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No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Memoir & Autobiography (2012)From the streets of Iraq to the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips in the Indian Ocean, and from the mountaintops of Afghanistan to the third floor of Osama Bin Laden's compound, operator Mark Owen of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group--commonly known as SEAL Team Six--has been a part of some of the most memorable special operations in history, as well as countless missions that never made headlines.
No Easy Day puts readers alongside Owen and the other handpicked members of the twenty-four-man team as they train for the biggest mission of their lives. The blow-by-blow narrative of the assault, beginning with the helicopter crash that could have ended Owen's life straight through to the radio call confirming Bin Laden’s death, is an essential piece of modern history.
In No Easy Day, Owen also takes readers onto the field of battle in America's ongoing War on Terror and details the selection and training process for one of the most elite units in the military. Owen's story draws on his youth in Alaska and describes the SEALs' quest to challenge themselves at the highest levels of physical and mental endurance. With boots-on-the-ground detail, Owen describes numerous previously unreported missions that illustrate the life and work of a SEAL and the evolution of the team after the events of September 11. In telling the true story of the SEALs whose talents, skills, experiences, and exceptional sacrifices led to one of the greatest victories in the War on Terror, Mark Owen honors the men who risk everything for our country, and he leaves readers with a deep understanding of the warriors who keep America safe.
No Easy Day puts readers alongside Owen and the other handpicked members of the twenty-four-man team as they train for the biggest mission of their lives. The blow-by-blow narrative of the assault, beginning with the helicopter crash that could have ended Owen's life straight through to the radio call confirming Bin Laden’s death, is an essential piece of modern history.
In No Easy Day, Owen also takes readers onto the field of battle in America's ongoing War on Terror and details the selection and training process for one of the most elite units in the military. Owen's story draws on his youth in Alaska and describes the SEALs' quest to challenge themselves at the highest levels of physical and mental endurance. With boots-on-the-ground detail, Owen describes numerous previously unreported missions that illustrate the life and work of a SEAL and the evolution of the team after the events of September 11. In telling the true story of the SEALs whose talents, skills, experiences, and exceptional sacrifices led to one of the greatest victories in the War on Terror, Mark Owen honors the men who risk everything for our country, and he leaves readers with a deep understanding of the warriors who keep America safe.
316 pages, Hardcover
First published September 4, 2012
About the author
Mark Owen
44 books160 followersMark Owen is the pseudonym of a former Navy SEAL.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,185 reviews
October 28, 2012
A quick, unimpressive read from a literary point of view. Nearly half the book covers events loosely or not related to the Usama bin Laden (UBL) mission.
If all you want is the account of the preparation for and execution of the raid on Bin Laden's compound, you can start roughly halfway through the book and not miss anything specifically pertinent. The narrative with regard to the raid that killed UBL, as a first-hand account of the events is enlightening in its contradictions to some of the major details of the "official" reports released to the media by the DoD and administration in the hours and days immediately after the killing of bin Laden.
Specific important discrepancies involve the details of the 40-minute gun battle between the SEAL team and those within UBL's compound. Assuming Matt Bissonnette's eyewitness account, written under the pseudonym Mark Owen, is factual, perhaps its greatest value is that it reveals yet another manipulation of the media and the truth by yet another administration more interested in perception than truth.
Do not get me wrong. I do not have a problem with the conduct of the raid that killed UBL as described by Mr. Bissonnette. BinLaden got what he deserved. I take no issue whether he and his protectors put up a defensive gun battle or not, and I have no issue with the SEAL team killing him on sight - armed or not. Doing so spared the world what would have been a long drawn out political and legal spectacle not unlike the capture, trial, and execution of Saddam Hussein.
What I do have issues with are in the DoD's and Administration's apparent willingness to deceive and alter facts, presumably for diplomatic reasons. I am not naive, I understand the political motivation, especially from an international perspective that drives altering the facts. Americans aren't supposed to gun down unarmed criminals or our war-time enemies. So the official story carried by the media was edited to portray UBL's killing as unavoidable.
I have to believe that Bissonette's and the publishers motivation for releasing the story without first submitting it to the DoD for scrutinization to ensure that no classified information or operational secrets were divulged, was that he knew the truth he wanted to tell would not have survived their review.
Not a great book by any means, but important both from the perspective of getting out the real story and for documenting again the heroic work our dedicated military, DoD civilian, and DoD contractor men and women do every day for us and in our name as Americans.
If all you want is the account of the preparation for and execution of the raid on Bin Laden's compound, you can start roughly halfway through the book and not miss anything specifically pertinent. The narrative with regard to the raid that killed UBL, as a first-hand account of the events is enlightening in its contradictions to some of the major details of the "official" reports released to the media by the DoD and administration in the hours and days immediately after the killing of bin Laden.
Specific important discrepancies involve the details of the 40-minute gun battle between the SEAL team and those within UBL's compound. Assuming Matt Bissonnette's eyewitness account, written under the pseudonym Mark Owen, is factual, perhaps its greatest value is that it reveals yet another manipulation of the media and the truth by yet another administration more interested in perception than truth.
Do not get me wrong. I do not have a problem with the conduct of the raid that killed UBL as described by Mr. Bissonnette. BinLaden got what he deserved. I take no issue whether he and his protectors put up a defensive gun battle or not, and I have no issue with the SEAL team killing him on sight - armed or not. Doing so spared the world what would have been a long drawn out political and legal spectacle not unlike the capture, trial, and execution of Saddam Hussein.
What I do have issues with are in the DoD's and Administration's apparent willingness to deceive and alter facts, presumably for diplomatic reasons. I am not naive, I understand the political motivation, especially from an international perspective that drives altering the facts. Americans aren't supposed to gun down unarmed criminals or our war-time enemies. So the official story carried by the media was edited to portray UBL's killing as unavoidable.
I have to believe that Bissonette's and the publishers motivation for releasing the story without first submitting it to the DoD for scrutinization to ensure that no classified information or operational secrets were divulged, was that he knew the truth he wanted to tell would not have survived their review.
Not a great book by any means, but important both from the perspective of getting out the real story and for documenting again the heroic work our dedicated military, DoD civilian, and DoD contractor men and women do every day for us and in our name as Americans.
September 14, 2012
Every now and then I like to take a break from reading romance, and since I do enjoy a good military romance, I thought I'd be interested in getting the low-down from a real military hero. No Easy Day is an autobiography/memoir from retired Navy SEAL Mark Owen (his alias) that largely deals with the operation to capture/kill Osama Bin Laden.
The author (in disguise) being interviewed on "60 Minutes"...
The book was always interesting, and it grabs you from the first chapters as members of SEAL Team 6 are on their way to the Bin Laden compound in Pakistan, and the helicopter that they are in is about to crash into the wall surrounding the place. Will the mission that they've practiced and trained for for the past three weeks be doomed to fail? Well, we all know that doesn't happen, but what we don't know is that things did not exactly go smoothly...
Besides the details surrounding the mission to get Bin Laden and what led up to it, the author also talks about some other missions he was involved in (including a few that have been in the news that you might remember--the rescue of cargo ship Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates is one). While these weren't quite as exciting to read about as the Bin Laden mission, they do give you an understanding of what it's like to be a SEAL and just how much of their personal life they give up to serve their country. For these men, the job always comes first, their familes--second.
There's been lots of controversy surrounding this book-has the author given up any classified information? I don't know about that. It doesn't seem like what he's told will endanger any future missions or SEALs...What he has told that might anger some people (Bin Laden's family and followers) is how they treated Bin Laden's body after he was dead. Not that he didn't deserve this treatment (or more)--it just surprised me...
The Bin Laden compound...
I was pleasantly surprised while reading this book how interesting I found it. I thought I was going to want to skip ahead to all the Bin Laden stuff, but I was never really tempted. The author gives a few details about his past growing up in Alaska (his parents were against him joining the Navy), but I would've enjoyed reading a bit more. He gets into how difficult it was to be selected to serve in SEAL team six, reveals some humorous details about the men he served with (the Staff of Power story was quite amusing, as was "who would play us in a movie"), but doesn't get into his personal life much. Does he have a wife? Girlfriend? Dog? What does he do with himself when not on a mission? To me it seemed his life was all about his job, deployment after deployment. I don't know what he's doing now that he's no longer a SEAL and doesn't have that adrenaline rush that he obviously thrives on. I would imagine it must be difficult for him to transition from SEAL to civilian...
Anyone who is at all curious about what happened that day when the world's #1 terrorist was killed and how he was finally tracked down, the details leading up to that mission, or what it's like to give up most of your personal life to devote yourself to serving your country, should read this book. It's never boring, moves at a quick pace, and is mostly fascinating. Highly recommended. 5 stars
P.S. Kindle readers: there are pictures at the end of the book--keep turning the pages.
*To see the author interviewed on "60 Minutes": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMXNsq...
**Visit this site for some more spoilers (including pictures) about the book: http://www.businessinsider.com/highli...
The author (in disguise) being interviewed on "60 Minutes"...
The book was always interesting, and it grabs you from the first chapters as members of SEAL Team 6 are on their way to the Bin Laden compound in Pakistan, and the helicopter that they are in is about to crash into the wall surrounding the place. Will the mission that they've practiced and trained for for the past three weeks be doomed to fail? Well, we all know that doesn't happen, but what we don't know is that things did not exactly go smoothly...
Besides the details surrounding the mission to get Bin Laden and what led up to it, the author also talks about some other missions he was involved in (including a few that have been in the news that you might remember--the rescue of cargo ship Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates is one). While these weren't quite as exciting to read about as the Bin Laden mission, they do give you an understanding of what it's like to be a SEAL and just how much of their personal life they give up to serve their country. For these men, the job always comes first, their familes--second.
There's been lots of controversy surrounding this book-has the author given up any classified information? I don't know about that. It doesn't seem like what he's told will endanger any future missions or SEALs...What he has told that might anger some people (Bin Laden's family and followers) is how they treated Bin Laden's body after he was dead. Not that he didn't deserve this treatment (or more)--it just surprised me...
The Bin Laden compound...
I was pleasantly surprised while reading this book how interesting I found it. I thought I was going to want to skip ahead to all the Bin Laden stuff, but I was never really tempted. The author gives a few details about his past growing up in Alaska (his parents were against him joining the Navy), but I would've enjoyed reading a bit more. He gets into how difficult it was to be selected to serve in SEAL team six, reveals some humorous details about the men he served with (the Staff of Power story was quite amusing, as was "who would play us in a movie"), but doesn't get into his personal life much. Does he have a wife? Girlfriend? Dog? What does he do with himself when not on a mission? To me it seemed his life was all about his job, deployment after deployment. I don't know what he's doing now that he's no longer a SEAL and doesn't have that adrenaline rush that he obviously thrives on. I would imagine it must be difficult for him to transition from SEAL to civilian...
Anyone who is at all curious about what happened that day when the world's #1 terrorist was killed and how he was finally tracked down, the details leading up to that mission, or what it's like to give up most of your personal life to devote yourself to serving your country, should read this book. It's never boring, moves at a quick pace, and is mostly fascinating. Highly recommended. 5 stars
P.S. Kindle readers: there are pictures at the end of the book--keep turning the pages.
*To see the author interviewed on "60 Minutes": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMXNsq...
**Visit this site for some more spoilers (including pictures) about the book: http://www.businessinsider.com/highli...
April 9, 2024
The author tells his story quietly, in a strong, soft voice. He is humble, while maintaining confidence in his training, ability and team. His voice sounds too wise for years, but there is no wonder why.
I found this to be well-told and peppered with unexpected observations, such as exploding bombs looking similar to a Bloomin' Onion or comparing attacks to pickup basketball: shove, move, communicate.
There were tiny little nuggets that made me angry; such as the 2011 political CYA movement that served to render these amazingly talented people virtually useless. So much so, one wonders if he could continue to justify missing holidays, births, deaths, weddings and daily events with friends and family; keeping his own life in danger.
Reminders of the ridiculous sting. Did this really all start in 1993 when Bin Laden formed Al Queda with the supposed goal of starting war with the United States to rally Muslims to create a single Arab country across the Middle East?
I'm very glad that I read this book. Angry and sad, but glad nonetheless.
I found this to be well-told and peppered with unexpected observations, such as exploding bombs looking similar to a Bloomin' Onion or comparing attacks to pickup basketball: shove, move, communicate.
There were tiny little nuggets that made me angry; such as the 2011 political CYA movement that served to render these amazingly talented people virtually useless. So much so, one wonders if he could continue to justify missing holidays, births, deaths, weddings and daily events with friends and family; keeping his own life in danger.
Reminders of the ridiculous sting. Did this really all start in 1993 when Bin Laden formed Al Queda with the supposed goal of starting war with the United States to rally Muslims to create a single Arab country across the Middle East?
I'm very glad that I read this book. Angry and sad, but glad nonetheless.
May 12, 2015
This is a review of the book, not of the author
I feel I have to title my review this way because although I'm very glad this event happened, and I have boundless admiration for the people who participated in the raid, including the author, I can't honestly say it was a great book.
To be fair to 'Mark Owen', his ghostwriter, Kevin Maurer, does bear some responsibility for taking a tired, pseudo-action-thriller approach to the story. The first half of the book is a very mediocre, dramatized 'montage' approach to what it takes to be a Navy Seal and rise up through the ranks to do the type of special operations detailed in the book. As heart-pounding action-thrillers go, it's lacking in the kind of tangible, humanizing elements that elevate good stories of this kind out of the G.I. Joe stereotype.
The second half of the book deals with the raid itself in a very dry, accurate and factual way. It paints a clear picture of the anti-climactic demise of Osama Bin Laden. It probably would have taken a ghost writer with superior skills to Maurer's to forge the rising anticipation, the fear, the frustrations into a more gripping read.
I need to make it clear that I'm not dissing the Navy Seal. I'm just saying a better ghost writer might have done more to bring his story to life.
Many critics have questioned this author's motives for writing the book, and I think the end of the story really exposes them. He's clearly not in it for the money - since most of the profits from this book are going to veteran's charities. I think he's a man who is bitter about the 'spin' the media and the administration gave the killing of Bin Laden, because having been an eye-witness to it, he feels the factual truth was good enough and didn't require embellishment.
But he's also a man, like many in front line positions, who holds tremendous animosity towards anyone with a say in military policy and decision-making who isn't sitting beside him in combat gear, holding a firearm. I think most people who experience war on the front lines feel this way. But it sours the end of the book rather badly. Because the author is clearly not a fan of Obama, and says so often and, at times, in disparaging ways.
This book is a) a first hand account of the raid, b) a portrait of what these admirable and brave people go through to serve their country and c) a concerted effort on the part of the author to deny the present administration any share in the glory of Bin Laden's final demise.
(Note to future administrations: If you say you're going to have a beer with the guys you're pinning medals on, you'd better keep your promise. Otherwise they end up bitter and write books like this one.)
And although I thoroughly commiserate with the author's 'walk a mile in my shoes' feelings, I also think it does damage to the nobility of an account of what was a brave, courageous and well-implemented military action. I wouldn't want to walk in Owen's shoes, nor would I want to be responsible for making decisions about the fate of a whole country, its security, its economy and its place as superpower.
I think it may be a central flaw in attempting to write a first person account of this sort of experience too close to the actual event, without the distance of some time and consideration to put the events in proportion. There have been some outstanding first-person accounts of war, but rarely are they written so soon after the event.
Post script:
Recent information from two completely different investigative reviews of this incident put much of this account under erasure. Personally, I have no issue with a fictionalized thriller based on the takedown of OBL, I just require it be more competently written.
I feel I have to title my review this way because although I'm very glad this event happened, and I have boundless admiration for the people who participated in the raid, including the author, I can't honestly say it was a great book.
To be fair to 'Mark Owen', his ghostwriter, Kevin Maurer, does bear some responsibility for taking a tired, pseudo-action-thriller approach to the story. The first half of the book is a very mediocre, dramatized 'montage' approach to what it takes to be a Navy Seal and rise up through the ranks to do the type of special operations detailed in the book. As heart-pounding action-thrillers go, it's lacking in the kind of tangible, humanizing elements that elevate good stories of this kind out of the G.I. Joe stereotype.
The second half of the book deals with the raid itself in a very dry, accurate and factual way. It paints a clear picture of the anti-climactic demise of Osama Bin Laden. It probably would have taken a ghost writer with superior skills to Maurer's to forge the rising anticipation, the fear, the frustrations into a more gripping read.
