air force  said well there is one more option and he told. him about the helicopters that no one knew about  and so then we just started training and that that. was an option so we trained there it wasn't to uh  it was you know obviously to get to know the the. exterior but don't tell me about the interior i'll  figure that out when i get there don't don't tell. me there's seven men and 10 women and 16 children  you tell me how many people you think are there. and i'll figure out what they are when i get their  type [ __ ] and we're just kind of coming up with.

contingency plans we wanted to prove to them the  powers that be that we are a good option that we. know what we're doing and he even got to the point  where uh president obama said i was never 100. convinced bin laden was there but i was convinced  you guys could go in and find out and come home. and so we trained on that and we tried to think of  contingencies trying to brainstorm everything uh. you know what if the cars leave what if we get  squirters who's doing what coming up this and. and then we would go back to the hotel or whatever  we're staying at and somebody at the cia had made.

a two scale model of bin laden's house i'm talking  to the oh [ __ ] and so we're talking about it. um just and we're you know we're training 12 hour  days and talking about it every night then doing. it over helo's fat we faster up so much i i have  severe uh tendinitis still from just grabbing. that damn rope almost the point like can we just  simulate we fast i know how to do it i can fall. yeah but one night um one of the bosses said all  right what's the worst thing that could happen.

and the youngest guy in the room said the  helicopter could crash in the front yard. and we're like what the [ __ ] why would you bring  that karma here yeah and he goes i don't know. shouldn't we talk about that for 30 seconds so we  did that and then we went out west to a a certain. place and i we were even to a point where um  uh like i'm i'm known for morale i want to keep. morale high crack jokes have fun but guys were  joking uh around the table one night i said you.

guys realize this is a one-way mission you should  take this a little bit more seriously we're not. coming back from this one and then yeah they're  like yeah yeah [ __ ] and so we get out there. though and they brought us into the the you  can the movie zero dark 30 kind of plays it. right where the the seals walk in they see those  helicopters and i remember i started laughing. and they're like what's so what's so funny now  and i said well before i thought there was a.

90 chance we're gonna die but i didn't know  they were sending us uh in on transformers. and that was kind of it's like well these i  mean and these things someone designed it um. the pilots that came out they gave us the  four best pilots in the world army pilots. they had never flown these things and they  we trained on those for four days and then um. then we uh went one more time home to see our  kids and then we forward stage to jalalabad. because if they if president obama gives us  the green light um we want to be right there.

so and uh you know you still can't and the  reason they picked us is because um we had a. team already in afghanistan we had the national  mission force which is for a contingency. but if if that team in afghanistan stopped working  and just started training someone might notice. if the national admission force leaves someone  might notice this squadron is supposed to be. leaving no one's going to care that was us so  it's better to be lucky than good so we went. over there there was a squadron over there and we  came in to do the bin laden raid and they knew it.

can you ima and they i'll tell you what i cannot  say enough good about them i would have been. [ __ ] you guys we're seal team six and we're  and you guys come to do it they could not have. been more welcome welcoming to us you know i mean  they were pissed but they they were complete pros. wow and um and then we waited there uh we would  play poker with those guys and they said we. actually weren't fun to play poker with because  like [ __ ] i'm all in too i'm gonna die tomorrow.

just you know dark humor uh but then we did we did  get the green light um and we're gonna launch we. have saturday or sunday to launch because that's  our um 48 hours of zero percent illumination. and if we miss that window though we got to wait  30 days we're going in zero percent and we got. lucky because the rumor was that bin laden was was  going to leave on september 11th of that year to a. new place that's the rumor it could be false but  that's what i heard um so we got the green light. we didn't launch on saturday because of the  correspondence dinner and um we figured if if um.

the entire cabinet and the president in a room  with the entire press corps and they all get up. and leave the press goes like huh what's that all  about yeah and i guess even hillary clinton was. like wait we're not launching on saturday  because of [ __ ] those guys we launched. yeah which i i mean hillary clinton you know i  never vote for her but i take her in a foxhole. but then yeah we did on so we did on sunday we're  gonna go sunday and it's it's uh it's 100 we're.

going and we went to um we went into a hangar to  get the final brief we're going over everything. that we're gonna do and and we i mean we're good  we know the exterior we know who's supposedly. there we talked to the intel analysts we they're  with us still in in jbad and um uh admiral bill. mcraven he he's given us the last speech and  he said you know guys last night i watched. my favorite movie hoosiers and the best part of  that movie is when this team from hickory indiana.

makes it to the state championship and they  walk into this gym and it's an arena and they're. starstruck and they're just looking around and  coach had um one of the guys grab a tape measure. and say what's the distance from the back of the  rim to the free throw line he said it's 15 feet. coach all right get on his shoulders gets on the  shoulder what's the distance from the hoop to the. floor and he said 10 feet coach and he goes i'm  sure you'll find these are the exact measurements. in your gym in hickory this is just a bigger  arena and he goes you guys do this every night.

this is just a bigger arena and then we were  leaving i remember we went assuming said. hey admiral um you're so [ __ ] busy i i doubt  you watched hoosiers last night but you were. born to give us that speech right now yeah and so  then we left we took a team picture and then uh. we had our gear on and like you know said uh  said goodbye to the guys that were there and. we we actually um you know we're going with uh the  the shooters to the first two birds and it's you.

know instead of uh instead of like giving them a  fist pound it's giving you guys hugs and it's like. i see you see on the on the ground and and then  you know we left you do your last thing take a. piss or what like one of my concerns was how are  we going to pee um on the way i don't want to. get out and have to pee like and they actually  someone came up with these little i don't know. what they have now they're probably common those  little diapers you unfold you can pee in them. but i i actually i don't even trust these  things i'm peeing in a bottle and i'll throw. up i actually kept the damn bottle of piss on  my pocket the whole mission i forgot about it.

i mean to the point where we were um we  were um we were given access to everything. like didn't even need to be approved for use yet  the if if it works uh you can have it and we uh. but we're now we're measuring like we're trying  to cut guys off for like you're too heavy these. two guys don't carry that because certain pounds  of fuel to get there because we don't have refusal. it wasn't that calculated we were trying to  keep it to to that 32 minutes on the ground.

