So Rob ONeill and his teammate, when they came up Again, there were no helmet cams. You told the SEAL Team Six, This mission is to capture or kill bin Laden. Date of Birth. When McRaven was 10, Sean Connery's James Bond spent a lot of screen time in Thunderball pummeling underwater bad guys and making out with Domino, the underwater hottie. But that was still many hours after the mission was concluded. Marcinko picked McRaven to lead a team in the hot new command with a purposely wonky name: Naval Special Warfare Development Group. It begins by stating matter-of-factly that Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian strategist whose On War is a standard text, was wrong about two of his central maxims. We did. And I took the opportunity to call up my boys and say, you know, my daughter was with us and explained it to her as well, that her life was about to change for dad. November 6, 1955. "I kind of tumble through the parachute. We must fight terrorist networks, and all those who support their efforts to spread fear around the world, using every instrument of national power diplomatic, economic, law enforcement, financial, information, intelligence, and military.". And then. What were you feeling in those moments? His only known experience of combat before reaching flag rank came as a SEAL "task unit" leader in the Persian Gulf War. He was later memorialized in an eponymous film starring Tom Hanks. But after SEAL training, we were stationed at the same team and we became very close friends. You had 60 million dollars for a helicopter, the one we had lost on the raid, and you didnt have ten dollars for a tape measure? And as Ive told folks, it was just the right amount of levity, just at the right time to kind of lower the stress in the room. So I get hit. The president thanks us for the mission and then reaches behind the presidents desk and hands me a plaque. McRaven said in a 2019 interview. This year, a decade later, their paths finally crossed. Today, McRaven calls Marcinko a "charismatic figure" who deserves credit for building an important new unit from scratch. Then, as commandos set explosive charges around the wounded aircraft: "We're going to destroy the helicopter.". Admiral McRaven has since retired from the military and is now the chancellor of University of Texas. Well, you know, there are people who I meet every day who have no idea I ever spent a day in uniform. . Michael Thornton is one of a handful of Navy SEALs that have been awarded the Medal of Honor. But that didn't keep McRaven from rising in the ranks of Navy special operations. The Desert One hostage-rescue mission in Iran that day, aborted in a spectacle of flaming aircraft, left eight Americans dead and the nation's prestige badly burned. Bring us back to this moment, will you, Admiral? commander under the obama administration. Sign up for notifications from Insider! INSKEEP: Admiral William H. McRaven is author of "Sea Stories: My Life In Special Operations." They are concerned about these things. A small group of men would fly nearly 200 miles through the dark, and then they would kill, or fail to kill, a mortal foe. But he was not going to have outside contact with any of his former Iraqi leaders. And Maybe the World . (0:01-1:46) Source. When I went to visit guys in the hospital, they always said, I want to get back in the fight. And of course, it started in SEAL training. HOOVER: Admiral, youve led sailors through harrowing missions. Speaking to MS News, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was alerted to a traffic accident on 1 Mar at about 6.45pm. But I would go in every day to check on him. Saddam Hussein became your prisoner when he remained at your camp longer than originally expected, about 30 days. I didnt think much of it. "Well, he pulls his parachute, and I collide with his parachute little bit like getting hit by an air bag. But it was a relatively straightforward mission in terms of the first part of it. You wrote, quote, as long as I could wiggle my toes, I was going to stay a SEAL. You share the story of Moki Martin, the Vietnam era SEAL, who was partially paralyzed from a head-on bike accident. "We do raids. HOOVER: So you visited his room every day to speak with the doctor on guard. I can see it on the overhead surveillance. And frankly, I didnt want to engage him in a conversation. William McRaven, former University of Texas System chancellor and retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral, joined the school as a professor in national security in 2018. . And so I really didnt kind of come off the business end of this mission probably until later that evening when finally I was able to hit the rack. Why is that, Admiral? Im listening to the radio. McRaven, who served as the ninth commander of the U.S. Special Operations command from . Good to be with you. All rights reserved. And to this day, Moki oversees the triathlon that we run every year as part of our underwater demolition team and our SEAL fraternity. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. May 29, 2020. At the time, Admiral William H. McRaven thought that this accident put a definitive end to his career. In fact, we had a plan with what we were going to do with bin Laden if we captured him. What do we need to do next? But when we were in training, he did not hesitate to pick me out of a crowd and turn me into a sugar cookie, as we say, where you roll around in the sand, and that kind of good natured harassment on a routine basis. I think he still felt that he would come back into power. Never once did he say, why me? McRaven oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL raid in Pakistan that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Then, in 2001, came the parachute accident and the long climb back. And on that night it was McRaven, linked by secure video from Jalalabad to the White House, who briefed the President in real time as the operation progressed. But that was still many hours after the mission was concluded. Retired Navy Adm. William H. McRaven has written a new book called, "The Hero Code: Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived." McRaven knows about heroic deeds, having directed the 2011 U.S . It is a small task, but I think an important one. I just didnt want that to occur. HOOVER: So upon reaching the third floor, the raids second SEAL, Senior Chief Petty Officer Rob ONeill, came face to face with a, quote, tall, thin man. Tell me about the impact that Moki Martin had on you. He never had his hands raised. And at one point in time, a senior chief petty officer, Navy SEAL senior chief petty officer, he said, Admiral, I don't get it; why are we still doing this? If bin Laden had his hands up and he clearly was not a threat which was going to be difficult because you dont know whether or not theyre carrying a suicide vest underneath but if he had come out of that room with his hands up and clearly not a threat, we had an obligation, a legal obligation, a moral obligation to capture him. INSKEEP: He wasn't in a very good position to negotiate, I