I need to make it clear that I'm not dissing the Navy Seal. I'm just saying a better ghost writer might have done more to bring his story to life.
Many critics have questioned this author's motives for writing the book, and I think the end of the story really exposes them. He's clearly not in it for the money - since most of the profits from this book are going to veteran's charities. I think he's a man who is bitter about the 'spin' the media and the administration gave the killing of Bin Laden, because having been an eye-witness to it, he feels the factual truth was good enough and didn't require embellishment.
But he's also a man, like many in front line positions, who holds tremendous animosity towards anyone with a say in military policy and decision-making who isn't sitting beside him in combat gear, holding a firearm. I think most people who experience war on the front lines feel this way. But it sours the end of the book rather badly. Because the author is clearly not a fan of Obama, and says so often and, at times, in disparaging ways.
This book is a) a first hand account of the raid, b) a portrait of what these admirable and brave people go through to serve their country and c) a concerted effort on the part of the author to deny the present administration any share in the glory of Bin Laden's final demise.
(Note to future administrations: If you say you're going to have a beer with the guys you're pinning medals on, you'd better keep your promise. Otherwise they end up bitter and write books like this one.)
And although I thoroughly commiserate with the author's 'walk a mile in my shoes' feelings, I also think it does damage to the nobility of an account of what was a brave, courageous and well-implemented military action. I wouldn't want to walk in Owen's shoes, nor would I want to be responsible for making decisions about the fate of a whole country, its security, its economy and its place as superpower.
I think it may be a central flaw in attempting to write a first person account of this sort of experience too close to the actual event, without the distance of some time and consideration to put the events in proportion. There have been some outstanding first-person accounts of war, but rarely are they written so soon after the event.
Post script:
Recent information from two completely different investigative reviews of this incident put much of this account under erasure. Personally, I have no issue with a fictionalized thriller based on the takedown of OBL, I just require it be more competently written.
September 7, 2012
FEW BOOKS HAVE generated as much buzz in as short a time as No Easy Day by Mark Owen,* a former Navy SEAL who participated in the mission that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. While media have understandably focused on the bin Laden narrative, and the differences between it and the Obama administration's story of the raid, it's important to note something about this book at the outset: While Operation Neptune Spear (ONS), the bin Laden mission, is the hook (and a singularly effective one at that), this is neither a tell-all nor a score-settling effort, but a military memoir. This should be clear from the cover alone; though "The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden" is emblazoned on the front, the book also boasts the subtitle "The Autobiography of a Navy SEAL."
Owen was not only one of the few men selected to participate in ONS; he was in the door on the Black Hawk that crash-landed into bin Laden's compound, and directly behind the SEAL who shot the al Qaeda leader on the third floor of his Abbottabad house. As such, Owen is in an excellent position to correct the existing narrative and replace it (or at least supplement it) with his own. As a participant, the author has more knowledge of the mission's details and order of events (not to mention of his own thought processes and emotions) than the administration's storytellers, the anonymous Beltway leakers, or the authors of "definitive" features on the raid, like The New Yorker's Nicholas Schmindle.
IN A STORY like this, the details matter. The book's second half is dedicated to ONS and its aftermath, and in that portion of the text Owen reveals some relatively significant details that were not previously known. Examples include the use of four MH-47s carrying SEALs (two in Jalalabad, two in northern Pakistan) to serve as a quick-reaction force (QRF) and forward-area refueling and rearming point (FARRP) on the exfiltration route, the SEALs' instruction to use a downed drone as their excuse for being in Pakistani territory if captured, the low quality of the video feed provided by drones that were almost constantly loitering over bin Laden's compound, and an aerial infiltration route that included flying through Indian airspace in order to approach Abbottabad from the southeast. Additionally, there is no mention of "Stealth Hawk" technology (draw from that what you will).
Perhaps the most noteworthy (and oft-repeated) new information is the author's description of bin Laden's death, and the fact that the al Qaeda leader was unarmed when shot, despite having more than adequate warning of the Americans' presence in his compound. As they approached the third level of bin Laden's house, Owen writes,
It turned out they both impacted the right side of bin Laden's head. Following this, Owen entered bin Laden's room just behind the point man, who, he writes, grabbed two women standing over bin Laden's body "and drove them toward the corner of the room. If either woman had on a suicide vest," he writes, "he probably saved our lives, but it would have cost him his own. It was a selfless decision made in a split second." Once the women were clear, several more rounds were fired into the twitching bin Laden's torso.
While conducting sensitive site exploitation (SSE) on the objective, Owen found a shelf just above the door bin Laden had been looking out of when he was killed:
Of all the divergences from the Washington narrative on ONS present in No Easy Day, bin Laden's death -- and his being unarmed at the time -- is the most significant, particularly because of the criticisms it will engender from armchair commentators who have never cleared a building or had to decide in an instant whether or not a head poking out of a dark room was attached to an armed body. Owen specifically recounts a government lawyer ("from either the Department of Defense or the White House") responding to an operator's "question...about whether or not this was a kill mission" by "ma[king] it clear this wasn't an assassination." However, by both including that and describing bin Laden's death so matter-of-factly, Owen clearly communicates that, in his mind at least, there is no contradiction between the lawyer's guidance and the team's actions.
AS AN "AUTOBIOGRAPHY," No Easy Day is lacking; a few references are made to the author's youth in Alaska, one page is given to his decision – influenced by his missionary father – to put off Navy service for four years in favor of attending college, and his time in SEAL Team Five is briefly acknowledged, but for all intents and purposes, Owen's story begins with his tryout for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU, or SEAL Team Six) and his time as a trainee on the unit's "Green Team." While not a true "autobiography" (which would be difficult to produce while writing under a pseudonym), though, as a military memoir the book has a great deal to offer. Training, team life, and the bond between operators is effectively described, and the operations Owen chooses to include are vividly recounted, providing a feeling of being on the scene while remaining true to his desire "to protect identities [and] to protect the tactics, techniques, and procedures [TTPs] used by the teams as they wage a daily battle against terrorists and insurgents." This was likely a very difficult tightrope to walk, but Owen was largely able to live up to the warning he issues the reader at the very beginning: "If you are looking for secrets, this is not your book."
Owen further notes that "a former Special Operations attorney" was consulted "to ensure that [the book] was free from mention of forbidden topics and that it cannot be used by sophisticated enemies as a source of sensitive information to compromise or harm the United States." As noted above, while TTPs are necessarily mentioned in the narrative, they are painted with a very broad brush. General evolutions in the team's tactics are mentioned; examples include adapting raid infiltration methods from "Flying to the X" (arriving directly at a target building) to landing over the horizon from the target area and quietly patrolling in, and exercising "throttle control" – moving slowly, quietly, and deliberately through an objective – rather than moving at a constant sprint. In Owen's words, "We were transitioning from being loud and fast, taking the enemy by surprise, to being soft and slow and retaining the element of surprise for even longer." However, these details should not be seen as either secret enough or sensitive enough to compromise operational security in the present or future.
Despite the care taken not to disclose sensitive information, though, Owen has been notified by the Department of Defense that he is "in material breach and violation of the non-disclosure agreements [(NDAs) he] signed" both as a member of, and when leaving, the Navy. The real motivation behind this can only be guessed at (Owen's contradiction of the Obama administration's leaked accounts of the raid? His decision not to go through normal DoD channels for pre-publication review and approval?), but it is a real issue, and how it plays out could very well set a precedent for future actions by potential authors and DoD attorneys alike.
NAVY SEALS HAVE been in the news, in print, and on televisions and movie screens for several years now. In the early 2000s, Discovery Channel followed Basic Underwater Demolition–SEAL (BUD/S) class 234 through training, and earlier this year the movie Act of Valor , starring active duty SEALs, was released in theaters and on DVD. Additionally, memoirs by former Navy SEALs like Chris Kyle, Marcus Luttrell, and Brandon Webb have sold thousands of copies to a general public that is hungry for stories of strength and heroism from our current long war. What makes No Easy Day different from these?
The answer is both simple and complex. First, television programs like "Navy SEALs: BUD/S Class 234" and the film Act of Valor had the approval of, and direct support from, the Navy and the Department of Defense. No Easy Day,on the other hand, was published very quickly (sixteen months) after Operation Neptune Spear took place, and was released without the manuscript having been submitted for DoD review. Other military memoirs, like Webb's excellent The Red Circle, have been written without Pentagon review and approval, but the events described within those are less current – and less of a lightning rod for attention and controversy – than the bin Laden raid.
Second, BUD/S training is not classified, and even the operators and exercises filmed in Act of Valor – as well as the authors of, and the operations described in, the aforementioned memoirs – came from the realm of "white" SOF. DEVGRU, on the other hand, comes from the intentionally more shadowy world of "black" SOF, where it and the rest of JSOC's Tier 1 special mission units, and mission support units, reside. That fact alone makes No Easy Day a different, and much more sensitive, case.
There is no question that, by the letter of the law, the Pentagon has a case against Owen. All JSOC personnel sign NDAs (when I was there, it was a standard 70-year agreement), so simply by writing this memoir, and including information about JSOC and its operations, Owen almost certainly violated that document. Additionally, despite having been in the public sphere for many, many years, just the names SEAL Team Six and Delta Force, both of which are mentioned in concert with personnel and operations within Owen's book, are classified, as are many details about them. These legal issues aren't the only problems Owen is likely to face. America's Tier 1 warfighters have long been known as notoriously quiet professionals, and, as former Delta Force officer "Dalton Fury" recently noted, writing about a unit and its exploits is enough to earn a former operator the status of persona non grata within the community.
IN THE PORTION of the book concerned with the aftermath of the raid, Owen describes the concern and frustration he and his teammates had with the geyser of leaks about the unit and the mission. "In Washington," he writes, "anyone on Capitol Hill or in the Pentagon who had even a shred of information was leaking it." This, of course, extended to the White House, where National Security Adviser Tom Donilan had to be told by then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to "Shut the [expletive] up" about the raid. In his epilogue, Owen writes of "the notoriety that came after" ONS: "We watched it with amusement at first, but that quickly turned to dread as more and more information leaked."
While it may seem odd to express concern about leaks in an unapproved book, Owen excuses (or rationalizes) the contradiction by expressing his belief in the need to "set the record straight" about the mission, which he says has been reported "like a bad action movie...even [in] reports claiming to have the inside story," because the story of "the men at the command who willingly go into harm's way, sacrificing all they have to do the job...is a story that deserves to be told, and told as accurately as possible."
Contrary to how some media outlets have reported on it, No Easy Day is not an anti-Obama book, and it does not read like a work conceived out of animus toward the current administration. In fact, the majority of the frustration expressed within its pages (aside from that saved for those leaking to the press about ONS) is directed at what Owen saw as ever-tightening rules of engagement in Afghanistan, which forced the unit "to ignore the all of the lessons we had learned, especially those learned in blood," and which made operators feel "like we were fighting the war with one hand and filling out paperwork with the other." While Owen and his teammates are clearly not Obama supporters (and he aptly describes Vice President Biden as "someone's drunken uncle at Christmas dinner"), he acknowledges without grudge that they "respected [Obama] as the commander in chief of the military and for giving us the green light on the mission." He likewise offers no criticism of Obama's address to the nation on the night of May 1, 2011. Though the president did take the disproportionate amount of credit for the mission that Owen and his teammates expected him to, he writes, "We'd expected him to give away details...But I didn't think his speech was bad at all. If anything, it was kind of anticlimactic."
In defense of his decision to write No Easy Day, Owen notes that "everyone from President Obama to Admiral McRaven has given interviews about the operation," a fact which makes him "feel comfortable doing the same." The obvious difference, of course, is that both the Obama and McRaven are in a position to receive -- or to dictate -- guidance on what should and should not be disclosed. The downside to this reality, of course, is that those who conducted the mission are in a significantly weaker position than their superiors when it comes to creating and maintaining the narrative of events, even if the one being told by Obama, Donilan, and others lacks accuracy. The consequences of stepping out of line on that matter, of directly contradicting Washington's narrative of events regarding Operation Neptune Spear, and of writing about his former unit are something Owen will have to live with, now and in the future. Just what those consequences will be -- particularly in the legal and policy realm -- will determine just how much of a precedent Owen's book sets for future would-be writers.
NO EASY DAY is engaging and immensely readable. Even if the prose is stilted or repetitive at times (for example, conversations are rendered awkwardly due to a lack of contractions, and the word "fighters," used to refer to the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan, appears four times in a six-sentence span on two separate occasions, as well as four times in a two-page span and eight times in a six-page span elsewhere), the stories Owen tells are interesting enough, and the narrative flows well enough, to make such complaints minor at best. In his introduction, Owen, who himself was inspired at age 13 to become a SEAL by another veteran's memoir, writes of his hope that "one day a young man in junior high school will read [No Easy Day] and become a SEAL, or at least live a life bigger than him." While it is unlikely to provide the sustained controversy many in the media have sought within its covers, No Easy Day will engage a great many readers, and is almost certain to inspire many more – and, in Owen's mind at least, "If that happens, the book is a success."
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden, by Mark Owen (ISBN 0525953728; 336 pages; $26.95), is published by Dutton.
* Despite media reports about his true identity, I refer to the author throughout this review by his chosen pseudonym.
** This review references the Kindle edition of the book, so page numbers are omitted by unfortunate necessity.
Owen was not only one of the few men selected to participate in ONS; he was in the door on the Black Hawk that crash-landed into bin Laden's compound, and directly behind the SEAL who shot the al Qaeda leader on the third floor of his Abbottabad house. As such, Owen is in an excellent position to correct the existing narrative and replace it (or at least supplement it) with his own. As a participant, the author has more knowledge of the mission's details and order of events (not to mention of his own thought processes and emotions) than the administration's storytellers, the anonymous Beltway leakers, or the authors of "definitive" features on the raid, like The New Yorker's Nicholas Schmindle.
IN A STORY like this, the details matter. The book's second half is dedicated to ONS and its aftermath, and in that portion of the text Owen reveals some relatively significant details that were not previously known. Examples include the use of four MH-47s carrying SEALs (two in Jalalabad, two in northern Pakistan) to serve as a quick-reaction force (QRF) and forward-area refueling and rearming point (FARRP) on the exfiltration route, the SEALs' instruction to use a downed drone as their excuse for being in Pakistani territory if captured, the low quality of the video feed provided by drones that were almost constantly loitering over bin Laden's compound, and an aerial infiltration route that included flying through Indian airspace in order to approach Abbottabad from the southeast. Additionally, there is no mention of "Stealth Hawk" technology (draw from that what you will).
Perhaps the most noteworthy (and oft-repeated) new information is the author's description of bin Laden's death, and the fact that the al Qaeda leader was unarmed when shot, despite having more than adequate warning of the Americans' presence in his compound. As they approached the third level of bin Laden's house, Owen writes,
"we were less than five steps from getting to the top when I heard the suppressed shots. BOP. BOP. The point man had seen a man peeking out of the door on the right side of the hallway about ten feet in front of him. I couldn't tell from my position if the rounds hit the target or not. The man disappeared into the dark room."**
It turned out they both impacted the right side of bin Laden's head. Following this, Owen entered bin Laden's room just behind the point man, who, he writes, grabbed two women standing over bin Laden's body "and drove them toward the corner of the room. If either woman had on a suicide vest," he writes, "he probably saved our lives, but it would have cost him his own. It was a selfless decision made in a split second." Once the women were clear, several more rounds were fired into the twitching bin Laden's torso.
While conducting sensitive site exploitation (SSE) on the objective, Owen found a shelf just above the door bin Laden had been looking out of when he was killed:
"I slid my hand up and felt two guns, which turned out to be an AK-47 and a Makarov pistol... I took each weapon down and pulled out the magazine and checked the chambers.
They were both empty.
He hadn't even prepared a defense. He had no intention of fighting. He asked his followers for decades to wear suicide vests or fly planes into buildings, but didn't even pick up his weapon. ...Bin Laden knew we were coming when he heard the helicopter. I had more respect for [bin Laden courier and first enemy killed in action, or EKIA, on the objective] Ahmed al-Kuwaiti in the guest house because at least he tried to defend himself and his family. Bin Laden had more time to prepare than the others, and yet he still didn't do anything."
