No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden (32 page)
Read No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden Online
Authors: Mark Owen,Kevin Maurer
Tags: #Non-Fiction, #War
It was a text message from my sister.
“I hear you’re going to meet the president tomorrow,” she said. “Make sure you don’t wear shorts so they don’t see your gazelle-type legs and know you’re a SEAL.”
So much for operational security.
The next morning, we left on one of the oldest C-130s I’d ever seen. It had a new paint job, which masked its age from the outside. But getting on board, the inside looked old. Everything was faded.
As we climbed up the ramp, none of us were impressed. We were used to flying around in much newer C-130s or even C-17s.
“So much for rock star status,” Charlie said as he folded his six-foot-four frame into the orange jump seat. “I guess our fifteen minutes of fame are over.”
But a plaque near the door told us the true story. The plane was one of three MC-130E Combat Talon I aircraft used in Operation Eagle Claw.
It turns out a crew chief found the plane mothballed and talked an Air Force general into renovating it and returning it to the inventory. It was sort of fitting that we’d fly to Kentucky to meet the president on that plane. It had a lot of history and I guess it had at least one more historic flight in it.
From the airport, we took back roads to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment’s headquarters, where Teddy and the aircrews were based. President Obama was scheduled to talk with thousands of troops from the 101st Airborne Division after meeting with us.
They ushered us into a large conference room to wait. Along the back wall was a table piled high with gourmet sandwiches, chips, cookies, and soft drinks.
“We’re moving up in the world,” I said. “This is way better than cold chicken fingers. Do you think they are going to make us pay for this?”
On one of the tables near the door was a framed flag. It was one of the flags we carried on the mission. Guys were signing the back of the frame and the plan was to present it to the president.
“Why do I need to sign this?” I asked Tom.
Like always, he was running things while Jay and Mike met with the higher-ups.
“Everybody that was on the raid needs to sign it,” he said.
“Why?” I just wanted an explanation.
“It’s going to the president,” Tom said, growing tired of my questions.
“How many hands does it pass through before it gets hung on the wall?” I asked. “Don’t they have tours of the White House?”
The only thing that remained secret was our names.
I went over to the other guys.
“Is everybody signing this thing?”
Most of the guys had already signed it.
“Just scribble a random name on there and you’ll be good,” Charlie said. “That’s what I did.”
After a lot of hurry up and wait, we finally walked to an auditorium to meet the president. The Secret Service ran us through a metal detector. When they got to me, the wand beeped when it passed over my pocketknife. I took my knife out and added it to the growing pile.
There was a small stage with rows of chairs in front.
Walt sat down next to me.
“I’d rather be doing underways than be here,” he said.
Obama arrived in a dark suit, white shirt, and light blue tie. Vice President Biden was at his side in a blue shirt and red tie. The president stood on the stage and spoke to us for a few minutes. He presented the unit with a Presidential Unit Citation, in recognition of our achievement. It is the highest honor that can be given to a unit.
I don’t recall much about the speech. It was straight from the speechwriter playbook:
“You guys are America’s best.”
“You are what America stands for.”
“Thank you from the American people.”
“Job well done.”
After the speech, we posed for a few pictures. Biden kept cracking lame jokes that no one got. He seemed like a nice guy, but he reminded me of someone’s drunken uncle at Christmas dinner. Before leaving to give a speech to two thousand soldiers from the 101st, Obama invited the whole team to his residence for a beer.
“What is the residence?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Walt said. “His house. The White House, I guess.”
“That would be kind of cool,” I said. “I wouldn’t mind going to the residence.”
Walt just smirked.
As the bus drove us to the airport, Obama delivered a speech to cheering soldiers in a hangar on the base.
“We have cut off their head,” he said, “and we will ultimately defeat them … our strategy is working, and there is no greater evidence of that than justice finally being delivered to Osama bin Laden.”
After that trip, things started to return to normal. We jumped back into our normal schedule, gone for a few weeks and then home for a week. We were back on the speeding train.
We never got the call to have a beer at the White House. I remember I brought it up a few months later to Walt. We’d just come back from the range and we were walking back into the team room.
“Hey, did you ever hear anything about that beer?” I asked.
Walt’s smirk was back.
“You believed that shit,” he said. “I bet you voted for change too, sucker.”
Epilogue
Less than
a year after the Bin Laden mission, I got off the speeding train.