we had a dude come in this i don't remember what  the hell he was trying to sell us but he said uh. here's this box that uh it jams everything like  it jams cell but like it can it can jam landlines. and jams this [ __ ] and it weighs and it's like  the uh um kilometer radius wow and one of the guys. goes has it been tested in a helicopter and he  goes no and he goes i have a better idea can you.

invent something that's only 30 pounds uh it's  the radius of this room and it jams bad ideas. anyway so so we went out there and we got in  the birds um and then we took off and we left. and we had um we had a 90-minute flight into  into his house we now we actually had we had. more birds behind us there was actually uh  blue team guys in 47 the chinooks behind us. uh 45 minutes and then there was more on the  border with rangers and then there was more oh.

wow because the word i got i wasn't there and  this is some south side chicago [ __ ] politics. was when they told um president obama our  plan that like yeah they're gonna get here. the first if they get contact with the pac miller  the pack police we're gonna hardpoint uh we don't. want to get in a shootout with them because  they're not our enemy and then you can send. someone to negotiate with the pakistanis and  pull them out and he goes that's interesting. and then he looked at the chief of staff of the  air force and said what do you need to reign hell.

on pakistan my guys aren't [ __ ] surrendering to  anybody no [ __ ] that's what i heard and that's. pretty cool and that was so this is a mission  now where politics is out the window and then you. got to figure president obama he's going to lose  re-election if we all die and that not that that. matters but does to him yeah but he's making the  [ __ ] call because this is what we're going to do. so um so we're so we have birds behind us like if  we need to get um if we need a qr an irf and a qrf. we got our guys coming in and we're [ __ ] we're  fighting and we i know we have [ __ ] above us but.

they didn't really tell us because we got enough  on our plate like i'm assuming someone that's. invisible has some bombs up there so we're flying  in 90 minutes to get into bin laden's house and um. um we can get shot down now at any time  we don't know if this technology works. we don't know if the the most high-speed pakistani  new guy is manning the radar system pointing that. way and they'll shoot us down and we can't even  even be mad at him because we're invading yeah. but worrying about that missile isn't  going to stop it so if you're worrying.

about something that it doesn't stop  worrying you're wasting your energy. if we die we die and so i'm looking around at  other guys in this bird how are they handling it. and dude you're sleeping and i remember thinking  you were asleep on the ride to bin laden's house. you have ice in your veins man that's just  [ __ ] insane uh and i'm i'm sitting next to. cairo the dog and then she's the he wrote the  book no ordinary dog uh they're back there and. cairo is just you know being a good boy and uh  i was counting to keep i learned in kosovo as a.

sniper to count when you're when you've got when  you're glassing something and just count zero to. a thousand thousand to zero and then change your  cadence keep your mind working but keep focused. and um you know we're about we're like 90 minutes  in or 80 minutes into a 90 minute flight we bank. to the to the south and i don't know how i  remembered it but i i was counting 556 557. freedom itself was attacked this morning by a  faceless coward and freedom will be defended. you know you know politics whatever that's what  george bush said at 9 11. and i was like [ __ ].

i'm going to keep saying that and then it's  like wow we're i'm on this mission we're on. this mission we're going to [ __ ] kill him so we  we did another bank and then uh the air crew guys. opened the door and now we're looking out it's  not even and that's something they don't get. credit for the air crew guys they put their asses  in those seats too if we get shot down they're. dying as well and their job was to keep the  bird flying and open the [ __ ] door what if we. couldn't figure out how to open the door something  that simple you know how to do it he opens it up. now it's it's a about about pakistan is a  resort town and there's electricity this is.

not a training area this is not afghanistan this  is some serious navy seal [ __ ] we're about to do. so the perfect plan was i was in the second  bird the first bird is going to go right in. between bin laden's house and the and the um  guest house they're going to fast everyone out. we're going to insert a sniper um some snipers a  dog an interpreter a machine gun then my team's. going to go to the roof we're going to fast rope  down onto the roof and then we're gonna figure. out how to get to the balcony and basically that's  i'm gonna [ __ ] jump and i'm gonna shoot it out.

there's probably a window there bin laden's in  the the woman told me third floor bin line is. in this house and that's what's gonna happen and  then it went to [ __ ] because i guess there was. an updraft there was the weather was different or  something and the the pilot realized that if he um. if an inexperienced pilot would have tried  to power it up and that would have flipped. it or something he explained that later he said  the safest thing now if i can if i can pin it. to the ground and that put the tail on the on  the fence we could live so he did that and he.

saved everyone's lives just making that decision  yeah and it was on purpose um and then our so we. took off to go to the roof but our pilot now the  communications is kind of sketch here um our pilot. saw him do that and he realized that [ __ ] if  he can't hover i'm not trying up there so he just. went back down so all we know is we went up and we  came down and the pilot's basically saying get out. and i remember putting my my first foot came out  i'm looking at bin laden's house and i remember. thinking [ __ ] it i guess we'll start the war  from here and i knew damn well there's a um.

there's a wall just because we train so much  there's a door on the wall northeast corner which. is off to my left and so the breacher decided  to go up and put a seven foot charge of c6 on. it so we're so now because we're hitting this  side they're somewhere in there i think we're. going to go into the house this way and we can  just we can go up with them he blasted the door. it opened like a tin can and there's a brick wall  behind it so on the wall there's a wall and a and. the breacher said all right failed breach this is  this is bad he said no this is good that that's a.

that's a fake door nobody does that he's he's  in there so then we know there's another door. over here which is the carport which we know opens  because the cars go in and out and we didn't know. what hap we we heard them saying dash one going  around but what they were saying was dash one. going down so we just gave him a courtesy hey  we're gonna blast the carport and they said don't. blast it we'll open it and the door opened and  the thumb came out with a glove that i recognized.

and that now we're to point in life where it  doesn't matter why you're here you just are yeah. i tell football teams that all the time it doesn't  matter why it's second and fifteen it just is. time's kicking let's move so we walk in um it  didn't make sense to me why they're in there i saw. the air crew standing there i saw american flags  but different um you different gear i remember. thinking who the [ __ ] are these guys whatever  and so there's already gunfight stuff's going on. uh explosions we go into the main house there's  guys going down the hallway this first floor of.