Of all the divergences from the Washington narrative on ONS present in No Easy Day, bin Laden's death -- and his being unarmed at the time -- is the most significant, particularly because of the criticisms it will engender from armchair commentators who have never cleared a building or had to decide in an instant whether or not a head poking out of a dark room was attached to an armed body. Owen specifically recounts a government lawyer ("from either the Department of Defense or the White House") responding to an operator's "question...about whether or not this was a kill mission" by "ma[king] it clear this wasn't an assassination." However, by both including that and describing bin Laden's death so matter-of-factly, Owen clearly communicates that, in his mind at least, there is no contradiction between the lawyer's guidance and the team's actions.
AS AN "AUTOBIOGRAPHY," No Easy Day is lacking; a few references are made to the author's youth in Alaska, one page is given to his decision – influenced by his missionary father – to put off Navy service for four years in favor of attending college, and his time in SEAL Team Five is briefly acknowledged, but for all intents and purposes, Owen's story begins with his tryout for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU, or SEAL Team Six) and his time as a trainee on the unit's "Green Team." While not a true "autobiography" (which would be difficult to produce while writing under a pseudonym), though, as a military memoir the book has a great deal to offer. Training, team life, and the bond between operators is effectively described, and the operations Owen chooses to include are vividly recounted, providing a feeling of being on the scene while remaining true to his desire "to protect identities [and] to protect the tactics, techniques, and procedures [TTPs] used by the teams as they wage a daily battle against terrorists and insurgents." This was likely a very difficult tightrope to walk, but Owen was largely able to live up to the warning he issues the reader at the very beginning: "If you are looking for secrets, this is not your book."
Owen further notes that "a former Special Operations attorney" was consulted "to ensure that [the book] was free from mention of forbidden topics and that it cannot be used by sophisticated enemies as a source of sensitive information to compromise or harm the United States." As noted above, while TTPs are necessarily mentioned in the narrative, they are painted with a very broad brush. General evolutions in the team's tactics are mentioned; examples include adapting raid infiltration methods from "Flying to the X" (arriving directly at a target building) to landing over the horizon from the target area and quietly patrolling in, and exercising "throttle control" – moving slowly, quietly, and deliberately through an objective – rather than moving at a constant sprint. In Owen's words, "We were transitioning from being loud and fast, taking the enemy by surprise, to being soft and slow and retaining the element of surprise for even longer." However, these details should not be seen as either secret enough or sensitive enough to compromise operational security in the present or future.
Despite the care taken not to disclose sensitive information, though, Owen has been notified by the Department of Defense that he is "in material breach and violation of the non-disclosure agreements [(NDAs) he] signed" both as a member of, and when leaving, the Navy. The real motivation behind this can only be guessed at (Owen's contradiction of the Obama administration's leaked accounts of the raid? His decision not to go through normal DoD channels for pre-publication review and approval?), but it is a real issue, and how it plays out could very well set a precedent for future actions by potential authors and DoD attorneys alike.
NAVY SEALS HAVE been in the news, in print, and on televisions and movie screens for several years now. In the early 2000s, Discovery Channel followed Basic Underwater Demolition–SEAL (BUD/S) class 234 through training, and earlier this year the movie Act of Valor , starring active duty SEALs, was released in theaters and on DVD. Additionally, memoirs by former Navy SEALs like Chris Kyle, Marcus Luttrell, and Brandon Webb have sold thousands of copies to a general public that is hungry for stories of strength and heroism from our current long war. What makes No Easy Day different from these?
The answer is both simple and complex. First, television programs like "Navy SEALs: BUD/S Class 234" and the film Act of Valor had the approval of, and direct support from, the Navy and the Department of Defense. No Easy Day,on the other hand, was published very quickly (sixteen months) after Operation Neptune Spear took place, and was released without the manuscript having been submitted for DoD review. Other military memoirs, like Webb's excellent The Red Circle, have been written without Pentagon review and approval, but the events described within those are less current – and less of a lightning rod for attention and controversy – than the bin Laden raid.
Second, BUD/S training is not classified, and even the operators and exercises filmed in Act of Valor – as well as the authors of, and the operations described in, the aforementioned memoirs – came from the realm of "white" SOF. DEVGRU, on the other hand, comes from the intentionally more shadowy world of "black" SOF, where it and the rest of JSOC's Tier 1 special mission units, and mission support units, reside. That fact alone makes No Easy Day a different, and much more sensitive, case.
There is no question that, by the letter of the law, the Pentagon has a case against Owen. All JSOC personnel sign NDAs (when I was there, it was a standard 70-year agreement), so simply by writing this memoir, and including information about JSOC and its operations, Owen almost certainly violated that document. Additionally, despite having been in the public sphere for many, many years, just the names SEAL Team Six and Delta Force, both of which are mentioned in concert with personnel and operations within Owen's book, are classified, as are many details about them. These legal issues aren't the only problems Owen is likely to face. America's Tier 1 warfighters have long been known as notoriously quiet professionals, and, as former Delta Force officer "Dalton Fury" recently noted, writing about a unit and its exploits is enough to earn a former operator the status of persona non grata within the community.
IN THE PORTION of the book concerned with the aftermath of the raid, Owen describes the concern and frustration he and his teammates had with the geyser of leaks about the unit and the mission. "In Washington," he writes, "anyone on Capitol Hill or in the Pentagon who had even a shred of information was leaking it." This, of course, extended to the White House, where National Security Adviser Tom Donilan had to be told by then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to "Shut the [expletive] up" about the raid. In his epilogue, Owen writes of "the notoriety that came after" ONS: "We watched it with amusement at first, but that quickly turned to dread as more and more information leaked."
While it may seem odd to express concern about leaks in an unapproved book, Owen excuses (or rationalizes) the contradiction by expressing his belief in the need to "set the record straight" about the mission, which he says has been reported "like a bad action movie...even [in] reports claiming to have the inside story," because the story of "the men at the command who willingly go into harm's way, sacrificing all they have to do the job...is a story that deserves to be told, and told as accurately as possible."
Contrary to how some media outlets have reported on it, No Easy Day is not an anti-Obama book, and it does not read like a work conceived out of animus toward the current administration. In fact, the majority of the frustration expressed within its pages (aside from that saved for those leaking to the press about ONS) is directed at what Owen saw as ever-tightening rules of engagement in Afghanistan, which forced the unit "to ignore the all of the lessons we had learned, especially those learned in blood," and which made operators feel "like we were fighting the war with one hand and filling out paperwork with the other." While Owen and his teammates are clearly not Obama supporters (and he aptly describes Vice President Biden as "someone's drunken uncle at Christmas dinner"), he acknowledges without grudge that they "respected [Obama] as the commander in chief of the military and for giving us the green light on the mission." He likewise offers no criticism of Obama's address to the nation on the night of May 1, 2011. Though the president did take the disproportionate amount of credit for the mission that Owen and his teammates expected him to, he writes, "We'd expected him to give away details...But I didn't think his speech was bad at all. If anything, it was kind of anticlimactic."
In defense of his decision to write No Easy Day, Owen notes that "everyone from President Obama to Admiral McRaven has given interviews about the operation," a fact which makes him "feel comfortable doing the same." The obvious difference, of course, is that both the Obama and McRaven are in a position to receive -- or to dictate -- guidance on what should and should not be disclosed. The downside to this reality, of course, is that those who conducted the mission are in a significantly weaker position than their superiors when it comes to creating and maintaining the narrative of events, even if the one being told by Obama, Donilan, and others lacks accuracy. The consequences of stepping out of line on that matter, of directly contradicting Washington's narrative of events regarding Operation Neptune Spear, and of writing about his former unit are something Owen will have to live with, now and in the future. Just what those consequences will be -- particularly in the legal and policy realm -- will determine just how much of a precedent Owen's book sets for future would-be writers.
NO EASY DAY is engaging and immensely readable. Even if the prose is stilted or repetitive at times (for example, conversations are rendered awkwardly due to a lack of contractions, and the word "fighters," used to refer to the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan, appears four times in a six-sentence span on two separate occasions, as well as four times in a two-page span and eight times in a six-page span elsewhere), the stories Owen tells are interesting enough, and the narrative flows well enough, to make such complaints minor at best. In his introduction, Owen, who himself was inspired at age 13 to become a SEAL by another veteran's memoir, writes of his hope that "one day a young man in junior high school will read [No Easy Day] and become a SEAL, or at least live a life bigger than him." While it is unlikely to provide the sustained controversy many in the media have sought within its covers, No Easy Day will engage a great many readers, and is almost certain to inspire many more – and, in Owen's mind at least, "If that happens, the book is a success."
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden, by Mark Owen (ISBN 0525953728; 336 pages; $26.95), is published by Dutton.
* Despite media reports about his true identity, I refer to the author throughout this review by his chosen pseudonym.
** This review references the Kindle edition of the book, so page numbers are omitted by unfortunate necessity.
September 20, 2012
Many may disagree with this book being written, with Matt Bissonnette breaking his oath of secrecy as a Seal and a member of the US Armed Forces. I am in no doubt that he has indeed done so. He has publicly stated, and does so in the book, that his reasons are first and foremost that he felt such an important mission should be documented and in the public domain. He knew he would catch a lot of flack for it. He decided to sacrifice his own honor for the public good - the good of reminding all of us the work these men and woman do and the sacrifices they have to make themselves, over and over again, because they believe in a higher purpose. I believe they are role models for that reason.
I agree with him. I feel this story does indeed deserve to be in the public domain. To be a part of the public written record of a significant part of our recent history. I found it very doubtful the book and its contents present any kind of security risk to US policy and personnel. There is nothing in the book that was not already well known and understood about how the US special forces operate, anyone who likes to read about this kind of thing understands this. And I take him at his word this this is his primary motive. His heart seems to be in the right place. If anything, the way he has spoken about his book, he sometimes comes across as a little naive, which I find blameless. This is not a complicated man to understand. Those who are going out of their way seeking anterior motives for his "betrayal" might well be wasting their time. To quote Hitchens: "It is a frequent vice of radical polemic to assert, and even to believe, that once you have found the lowest motive for an antagonist, you have identified the correct one."[sic]
The presentation of the events in the book is pretty matter-of-fact. A lot of it is told in flashback form, with looparounds and digressions until we come back to the actual mission. Much of the book covers his relationships to his comrades, and their shared experiences. You can tell he has a deep love and loyalty for his friends in the teams, if not always a great respect for the chain of command and the high-er ups. What surprised me the most is the level of freedom these operators are given to do their jobs. Very few regulations relating to their dress, appearance and kit.
What struck me most is his apparently level-headedness. You get the feeling he is of a very calm temperament, and so are his colleagues. I also got that impression from his interview on 60-minutes (see youtube), which prompted me to read the book.
Bissonnette is not a professional writer, so do not expect all too much from the quality of the writing style. However, having said that, I found the book riveting and hard to put down.
I agree with him. I feel this story does indeed deserve to be in the public domain. To be a part of the public written record of a significant part of our recent history. I found it very doubtful the book and its contents present any kind of security risk to US policy and personnel. There is nothing in the book that was not already well known and understood about how the US special forces operate, anyone who likes to read about this kind of thing understands this. And I take him at his word this this is his primary motive. His heart seems to be in the right place. If anything, the way he has spoken about his book, he sometimes comes across as a little naive, which I find blameless. This is not a complicated man to understand. Those who are going out of their way seeking anterior motives for his "betrayal" might well be wasting their time. To quote Hitchens: "It is a frequent vice of radical polemic to assert, and even to believe, that once you have found the lowest motive for an antagonist, you have identified the correct one."[sic]
The presentation of the events in the book is pretty matter-of-fact. A lot of it is told in flashback form, with looparounds and digressions until we come back to the actual mission. Much of the book covers his relationships to his comrades, and their shared experiences. You can tell he has a deep love and loyalty for his friends in the teams, if not always a great respect for the chain of command and the high-er ups. What surprised me the most is the level of freedom these operators are given to do their jobs. Very few regulations relating to their dress, appearance and kit.
What struck me most is his apparently level-headedness. You get the feeling he is of a very calm temperament, and so are his colleagues. I also got that impression from his interview on 60-minutes (see youtube), which prompted me to read the book.
Bissonnette is not a professional writer, so do not expect all too much from the quality of the writing style. However, having said that, I found the book riveting and hard to put down.
December 17, 2016
"The only easy day was yesterday. Long live the brotherhood"
This book is written by Navy SEAL Mark Owen with assistance provided by Kevin Maurer. The action discussed is describing what is arguably one of the most influential events of the 21st century. The plan to find and assassinate the Western world's most despised real life tyrant: Osama Bin Laden!
The book is written in three sections. Mark's youth as a navy SEAL working his way through BUD/S training and then his process joining the elite unit of the squad and counter-terrorism unit- DEVGRU. This part of the book is not that exciting. If you have read army or military biographies before then you will know what you are in for in this section.
The second section surrounds the internal politics and processes when Mark & friends find out that the mission to kill Osama may be forthcoming. This part is okay and quite interesting regarding relationships between all the regiments, the CIA, FBI and also the President himself. Mark was there so it didn't need to be well researched but he has done a good job showcasing these delicate battle arrangements on these pages and makes us feel as if we were in the room where the discussions were taking place.
The 3rd part. What every SEAL in the 24 man super-team wanted - they get the '"all-go" from the President to capture or kill target codename "Geronimo" (That's Osama if you weren't sure).
This section is where the book really comes into its prime and the reason I envisage the majority of people purchased this text. It explains the whole mission intricately - all 38 minutes culminating in the death of our villain. It doesn't go without a few hick-ups however. This part was super exciting and is more of 4-5 stars in isolation.
I don't want to say too much about the "story". It is very well written. Similar to other books like this - you feel like you are part of the SEALS at the end as they take us on a journey letting us know all the abbreviations for top secret operations, names of weaponry and also helicopters. (CH-47 anyone? A.k.a The Flying School Bus)
My only real gripe apart from the first half not being that exciting is that the "characters" seem to be a device for telling this amazing story rather than enhancing it. I didn't feel any real affinity to any of the people involved. I imagine, for safety reasons they can't be named therefore are presented as pseudonyms and their family life can't be discussed here but it felt a bit hollow. This is different to American Sniper that I read recently where we were allowed insight into his feelings, emotions and views and also family life but in hindsight, this may be because the author of this the book was killed either before or very soon after the book was published.
I enjoyed this. If biographies are your cup of tea there is a lot here to appreciate.
To all the true heroes and my friends on Goodreads - James x www.youandibooks.wordpress.com
This book is written by Navy SEAL Mark Owen with assistance provided by Kevin Maurer. The action discussed is describing what is arguably one of the most influential events of the 21st century. The plan to find and assassinate the Western world's most despised real life tyrant: Osama Bin Laden!
The book is written in three sections. Mark's youth as a navy SEAL working his way through BUD/S training and then his process joining the elite unit of the squad and counter-terrorism unit- DEVGRU. This part of the book is not that exciting. If you have read army or military biographies before then you will know what you are in for in this section.
The second section surrounds the internal politics and processes when Mark & friends find out that the mission to kill Osama may be forthcoming. This part is okay and quite interesting regarding relationships between all the regiments, the CIA, FBI and also the President himself. Mark was there so it didn't need to be well researched but he has done a good job showcasing these delicate battle arrangements on these pages and makes us feel as if we were in the room where the discussions were taking place.
The 3rd part. What every SEAL in the 24 man super-team wanted - they get the '"all-go" from the President to capture or kill target codename "Geronimo" (That's Osama if you weren't sure).
This section is where the book really comes into its prime and the reason I envisage the majority of people purchased this text. It explains the whole mission intricately - all 38 minutes culminating in the death of our villain. It doesn't go without a few hick-ups however. This part was super exciting and is more of 4-5 stars in isolation.
I don't want to say too much about the "story". It is very well written. Similar to other books like this - you feel like you are part of the SEALS at the end as they take us on a journey letting us know all the abbreviations for top secret operations, names of weaponry and also helicopters. (CH-47 anyone? A.k.a The Flying School Bus)
My only real gripe apart from the first half not being that exciting is that the "characters" seem to be a device for telling this amazing story rather than enhancing it. I didn't feel any real affinity to any of the people involved. I imagine, for safety reasons they can't be named therefore are presented as pseudonyms and their family life can't be discussed here but it felt a bit hollow. This is different to American Sniper that I read recently where we were allowed insight into his feelings, emotions and views and also family life but in hindsight, this may be because the author of this the book was killed either before or very soon after the book was published.