suppose. Having said that, I knew bin Laden was about six foot four And I thought, well Im six foot two. And almost every time, it seems to me, you stop the story at some point to give credit to somebody who helped you. So I reflect back on that 10 years ago and Im just proud to have been a small part of it. HOOVER: You write about a skydiving accident that you were in in 2001 that nearly cost you your life. Along the way, McRaven sketches the qualities required to pull off something very much like the bin Laden raid, 18 years in advance: "a simple plan, carefully concealed, realistically rehearsed and executed with surprise, speed and purpose." And every day when I would come in, he would try to engage me. INSKEEP: You tell story after story after story in this book. "So now I am tangled up in my parachute, falling towards the ground. MCRAVEN: Well, you know, there are people who I meet every day who have no idea I ever spent a day in uniform. Thanks so much. Of course, as we began to come in to target the one helicopter loses lift as it got over the target. And now I'm tumbling out of control towards the ground. And even though I was broken-hearted at the time, I was intent on getting kind of back in the fight and being able to support my fellow special operations warriors. I knew that there would have to be some sort of follow on action against Al-Qaeda. I don't know whether I've been dazed. MCRAVEN: Yeah, I mean, even to this day, the impact of Moki Martin is with me every day. MCRAVEN: Yeah, he wasn't in a real good position to negotiate. He salutes the Greatest Generation and has faith in the new one. He also led the . And you've probably seen the iconic photo of the spider hole. I had received an intelligence brief the night before from one of the great noncommissioned officers that was part of the Saddam hunt. "It has been since 9/11 that both their utility and then their expertise have become the cutting edge.". "There now has been an accumulation through the course of 2011 of very significant losses in core al-Qaeda and also the affiliates in Yemen and some of the other offshoots," Petraeus says, citing two al-Qaeda figures, Atiyah Abdel Rahman in Pakistan and Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, whose deaths have not been officially acknowledged as JSOC's work. You know, when we first captured Saddam, he was pompous. So he didnt know my rank or my name. And, oh by the way, the guys are still in the compound. "They went through a period of appearing more like cowboys, a period of 'tried but didn't quite make it,' " said retired Marine general James Cartwright, who was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when the raid took place. We go through this cycle every couple of decades. I didnt want to engage with him because, frankly, I didnt want him to, at least psychologically, think that he was a VIP, that he was somebody important enough to be able to engage me in conversation. And I think he was probably glad I didn't ask him. Just like the young female sergeant who I just visited at Walter Reed this week. We were holding our breath . Some folks believe that maybe it was possible. He's a former commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, best-selling author, and organizer of the operation that killed the world's most wanted terrorist. McRaven charmed the civilians on staff over late-night beers at the Smith & Wollensky steak house. "It was hard to watch it from afar, at the White House, but at the time, because I was still broken up pretty bad, I'm not sure I could have done much to help," he says. They shot better with a prosthetic hand.". And even with that giant beard he had, it didnt take long for us to realize that we had the right guy. While the rest of the Pentagon is scaling back spending, special-operations forces are asking for more. I love this sense of kind of duty, honor and country that I saw in this greatest generation. And Ive seen it in this current generation, the millennials and the Gen Z. HOOVER: In 2003, you were the commander of Task Force 714 in Iraq. A hard landing off to the side. Thank you for your service. And on the plaque is a Home Depot tape measure. So for 30 days, I came in every day to check on him and then would leave the small room without engaging him. From 2015 to 2018, he was the chancellor of The University of Texas System.. McRaven served from June 13, 2008 to August 2011 as commander of Joint Special Operations . MCRAVEN: Yeah, I would say its a little surreal, but, you know, I go back to that whole operation and Ive offered to the American people, regardless of what side of the political aisle you might be on, you know, you would have been proud of the national security team the president, the vice president, secretary of state, secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, director of national intelligence director of the CIA all of these men and women that came together to do what was right by the nation. And I really didnt have any relief in terms of the mission until after all the helicopters had come back across the border, the Afghan border and were landing at the back at our base. Then, I thought, well, you know, thats probably not very distinguished for the three star admiral to be lying down next to the body. As you point out. Stay up to date with what you want to know. You said, quote, As a commander, you would like to be in ultimate control of all of the decisions, but the reality is you cant be. Every particular of his missions remains classified. SEAL training was a great equalizer. But, you know, I think leaders know how to recognize other leaders. William McRaven was tumbling from the sky, and there wasn't much sky left. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. We know that theyre getting ready to launch aircraft to come intercept us. She was seriously injured in a parachute accident. The sentiments appear to be mutual, for McRaven and his special-operations units. Tell me about the impact that Moki Martin had on you. They could see fine out of just one eye. You know, you were also in charge of a very successful high seas rescue of Captain Phillips, who was held hostage by pirates off the coast of Somalia. General William Westmoreland joined the original firing line with William F. Buckley Jr. in 1979 for a conversation called, quote, the crisis in the US military. INSKEEP: Admiral, one other thing occurs to me. And you know what? Tell us about that. In fact, we had a plan with what we were going to do with bin Laden if we captured him. You were on a helicopter leaving Baghdad and you suddenly wanted to turn it around. Around that time came a call from Wayne Downing, a retired Army four-star general. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to retired Adm. William McRaven, who may be best-known as the Navy SEAL commander who oversaw the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, about his new memoir. You know, we had a lot of kind of heated discussions in the meetings I was in, but there was never any rancor. 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