bilan's house and we're backed into this uh into  this room and i'm like looking around for bombs. like they're gonna blow this house up if anyone's  gonna martyr himself it's been lied i don't see. any but i'm seeing guys knowing that they could  blow up but they're not it's not affecting them. they're doing their jobs and being proud of them  like this is just you guys are [ __ ] cool and uh. the guy next to me in the room he  whispered he said helicopter crashed. and i said what helicopter and i thought  some of the birds behind us had crashed.

but he said bro our helicopter crashed in  the front yard you walked right past it. holy [ __ ] that's like okay that that makes that  makes sense let's take a break let's take a break.

so i'm watching guys do their jobs even though  we are in this is a an extremely high high threat. situation um and dudes are dealing with problems  but what i remember seeing you know they just the. guy just told me the helicopter crashed i'm  like what helicopter crashed and i thought. uh one of the other helos had been shot down  and he goes bro our helicopter crashed in the.

front yard like you walked right past it and i  remember sort of trying to justify my i'm like. well i must have been looking this way because  that's been lod's house but i'm watching dudes. run from different rooms to grab kids that have  been separated from their families to bring them. back to their family so those kids would would  not be as afraid as they are right now and and i. remember thinking you know being proud of the guys  but then thinking that is what the good guys do. yeah al qaeda is not doing that when they come to  our house no you're going to shoot it out they're.

going to cut people's heads off we do that because  we're the good guys and i'm sure you've seen it. in combat yeah but now we're in we're on the  first floor and then they've reached the second. to the second floor the woman that found bin  laden said i don't know what it looks like inside. but there will be a stairwell going to the second  floor and you will run into khalid bin laden. and he's 20 years old that's bin laden's son and  that is his last line of defense he will be armed. on the stairwell and she was so badass she said  here's the way she put it if you can ace him you.

get a shot at the big guy and that's just that's  a cool brief right there for a badass you know. um so she was right and it turns out um she was  a hundred percent right on every single person. in and out of that house oh she nailed it but when  we get to the stairwell and it comes up it comes. back so the stairs go this way there's a little  area and then it comes this way and khalid was. there and he he jumped behind a banister and  i'm at this point now because i've like i had. the front row seat to the coolest hit mission in  modern history i'm just watching cool guys right.

and they're going up the stairs and he jumps  back and i'm a certain amount of guys back. and normally in an urban setting if we're fighting  up i will pull guys out i only want a certain. amount of guys on there just to avoid uncertain  i mean unnecessary deaths if he starts dropping. [ __ ] on us like grenades and whatnot or takes  a shot down the stairs but i figure we're going. to die anyway so i want to see how this goes  down and i'm just standing i don't have a shot.

and now we're back to being quiet and it's dark  and um the point man said something like and i'm. going to [ __ ] this up it was something  like khalid irfa idek khalid delta rasha. something like that but it was basically come here  come here in two different languages that he knew. khalid spoke which i think is incredible because i  would have thought he would have pinned and try to. get a shot off and khalid simply got confused  and he leaned over the thing and went what.

no [ __ ] that is the coolest thing i've ever seen  in combat how tactically savvy are you to think of. doing that like well he doesn't know he doesn't  know we might be pakistan he's here to move him. he doesn't know i'll just call him out and he did  so he and he was armed perfectly within his rules. of engagement we step around him we go up to the  the last the second deck the last set of stairs. and i moved from this point from like eight the  eighth guy to the second guy because everyone. else went to the right to the left because  they're gonna you want to clear obviously um.

the area before you move on but now we're down to  two and we're pointing at the last set of stairs. and above it there was a curtain it looked kind  of like a shower curtain but it was like a green. olive drab type thing and we can see they're sort  of backlit there's people moving uh and we assumed. those are the suicide bombers but bin laden's in  there and i the guy in front of me took a shot. before we got there and they're moving around  and i'm the two man and my job as the two man. is to is to hold him and wait his job is to simply  look forward don't drop security and i got you.

and through effective communication when it's  your time to go i will squeeze you it's on. i'm just telling you through effective  communication we have enough guys. but we don't have enough guys we're out of  guys it's two of us and um i i'm way i want. i want four more i'll take two but he starts  saying we gotta go come on we gotta go. he doesn't know it's me he knows it's one  of his guys and what he's saying is uh.

is um those are basically suggesting those are the  suicide bombers but if we go right now we can beat. him and i remember taking a deep breath and uh it  wasn't it was no by no means bravery on my part. it was more of a okay we're gonna blow up now  and i'm tired of i'm tired of thinking about. it let's [ __ ] get over with so i get to squeeze  he goes up and he he moves the curtain and there. are um there were three people standing there he  didn't have even enough time he just jumped on him.

he how he doesn't have a medal of honor beyond  me he jumped on the grenade so the guy behind. him can get the shot damn so he and i be and  simply because he went this way i turn this way. and standing three feet in front of me is  osama bin laden and he's got his hands on. a mall his wife's shoulders and i don't know  what he's doing he's not surrendering he's he's. maneuvering somehow he his hands are on her and  i remember thinking he's taller than i thought. he's skinnier than i thought so you knew it  was him right away turning in a corner yep his.

he's not surrendering he's he's got to have a  suicide belt so i shot him twice when he was. standing up i shot him again on the floor  and then i moved a mall out of the way. so i can he i can hear bin laden taking his  last breath when i shot him he fell to the foot. of the bed where'd you shoot him i shot him in  the face three times um i moved a mall and uh. and his two-year-old son is now standing  there and this is the humanity of everything. this kid has got nothing to do with this i'm a  father and i picked him up and i move him i moved.

him to the back of the bed and uh she'd been shot  and and uh i turned around and um i kind of froze. and i'm okay other navy seals are now coming in  the room a lot of guys are in there and one of my. guys came up to me and uh he said um are you good  and i said no no what are we supposed to do now. and he said now we find the computers we we do  this every night hundreds of times and i said yeah.

you're right i'm back holy [ __ ] and he said to  me yeah you just killed osama bin laden your life. just changed get to [ __ ] work and so we did um  we we uh they started we you know we actually took. we do have pictures of bin laden it's actually  my gloves in there was putting his head together. for the picture dumping water on him and like he  was i think the pictures haven't been released. because it's it's one of those things where  you you really don't need to know how justice. looks when it's served it just it just is so  those picks on the internet no they're fake. it's split from from he split from here to here  okay i mean he got hit three times with a i'm.