I enjoyed this. If biographies are your cup of tea there is a lot here to appreciate.
To all the true heroes and my friends on Goodreads - James x www.youandibooks.wordpress.com
September 13, 2020
It was one of those moments when you remember where you were and what you were doing,even many years after it happened.
And it happened in Abbottabad,Pakistan,not far from where I lived at the time.I had visited Abbottabad (named after a British colonial official) and was enchanted by its picturesque,hilly setting and serene atmosphere.
But that was a long time back in the 1990s.Now,it must be crowded,bursting at the seams like most Pakistani towns are.
Osama Bin Laden also thought that it would be a good place to settle down in and enjoy a life of domestic bliss with his multiple wives and kids.
So,he built a three storey high walled compound and settled down for the long haul.Two Arab brothers were used as couriers.When neighbourhood kids played cricket and the balls landed in Osama's compound,they were not allowed to come inside,but were given money to buy new balls,instead.
The mighty US intelligence gathering apparatus,George W.Bush and Barack Husain Obama,for all their war mongering and invasions of countries like Iraq and Afghanistan,could not trace him,for ten long years,after 9/11.
But sometimes,I would catch half smiling glimpses of CNN anchors,as they reported new videoes made and distributed by Osama,as if they were talking about some kind of joke.
So,I can still remember my stunned disbelief,when I turned on the TV,one fine morning in 2011.Barak Husain Obama,was on screen,announcing that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in Abbottabad,Pakistan.
But where was the body ? There was no body.He had been "buried" at sea.Where were the photographs ? The US government saw no need to show them to the world.
Two US choppers had come stealthily in the night and one had crashed.So much for the meticulous planning and preparation for this mission,which had been going on for a good long while.The SEALs had been doing their rehearsals in a mock compound,especially built for this purpose.Their was a loud explosion as the crashed chopper was burnt,before they departed.
At the time I read a good deal about the US raid,including an Esquire magazine article,about the navy SEAL who had killed OBL.That was rather more interesting than this book,as that man had left the SEALs and said that he would have to spend the rest of his life,looking over his shoulder,for possible assassins.
Then,the British newspaper Telegraph,which I used to read online,provided excellent background and photos of the compound.The compound in which Osama lived,was later demolished,as curious crowds and foreign journalists swarmed the place.
This book,though interesting enough,didn't offer any startling new details about the operation,and felt rather familiar.
Reading it,I was again reminded,that one of the options considered by the US at the time,was to bomb the compound heavily.
Thankfully,that did not happen,otherwise there would have been a lot of Pakistani civilian casualties.
All hell broke loose in Pakistan,following the raid.How could these US choppers sneak into Pakistan,under cover of darkness without being detected ? The talking heads on cable news TV chattered on and on,until I was sick and tired of the whole thing.
But thank goodness,that was the end of that,and the damage to Pakistan,during the raid was relatively minor.Abbottabad's civilian population had a close call.
And it happened in Abbottabad,Pakistan,not far from where I lived at the time.I had visited Abbottabad (named after a British colonial official) and was enchanted by its picturesque,hilly setting and serene atmosphere.
But that was a long time back in the 1990s.Now,it must be crowded,bursting at the seams like most Pakistani towns are.
Osama Bin Laden also thought that it would be a good place to settle down in and enjoy a life of domestic bliss with his multiple wives and kids.
So,he built a three storey high walled compound and settled down for the long haul.Two Arab brothers were used as couriers.When neighbourhood kids played cricket and the balls landed in Osama's compound,they were not allowed to come inside,but were given money to buy new balls,instead.
The mighty US intelligence gathering apparatus,George W.Bush and Barack Husain Obama,for all their war mongering and invasions of countries like Iraq and Afghanistan,could not trace him,for ten long years,after 9/11.
But sometimes,I would catch half smiling glimpses of CNN anchors,as they reported new videoes made and distributed by Osama,as if they were talking about some kind of joke.
So,I can still remember my stunned disbelief,when I turned on the TV,one fine morning in 2011.Barak Husain Obama,was on screen,announcing that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in Abbottabad,Pakistan.
But where was the body ? There was no body.He had been "buried" at sea.Where were the photographs ? The US government saw no need to show them to the world.
Two US choppers had come stealthily in the night and one had crashed.So much for the meticulous planning and preparation for this mission,which had been going on for a good long while.The SEALs had been doing their rehearsals in a mock compound,especially built for this purpose.Their was a loud explosion as the crashed chopper was burnt,before they departed.
At the time I read a good deal about the US raid,including an Esquire magazine article,about the navy SEAL who had killed OBL.That was rather more interesting than this book,as that man had left the SEALs and said that he would have to spend the rest of his life,looking over his shoulder,for possible assassins.
Then,the British newspaper Telegraph,which I used to read online,provided excellent background and photos of the compound.The compound in which Osama lived,was later demolished,as curious crowds and foreign journalists swarmed the place.
This book,though interesting enough,didn't offer any startling new details about the operation,and felt rather familiar.
Reading it,I was again reminded,that one of the options considered by the US at the time,was to bomb the compound heavily.
Thankfully,that did not happen,otherwise there would have been a lot of Pakistani civilian casualties.
All hell broke loose in Pakistan,following the raid.How could these US choppers sneak into Pakistan,under cover of darkness without being detected ? The talking heads on cable news TV chattered on and on,until I was sick and tired of the whole thing.
But thank goodness,that was the end of that,and the damage to Pakistan,during the raid was relatively minor.Abbottabad's civilian population had a close call.
September 7, 2012
I think this is an important book that needs to be read, the same way the Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell needs to be read. With that said, it started off a little rough for me. I felt like I was in a debriefing room, very cold and no depth. That changed at the 40% mark and his personality came through. I also think you can't say or type this isn't political. It's all political no matter the party in the White House.
I read this book not so much to read the 'facts' about the mission, I wanted to see if Policy changed from the Lone Survivor. Unfortunately, that answer is: "it has gotten worse." I have the utmost respect for these men who do a job so much bigger than we could even wrap our brains around. I don't know or pretend to know what or if there was a hidden agenda behind his writing of this book and I don't care. I'm glad he did.
Thank you.
I read this book not so much to read the 'facts' about the mission, I wanted to see if Policy changed from the Lone Survivor. Unfortunately, that answer is: "it has gotten worse." I have the utmost respect for these men who do a job so much bigger than we could even wrap our brains around. I don't know or pretend to know what or if there was a hidden agenda behind his writing of this book and I don't care. I'm glad he did.
Thank you.
September 13, 2012
I Know the controversy. I've also been on the fence about whether I wanted to read it, but curiosity won. What can I say? It was a short fence.
I was captivated by the story and didn't want to put it down. In fact, I had just made it to the point where they were about to hit the third floor of the compound when the pilot mentioned we were beginning our final descent and all electronic devices needed to be turned off. NOOOOOoOoOOoOoOoOoOo! Did I mention it was a three hour flight? Yeah. Captivated, I tell you.
If the book is 100% truth, that's cool. If its 100% fabrication, I'm disappointed but at the same time, I still enjoyed it. I'd like to believe its true, especially since the big message staring me in the face at the end of the book was how much of a coward Bin Laden was. He was great at rallying those around him to fight to their death, but in the end he gave up without a fight. Interesting, but not surprising.
Of all the books I've read so far on various aspects of being a SEAL, this was the easiest read as far as language goes. It wasn't as technical as other military accounts, so I think it will be easier for people to read. I got a good idea of what was going on and the key players without having to reference things or flip through pages to make sure I was thinking about the right acronym.
A quick comment about some other reviews that kind of surprised me (without getting TOO political):
1) why are people surprised that an elite military force dislikes the idea of a president who is hellbent on reducing military spending (translates to loss of jobs and equipment to run missions like these) using this mission to his advantage/possible reelection?
2) I also don't understand why people had an issue with hearing some of the other missions that showed the training and style of warfare that the SEALs excel at. Maybe it was reading other military books that helped me appreciate these anecdotes rather than the expectation of just getting into the story, but if this is the only book you've read about SEAL missions, isn't the background helpful to understand their MO?
I was captivated by the story and didn't want to put it down. In fact, I had just made it to the point where they were about to hit the third floor of the compound when the pilot mentioned we were beginning our final descent and all electronic devices needed to be turned off. NOOOOOoOoOOoOoOoOoOo! Did I mention it was a three hour flight? Yeah. Captivated, I tell you.
If the book is 100% truth, that's cool. If its 100% fabrication, I'm disappointed but at the same time, I still enjoyed it. I'd like to believe its true, especially since the big message staring me in the face at the end of the book was how much of a coward Bin Laden was. He was great at rallying those around him to fight to their death, but in the end he gave up without a fight. Interesting, but not surprising.
Of all the books I've read so far on various aspects of being a SEAL, this was the easiest read as far as language goes. It wasn't as technical as other military accounts, so I think it will be easier for people to read. I got a good idea of what was going on and the key players without having to reference things or flip through pages to make sure I was thinking about the right acronym.
A quick comment about some other reviews that kind of surprised me (without getting TOO political):
1) why are people surprised that an elite military force dislikes the idea of a president who is hellbent on reducing military spending (translates to loss of jobs and equipment to run missions like these) using this mission to his advantage/possible reelection?
2) I also don't understand why people had an issue with hearing some of the other missions that showed the training and style of warfare that the SEALs excel at. Maybe it was reading other military books that helped me appreciate these anecdotes rather than the expectation of just getting into the story, but if this is the only book you've read about SEAL missions, isn't the background helpful to understand their MO?
February 13, 2013
I always enjoy a good book that shows some of the behind the scenes as they relate to historical or political events. In this book, the author known as Mark Owen paints a good picture of the life of a Navy SEAL that culminates in the killing of Osama Bin Laden. The lead-up to its release surely pushed it to the top of the best seller's list, which is solely the fault of the DOD and the Pentagon. Let them have their freak out session and quit their bitching! It seems as though some within the US Government want praise for their actions but are angered when someone 'peeks behind the black curtain'.
I get a good chuckle out of those on both sides of the fence who disliked the book. Some have said "the book was not literary enough and did not go into enough detail"! To them, I shake my head and ask that they relax and simply enjoy that this book shone light on the event, at all. Others (particularly in the Defence and Pentagon spheres) cry foul that top secret tactics have been revealed? Really? Seriously? The story reads like a good Vince Flynn or Brad Thor novel. You really think that the book is a tell-all that will keep SEALS from ever doing their job? If so, perhaps the Pentagon's tactics are as sophisticated as Luxembourg's Navy. Surely Bush leftovers who are control freaks, with as much sense as the only president whose IQ is inferior to his presidential number.
I enjoyed what the book was and some of the back story on how a SEAL trains and becomes what he is. I still am not convinced that September 11th. 2001 was anything but retribution for decades of being cocky. That said, the mission that brought Bin Laden to his knees and killed him ought to be enjoyed, not analysed under a microscope.
I get a good chuckle out of those on both sides of the fence who disliked the book. Some have said "the book was not literary enough and did not go into enough detail"! To them, I shake my head and ask that they relax and simply enjoy that this book shone light on the event, at all. Others (particularly in the Defence and Pentagon spheres) cry foul that top secret tactics have been revealed? Really? Seriously? The story reads like a good Vince Flynn or Brad Thor novel. You really think that the book is a tell-all that will keep SEALS from ever doing their job? If so, perhaps the Pentagon's tactics are as sophisticated as Luxembourg's Navy. Surely Bush leftovers who are control freaks, with as much sense as the only president whose IQ is inferior to his presidential number.
I enjoyed what the book was and some of the back story on how a SEAL trains and becomes what he is. I still am not convinced that September 11th. 2001 was anything but retribution for decades of being cocky. That said, the mission that brought Bin Laden to his knees and killed him ought to be enjoyed, not analysed under a microscope.
September 10, 2012
After finishing the book, I can honestly say that there was nothing revealed in this book, that I haven't already seen on the History channel a dozen times. The person who revealed the details to the mission, was our own President and his band of merry minions. I know the SEALs have a code about not discussing their work, but I'm curious as to what the expiration date on that silence is. Many SEALs have told their stories in books and never garnered such negative reactions.
The book is very interesting reading, well written, and a tribute to the all the men and women who worked so hard to capture Bin Laden. (A shout out to the female CIA analyst who tracked him for ten years.)
I am grateful to the author for coming forward, and telling us the truth. I will always believe a SEAL over a politician. If the author broke his code of honor, that's between him, his conscience, and the SEALs; I think it was a lot of hype. If the government had really wanted this book off the shelves, it would be off the shelves.
If you like this type of book, it's really worth reading.
The book is very interesting reading, well written, and a tribute to the all the men and women who worked so hard to capture Bin Laden. (A shout out to the female CIA analyst who tracked him for ten years.)
I am grateful to the author for coming forward, and telling us the truth. I will always believe a SEAL over a politician. If the author broke his code of honor, that's between him, his conscience, and the SEALs; I think it was a lot of hype. If the government had really wanted this book off the shelves, it would be off the shelves.
If you like this type of book, it's really worth reading.
September 5, 2012
“I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions.”
I had mixed feelings about purchasing and reading this book. I saw ‘Mark’ interviewed, but I wanted to see why a Seal would write a book about a Seal mission. I thought there was a code among the Seals, so I googled and found this sentence included in the Seals code: “I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions.” My concern was about a Seal writing about a Seal mission.
But . . . I admit I was curious, and there is nothing better than reading a first-hand account of any event. I have always respected the Seals for what they do. These men are exceptional American heroes, and I am glad they are working for me every day. Like the title states, Seals have No Easy Day. Therefore, I didn’t see the necessity to humanize the Seals in the way ‘Mark’ did. There was no reason to share their senseless pranks in a book such as this.
‘Mark’ also states this isn’t a political book. Yet, he mentions more than once about the Washington machine (his words) being slow in the decision-making, and how the military doesn’t have all they need. He comments on American tax dollars paying for a nice paved road, that isn’t in America.
‘Mark’ describes how he became a Seal; this degraded the Seals high standards, because he makes it sound like he barely made it. I don’t understand why he included this detailed information.
After reading, No Easy Day, I’m still not sure why ‘Mark’ wrote this book. I hope there’s nothing more sinister behind it except the monetary gain. No one wants to see repercussions for any of the Seals and their families.
The book was well written, and I did learn a few things from reading, No Easy Day:
1. Seals should not get married. If the job comes before family, they shouldn’t have a family.
2. I wasn’t aware how much the Seals dislike President Obama.
3. Osama Bin Laden was more of a coward than I originally thought.
I had mixed feelings about purchasing and reading this book. I saw ‘Mark’ interviewed, but I wanted to see why a Seal would write a book about a Seal mission. I thought there was a code among the Seals, so I googled and found this sentence included in the Seals code: “I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions.” My concern was about a Seal writing about a Seal mission.
But . . . I admit I was curious, and there is nothing better than reading a first-hand account of any event. I have always respected the Seals for what they do. These men are exceptional American heroes, and I am glad they are working for me every day. Like the title states, Seals have No Easy Day. Therefore, I didn’t see the necessity to humanize the Seals in the way ‘Mark’ did. There was no reason to share their senseless pranks in a book such as this.
‘Mark’ also states this isn’t a political book. Yet, he mentions more than once about the Washington machine (his words) being slow in the decision-making, and how the military doesn’t have all they need. He comments on American tax dollars paying for a nice paved road, that isn’t in America.
‘Mark’ describes how he became a Seal; this degraded the Seals high standards, because he makes it sound like he barely made it. I don’t understand why he included this detailed information.
After reading, No Easy Day, I’m still not sure why ‘Mark’ wrote this book. I hope there’s nothing more sinister behind it except the monetary gain. No one wants to see repercussions for any of the Seals and their families.