I’d spent over a decade of my life sacrificing for this job and country. I gave up everything to live this dream. Long periods spent away from friends and family, missed holidays, and a physical beating on my body that will last the rest of my life. I served with America’s best and made lifelong friends with a group of guys I call my brothers. Since my first deployment as a SEAL and the attacks on September 11, I’d dreamt of being involved in the mission that would kill or capture Osama bin Laden. I was lucky enough to play a role. Now, it is time for someone else to take a turn.
Very few people can say that they were lucky enough to stay in an operational job their entire SEAL career. From the day I graduated BUD/S, I moved to SEAL Team Five and then on to DEVGRU. I never worked a nonoperational job. In more than a decade as a SEAL, I didn’t have a break, just a steady drumbeat of combat deployments. After finishing my team leader time earlier this year, I was slated to leave my squadron and either be an instructor in Green Team or work one of several other nonoperational jobs within the command. These jobs were far from the battlefield and, to be perfectly honest, probably just the break that I needed. I knew after that short break, I would be itching to get back into the fight. Like everyone at the command, my personal life suffered under the strain of deployments. It was time for my own life to take a priority. As much as I hated leaving the command, it was time for me to move on and end my career as a SEAL.
Before I left, I met with the commander who welcomed us home after the raid. He was now the acting commander of DEVGRU. I knew that as a well-respected commanding officer, he actually understood the stresses we lived under. We met in his office a few days before I was scheduled to sign out of the command.
“What can we do to keep you?” the commander said.
I was honored he wanted me to stay. But I looked him in the eye and humbly shook my head.
“It’s time for me to move on,” I said.
Although I felt a certain amount of guilt, like I was leaving my brothers behind to carry the load, I was at peace with my decision. There were newer guys, fresh from Green Team, who were primed and ready to lead the fight. I was simply tired and ready for something new.
It was strange to leave Walt, Charlie, Steve, and Tom behind. We are all still friends, and all four are still at the command. For their protection, I’m not going to talk much about what the guys are doing now. They are all still sacrificing their lives and time for the good of this country.
Phil fully recovered from the gunshot wound in his calf. He is still a tier-one prankster and remains one of my best friends. Like me, he is no longer in the Navy, having retired after his injury.
One of my first projects after leaving was this book. Deciding to do it wasn’t easy. No one at the command thought much of the notoriety that came after the Bin Laden raid. We watched it with amusement at first, but that quickly turned to dread as more and more information leaked. We always prided ourselves for being the quiet professionals, but the more I saw coverage of the raid, the more I wanted to set the record straight.
To date, how the mission to kill Bin Laden has been reported is wrong. Even reports claiming to have the inside story have been incorrect. I felt like someone had to tell the true story. To me, the story is bigger than the raid itself and much more about the men at the command who willingly go into harm’s way, sacrificing all they have to do the job. Theirs is a story that deserves to be told, and told as accurately as possible.
Since May 1, 2011, everyone from President Obama to Admiral McRaven has given interviews about the operation. If my commander in chief is willing to talk, then I feel comfortable doing the same.
Of course, the raid is now being used in a political wrestling match as both parties fight for the White House. The mission was never about that for the twenty-four men who climbed on board the helicopters that night. Politics are for the Washington, D.C., policy makers who safely watched the action on a video monitor from thousands of miles away.
When we boarded our helicopters in Jalalabad, politics was the last thing on our minds. Don’t get me wrong. We weren’t oblivious to it. We knew this was going to happen. Does it play a role in the aftermath? Of course it does, but I don’t think it matters if a Republican or a Democrat gave the order. It doesn’t make me vote for one party more than another.
Let me be clear, I do not consider this to be my story. My goal from the start was to tell the true story of the raid and show the sacrifices made by SEALs at the command. I only used my life as a way to describe what it is like to be part of such a special unit. I am not unique or special, and my hope is my experiences are viewed as a common experience for all of the men I served with. The men I looked up to, the men I worked with, those men are the best in the world and have done more for this country than people will ever comprehend.
For the fallen SEALs who didn’t make it home, their sacrifice is not in vain. Some were lost fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan. Others died training to fight. We hold all of them close to our hearts and know they died for something so much bigger then themselves. Despite knowing the risks, men like these continue to willingly sacrifice everything.
I challenge every person who reads this to sacrifice a little something as well. I’ve been asked a question: “I’m not a SEAL and probably couldn’t do it if I tried, but what can I do to help?”