shooting 77 grand hollow point at three feet oh  it's a devastator yeah and um so they're dressing. him up guys are doing ssc and i i went down to the  uh sensitive site exploitation we're finding intel. i went down to the second floor i had two other  dudes with me and we're going through now we found. these huge offices with with i'm talking computers  hard drives uh like the old school towers um we. were pulling big kit bags from underneath the bed  and were opening them and i thought it was uh uh.

freeze-dried steaks and it's like wow these guys  are in it for the long haul this is and it's like. wait a minute no this is raw opium they're  trying to make money off this and so we're. finding all that [ __ ] and we we were finding  so much stuff from from pictures to hard drive. like we're cracking those up and pulling the  hard drives cds um papers hand written letters. um and we're just shoving it into these it was  to the point where we wanted you know we wanted. 32 minutes on the floor i think we were there  for 47. and now it's like okay come on we now.

it's let's let's get the [ __ ] out of here uh i  went back upstairs i actually carried i helped two. three other seals carry we carried bin laden down  all the stairs we just came up and i remember. yelling at guys guys [ __ ] them we're leaving get  out we're figuring this out uh outside i think the. ground force commander coordinated a way for  um another bird to um to come in to get us. we're going to put him on the on our bird the  first team's going out on that they're going to go. refuel with another bird on a mountaintop we went  out with the body we actually sat down next to uh.

the lead sniper from the captain phillips raid and  said here's your guy and he looked down he goes. you got to be [ __ ] me i'm like no we  got him he goes let's let's [ __ ] leave. so they took off with them we went around um  to the other you know i think it's to the east. side of the compound we're calling in uh 47 but  we don't like i said we don't have our cct guys. so we're calling it and we're rusty yeah and i  remember seeing the there's a guy on twitter who.

was tweeting he was live-tweeting why would they  be doing helicopter operations on a sunday or some. weird [ __ ] and i remember seeing him thinking  if we were in iraq i'd blast this dude because. he's outside of a target with a phone but we're in  pack they have no [ __ ] idea that we're here so. then we're calling this bird in and i remember  we're saying hey so we have to blow up the um. the bird inside we don't we're going  to leave it we're blowing it up. but i asked someone's like what what was the  the time fuse on that thing and they're like.

well i'm like holy [ __ ] abort we had a we  had to actually call off the the bird coming in. to get us because we were going to blow it out  of the sky so they absorbed it and turned then. the [ __ ] thing blew up like we almost  blew our own helicopter out of this guy. then they came back in we get on that thing  and then we take off and uh now we're leaving. now on a mission where we're supposed to  die but now we're leaving and if we can.

live for another 90 minutes if we can cross  the border to afghanistan we get to see our. kids again we get to live another 50 years but  they know they gotta know we're here and they. can shoot us down probably with an f-16 that  we sold them the pakis but worrying about that. is not gonna stop it so i'm not gonna worry so  we're sitting there in this bird i have the um. the the lead sniper from the captain phillips  right there was a weird thing with um. with jealousy um when when  this sniper initiated the fire.

um because sometimes when people are  so close to doing something they get. angry and they were giving him a lot of [ __ ]  talking about firing and i remember saying to him. at work after the phillips raid hey man don't  pay attention to that [ __ ] you're a [ __ ]. hero don't you ever forget it take a copenhagen  for me take mine you're a hero and i would remind. him that he was going through a really rough  time we're sitting on this bird flying out and. i'm trying to absorb what the [ __ ] just happened  and i see this copenhagen come in front of my nods.

and he said take one of mine now you know  what it feels like to be a [ __ ] hero. which is just insane a dude next to me from the  other squadron blue squadron was there he's from. new york and he asked a question that every seal  asked when they found out bin laden was dead they. he said who got him and i said i think i did  and he said on behalf of my family thank you. so now it's deep and we gotta you know can't  worry about the [ __ ] we're so we'll just. start our watches and so we're counting got to  live the 90 minutes but it's been 10 minutes.

now it's been 20 minutes now it's been 30 minutes  and now it's 40 minutes 50 minutes we got to get. to 90 minutes but it's been 60 minutes then  i start thinking about like uh all the weird. sports analogies like watching a a no-hitter at  the top of this seventh at fenway park like i'm. not going to say anything i don't want to jinx it  you know but it's been 70 now it's been 80 minutes. then i start thinking about um one of the greatest  games ever played when the team usa hockey team.

beat the russians in lake placid a team they're  not supposed to beat but now they're winning. four to three and you can hear the crowd counting  down ten nine eight seven six we got to 85 minutes. into the flight and the pilot came over the radio  and just as cool as ever said all right gentlemen. for the first time in your life you're going  to be happy to hear this welcome to afghanistan. so yeah so i mean and that now it's like holy  [ __ ] we did it we land the now the other bird.

had to go to a mountaintop and refuel there  in the other stealth bird with another 47. they're still coming back and so it's like okay  come on guys they land and like no one's hurt. and then bin laden's over here the the  guy that was in front of me to go up the. stairs in the independence room were  like hey man you and i need to talk. and we go over into the corner and he's like what  the [ __ ] happened on that stairwell i'm like. it was just down to us i don't know i mean that  and then he looks over to the woman that found.

bin laden and said uh well there she is you  got to go give her something man you own this. like yeah you're right and i walked over to and  i pulled the magazine out of my gun i jacked. the last round out and i said you have room for  this in your backpack and she said i think i do. and then i said well we have something  to show you now in the movie zero dark 30. they brought the woman over to bin laden's body  and it was like a moment of pause and they opened. it she looked and she was all thoughtful and  she cried and left that's not at all what.

happened here's what happened i gave her the  mag and said we have something to show you now. it starts to again moments were sinking in but  it's like you know what this is historic like this. this will be in the history books you know she  found him though she's the reason this happened. she gave up her life for this she doesn't have  a husband she doesn't have kids and she's been. working on this 20 hours a day for years and then  and then i'm like uh you know this is this is like. this could go down with iwo jima um but then  as being the arrogant navy i'm like put the.