The book was well written, and I did learn a few things from reading, No Easy Day:
1. Seals should not get married. If the job comes before family, they shouldn’t have a family.
2. I wasn’t aware how much the Seals dislike President Obama.
3. Osama Bin Laden was more of a coward than I originally thought.
September 6, 2012
I'm conflicted about this book. It was a fascinating book. I read it in a day. It was also a disturbing book. It's not just about the killing of Osama bin Laden, though that is written in graphic detail, way more than was necessary I thought but at least we know now why no pictures were released. It's really an autobiography of the author's decade as a SEAL. He capitalizes on the Bin Laden raid by using it in his title. There's a bit of arrogance that comes through, particularly in the epilogue. He wanted to set the record straight, to let the American public know what really happened instead of only hearing the official though apparently wrong version. However, I found nothing in his book that hadn't already been leaked or officially reported, whichever the case. I understand that the author may be charged with a crime. He had signed a binding nondisclosure agreement when he became a SEAL that he has obviously not abided by. Where's the honor in that? There's a consistent thread of anti-Obamaism too and more than one sarcasm aimed toward leaders sitting thousands of miles away and watching the raid on TV. This guy has some kind of agenda that I can't quite put my pulse on, but in the epilogue especially, he comes across as a bitter and angry man who wants to be recognized for his sacrifices. He supposedly tried to stay anonymous, but his real name is now known publicly.
June 19, 2016
Many will have already seen the movie but this book, from a member of the SEAL team that killed Osama Bin Laden is well worth the read for lessons about persistence, planning, teamwork, and operations. Highly recommended, especially for Orion and Action/Adventure groups.
Read
June 21, 2013So I saw someone reading this on the train the other day, and we ended up talking about it, and the whole conversation reminded me I never did write a review for No Easy Day. D'oh! Well here it is. As always, I don't rate nonfiction, but in this case it's a cop out as much as my personal policy because I wholeheartedly agree with the criticisms of the book, but I also believe Mark Owen wrote this exactly the way he intended to, and in a way, it's like how do you criticize someone for writing exactly what he set out to write?
Here's the thing, the subtitle of the book is The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden, and if you've been paying attention, you'll know No Easy Day really isn't so much a firsthand account of the mission that killed Bin Laden as much as a book that sells the SEALs. The actual events don't come into play until halfway through the book, before that, Owen mostly writes about his experiences as a SEAL on and off the battlefield - it's not a book about the one mission as it is about a way of life, a way of life that Owen's clearly very proud of. So the critics are right in that No Easy Day is misleading as advertised, and a better firsthand account would've pared this book down to about half its length and read less like a generic military thriller and more like a serious work of journalism and been better for it.
Still, I don’t think that resulting book would've been what Owen intended, and that’s where I disagree with the criticisms. Mark Owen wrote the book to sell the SEALs and beyond the misleading subtitle, I think No Easy Day successfully does that. For one, the writing, sure I expected a much different book given that the coauthor’s a successful journalist who’s been covering the Afghan war for years, but I think Owen’s picked a style that makes this book accessible to way more readers than the usual military crowd. There could’ve been more insight into the war and less of a rote informational approach that assumes the reader knows almost nothing about the background of Afghanistan or Bin Laden, but we can’t all come into this book having read Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires first. And the other, I think despite how this is not a very intensive firsthand account with much that can’t be gleaned from news sources, Owen comes across as someone who genuinely wanted to write a personal account of what it means to be a SEAL, and that story, at least, worked for me.
I think the dissatisfaction over No Easy Day comes from a misunderstanding about the purpose of the book. Mark Owen did say if you’re looking for an insider’s account chock full of classified secrets, this is not the book for that, and he’s right, it’s not. But as a book about one man’s personal experiences with the SEALs that culminates in the mission everyone wants to know about, the book I think was Mark Owen’s intent to write, No Easy Day works.
Here's the thing, the subtitle of the book is The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden, and if you've been paying attention, you'll know No Easy Day really isn't so much a firsthand account of the mission that killed Bin Laden as much as a book that sells the SEALs. The actual events don't come into play until halfway through the book, before that, Owen mostly writes about his experiences as a SEAL on and off the battlefield - it's not a book about the one mission as it is about a way of life, a way of life that Owen's clearly very proud of. So the critics are right in that No Easy Day is misleading as advertised, and a better firsthand account would've pared this book down to about half its length and read less like a generic military thriller and more like a serious work of journalism and been better for it.
Still, I don’t think that resulting book would've been what Owen intended, and that’s where I disagree with the criticisms. Mark Owen wrote the book to sell the SEALs and beyond the misleading subtitle, I think No Easy Day successfully does that. For one, the writing, sure I expected a much different book given that the coauthor’s a successful journalist who’s been covering the Afghan war for years, but I think Owen’s picked a style that makes this book accessible to way more readers than the usual military crowd. There could’ve been more insight into the war and less of a rote informational approach that assumes the reader knows almost nothing about the background of Afghanistan or Bin Laden, but we can’t all come into this book having read Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires first. And the other, I think despite how this is not a very intensive firsthand account with much that can’t be gleaned from news sources, Owen comes across as someone who genuinely wanted to write a personal account of what it means to be a SEAL, and that story, at least, worked for me.
I think the dissatisfaction over No Easy Day comes from a misunderstanding about the purpose of the book. Mark Owen did say if you’re looking for an insider’s account chock full of classified secrets, this is not the book for that, and he’s right, it’s not. But as a book about one man’s personal experiences with the SEALs that culminates in the mission everyone wants to know about, the book I think was Mark Owen’s intent to write, No Easy Day works.
November 2, 2012
This is an excellent, informative book. The author makes it a point to tell us that it's not about him alone but about and dedicated to all the Special Ops men and women in the U.S. armed forces. The book bears that out.
From a back story that gives us a look at this specific SEAL's life the book leads us to the raid that brought about the end of the search for Osama Bin Laden.
I don't think you'll have much trouble reading this one. The story is an interesting one it draws you into the life of a SEAL and gives a small idea what is involved in making the grade. It's a tough life and for DELTA and the SEALs things do not let up. From his youth and what inspired him to want the life of a SEAL to the raid that caught the attention of the entire country I was caught.
The things he can tell us are informative (an example, that all the reports of what happened on the raid were inaccurate) but he's careful not to reveal anything that will endanger any lives. He made it a point to have the manuscript vetted to be sure.
So, I like it...I recommend it.
By the way, the writer mentions that he was (among other things) inspired by a book titled Men in Green Faces. I tried to track it down. Used it was running over $100. I can only assume it's due to this book. Happily the publisher is re-releasing it in a new edition next month.
Yeah, I plan to add it to my to be read mountain.
Enjoy.
From a back story that gives us a look at this specific SEAL's life the book leads us to the raid that brought about the end of the search for Osama Bin Laden.
I don't think you'll have much trouble reading this one. The story is an interesting one it draws you into the life of a SEAL and gives a small idea what is involved in making the grade. It's a tough life and for DELTA and the SEALs things do not let up. From his youth and what inspired him to want the life of a SEAL to the raid that caught the attention of the entire country I was caught.
The things he can tell us are informative (an example, that all the reports of what happened on the raid were inaccurate) but he's careful not to reveal anything that will endanger any lives. He made it a point to have the manuscript vetted to be sure.
So, I like it...I recommend it.
By the way, the writer mentions that he was (among other things) inspired by a book titled Men in Green Faces. I tried to track it down. Used it was running over $100. I can only assume it's due to this book. Happily the publisher is re-releasing it in a new edition next month.
Yeah, I plan to add it to my to be read mountain.
Enjoy.
April 14, 2020
I feel guilty giving this book only three stars so let's be clear here: it is on me. This book was just not my cup of tea. But this wasn't a bad book and you should mentally bump it up to four or even five stars and give it a read if you like military memoir stuff.
First, if I read this book a decade ago, I think I would have seriously enjoyed it. And even now, I could easily envision the intended audience and in some respects appreciate it for their sake. The author sets it up well when describing his own enjoyment of books about military exploits as a kid. I can see this similarly inspiring teen readers. But it feels disingenuous to claim I enjoyed the book more than I actually did.
I guess military memoirs of this sort just don't hold my interest. It all felt like some variation of, "Smash into room. See children huddled in corner. Leave them. Shoot someone. All clear. Next room. All clear. Next room. See someone...."
Which might relate to my second problem, I simply found the first person, action style distracting. If I read more fictional accounts like it, I might have enjoyed the transition into memoir. But I don't. So instead of making me appreciate the real life story more because it read like fiction, I found myself struggling to take it as seriously as it deserved. Especially every time the author thought he was going to die in a helicopter/plane crash "before the mission even got started!"
First, if I read this book a decade ago, I think I would have seriously enjoyed it. And even now, I could easily envision the intended audience and in some respects appreciate it for their sake. The author sets it up well when describing his own enjoyment of books about military exploits as a kid. I can see this similarly inspiring teen readers. But it feels disingenuous to claim I enjoyed the book more than I actually did.
I guess military memoirs of this sort just don't hold my interest. It all felt like some variation of, "Smash into room. See children huddled in corner. Leave them. Shoot someone. All clear. Next room. All clear. Next room. See someone...."
Which might relate to my second problem, I simply found the first person, action style distracting. If I read more fictional accounts like it, I might have enjoyed the transition into memoir. But I don't. So instead of making me appreciate the real life story more because it read like fiction, I found myself struggling to take it as seriously as it deserved. Especially every time the author thought he was going to die in a helicopter/plane crash "before the mission even got started!"
February 17, 2013
No Easy Day is no great book. But it does provide a first hand account of a mission which many of us would consider heroic and extremely dangerous and absolutely necessary. The dissonance created in reading this book is due to the incredible nature of the story in contrast to the dull writing style in which it is presented. But the story won out for me and I read the book in one sitting.
Much of the book is devoted to the author's accounts of his grueling training as a Navy SEAL, which does provide readers with an appreciation for the elite military forces and what it takes to join, and what it takes to succeed as a member of these very hard charging ranks. The details provided about numerous kill and capture raids in which he was involved in Iraq and Afghanistan are mesmerizing. And the relentless preparation and training and courage necessary on the part of the men who were front lines in the war on terror is awe inspiring.
All that said, the book as a whole is rather like reading an accident report written by a police officer responding to a bad auto crash - factual but without any emotion. The lack of any real introspection or self-reflection detracts from the book from beginning to end. Be prepared to walk away at its conclusion with more information about a historic event but without anything more compelling than that.
Much of the book is devoted to the author's accounts of his grueling training as a Navy SEAL, which does provide readers with an appreciation for the elite military forces and what it takes to join, and what it takes to succeed as a member of these very hard charging ranks. The details provided about numerous kill and capture raids in which he was involved in Iraq and Afghanistan are mesmerizing. And the relentless preparation and training and courage necessary on the part of the men who were front lines in the war on terror is awe inspiring.
All that said, the book as a whole is rather like reading an accident report written by a police officer responding to a bad auto crash - factual but without any emotion. The lack of any real introspection or self-reflection detracts from the book from beginning to end. Be prepared to walk away at its conclusion with more information about a historic event but without anything more compelling than that.
July 6, 2022
I wasn't in any hurry to read this book, partly because it is old news. But once started, I realized it covers the basic make up of some of America's most highly trained elite military members. If the author's background is representative of others, it presents how their character is developed from experiences at a young age, what motivates them, and why they are eager to try out to become one of America's best. While the title implies that this book is all about the takedown of Osama Bin Laden, that mission is only one of many that are detailed in the book. It provides a broader look at the range of skills of the Seal Team and, through details from other missions, shows how those skills are put to use to counter those who would do harm to America and its citizens. While not the best at literary skills compared to other books, it was easy to follow and understand. If you want to get an inside look at how America's elite fighting forces are selected, trained, and deployed, this book will do that for you.
September 7, 2012
very good read....the chapters about the raid on bin laden are off the charts. highly recommend
April 30, 2016
Old reviews went missing. How does save not working?
A great military memoir book. Thank you for your service.
A great military memoir book. Thank you for your service.
April 22, 2018
Wow, a fantastic book, way beyond my expectations.
I completed this book in two sittings, gulping down page after page of excellent combat action, crazy army stories, and riveting special forces day-in-life stuff.
This book is about Operation Neptune Spear, the mission to kill Usama Bin Laden (UBL), based on the decade-long intelligence work, which placed his whereabouts to a secluded house in Abbottabad, in Pakistan, close to the Pakistani Military Academy.
The book could have easily been a boring, linear story - but the author skillfully avoids that. He jumps through time back and forth, from his early days as a SEAL to his qualification for SEAL Team Six (DEVGRU), the elitest of the elite, with missions in Iraq and Afghanistan throughout the mid-2000s.
The writing is simple yet powerful and evocative, detailed without being too technical. Mark is not emotional at any one point - it's a job and it needs to get done. He strikes a humble, almost fatalistic streak like the rest of his team, and he does not relish in killing, nor does he care for politics. There's no hatred in him, which is commendable given the stressful type of work and the personal sacrifice required. Which makes No Easy Day a superb read, in contrast to say a book like American Sniper, which just felt angry and disturbing.
I have also recently watched the movie about the operation - Zero Dark Thirty - and the book is a hundred times better. It does not try to be shocking, and it offers insight into the dedication, sacrifice and hard work that are part of a spec ops soldier's life. The missions are also very intriguing and never over-the-top James Bond stuff that people expect from special forces.
There are also lighter moments - the jokes and the pranks, which always, like in any military, always have to include sex - in this case a 12-inch black dildo found in an abandoned house and named the Staff of Power, and which ended up coiled in someone's gas mask, forcing the entire squadron to replace their kit, or being photographed placed inside a cookie jar, naturally the one that soldiers always used to store and eat cookies from.
No Easy Day is a treasure box of goodies, packed with action, stories, simplicity and complexity together, a pleasant writing style, and the essence of military life. Among the best personal accounts of warfare I've read. Even better than Black Hawk Down.
Must read.
Igor
I completed this book in two sittings, gulping down page after page of excellent combat action, crazy army stories, and riveting special forces day-in-life stuff.
This book is about Operation Neptune Spear, the mission to kill Usama Bin Laden (UBL), based on the decade-long intelligence work, which placed his whereabouts to a secluded house in Abbottabad, in Pakistan, close to the Pakistani Military Academy.
The book could have easily been a boring, linear story - but the author skillfully avoids that. He jumps through time back and forth, from his early days as a SEAL to his qualification for SEAL Team Six (DEVGRU), the elitest of the elite, with missions in Iraq and Afghanistan throughout the mid-2000s.
The writing is simple yet powerful and evocative, detailed without being too technical. Mark is not emotional at any one point - it's a job and it needs to get done. He strikes a humble, almost fatalistic streak like the rest of his team, and he does not relish in killing, nor does he care for politics. There's no hatred in him, which is commendable given the stressful type of work and the personal sacrifice required. Which makes No Easy Day a superb read, in contrast to say a book like American Sniper, which just felt angry and disturbing.
I have also recently watched the movie about the operation - Zero Dark Thirty - and the book is a hundred times better. It does not try to be shocking, and it offers insight into the dedication, sacrifice and hard work that are part of a spec ops soldier's life. The missions are also very intriguing and never over-the-top James Bond stuff that people expect from special forces.
There are also lighter moments - the jokes and the pranks, which always, like in any military, always have to include sex - in this case a 12-inch black dildo found in an abandoned house and named the Staff of Power, and which ended up coiled in someone's gas mask, forcing the entire squadron to replace their kit, or being photographed placed inside a cookie jar, naturally the one that soldiers always used to store and eat cookies from.
No Easy Day is a treasure box of goodies, packed with action, stories, simplicity and complexity together, a pleasant writing style, and the essence of military life. Among the best personal accounts of warfare I've read. Even better than Black Hawk Down.
Must read.
Igor
March 3, 2024
A great story about some of the bravest people on earth. The unique part of this book is that it was told from a first person perspective.
March 26, 2015
“The only easy day was yesterday” – Navy SEAL motto
My father was in the Navy, and even though I knew the military influenced my home life, it wasn’t until reading this book that it became blaringly obvious just how much. My father left the military before I was born so I was a military brat without the military. Certain sayings and actions were common in my household and while I knew they came from the father, and from the Navy, I hadn’t stopped to really think about it before.
As a former history major, and recent card carrying (or diploma carrying) historian, I know the sacrifices the military have made and importance of their job. But since it’s not a constant reminder in my daily life, I probably don’t appreciate it as much as I should.
I love romance novels and I read them for enjoyment and to escape…I can sit down to read one and finish it in one sitting. I couldn’t do that with this book. Don’t interpret that as the book wasn’t interesting (because it was) or that I wasn’t invested in it (because I was) but it was a lot to process at times. I found myself putting it down for a break, but then thinking about it while taking a break. Even with the breaks I took, it was a page turner.
I found every page fascinating, edge of your seat action. And the whole time I was reading, I kept thinking “this is a really good primary source for future studies.” Always the historian.