Two answers come to mind.
Don’t just live, but live for a purpose bigger than yourself. Be an asset to your family, community, and country.
The second answer is that you can donate time and money to a veterans’ organization or one that supports wounded warriors. These men and women have done their part and need our help.
I’m donating the majority of the proceeds from this book to charity. Here are several that I recommend.
All In All The Time Foundation (Allinallthetime.org)
The Navy SEAL Foundation (Navysealfoundation.org)
Tip of the Spear Foundation (Tipofthespearfoundation.org)
All three charities help support the families of fallen Navy SEALs. I challenge you to do a fraction of what these men have sacrificed and help me raise millions of dollars for these organizations.
I am
telling this story and donating most of the proceeds from its sale in honor of the men we have lost since September 11. They are the true heroes.
THOMAS C. FOUKE
Lieutenant
THOMAS RATZLAFF
SOCS
STEPHEN MILLS
SOC
ROBERT REEVES
SOCS
NICHOLAS SPEHAR
SO2
NICHOLAS NULL
EODC
MICHAEL STRANGE
CTR1
MATTHEW MASON
SOC
LOUIS LANGLAIS
SOCM
KRAIG VICKERS
EODCS
KEVIN HOUSTON
SOC
JONAS KELSALL
LCDR (SEAL)
JON TUMILSON
SO1
JOHN FAAS
SOC
JOHN DOUANGDARA
MA1
JESSE PITTMAN
SO1
JASON WORKMAN
SO1
JARED DAY
IT1
HEATH ROBINSON
SOCS
DARRIK BENSON
SO1
CHRISTOPHER CAMPBELL
SO1
CALEB A. NELSON
SO1
BRIAN BILL
SOC
AARON VAUGHN
SO1
TYLER STIMSON
SO1
RONALD WOODLE
SO2
DENIS CHRISTOPHER MIRANDA
SO3
DAVID BLAKE MCLENDON
CTRCS
COLLIN THOMAS
SOC
BRENDAN JOHN LOONEY
LT
ADAM OLIN SMITH
SO2
ADAM BROWN
SOC
TYLER J. TRAHAN
EOD2
RYAN JOB
SO2
ERIC F. SHELLENBERGER
SOC
ANDREW J. LIGHTNER
PR1
THOMAS J. VALENTINE
SOCS
SHAPOOR “ALEX” GHANE
SO2
NATHAN HARDY
SOC
MICHAEL KOCH
SOC
LUIS SOUFFRONT
EOD1
LANCE M. VACCARO
SOC
JOSHUA THOMAS HARRIS
SO1
JOHN W. MARCUM
SOCS
JASON R. FREIWALD
SOC (Select)
STEVEN P. DAUGHERTY
CTT1
ROBERT R. MCRILL
MC1
MARK T. CARTER
SOC
JOSEPH CLARK SCHWEDLER
SO2
JASON D. LEWIS
SO1
FREDDIE PORTER
SN
MICHAEL A. MONSOOR
MA2 (SEAL)
MARC A. LEE
AO2 (SEAL)
SHANE E. PATTON
MM2 (SEAL)
MICHAEL P. MURPHY
LT (SEAL)
MICHAEL M. MCGREEVY, JR.
LT (SEAL)
MATTHEW G. AXELSON
STG2 (SEAL)
JEFFREY S. TAYLOR
HM1 (SEAL)
JEFFREY A. LUCAS
ET1 (SEAL)
JAMES SUH
QM2 (SEAL)
JACQUES J. FONTAN
FCC (SEAL)
ERIK S. KRISTENSEN
LCDR (SEAL)
DANNY P. DIETZ
GM2 (SEAL)
DANIEL R. HEALY
ITCS (SEAL)
THEODORE D. FITZHENRY
HMCS (SEAL)
ROBERT P. VETTER
BM1 (SWCC)
BRIAN OUELLETTE
BM1 (SEAL)
THOMAS E. RETZER
IC1 (SEAL)
MARIO MAESTAS
IT2 (SEAL)
DAVID M. TAPPER
PH1 (SEAL)
PETER G. OSWALD
CDR (SEAL)
NEIL C. ROBERTS
ABH1 (SEAL)
MATTHEW J. BOURGEOIS
HMC (SEAL)
JERRY “BUCK” POPE
ENS (SEAL)
*List courtesy Navy
SEAL
Foundation