pressure on myself [ __ ] i gotta think of  something cool to say so we're walking over to. the body and i thought this would have been good  enough i looked down and i said is that your guy. and she looked down for a second  one i guess i'm out of a [ __ ] job. and left you got to be [ __ ] left at that yeah so  then we um we uh mcraven was there he actually uh.

he there that now they're in the process of we  do have some dna tests we got a lot of pictures. he was talking to um to the white house and he  he had one of our snipers lay down next to him. because our sniper was six two our tallest guy  was six two and uh he said yeah i just uh i just. had one of our tallest guys laid down and he's  shorter than i think it's him and the president. says let me get this straight you can blow up  one of our 200 million helicopters but you can't. afford a 99-cent tape measure so they're doing  that we fly them up to uh to and i remember.

craving just we're standing there he came up to me  and he kind of just put he didn't say anything but. just put his hand on my shoulder like this  and it was like just a [ __ ] yeah moment. went up to bagram i mean everyone we're still  looking around at each other now we got everything. laid out the the smart bin lad's body is laying  there um uh we're laying out all the stuff in. order of which room which floor which building  and they're going through it there's a dude. doing dna tests and and um we're just kind of  standing around the army brought in these those.

big green tubs full of breakfast sandwiches  and we have the news on there's a big tv on. and you can hear it kind of um you can hear  it building up like they know what's happening. geraldo is out there with people in front of the  white house and and our guys are on the phone with. with the white house and they're just trying to  uh the president wants a full count how many were. wounded how many are killed what's the total and  we're just standing there bin laden's right here.

and uh i remember everything quieted down the  president is on tv with a red tie walking down. uh red carpet came up very presidential to the  podium and said tonight i can report to the. american people into the world the united states  conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden. the leader of al qaeda i hear the president  of the united states say osama bin laden. i look at osama bin laden and i thought how in the  world did i get here from butte montana damn dude.

and that and that's it and then we um and then  here's where it gets cool i mean i mean just. camaraderie thing is like well you know well  we should shower up because we're flying home. and i could use a drink where the [ __ ] seabees  you're going to find everything you're going to. find showers you're going to find pizza you're  going to find beer and pry some whiskey so we. went over there and uh and it was you know that's  when it started to get a little awkward because. we we they do have the internet over there  we're getting and everything ble seal team. six seal team six bin laden you know that's  and then that's it uh this is gonna be bad.

but for now it's gonna be good and uh actually  the the ground force command when we went back. uh the ground force commander  who is probably the smartest. guy i've ever met um photographic memory he could  operate on an hour sleep a night and be fine. uh and he's by the book but he pulled the  appointment of me into a room and he poured. us a shot and we all took a shot together he's  like great job boys we hop on a plane we leave um. pop and ambien which you know was awesome and we  slept to virginia beach we landed there and then.

uh it was almost like a scene where there were  people waiting for us other seals were there. with a couple buses coolers full of beer and  uh cheers and high fives and then we went to. the command and uh and that was that was it i was  like we're going to be the best friends um in the. world forever man that's [ __ ] that's insane wow  i need to tell apart that i didn't you can edit in. if you don't mind i'm just gonna hit it okay um so  we're having this conversation when i asked what.

helicopter crashed and he said dude our helicopter  crashed in the front yard because i thought it was. something else as we're having this conversation  one of our snipers was running around the compound. with cairo and his job was to circle  it twice to make sure no one squirted. um you know ran out of the the building and he  when we're having this conversation inside he ran. into the point where the pilot had the the tail  on the fence so he's looking up and sees this tail.

he didn't know they crashed either and he came  over the radio and said guys inside be on alert. they are ready for us they have a training mock-up  of our super secret helicopter in the front yard. and there was a weird silence and the boss came  over the radio and goes no jackass that's ours. because we crashed and he said he  and he said over the radio yeah that. makes a lot more sense in the [ __ ]  i was just saying carry on holy [ __ ]. damn yeah we got to virginia beasto and  then and then it just you know turned into.

as opposed to being in the shadows  everybody wants to come down. and meet us we they want to fly us places to  meet us secretary defense came down and it was. just it started to suck because there were dudes  that had been at red squadron for 16 years that. moved on to operations and then they wouldn't let  them in the debrief with the secretary of defense. and it's just like this is gonna there's some  bad blood's gonna start yeah because of this. [ __ ] and uh you know and a lot of guys a lot  of guys do want to be the 30-year navy seal who.

retires and then lives in coronado undercover  forever and uh they kind of got that violated. one i mean one of the one of the funny stories  though is is uh like i was mentioning earlier. when when peop the first question people asked  was who got him and uh they would say nizro got. him and i guess the most common answer was oh  [ __ ] we're never gonna hear the end of this. damn dude that's um man that's an awesome crazy  [ __ ] i don't even know what to say yeah i mean.

it's but it's like it's like it was written  that way or scripted it's just the way it. worked great team the pilots that got us in  and out i mean that takes balls to fly chinook. that far into pakistan to pick up guys that are  already in gunfights with al qaeda and i think. we killed um like three of the top four that  night no if we hadn't we'd we did within the. next few days and there was like 11 other ops  that jason did that night in afghanistan like. it was a i mean it was it was part of being part  of something great and it couldn't be more proud.

that's insane yeah that's insane let's  take a quick break that was heavy.

all right so we just covered the whole raid  everything that happened there's a lot of. conspiracies out there a whole lot of conspiracies  out there on whether whether it was a double yep. but why why did they dump the body into the ocean  we they had told us that's what's gonna happen. even before we left and i remember we were  asking why is that you're going to dump them.

in in the ocean and they said well because  we don't want a shrine to him where people. can worship and i remember explaining to them  you don't understand sunni islam um you don't. uh there's one god you worship allah that  you not false prophets they would not do. that to bin laden you don't worship him  because they don't believe in that [ __ ]. um you can do something else with him but they  were convinced they wanted to do that um there are. pictures of them that i've heard are in cabinets  at langley i don't know but uh yeah all i know is.

we we handed him over to some senior guys from  the army and they flew him to the uss vincennes. i believe i said that right it could be  wrong but it's that ship and that they. have the coordinates of where they dropped him  and i didn't see it um i believe it i mean i. know he's dead i know we have pictures i wish  they would release him but i didn't see it so. you know as far as i know he could be freeze-dried  somewhere too huh i mean i don't know i just they. they told you that before you even went on the  raid they're like okay we're going to dump them in. the ocean yes why would they even i don't know i  mean why not i had a lot of different options for.