One of the things I found most fascinating was near the end of the book. Owen said “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.”
I’m really happy that I read this book. It was extremely interesting and had much more than just the Bin Laden mission.
To read a really great review of this book check out Auntee’s review.
My father was in the Navy, and even though I knew the military influenced my home life, it wasn’t until reading this book that it became blaringly obvious just how much. My father left the military before I was born so I was a military brat without the military. Certain sayings and actions were common in my household and while I knew they came from the father, and from the Navy, I hadn’t stopped to really think about it before.
As a former history major, and recent card carrying (or diploma carrying) historian, I know the sacrifices the military have made and importance of their job. But since it’s not a constant reminder in my daily life, I probably don’t appreciate it as much as I should.
I love romance novels and I read them for enjoyment and to escape…I can sit down to read one and finish it in one sitting. I couldn’t do that with this book. Don’t interpret that as the book wasn’t interesting (because it was) or that I wasn’t invested in it (because I was) but it was a lot to process at times. I found myself putting it down for a break, but then thinking about it while taking a break. Even with the breaks I took, it was a page turner.
I found every page fascinating, edge of your seat action. And the whole time I was reading, I kept thinking “this is a really good primary source for future studies.” Always the historian.
One of the things I found most fascinating was near the end of the book. Owen said “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.”
I’m really happy that I read this book. It was extremely interesting and had much more than just the Bin Laden mission.
To read a really great review of this book check out Auntee’s review.
September 30, 2022
4 sterren- Nederlandse paperback
Terug naam minibieb groeneveld singel.
Terug naam minibieb groeneveld singel.
January 14, 2023
আন্তর্জাতিক সংগঠন আল-কায়েদার প্রতিষ্ঠতা ওসামা বিন লাদেন’কে হত্যার অভিযান নিয়ে লেখক ‘নো ইজি ডে’ বইটি লেখেন।
2011 সালের 2মে পাকিস্তানের অ্যাবোটাবাদের একটি বাড়িতে মার্কিন নেভি সিলের সদস্যদের কমান্ডো অভিযানে ওসামা বিন লাদেন নিহত হন। ওই অভিযান নিয়ে ‘নো ইজি ডে’ নামে বই লেখেন অভিযানে অংশ নেয়া নেভি সিলের সদস্য ম্যাট বিসোনেট। লেখক হিসেবে তিনি ছদ্ম নাম ‘মার্ক ওয়েন’ ব্যবহার করেন। ওসামা বিন লাদেনের কিলিং মিশনে সরাসরি অংশ নিয়েছেন লেখক।
যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের সময় দুপুর ১টা ২২ মিনিটে সিআইএ'র প্রধান লিওন প্যানেটা অ্যাডমিরাল ম্যাকরাভেনকে আদেশ দিলেন, 'গো ইন দেয়ার অ্যান্ড গেট বিন লাদেন'।
পাকিস্তানের অ্যাবোটাবাদ শহরে সেই সময়ে রাত এগারোটা বাজে। বিন লাদেনের গোটা পরিবার শুয়ে পড়েছিল।
পাকিস্তান আর আফগানিস্তানের মধ্যে আধ ঘণ্টার সময়ের ব্যবধান। জালালাবাদ শহরে তখন বাজে সাড়ে দশটা।
যুক্তরাষ্ট্র নৌবাহিনীর 'সীল' দলের ২৩ জন সদস্য দু'টো ব্ল্যাক হক হেলিকপ্টারে চড়ার জন্য তৈরি হচ্ছিলেন।
ওই দলে পাকিস্তানী বংশোদ্ভূত এক দোভাষীও ছিলেন, যাদের সেনাবাহিনীর ভাষায় 'টর্প' বলা হয়। 'কায়রো' নামের একটা কুকুরও সঙ্গে ছিল। তাকেও সীল টিমের অন্য সদস্যদের মতোই বুলেটপ্রুফ জ্যাকেট পড়ানো হয়েছিল।
আধঘণ্টা পরে অর্থাৎ আফগানিস্তানের স্থানীয় সময় রাত ১১টায় দুটো ব্ল্যাক হক হেলিকপ্টার জালালাবাদ বিমানঘাঁটি থেকে পূর্ব দিকে পাকিস্তানের সীমানার দিকে রওনা হয়েছিল।
ওস���মা বিন লাদেনের ওপরে লেখা বহুল-পঠিত বই 'ম্যানহান্ট'-এর লেখক পিটার ব্যার্গেন লিখেছেন, "ওই দুটো হেলিকপ্টার থেকে খুব কম মাত্রায় তাপ নির্গত হচ্ছিল, আর ওই দুটোর 'টেল'-এ যে ব্লেড ছিল সেগুলোও এমনভাবে তৈরি করা হয়েছিল, যাতে খুব কম আওয়াজ হয়। পাকিস্তানী রেডার যাতে ওই হেলিকপ্টার দুটোর অবস্থান ধরতে না পারে, সেজন্যই ওই সতর্কতা।"
'ন্যাপ অব দা আর্থ' ফরমেশনে, অর্থাৎ মাটির থেকে সামান্য কয়েক ফিট ওপর দিয়ে প্রচণ্ড গতিতে হেলিকপ্টার দুটো উড়ছিল।
ওসামা বিন লাদেন
পাকিস্তানের সীমানা পেরুনোর পরে পেশাওয়ার থেকে উত্তরের দিকে ঘুরে যায় হেলিকপ্টার দুটো। অ্যাবোটাবাদে পৌঁছতে সময় লেগেছিল প্রায় দেড় ঘণ্টা।
'দ্য নিউইয়র্কার'-এ বিন লাদেনের ওপরে লেখা 'গেটিং বিন লাদেন' নামের একটি প্রতিবেদনে নিকোলস শিমিডিল লিখেছেন, ব্ল্যাক হক হেলিকপ্টার দুটো উড়ে যাওয়ার ৪৫ মিনিট পরে ওই রানওয়ে থেকেই চারটে চিনুক হেলিকপ্টার উড়েছিল।
দুটো হেলিকপ্টার পাকিস্তানের সীমানা পার হয়ে গিয়েছিল, আর দুটো সীমানার পাশেই অবতরণ করেছিল।
এই চারটি হেলিকপ্টার পাঠানোর সিদ্ধান্তটা একেবারে শেষ মুহূর্তে নেওয়া হয়েছিল কারণ প্রেসিডেন্ট ওবামা চেয়েছিলেন যে গোটা অপারেশনটা যদি তাঁদের পরিকল্পনা অনুযায়ী না হয়, তাহলেও যাতে আমেরিকান সৈনিকরা লড়াই করতে করতে পাকিস্তান থেকে আফগানিস্তানে ঢুকে পড়তে পারে।
ঠিক করা হয়েছিল, এই চারটে হেলিকপ্টার তখনই ব্যবহার করা হবে, যদি অপারেশনটা বড় কোনও গণ্ডগোলের মধ্যে পড়ে যায়।
পাকিস্তানে নামার পরেও হেলিকপ্টারগুলোর ইঞ্জিন বন্ধ করা হয়নি আর অপেক্ষা করার সময়েও সেগুলোর ব্লেডগুলো ঘুরছিল - যাতে প্রয়োজন হওয়ার সঙ্গে সঙ্গেই আবার সেগুলো আকাশে উড়তে পারে, লিখেছেন নিকোলস শিমিডিল।
উত্তর-পশ্চিম দিক থেকে ব্ল্যাক হক হেলিকপ্টারগুলো অ্যাবোটাবাদে ঢুকেছিল। কিন্তু যখনই পাইলটবিন লাদেনের বাসভবনের সামনে অবতরণ করার চেষ্টা করছিলেন, তখনই নিয়ন্ত্রণ হারাতে শুরু করেন তিনি। খুব দ্রুত নিচের দিকে নেমে আসছিল হেলিকপ্টারটা।
আসলে, 'সীল' টিম যখন আমেরিকায় এই মিশনের জন্য প্রস্তুতি নিচ্ছিল, তখন কম্পাউন্ডের চারদিকের দেওয়াল লোহা দিয়ে তৈরি করা হয়েছিল। কিন্তু বিন লাদেনের আসল বাড়ির চারদিকে দেওয়ালটা ছিল কংক্রিটের।
এই জন্যই হেলিকপ্টারের লেজটা দেওয়ালের সঙ্গে ধাক্কা খায় আর ঘুরন্ত ব্লেডটা ভেঙ্গে যায়। অভিজ্ঞ পাইলট কায়দা করে হেলিকপ্টারটা নিচে নামিয়ে নিয়েছিলেন, কিন্তু ওটা আর ওড়ার অবস্থায় ছিল না। তবে কোনও প্রাণহানি হয়নি।
ওদিকে গোটা দৃশ্যটা তখন হোয়াইট হাউসের সিচুয়েশন রুমে বসে দেখছিলেন সবাই। বিন লাদেনের বাসভবনের ওপরে ঘুরতে থাকা একটা ড্রোন গোটা ঘটনার ছবি হোয়াইট হাউজে পাঠাচ্ছিল।
অ্যাডমিরাল ম্যাকরাভেন একদম স্বাভাবিক গলায় সিআইএ'র প্রধান প্যানেটাকে বলেছিলেন, "ডাইরেক্টর, আপনি যেমনটা দেখছেন, আমাদের একটা হেলিকপ্টার ওই বাড়িটার উঠোনে ভেঙ্গে পড়েছে। সেজন্য মিশনে সামান্য বদল ঘটাতে হচ্ছে। আমার ছেলেরা এ ধরনের পরিস্থিতির জন্য আগে থেকেই তৈরি আছে। ওরা জানে ওদের কী করতে হবে।"
একটা হেলিকপ্টার ভেঙ্গে পড়ার দৃশ্য অন্য ব্ল্যাক হকের পাইলট ওপর থেকেই দেখেছিলেন।
পাকিস্তানের অ্যাবোটাবাদের এ বাড়িতে ছিলেন ওসামা বিন লাদেন
প্ল্যান 'এ' অনুযায়ী দ্বিতীয় হেলিকপ্টারটির লাদেনের শোয়ার ঘরের ছাদের ওপরে ঘোরার কথা ছিল। সেখানে থেকে দড়ি বেয়ে কয়েকজন 'সীল' নিচে নেমে ঘুমিয়ে থাকা বিন লাদেনকে আচমকা ধরে ফেলতে পারবে।
কিন্তু নিচের অবস্থা দেখে পাইলট প্ল্যান 'বি' বেছে নিলেন । হেলিকপ্টারটিকে তিনি উঠোনের বাইরে ক্ষেতের মধ্যে নামালেন।
উঠোনের চারদিকে নজর রাখার জন্য সীল সদস্যদের একটা ছোট দল, দোভাষী আর 'কায়রো' নামের কুকুরটা পাহারায় ছিল।
কুকুরটিকে এমনভাবে প্রশিক্ষণ দেওয়া হয়েছিল যাতে সে বাইরের কোন লোককে উঠোনের কাছাকাছি যেতে না দেয়।
'কায়রো'কে এই অপারেশনে নিয়ে যাওয়ার অন্যতম কারণ ছিল বেশীরভাগ মুসলমান কুকুরকে নাপাক বলে মনে করেন এবং এর থেকে দূরে থাকেন।
ওদিকে বাড়ির দোতলায় বিন লাদেন তাঁর শোয়ার ঘরে নিরাপত্তা ব্যবস্থারই ফাঁদে পড়ে গিয়েছিলেন।
ঘরের ভেতরটা যাতে বাইরে থেকে কোনভাবেই না দেখা যায়, সেজন্য জানলা ছিল না বললেই চলে। কিন্তু এই ব্যবস্থা করতে গিয়ে বাইরে কী হচ্ছে ,সেটা তিনি নিজেও দেখতে পেতেন না।
'সীল' টিমের সদস্যরা দোতলায় ওঠার সময়েই লাদেনের ২৩ বছর বয়সী ছেলে খালিদকে দেখতে পায়। সিঁড়িতেই গুলি করে মেরে ফেলা হয় তাঁকে।
পিটার ব্যার্গেন লিখছেন, "লাদেনের শোওয়ার ঘরে একটা তাকের ওপরে কয়েকটা এ-কে ফরটি সেভেন ও মাকারোভ পিস্তল রাখা ছিল।
কিন্তু বিন লাদেন সেদিকে না গিয়ে আগে লোহার দরজা খুলে দেখতে চেষ্টা করেছিলেন যে বাইরে কীসের শোরগোল হচ্ছে।
একজন সীল সদস্য দেখে ফেলেন লাদেনকে। সিঁড়ি বেয়ে উঠে তিনি লাদেনের দিকে ধাওয়া করেন। মুহূর্তের মধ্যে লাদেন ঘুরে গিয়েছিলেন, কিন্তু তখনই বড় ভুল করেন তিনি।
লোহার দরজাটা বন্ধ করেননি। কয়েক সেকেন্ডের মধ্যে ওই সীল সদস্য ঘরের মধ্যে ঢুকে পড়েন। লাদেনের স্ত্রী আমাল আরবি ভাষায় চিৎকার করে কিছু একটা বলে স্বামীর সামনে দাঁড়িয়ে পড়েন।
আরেকজন 'সীল' সদস্য আমালের গোড়ালিতে গুলি করেন। বিন লাদেন কোনও প্রতিরোধ করেননি। একজন সীল সদস্য তার ওপরে 'ডাবল ট্যাপ' শট চালান। বিন লাদেনের বুক আর বাঁ চোখে গুলি লাগে।
নিকোলস শিমিডিল লিখছেন, "একজন স্পেশাল অপারেশনস অফিসার আমাকে বলেছিলেন যে বিন লাদেনকে জীবন্ত ধরা অথবা নিজেদের হেফাজতে নেবার কোনও পরিকল্পনাই ছিল না।
লাদেনকে মেরে ফেলার সিদ্ধান্তটা ওই জায়গায় দাঁড়িয়ে নেওয়া হয়নি। আগে থেকেই ঠিক করে রাখা হয়েছিল।
তৎকালীন মার্কিন প্রেসিডেন্ট ওবামা এবং পররাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী হিলারী ক্লিনটনসহ মার্কিন উর্ধ্বতন কর্মকর্তারা বিন লাদেনের বাড়িতে অভিযান হোয়াইট হাউজে বসে সরাসরি দেখেছেন।
তবে আমেরিকান প্রশাসন মেনে নিয়েছিল যে যদি লাদেন প্রথমেই আত্মসমর্পণ করতেন, তাহলে তার ওপরে গুলি চালানো হতো না।"
ওদিকে ঘটনাস্থল থেকে আসা অডিও ফিডে অ্যাডমিরাল ম্যাকরাভেন 'সীল' দলের সদস্যদের কাছ থেকে স্পষ্ট শুনতে পেয়েছিলেন যে তাঁরা বলছেন 'জেরোনিমো'। অপারেশন সফল হলে এই কোড-ই ব্যবহার করার কথা ছিল।
অ্যাডমিরাল সঙ্গে সঙ্গে হোয়াইট হাউজে জানিয়েছিলেন। কিন্তু তখনও বোঝা যাচ্ছিল না যে বিন লাদেন জীবিত না-কি মৃত।
ম্যাকরাভেন সীল দলের প্রধানকে জিজ্ঞাসা করেছিলেন, "ইজ হি এ-কি-য়া ( এনেমী কিল্ড ইন অ্যাকশন)"?
কয়েক সেকেন্ডের মধ্যেই উত্তর এসেছিল "রজার। জেরোনিমো এ-কি-য়া।"
অ্যাডমিরাল সঙ্গে সঙ্গেই হোয়াইট হাউজকে সঙ্কেত পাঠিয়ে দিয়েছিলেন।
প্রেসিডেন্ট ওবামা বলে উঠেছিলেন, "উই গট হিম ... উই গট হিম।"
ওদিকে সীল টিমের একটা গুরুত্বপূর্ণ কাজ তখনও বাকি ছিল। ভেঙ্গে পড়া হেলিকপ্টারটাকে নষ্ট করে দিতে হবে, যাতে পাকিস্তানীরা ওটাতে ব্যবহার করা প্রযুক্তি ধরতে না পারে।
একই সঙ্গে পাকিস্তানী সেনাবাহিনীর মুখোমুখি না হয়ে সুরক্ষিত অবস্থায় সে দেশের সীমানা পার হওয়াটাও জরুরী।
পরে ন্যাশনাল কাউন্টার-টেরোরিজম সেন্টারের প্রধান মাইকেল লিটর বলেছিলেন, "পাকিস্তান যে কেন সঙ্গে সঙ্গে কোনও প্রতিক্রিয়া দেখাল না, সেটা নিয়ে আমরা বেশ চিন্তায় পড়ে গিয়েছিলাম। পাকিস্তানের স্ট্যান্ডার্ডে ওদের জবাব বেশ দেরীতেই এসেছিল।"
পাকিস্তান অবশ্য দুটো এফ-১৬ বিমান পাঠিয়েছিল হেলিকপ্টারগুলোকে ধাওয়া করতে। কিন্তু মাইকেল লিটর জানতেন সেগুলো খুব একটা কিছু করতে পারবে না। পাকিস্তানের পাইলটদের রাতে বিমান চালানোর খুব একটা অভ্যাস নেই।
পাকিস্তানের অ্যাবোটাবাদের এ বাড়িটি বেশ সুরক্ষিত ছিল
মি. লিটর বলেছিলেন, "তবুও ওরা যদি চাইত তাহলে আমাদের কাছাকাছি চলে আসতে পারতো। কিন্তু ওরা আমাদের থেকেও বেশী নার্ভাস হয়ে পড়েছিল।"
পিটার ব্যার্গেন লিখেছেন, "সীল টিমের সদস্যরা বিন লাদেনের মৃতদেহ সিঁড়ি দিয়ে টেনে হিঁচড়ে নীচে নামিয়ে আনেন। গোটা সিঁড়িতে রক্ত পড়ছিল।
বাকি সীল কমান্ডোরা বিন লাদেনের বাসভবনের কম্পিউটার, মোবাইল ফোন আর হার্ড ডিস্কগুলো একত্র করছিল যাতে সেগুলো পরীক্ষা করে আল কায়েদার কার্যপ্রণালী, ভবিষ্যৎ পরিকল্পনা - এসব জানা যায়।"
লাদেনের মৃতদেহটা হেলিকপ্টারে শুইয়ে রাখা হয়েছিল। একজন সীল সদস্য লাদেনের ছবি তুলে পাঠিয়ে দিয়েছিলেন সার্ভারে। চেহারা শনাক্ত করতে পারেন, এমন দু'জন বিশেষজ্ঞ ওয়াশিংটনে অপেক্ষা করছিলেন। পুরনো ছবির সঙ্গে তাঁরা চেহারাটা মিলিয়ে দেখার চেষ্টা করছিলেন।
প্রেসিডেন্ট ওবামা পরে বলেছিলেন, বিন লাদেনের ঘরে যে সময়টা সীল কমান্ডোরা কাটিয়েছিল, ওটাই তাঁর জীবনের দীর্ঘতম ৪০ মিনিট ছিল।
হেলিকপ্টারগুলো ফেরার সময়ে জালালাবাদের দিকে সোজা পথটাই ধরেছিল। গতিও আগেরবারের থেকে অনেক বেশী ছিল। পাকিস্তানের সীমানা পেরনোর আগে সেগুলোতে জ্বালানিও ভরা হয়েছিল।
তখনও প্রেসিডেন্ট ওবামা ঘটনার ভিডিওগুলোর দিকে নজর রাখছিলেন।
"আমাদের হেলিকপ্টারগুলো পাকিস্তানের সীমানা পার হলেই যেন আমাকে জানানো হয়", বলেছিলেন মি. ওবামা।
স্থানীয় সময় রাত ২টা অর্থাৎ আমেরিকার সময় সন্ধ্যা সাড়ে ছ'টার সময়ে জালালাবাদ বিমানঘাঁটিতে হেলিকপ্টারগুলো ফিরে আসে।
আর গোটা অপারেশনটাতে সময় লাগে প্রায় সাড়ে তিন ঘণ্টা।
আফগানিস্তানে সিআইএ'র স্টেশন চিফ এবং অ্যাডমিরাল ম্যাকরাভেন লাদেনের মৃতদেহটা পরীক্ষা করেছিলেন।
তাদের কাছে উচ্চতা মাপার কোনও ফিতে ছিল না, তাই দেহের উচ্চতা মাপা যাচ্ছিল না।
লাদেনের ছয় ফুট চার ইঞ্চি শরীরের সমান লম্বা এক আমেরিকান সৈন্যকে মৃতদেহের পাশে শোয়ানো হয়েছিল।
উচ্চতা মিলে যাওয়ার পরেই সকলে নিশ্চিত হয়েছিলেন যে মৃতদেহটা বিন লাদেনেরই।
ওদিকে হোয়াইট হাউজে লাদেনের ছবি সিচুয়েশন রুমে হাজির প্রত্যেককে দেখানো হয়েছিল।
প্রেসিডেন্ট ওবামা খুব মন দিয়ে দেখেছিলেন ছবিটা।
পরে জেনারেল ক্লিপার স্মৃতিরোমন্থন করে বলেছিলেন, "ছবিটা খুবই বীভৎস ছিল। কিন্তু আমাদের মনে কোনও সন্দেহ ছিল না যে ওটা ওসামা বিন লাদেনই ছিল।"
2011 সালের 2মে পাকিস্তানের অ্যাবোটাবাদের একটি বাড়িতে মার্কিন নেভি সিলের সদস্যদের কমান্ডো অভিযানে ওসামা বিন লাদেন নিহত হন। ওই অভিযান নিয়ে ‘নো ইজি ডে’ নামে বই লেখেন অভিযানে অংশ নেয়া নেভি সিলের সদস্য ম্যাট বিসোনেট। লেখক হিসেবে তিনি ছদ্ম নাম ‘মার্ক ওয়েন’ ব্যবহার করেন। ওসামা বিন লাদেনের কিলিং মিশনে সরাসরি অংশ নিয়েছেন লেখক।
যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের সময় দুপুর ১টা ২২ মিনিটে সিআইএ'র প্রধান লিওন প্যানেটা অ্যাডমিরাল ম্যাকরাভেনকে আদেশ দিলেন, 'গো ইন দেয়ার অ্যান্ড গেট বিন লাদেন'।
পাকিস্তানের অ্যাবোটাবাদ শহরে সেই সময়ে রাত এগারোটা বাজে। বিন লাদেনের গোটা পরিবার শুয়ে পড়েছিল।
পাকিস্তান আর আফগানিস্তানের মধ্যে আধ ঘণ্টার সময়ের ব্যবধান। জালালাবাদ শহরে তখন বাজে সাড়ে দশটা।
যুক্তরাষ্ট্র নৌবাহিনীর 'সীল' দলের ২৩ জন সদস্য দু'টো ব্ল্যাক হক হেলিকপ্টারে চড়ার জন্য তৈরি হচ্ছিলেন।
ওই দলে পাকিস্তানী বংশোদ্ভূত এক দোভাষীও ছিলেন, যাদের সেনাবাহিনীর ভাষায় 'টর্প' বলা হয়। 'কায়রো' নামের একটা কুকুরও সঙ্গে ছিল। তাকেও সীল টিমের অন্য সদস্যদের মতোই বুলেটপ্রুফ জ্যাকেট পড়ানো হয়েছিল।
আধঘণ্টা পরে অর্থাৎ আফগানিস্তানের স্থানীয় সময় রাত ১১টায় দুটো ব্ল্যাক হক হেলিকপ্টার জালালাবাদ বিমানঘাঁটি থেকে পূর্ব দিকে পাকিস্তানের সীমানার দিকে রওনা হয়েছিল।
ওস���মা বিন লাদেনের ওপরে লেখা বহুল-পঠিত বই 'ম্যানহান্ট'-এর লেখক পিটার ব্যার্গেন লিখেছেন, "ওই দুটো হেলিকপ্টার থেকে খুব কম মাত্রায় তাপ নির্গত হচ্ছিল, আর ওই দুটোর 'টেল'-এ যে ব্লেড ছিল সেগুলোও এমনভাবে তৈরি করা হয়েছিল, যাতে খুব কম আওয়াজ হয়। পাকিস্তানী রেডার যাতে ওই হেলিকপ্টার দুটোর অবস্থান ধরতে না পারে, সেজন্যই ওই সতর্কতা।"
'ন্যাপ অব দা আর্থ' ফরমেশনে, অর্থাৎ মাটির থেকে সামান্য কয়েক ফিট ওপর দিয়ে প্রচণ্ড গতিতে হেলিকপ্টার দুটো উড়ছিল।
ওসামা বিন লাদেন
পাকিস্তানের সীমানা পেরুনোর পরে পেশাওয়ার থেকে উত্তরের দিকে ঘুরে যায় হেলিকপ্টার দুটো। অ্যাবোটাবাদে পৌঁছতে সময় লেগেছিল প্রায় দেড় ঘণ্টা।
'দ্য নিউইয়র্কার'-এ বিন লাদেনের ওপরে লেখা 'গেটিং বিন লাদেন' নামের একটি প্রতিবেদনে নিকোলস শিমিডিল লিখেছেন, ব্ল্যাক হক হেলিকপ্টার দুটো উড়ে যাওয়ার ৪৫ মিনিট পরে ওই রানওয়ে থেকেই চারটে চিনুক হেলিকপ্টার উড়েছিল।
দুটো হেলিকপ্টার পাকিস্তানের সীমানা পার হয়ে গিয়েছিল, আর দুটো সীমানার পাশেই অবতরণ করেছিল।
এই চারটি হেলিকপ্টার পাঠানোর সিদ্ধান্তটা একেবারে শেষ মুহূর্তে নেওয়া হয়েছিল কারণ প্রেসিডেন্ট ওবামা চেয়েছিলেন যে গোটা অপারেশনটা যদি তাঁদের পরিকল্পনা অনুযায়ী না হয়, তাহলেও যাতে আমেরিকান সৈনিকরা লড়াই করতে করতে পাকিস্তান থেকে আফগানিস্তানে ঢুকে পড়তে পারে।
ঠিক করা হয়েছিল, এই চারটে হেলিকপ্টার তখনই ব্যবহার করা হবে, যদি অপারেশনটা বড় কোনও গণ্ডগোলের মধ্যে পড়ে যায়।
পাকিস্তানে নামার পরেও হেলিকপ্টারগুলোর ইঞ্জিন বন্ধ করা হয়নি আর অপেক্ষা করার সময়েও সেগুলোর ব্লেডগুলো ঘুরছিল - যাতে প্রয়োজন হওয়ার সঙ্গে সঙ্গেই আবার সেগুলো আকাশে উড়তে পারে, লিখেছেন নিকোলস শিমিডিল।
উত্তর-পশ্চিম দিক থেকে ব্ল্যাক হক হেলিকপ্টারগুলো অ্যাবোটাবাদে ঢুকেছিল। কিন্তু যখনই পাইলটবিন লাদেনের বাসভবনের সামনে অবতরণ করার চেষ্টা করছিলেন, তখনই নিয়ন্ত্রণ হারাতে শুরু করেন তিনি। খুব দ্রুত নিচের দিকে নেমে আসছিল হেলিকপ্টারটা।
আসলে, 'সীল' টিম যখন আমেরিকায় এই মিশনের জন্য প্রস্তুতি নিচ্ছিল, তখন কম্পাউন্ডের চারদিকের দেওয়াল লোহা দিয়ে তৈরি করা হয়েছিল। কিন্তু বিন লাদেনের আসল বাড়ির চারদিকে দেওয়ালটা ছিল কংক্রিটের।
এই জন্যই হেলিকপ্টারের লেজটা দেওয়ালের সঙ্গে ধাক্কা খায় আর ঘুরন্ত ব্লেডটা ভেঙ্গে যায়। অভিজ্ঞ পাইলট কায়দা করে হেলিকপ্টারটা নিচে নামিয়ে নিয়েছিলেন, কিন্তু ওটা আর ওড়ার অবস্থায় ছিল না। তবে কোনও প্রাণহানি হয়নি।
ওদিকে গোটা দৃশ্যটা তখন হোয়াইট হাউসের সিচুয়েশন রুমে বসে দেখছিলেন সবাই। বিন লাদেনের বাসভবনের ওপরে ঘুরতে থাকা একটা ড্রোন গোটা ঘটনার ছবি হোয়াইট হাউজে পাঠাচ্ছিল।
অ্যাডমিরাল ম্যাকরাভেন একদম স্বাভাবিক গলায় সিআইএ'র প্রধান প্যানেটাকে বলেছিলেন, "ডাইরেক্টর, আপনি যেমনটা দেখছেন, আমাদের একটা হেলিকপ্টার ওই বাড়িটার উঠোনে ভেঙ্গে পড়েছে। সেজন্য মিশনে সামান্য বদল ঘটাতে হচ্ছে। আমার ছেলেরা এ ধরনের পরিস্থিতির জন্য আগে থেকেই তৈরি আছে। ওরা জানে ওদের কী করতে হবে।"
একটা হেলিকপ্টার ভেঙ্গে পড়ার দৃশ্য অন্য ব্ল্যাক হকের পাইলট ওপর থেকেই দেখেছিলেন।
পাকিস্তানের অ্যাবোটাবাদের এ বাড়িতে ছিলেন ওসামা বিন লাদেন
প্ল্যান 'এ' অনুযায়ী দ্বিতীয় হেলিকপ্টারটির লাদেনের শোয়ার ঘরের ছাদের ওপরে ঘোরার কথা ছিল। সেখানে থেকে দড়ি বেয়ে কয়েকজন 'সীল' নিচে নেমে ঘুমিয়ে থাকা বিন লাদেনকে আচমকা ধরে ফেলতে পারবে।
কিন্তু নিচের অবস্থা দেখে পাইলট প্ল্যান 'বি' বেছে নিলেন । হেলিকপ্টারটিকে তিনি উঠোনের বাইরে ক্ষেতের মধ্যে নামালেন।
উঠোনের চারদিকে নজর রাখার জন্য সীল সদস্যদের একটা ছোট দল, দোভাষী আর 'কায়রো' নামের কুকুরটা পাহারায় ছিল।
কুকুরটিকে এমনভাবে প্রশিক্ষণ দেওয়া হয়েছিল যাতে সে বাইরের কোন লোককে উঠোনের কাছাকাছি যেতে না দেয়।
'কায়রো'কে এই অপারেশনে নিয়ে যাওয়ার অন্যতম কারণ ছিল বেশীরভাগ মুসলমান কুকুরকে নাপাক বলে মনে করেন এবং এর থেকে দূরে থাকেন।
ওদিকে বাড়ির দোতলায় বিন লাদেন তাঁর শোয়ার ঘরে নিরাপত্তা ব্যবস্থারই ফাঁদে পড়ে গিয়েছিলেন।
ঘরের ভেতরটা যাতে বাইরে থেকে কোনভাবেই না দেখা যায়, সেজন্য জানলা ছিল না বললেই চলে। কিন্তু এই ব্যবস্থা করতে গিয়ে বাইরে কী হচ্ছে ,সেটা তিনি নিজেও দেখতে পেতেন না।
'সীল' টিমের সদস্যরা দোতলায় ওঠার সময়েই লাদেনের ২৩ বছর বয়সী ছেলে খালিদকে দেখতে পায়। সিঁড়িতেই গুলি করে মেরে ফেলা হয় তাঁকে।
পিটার ব্যার্গেন লিখছেন, "লাদেনের শোওয়ার ঘরে একটা তাকের ওপরে কয়েকটা এ-কে ফরটি সেভেন ও মাকারোভ পিস্তল রাখা ছিল।
কিন্তু বিন লাদেন সেদিকে না গিয়ে আগে লোহার দরজা খুলে দেখতে চেষ্টা করেছিলেন যে বাইরে কীসের শোরগোল হচ্ছে।
একজন সীল সদস্য দেখে ফেলেন লাদেনকে। সিঁড়ি বেয়ে উঠে তিনি লাদেনের দিকে ধাওয়া করেন। মুহূর্তের মধ্যে লাদেন ঘুরে গিয়েছিলেন, কিন্তু তখনই বড় ভুল করেন তিনি।
লোহার দরজাটা বন্ধ করেননি। কয়েক সেকেন্ডের মধ্যে ওই সীল সদস্য ঘরের মধ্যে ঢুকে পড়েন। লাদেনের স্ত্রী আমাল আরবি ভাষায় চিৎকার করে কিছু একটা বলে স্বামীর সামনে দাঁড়িয়ে পড়েন।
আরেকজন 'সীল' সদস্য আমালের গোড়ালিতে গুলি করেন। বিন লাদেন কোনও প্রতিরোধ করেননি। একজন সীল সদস্য তার ওপরে 'ডাবল ট্যাপ' শট চালান। বিন লাদেনের বুক আর বাঁ চোখে গুলি লাগে।
নিকোলস শিমিডিল লিখছেন, "একজন স্পেশাল অপারেশনস অফিসার আমাকে বলেছিলেন যে বিন লাদেনকে জীবন্ত ধরা অথবা নিজেদের হেফাজতে নেবার কোনও পরিকল্পনাই ছিল না।
লাদেনকে মেরে ফেলার সিদ্ধান্তটা ওই জায়গায় দাঁড়িয়ে নেওয়া হয়নি। আগে থেকেই ঠিক করে রাখা হয়েছিল।
তৎকালীন মার্কিন প্রেসিডেন্ট ওবামা এবং পররাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী হিলারী ক্লিনটনসহ মার্কিন উর্ধ্বতন কর্মকর্তারা বিন লাদেনের বাড়িতে অভিযান হোয়াইট হাউজে বসে সরাসরি দেখেছেন।
তবে আমেরিকান প্রশাসন মেনে নিয়েছিল যে যদি লাদেন প্রথমেই আত্মসমর্পণ করতেন, তাহলে তার ওপরে গুলি চালানো হতো না।"
ওদিকে ঘটনাস্থল থেকে আসা অডিও ফিডে অ্যাডমিরাল ম্যাকরাভেন 'সীল' দলের সদস্যদের কাছ থেকে স্পষ্ট শুনতে পেয়েছিলেন যে তাঁরা বলছেন 'জেরোনিমো'। অপারেশন সফল হলে এই কোড-ই ব্যবহার করার কথা ছিল।
অ্যাডমিরাল সঙ্গে সঙ্গে হোয়াইট হাউজে জানিয়েছিলেন। কিন্তু তখনও বোঝা যাচ্ছিল না যে বিন লাদেন জীবিত না-কি মৃত।
ম্যাকরাভেন সীল দলের প্রধানকে জিজ্ঞাসা করেছিলেন, "ইজ হি এ-কি-য়া ( এনেমী কিল্ড ইন অ্যাকশন)"?