them but that was it they that was that's going  to happen just bring them out and i mean they. they labeled it they did the  test they have the test but they. someone took the body away and then we  never saw it again interesting yeah it is. have they ever done that with anybody  else i'm not as far as i know but. yeah i've never heard anything yeah they were  they were saying they brought him to that ship. they gave him a proper burial and then they threw  him over and no one was allowed to watch i guess. a proper burial huh well probably let's see as  far as getting thrown over the side of the ship.

kicking off the [ __ ] fan tail that's  about it but yeah they broke down the. coordinates and they they apparently  marked the uh the pad eye on the ship. which means whatever but yeah and there are guys  that said they were on the ship that they know. what happened but i don't i mean i've never seen  footage of it so i mean i can understand to the. conspiracies around it like why you know i mean  it's definitely odd there's no doubt about that.

yeah yeah because like like i said there's not  going to be worshipers for him and and even now. with that it kind of is the mystique of did they  really get them type [ __ ] yeah so when did you. when did you decide you were going to come out and  say you're the you were the shooter i didn't uh i. didn't do it at first but um my name did go around  really quickly in virginia beach and coronado and. in dc and new york because people just know  people around there and i was getting calls.

that no the next night from people saying hey  man tell us what happened all this you know. [ __ ] like that um you know and there was a  people kind of knew and and and um they would. single me out in in different briefs and i really  didn't care for that because i've always said. it's a team effort i i didn't it's not me guys  it's the look at the pilots thank them because. they're the smart guys thank the intel officers  that found him uh and then it just started to get. uh it started to get awkward and i decided  you know it's um i'm gonna i might move on.

and then uh we we went from the the best time in  our career to the worst time because soon after. on extortion one uh august 6th the extortion  one seven was shot down we lost 31 americans. and we went from planning missions to planning  funerals and it's like you know what it's time. to leave i need to um i want to see my kids get  married but because we lost so many guys at gold. we need to backfill so i'm going to do one more  deployment so i actually left red squadron and. went to silver squadron to go immediately to  afghanistan because my entire point was uh.

i'm uh i came in through the front door and i'm  going to leave through the front door i'm going. to do one more deployment to prove you got you  know i'm not in this for the fame i'm not trying. i'm not writing a book there was rumors that i'm  writing a book like someone actually pulled me. aside and said one of one of my officers said i  heard you just got a 17 million advance to write a. book and i said well i don't think you know how  books work because you don't get a 17 million. advance unless you're a president uh but yeah  but there was just you know rumors flying around.

and all this [ __ ] i did go to afghanistan  and uh you know extended and i got out in uh. august of of 2012. um and then um you know  i started work i didn't know what to do i. didn't know what the hell i was qualified for no  degree i started working in in washington dc um. on capitol hill with different people and i  met i met a congresswoman carolyn maloney from. new york and she said you know you you should  probably um donate something to the 911 memorial. um and i did because it's if you haven't been  to the memorial you got to go it's it's insane.

it's a chronological order of what happened on 9  11 and at the end i anonymously donated my shirt. uh with an american flag just so people could see  this shirt was in the room with bin laden the cia. analyst donated a coin that she had and it's  kind of there but when i donated it i went. into a room where there were 30 some people i  didn't realize i was going to be speaking right. then they had all lost someone in the towers  and uh and i'm up on stage this is the first. time in public i told the story and to see their  responses to um crying in their hands um you know.

wanting to give me a hug and they were saying  that uh there's never going to be closure but. this helps with the healing we can put a face with  what happened because like we just said we buried. him and see you don't really know but i'm telling  you what happened because i was there and i said. i actually had a film crew there to document  um me donating it for his historical reasons. but i was like if i can if i can help 30 people  with the healing i can help thousands if i tell.

the story and then uh it was a tough decision but  i i got my story approved the only one approved. through the pentagon and uh and i when i came  out with a story just you know i've assumed risk. before and i'll do it again it's it's worth it  yeah what so you went to silver after that i did. what were you guys doing over there um another  another winter deployment to afghanistan okay. i actually um uh bin laden wasn't the last guy  i killed with that gun no she just kept it with.

me yeah well actually we we did a we did uh my i  think my last mission was my very first l ambush. which i think is cool because yeah well when we  were trying to sell it because you're selling it. to staff officers basically that i don't know how  they don't know we we saw this this truck would. leave this place go around a mountain and drive  through the snow and wait to ambush americans. and they did it like on tuesday and antel saw them  and then they did it on wednesday and then they. did it again on thursday but they're not finding  anybody and uh my troop chief and i were like.

hey if they do this on friday the day of prayer  they're definitely doing on a saturday so we came. up with a plan like well we'll just insert where  they drive get behind these rocks put snipers up. and we're selling it to them and then and we sold  it to this army officer like then we're gonna set. up an l ambush and the officer said what's an l  ambush and um i said sir an ella ambush is the. second thing they teach you in the army right  after that this is an l ambush and he goes well.

who invented it i said i think sun tzu invented  the art of war um and he goes well which i said. well we're going to set up an l i'm going to form  a line of death i'll be in the middle here and. when he's coming at me i'm going to stop him and  he goes what if he doesn't stop i said i'm going. to shoot him this what planet are you wow yeah so  so we did we set it up and naturally like the isrs. watched them they can't get their car started  and you know because it's that murphy's law.

and so we're literally smoking cigars the sun's  up and we're waiting for this dude to drive around. uh no one's gonna be there and you know and  we kept it simple like isr is gonna tell us. um green light yellow light red light that's  when you jump out you stop them and it's in the. wide open area and uh sure enough they're  coming they finally got the car started. you know green light yellow light red we hop out  and then i'm looking at this guy and he's driving. this uh a car not even a truck and i think this is  the first words he ever spoke in english where he.

put in reverse and just goes [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ]  [ __ ] and the the car's peeling out and i'm. looking at this dude and there's a you know two  days in front three dudes in the back and i'm like. hey man get out of the car get out of  the car you need to get out of the car. because we got snipers and uh one dude  hopped out to go to the trunk this guy's head. blasted off and then it turned into just  a shootout we killed all of them and and. it's like well that's an l ambush that was my last  mission and then i you know i got out and then um. you know transition out and learn you got to learn  that there's a lot of life after the military you.