কয়েক সেকেন্ডের মধ্যেই উত্তর এসেছিল "রজার। জেরোনিমো এ-কি-য়া।"
অ্যাডমিরাল সঙ্গে সঙ্গেই হোয়াইট হাউজকে সঙ্কেত পাঠিয়ে দিয়েছিলেন।
প্রেসিডেন্ট ওবামা বলে উঠেছিলেন, "উই গট হিম ... উই গট হিম।"
ওদিকে সীল টিমের একটা গুরুত্বপূর্ণ কাজ তখনও বাকি ছিল। ভেঙ্গে পড়া হেলিকপ্টারটাকে নষ্ট করে দিতে হবে, যাতে পাকিস্তানীরা ওটাতে ব্যবহার করা প্রযুক্তি ধরতে না পারে।
একই সঙ্গে পাকিস্তানী সেনাবাহিনীর মুখোমুখি না হয়ে সুরক্ষিত অবস্থায় সে দেশের সীমানা পার হওয়াটাও জরুরী।
পরে ন্যাশনাল কাউন্টার-টেরোরিজম সেন্টারের প্রধান মাইকেল লিটর বলেছিলেন, "পাকিস্তান যে কেন সঙ্গে সঙ্গে কোনও প্রতিক্রিয়া দেখাল না, সেটা নিয়ে আমরা বেশ চিন্তায় পড়ে গিয়েছিলাম। পাকিস্তানের স্ট্যান্ডার্ডে ওদের জবাব বেশ দেরীতেই এসেছিল।"
পাকিস্তান অবশ্য দুটো এফ-১৬ বিমান পাঠিয়েছিল হেলিকপ্টারগুলোকে ধাওয়া করতে। কিন্তু মাইকেল লিটর জানতেন সেগুলো খুব একটা কিছু করতে পারবে না। পাকিস্তানের পাইলটদের রাতে বিমান চালানোর খুব একটা অভ্যাস নেই।
পাকিস্তানের অ্যাবোটাবাদের এ বাড়িটি বেশ সুরক্ষিত ছিল
মি. লিটর বলেছিলেন, "তবুও ওরা যদি চাইত তাহলে আমাদের কাছাকাছি চলে আসতে পারতো। কিন্তু ওরা আমাদের থেকেও বেশী নার্ভাস হয়ে পড়েছিল।"
পিটার ব্যার্গেন লিখেছেন, "সীল টিমের সদস্যরা বিন লাদেনের মৃতদেহ সিঁড়ি দিয়ে টেনে হিঁচড়ে নীচে নামিয়ে আনেন। গোটা সিঁড়িতে রক্ত পড়ছিল।
বাকি সীল কমান্ডোরা বিন লাদেনের বাসভবনের কম্পিউটার, মোবাইল ফোন আর হার্ড ডিস্কগুলো একত্র করছিল যাতে সেগুলো পরীক্ষা করে আল কায়েদার কার্যপ্রণালী, ভবিষ্যৎ পরিকল্পনা - এসব জানা যায়।"
লাদেনের মৃতদেহটা হেলিকপ্টারে শুইয়ে রাখা হয়েছিল। একজন সীল সদস্য লাদেনের ছবি তুলে পাঠিয়ে দিয়েছিলেন সার্ভারে। চেহারা শনাক্ত করতে পারেন, এমন দু'জন বিশেষজ্ঞ ওয়াশিংটনে অপেক্ষা করছিলেন। পুরনো ছবির সঙ্গে তাঁরা চেহারাটা মিলিয়ে দেখার চেষ্টা করছিলেন।
প্রেসিডেন্ট ওবামা পরে বলেছিলেন, বিন লাদেনের ঘরে যে সময়টা সীল কমান্ডোরা কাটিয়েছিল, ওটাই তাঁর জীবনের দীর্ঘতম ৪০ মিনিট ছিল।
হেলিকপ্টারগুলো ফেরার সময়ে জালালাবাদের দিকে সোজা পথটাই ধরেছিল। গতিও আগেরবারের থেকে অনেক বেশী ছিল। পাকিস্তানের সীমানা পেরনোর আগে সেগুলোতে জ্বালানিও ভরা হয়েছিল।
তখনও প্রেসিডেন্ট ওবামা ঘটনার ভিডিওগুলোর দিকে নজর রাখছিলেন।
"আমাদের হেলিকপ্টারগুলো পাকিস্তানের সীমানা পার হলেই যেন আমাকে জানানো হয়", বলেছিলেন মি. ওবামা।
স্থানীয় সময় রাত ২টা অর্থাৎ আমেরিকার সময় সন্ধ্যা সাড়ে ছ'টার সময়ে জালালাবাদ বিমানঘাঁটিতে হেলিকপ্টারগুলো ফিরে আসে।
আর গোটা অপারেশনটাতে সময় লাগে প্রায় সাড়ে তিন ঘণ্টা।
আফগানিস্তানে সিআইএ'র স্টেশন চিফ এবং অ্যাডমিরাল ম্যাকরাভেন লাদেনের মৃতদেহটা পরীক্ষা করেছিলেন।
তাদের কাছে উচ্চতা মাপার কোনও ফিতে ছিল না, তাই দেহের উচ্চতা মাপা যাচ্ছিল না।
লাদেনের ছয় ফুট চার ইঞ্চি শরীরের সমান লম্বা এক আমেরিকান সৈন্যকে মৃতদেহের পাশে শোয়ানো হয়েছিল।
উচ্চতা মিলে যাওয়ার পরেই সকলে নিশ্চিত হয়েছিলেন যে মৃতদেহটা বিন লাদেনেরই।
ওদিকে হোয়াইট হাউজে লাদেনের ছবি সিচুয়েশন রুমে হাজির প্রত্যেককে দেখানো হয়েছিল।
প্রেসিডেন্ট ওবামা খুব মন দিয়ে দেখেছিলেন ছবিটা।
পরে জেনারেল ক্লিপার স্মৃতিরোমন্থন করে বলেছিলেন, "ছবিটা খুবই বীভৎস ছিল। কিন্তু আমাদের মনে কোনও সন্দেহ ছিল না যে ওটা ওসামা বিন লাদেনই ছিল।"
November 15, 2023
I read this book in one sitting. It is both short and hard to put down due to compelling anecdotes and the propulsive lure of the final events of the mission, which was an excellent stylistic choice on the part of the authors.
While the writing is not great, it is just passable enough to not get in the way too often. (However, I didn't really need to be told seven times that SEALs wear 60 lbs of gear--once was truly sufficient for that factoid). This is a book that you read because it is topical, historical, and eye opening, not because of the writing quality.
The book is also well structured. It gives as detailed an account as practical of the operation that killed Bin Laden for the lay reader. There's a minimum of other material--just enough to understand and appreciate what is happening on that one mission. I think that was the right way to do this, especially because the world doesn't need another SEAL training book or military buddy story.
This is about the absolute extreme of the military experience. According to its descriptions, SEAL Team Six isn't composed of action movie stars, Tom Clancy characters, or superheroes. They are real people who are so far off the end of the physical scale and so well trained and equipped that they have become weapons themselves.
They fly anywhere in the world on a few hour's notice, jump out of airplanes into active war zones, climb up the face of a mountain, and then crawl into a bunker of hostile soldiers in the middle of the night--and somehow shoot all of them without hurting the civilians in the same room.
They kill quietly, intelligently, efficiently, and unrepentantly. They probably see more hostile action in one week than most soldiers in a career. The operations described are impressive not for their perfection, but for the way that the team maintains control whenever things go wrong. Their only regret is that the Whitehouse (under any administration) doesn't take them off the leash to kill more often and with fewer questions asked.
And so, the "good guys" are much, much scarier than the "bad guys" in this book. There is no question that they are the most effective fighting force that has ever existed, and also that they are at the bare edge of humanity. Unlike with some military memoirs, you do not want to become a member of Team Six while reading this book. You don't even want to be their friend, or in the same room as them. You want to be hiding under a blanket, reading a more cozy book, and safe in the knowledge that they are not coming to take you down, because there's nothing that you could do if they were.
While the writing is not great, it is just passable enough to not get in the way too often. (However, I didn't really need to be told seven times that SEALs wear 60 lbs of gear--once was truly sufficient for that factoid). This is a book that you read because it is topical, historical, and eye opening, not because of the writing quality.
The book is also well structured. It gives as detailed an account as practical of the operation that killed Bin Laden for the lay reader. There's a minimum of other material--just enough to understand and appreciate what is happening on that one mission. I think that was the right way to do this, especially because the world doesn't need another SEAL training book or military buddy story.
This is about the absolute extreme of the military experience. According to its descriptions, SEAL Team Six isn't composed of action movie stars, Tom Clancy characters, or superheroes. They are real people who are so far off the end of the physical scale and so well trained and equipped that they have become weapons themselves.
They fly anywhere in the world on a few hour's notice, jump out of airplanes into active war zones, climb up the face of a mountain, and then crawl into a bunker of hostile soldiers in the middle of the night--and somehow shoot all of them without hurting the civilians in the same room.
They kill quietly, intelligently, efficiently, and unrepentantly. They probably see more hostile action in one week than most soldiers in a career. The operations described are impressive not for their perfection, but for the way that the team maintains control whenever things go wrong. Their only regret is that the Whitehouse (under any administration) doesn't take them off the leash to kill more often and with fewer questions asked.
And so, the "good guys" are much, much scarier than the "bad guys" in this book. There is no question that they are the most effective fighting force that has ever existed, and also that they are at the bare edge of humanity. Unlike with some military memoirs, you do not want to become a member of Team Six while reading this book. You don't even want to be their friend, or in the same room as them. You want to be hiding under a blanket, reading a more cozy book, and safe in the knowledge that they are not coming to take you down, because there's nothing that you could do if they were.
May 6, 2014
This book is a mess.
First, though, like several other reviewers, I feel the need to point out that I’m reviewing the book, not the events nor the soldier.
I completely understand why this book was published. Just think of the editor who saw the notes for this book cross his desk: the personal memoir of a Navy SEAL who was literally in the room with Osama bin Laden’s freshly bullet-riddled body. I’m sure this book is gold. And yet, it is a fool’s gold, for nothing of substance exists in these pages.
The first two hundred pages of the book are the worst, and are the ultimate violation of breadth over depth - an overview of Navy SEAL life so shallow that no emotion is communicated, no tension created, no sympathy garnered, no understanding conveyed. The narrator and other soldiers are portrayed with such broad strokes that they are completely interchangeable. And, what’s worse, as a reader, I don’t care about any of them. I’ve read my fair share of military memoirs, I enjoy them, and I understand the need for secrecy, but this book has been sanitized of all personality.
The writing is equally disappointing. Never have I seen a book filled with so many basic, simple sentences stacked up to such tedium. Any redeeming content that the book might contain is buried under childlike writing.
If you want to read the part of the book that was used to sell you the book, the assault that killed Osama bin Laden, then start 200 pages in. Don’t worry - you literally won’t miss anything. The final third of the book is by far the best part, but even this selection pales in comparison to every other memoir on the military bookshelf.
I was really looking forward to this book after having been disappointed in the last military memoir I read (and for similar reasons) - I had high hopes for this book. With such a unique story to tell, and with the assistance of a professional writer, how could this book have gone wrong? Perhaps in the effort to publish the book in a timely manner - the public attention span not as lengthy as it once was - the writing itself was never given a chance to mature. Who knows? All that matters is that this book, despite its compelling perspective and content, is not worth your time. I’m sure there are other books written on the same subject - read one of them instead.
First, though, like several other reviewers, I feel the need to point out that I’m reviewing the book, not the events nor the soldier.
I completely understand why this book was published. Just think of the editor who saw the notes for this book cross his desk: the personal memoir of a Navy SEAL who was literally in the room with Osama bin Laden’s freshly bullet-riddled body. I’m sure this book is gold. And yet, it is a fool’s gold, for nothing of substance exists in these pages.
The first two hundred pages of the book are the worst, and are the ultimate violation of breadth over depth - an overview of Navy SEAL life so shallow that no emotion is communicated, no tension created, no sympathy garnered, no understanding conveyed. The narrator and other soldiers are portrayed with such broad strokes that they are completely interchangeable. And, what’s worse, as a reader, I don’t care about any of them. I’ve read my fair share of military memoirs, I enjoy them, and I understand the need for secrecy, but this book has been sanitized of all personality.
The writing is equally disappointing. Never have I seen a book filled with so many basic, simple sentences stacked up to such tedium. Any redeeming content that the book might contain is buried under childlike writing.
If you want to read the part of the book that was used to sell you the book, the assault that killed Osama bin Laden, then start 200 pages in. Don’t worry - you literally won’t miss anything. The final third of the book is by far the best part, but even this selection pales in comparison to every other memoir on the military bookshelf.
I was really looking forward to this book after having been disappointed in the last military memoir I read (and for similar reasons) - I had high hopes for this book. With such a unique story to tell, and with the assistance of a professional writer, how could this book have gone wrong? Perhaps in the effort to publish the book in a timely manner - the public attention span not as lengthy as it once was - the writing itself was never given a chance to mature. Who knows? All that matters is that this book, despite its compelling perspective and content, is not worth your time. I’m sure there are other books written on the same subject - read one of them instead.
December 12, 2012
I learned some really interesting things in this book...it covers the mission to kill Bin Laden in depth during the last third of the book. The first 2/3rds was good, I've just read many books detailing the same kind of training and missions. I'm still amazed at what these guys can pull off and the heroism they consistently embrace in the way they live their lives. Some funny things about dealing with the White House before and after the raid. At the end he says "Don't just live, but live for a purpose bigger than yourself. Be an asset to your family, community, and country."
POTENTIAL SPOILER although it shouldn't be if you know how the raid went down, but thought I'd err on the side of caution: As the author was describing his Black Hawk crashing during the Bin Laden raid I got chills...terrifying.
POTENTIAL SPOILER although it shouldn't be if you know how the raid went down, but thought I'd err on the side of caution: As the author was describing his Black Hawk crashing during the Bin Laden raid I got chills...terrifying.
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