know military is unique because you can get in  at 18 and retire at 38. and 38 you got a lot of. life i hope left in you yeah and then that that's  when the the real work starts what do we do now. what was it like you know getting out i  mean you killed the most wanted man in the. [ __ ] history of the world everybody wants  to meet you everybody wants something from. you everybody wants to hear the story i mean  there couldn't have been any time for just.

you and no there's there's there's not now too and  you know i'll get [ __ ] on the internet they're. like why uh hi i'm rob o'neil i haven't talked  about bin laden for five minutes it's like yeah. you know stop asking and i'll stop yeah i'm saying  it you got to figure every person i ever meet. wants to hear that story they want to know what  happened and that's fine that's great i mean. if if i helped this country and our cause whatever  that was um then i mean obviously what that was. um i'll i'll do it and it it's always in person  it's a good thing i mean the only issue i have.

in person is we'll be at a an airport bar and  someone will recognize me and want to do a shot. like yeah cool and it's but someone  else will see me and they want a shot. and then you know all of a sudden it's like okay  you 10 guys had a shot i had 10 shots this is bad. damn but no i mean it's it's uh it's  it's it was uncharted territory because. you know even i was talking to different  agents about speaking and um he said i'm.

trying to figure out if you know trying to price  the guy that killed hitler and i'm like well. hitler killed himself and he goes exactly and  so it's just you know it's everything's been. new and i don't know at first what's gonna  happen i don't know now what's gonna happen. um but you know i mean it's been it's  people have been been good yeah i mean. it it created a lot of animosity you know  obviously throughout the community and uh. you know we kind of talked a little about that a  little bit off camera but how how are you because.

there's a there's a lot of hate in this community  oh there's a lot of hate you know no it's it's. tough at first because um you want you want to  be liked and your reputation means everything but. then you got to realize that what you know what  someone thinks about you is none of your business. stop wasting the negative energy on what they're  thinking of you and if they're pissed there's. nothing i can do about it if they ever want to  work with me i'll work with them that's fine. if you want help ask i'll help um but if you're if  you're just hating then you know take it somewhere. else you i mean there's a point where you just got  to stop caring i don't care yeah um but you know.

and it's like there's even been points where  they're like well you know you know we hear. you didn't kill milan and unlike some days i wish  i didn't i'm just telling you what happened yeah. how long did it take you to get to that point  uh a couple years yeah i bet because all you. know all you know in the seal teams is the seal  teams and you're in that bubble i mean even when. you you know um you know other seals and you know  the bartenders and everyone around you is doing. the same [ __ ] i mean as far as work and and you  know i found myself in a spot where i'm just in.

a spot where anyone could have done it i just  happened to turn the corner and it's just um. i mean it sucks you know you want to be like but  there comes a point where what you worry about. isn't going to stop it so yeah get on with it well  i think a lot the reason i'm asking is i think a. lot of guys need to hear that because you know i  don't i don't [ __ ] care i'll just say whatever. something no that's probably the nicest thing  i've ever done it's it's it's in this community. you know it seems like like i said we talked about  this earlier but i want other guys that are coming.

out to hear this [ __ ] is you know in this  community everybody likes each other until. you're feeling better than they are yeah and then  you're the [ __ ] hate target you're the target. and and you know there's i mean it's 2022  now guys are getting out with full careers. you know first time ever where guys have been in  combat their entire career they're gonna get out. they're gonna write books they're gonna start  companies and they're gonna get a lot of hate. from the guys that are in and and uh it seems like  as soon as you come out public with anything it's.

like um use your resume there's nothing wrong with  that and my i remember my one of my first days. at red squad and the ceo of red squadron said you  know when we got out we could all be millionaires. we could take over the world but we're never  gonna because he recognized it as well just the. just the uh the animosity for some reason like  everyone's successful but then they hate success. yeah so i mean i don't get it i mean it bothered  me for a while but i'm not losing sleep over now. well that's good yeah that's good but um well  yeah let's talk about what you're doing now.

yeah so i transitioned out of the um the military  and what i realized is that i didn't know what to. do i had no idea am i gonna sell sunglasses or  t-shirts am i going to do whatever but i learned. that a lot of people want the traits that we  have as navy seals as special operators effective. communication problem solving the ability to have  the difficult decisions with people to run a team. to uh promote who needs to be in fire who needs  to be so i started a foundation it was f at first.

called your grateful nation but now it's called  special operators transition foundation and. it's help special operators find out where they  want to live what industry they want to be in. because i've had employers now with some of the  products coming out of universities they don't. want that [ __ ] they said give me one of these  guys men or women and i'll teach them how to do. this job i want that attitude in the boardroom  uh so i've done that transition um foundation and. then i just i got myself into public speaking i've  been on tv analyzing different stuff i worked for.

fox news for quite a while um i started an apparel  company rjo apparel stuff like front toward enemy. which to me kind of summarizes everything  front towards your problem yeah and on the. guess what's in the back the back like even the  hoodies we have says front row enemy and the back. says back it is a it's not a hoodie it's it's  an instruction manual on how to wear a hoodie. um so you know we did that um uh i'm involved  with a beer company now called arm forces brewing.

company which is veteran owned me and a couple  of seals mcteams and raycast care um we we uh. have different beer for different branches army we  actually for army navy game we had beat army and. beat navy cans we sold out at the army navy game  uh we're getting distribution in 50 states uh just. because it's a it's it's cool and it's a beer and  it's for veterans not just for veterans but for. americans veteran owned for american and americans  americans like beer and they like veterans so uh.

anything like that just entrepreneurial stuff um  like i said you know the more special operators. more navy seals i can work with the better because  we're going to do better yeah and it's just um it. is what you're making i mean you can sit at home  and feel sorry for yourself or you can go do it. yeah that's that's that's for damn  sure so what about the new book. the way forward the way forward i wrote with  dakota meyer who is a medal of honor recipient. uh marine uh gangal valley one of the worst fights  i've ever heard his his story is incredible i'm.

not even gonna tell it read the book it's amazing  he is similar to me shooting that guy in the room. he got a fight where he's rescuing uh  his entire team died he's pulling him out. and he got hit in the back a butt stroke from a  taliban guy and he actually got into a fist fight. to the death with a dude um to the point where  he was getting choked out and i don't know if he. faked being choked out but he ended up turning  around he shot him with a 40 mike mike that. was so you know he didn't it didn't arm but it hit  him and then he ended up killing this guy with a.

rock oh [ __ ] and it's the point and again i  don't want to tell his story but it's like he. says there's a point in a man's life where you're  looking him in the eyes and you both know it's. coming and then the book's called the way forward  because it's now what you know we did all this. fight and we did all this killing uh you start  to question why we're killing these people and. what's the way forward everything from anxiety to  abusing the bottle to suicides what do we do next. and i think you know everyone everyone has what do  we do now we talked about the ceos that have their.

first day uh what next and uh that's what it's  about dakota is awesome uh but but again with the. animosity like he's got stories where he's got i  mean i thought the marines were the tightest group. that's what i think are they not he no he he's  gotten the medal of honor physically ripped off. of his neck at a marine corps ball you got  to be shitty and so it kind of addresses the. what the [ __ ] guys so i mean it's a great book  the stories are um incredible because i talk about.

everything from it's the transition from the  military to the the adventures that i get into. um the story about my wedding that kid rock is  in how we lost the wedding rings and i had to. get my buddy shorty to find him and how he i had  brand new security at i'm at a church in in um in. massachusetts at cape cod and i hired local cops  to be securities i have some celebrities there. like i said kid rock was there and i'm i don't  know who's gonna show up because it's a public.

wedding this guy found the rings and what i told  these cops was what you got to look for is their. hands and especially if a vehicle screams up  my buddy was screaming up to the thing after. he found the rings hops out reaches for the rings  out of his pocket he's getting drawn down on by. these cops and sprints and hands me the rings and  then it goes on to other kentucky derby stuff but. the one story i have in the way forward is i'm not  going to ruin it at all but it's a hunting story. with me some guys i grew up with my father my  nephew my brother and some boston police officers.

and i have been called out more on that  story being [ __ ] than the bin laden raid. oh [ __ ] the story's hilarious  but you don't let's let's hear it. well um the way it started i don't want to ruin  the book but um i brought my brother with me. my brother's a dj a morning show dj he's not a  hunter at all never been a hunter but i brought. him out to the powder river in eastern montana  which has some of the best hunting in the world. and we're going to split up i sent my brother  tom with my buddy smooth and they're gonna go.

this way what i didn't realize at the time is  smooth as a former army guy he loves to hunt. like he's he's hiking tommy's not he doesn't like  to do that [ __ ] so he's humping up this hill. um we're on the other side i got some of the  boston police guys there and another truck. went up there looking for elk and uh i guess  my brother was lagging a little bit far back my. buddy smooth said you know what you stay here i'll  keep you in an eye shot i'm gonna keep walking up.

and all of a sudden my brother tommy started  roasting a bowl uh wait and he comes back my. buddy smooth comes back because what the [ __ ]  are you doing and he goes what do you want some. he goes what about the deer and he goes [ __ ]  the deer i didn't bring enough for the deer. so they're they're doing this i'm on one end  and we're trying to set up another ambush we. have radios which is totally illegal um now my my  buddy um swift and ed are in a truck driving up. on the way out here they they had stopped at a  gas station and ed decided to buy um a reuben.

at a gas station that had probably been under the  heat lamp for a solid three days not a good idea. so we got these radios he immediately got some  really bad diarrhea and i hear over the radio oh. my god ed just shot himself and i said what he he  shot himself and he goes no ed just [ __ ] himself. and i'm like well how bad is it he  goes pretty bad he filled his socks. suck they're driving down my buddy's [ __ ]  his pants my brother's getting high i'm over. here i'm like look we're going to call this  a day get out of the mountains so we go back.

to the cabin break out the whiskey and i said  the next day um we're going to hunt the white. tails because we're in the mountains looking for  mule deer and elk now we're going to go to the. whitetails they're down by the river that's  you know a couple hundred meters this way. me and smooth are going to walk through here we're  going to push these whitetails out they're going. to see the bend in the river some will cross but  some will come to you so i send my my father down. to one end with my nephew and i said to my dad dad  here's the deal all you got to do is nothing just. sit here nothing so we go out there we put the  cops out here we're pushing them we're now we're.

doing a sort of an ambush again the deer come  out they run to the cops they they blast a few. um we get in here a buck comes past me I shoot him  and then uh my buddy uh smooth who just couldn't. get a break on this trip i i see this monster  whitetail buck and i can see smooth pointing at it. and he just kind of puts the gun down and yells  god damn it and i said what why didn't you shoot. me because the only two things i saw in the  scope was that huge buck and your [ __ ] dad.

my dad got up and was just walking through there  like a geriatric or whatever and uh he felt so. bad he my dad just goes next time just shoot so  so it's like alright cool whatever um no before. we do this sorry tommy was worn out my brother  tom from the hump the day before so when i was. knocking on the door i was like come over hunting  he's like no we aren't doing anything i'm sleeping. so i go to my um the deer that i killed we're  gutting a man smooth and then swift comes out.

on a four-wheeler obviously with coors lights  because it is seven in the morning and uh he. said hey congratulations oh tommy got his buck  too and i said no that's that's not possible. tommy's asleep and he goes no tom shot a  buck and what turned out to happen is uh. swift was on the as we started this ambush swift  saw these bucks running towards the thing and he'd. already filled this tag and so he he's knocking  on tommy's door he's like tommy get get out here. and so tommy came out and probably a joint in his  hand and uh he said well [ __ ] someone handed.

him a gun and and he shot this buck that was  coming whatever and well tommy how'd you shoot. that buck and he goes he was coming right for  us because i was in my best porch camouflage. holy and he goes so what do i do now and they go  now you put on orange and we go get the damn thing. damn dude so yeah but people said  there's no way that happened but that's. that's one of the stories well i'll link uh  i'll link all the everything below you know. for people to go buy it and um hey man i don't  you know we've been going for quite a while so.

might as well end it but awesome man thanks  for having me yeah thank you for coming. and sharing it for all those first-hand accounts  and my pleasure best of luck to you appreciate it. you.