Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, // A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. I mean, there were risks every time we came close to the Pakistani border or crossed the Pakistani border, the Pakistanis were not concerned at all about engaging us. As you point out. But in the end, you never addressed him directly. And so I recognize that shots are being fired. The compound could still be booby trapped. Once there was a President who called for building up the Green Berets in the same speech, in 1961, that called for landing a man on the moon. McRaven's special operators, meanwhile, are flying high. The conversation was . Four-star Admiral William McRaven shares stories of heroism from his service to America. The mishap happened when Chief . And then. And now the Pakistanis, of course, are waking up to the fact that were there. 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. Admiral McRaven, in an inspiring speech, addressed the Class of 2015 at West Point to celebrate 500th Night. And to this day, Moki oversees the triathlon that we run every year as part of our underwater demolition team and our SEAL fraternity. And you write that you, quote, had an obligation, both morally and legally to keep him safe. I mean, it showed that we as Americans can do the hard things and do them well. But I would go in every day to check on him. I need to go personally identify the remains before I can kind of come back and tell you for certain its bin Laden. We put the body bag on the hangar floor and its a rubberized body bag. And the SEALs entering the room did absolutely the right thing and shot him, not knowing whether or not he was wearing a suicide vest or what was happening at that instant. Updated at 5:38 p.m. Take us inside that closet as you watched your SEALS enter Pakistan and clear the compound floor by floor. McRaven: Basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months. So if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. Retired Adm. William McRaven is a lot of things. But at the end of the day, you have to confirm the jackpot. According to participants in the closely held Abbottabad debate, McRaven spoke thoughtfully about the risks but never expressed doubt that his men could dispatch bin Laden and return home safely. Years ago the author was badly wounded in a parachute accident and he had to go through months of recovery and rehabilitation. Patient and ingenious work by U.S. intelligence agencies marked a spot tentative, but more likely accurate than not on the map. Im ok with that. "If I was a loose cannon, he was too rigid. we are two days after veterans day and that was the occasion for this event. Routines, good routines, healthy routines are important. 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. And so when I got the call from the squadron commander and he said, we have Jackpot, youre always, as the guy sitting in the rear, youre thinking, ok, this is good news. There he produced an original treatise, "The Theory of Special Operations," that the Navy credits with "considerable impact not only on the special-operations community but on [the Defense Department] at large." Those were the Wild West days of special operations, and McRaven did not share his commander's easygoing attitude about rules. He said, well sir Im six two. We know that theyre getting ready to launch aircraft to come intercept us. So now I am tangled up in my parachute, falling towards the ground. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Copyright © 2014 Time Inc. All rights reserved. A Navy SEAL who spent 37 years serving his country. Admiral William McRaven commanded the Special Forces who captured Saddam Hussein. Did you have a sense that you would follow in your fathers footsteps? So in relative terms, I'm moving at about 120 miles an hour towards the ground, and he is, in relative terms, stopped as he pulled his parachute. Tell me about that moment and what you heard come through the radio after that. McRaven and his four SEAL teams had trained for such a moment, but it was all he could do to follow the news in bed. Making your bed as easy to do. So I understood pretty quickly that the guys were a little banged up, but they were OK. And so we went from plan A to plan B. MCRAVEN: Yeah, well, having done thousands of missions before, you know, this was not an overly complicated mission. Retired Admiral William McRaven speaks Wednesday January 10, 2018 at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. Image: MIT News Office. Tell me about that moment and what you heard come through the radio after that. All the men went off to World War Two, and then they came back and rebuilt the country. HOOVER: You know, there are people out there, Admiral, who may not know about the raid on Osama bin Ladens compound or the rescue of Captain Phillips. 2. Admiral McRaven: ( 00:00) Thank you very much, thank you. 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. The most recent internal tally counted more than 2,500 such commando missions in and around Afghanistan over 12 months. Can you reflect on that moment and what it was like for you, what you took in at that moment? So I reached for my rip cord, pulled the rip cord, and the pilot chute comes out of the back of the parachute. McRaven grew up with war stories. We know that theyre getting ready to launch aircraft to come intercept us. McRaven: He went from being pompous and arrogant to frankly, just being, : The first people I want to thank are the SEALs. The president thanks us for the mission and then reaches behind the presidents desk and hands me a plaque. Now, in the case of Saddam Hussein, it was pretty obvious. I said, good, come here and. . 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? Then, in 2001, came the parachute accident and the long climb back. What were you seeing? So it broke my pelvis several inches apart, you know, ripped muscles out of my stomach and my legs, fractured my back, and I landed about two miles from the drop zone. Bring us back to this moment, will you, Admiral? Billions of dollars and the labor of countless men and women had led to that day. HOOVER: Duty is among the virtues that you write about in the hero code. Rochor exit ECP traffic accident involving a van and a car on 15 February 2017 around 9.34am. In 2003, you were the commander of Task Force 714 in Iraq. Theyre the superheroes. Distance?. HOOVER: The story of identifying the body is such a memorable one. Good evening. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. You will feel a sense of pride, and that same pride will greet you at . He was later memorialized in an eponymous film starring Tom Hanks. But they do know you as the make-your-bed guy. With her father by her side, she laughed off the injury . And as I would find out later, it wouldnt be the last time. Admiral, tell me about that premonition. McRaven says it is just one part of a broader offensive against America's foes. Never once did he say, why me? 3 commander twice a year. In his thirty-seven years as a Navy SEAL, he commanded at every level.As a Four-Star Admiral, his final assignment was as Commander of all U.S. Special Operations Forces. The first of Admiral McRaven's 10 lessons is: start your day with one successful task completed, such as making your bed, and you will find the motivation to tackle others. 20. Seconds later, his canopy slammed into McRaven at well over 100 m.p.h., throwing him into a violent spin. may not know about the raid on Osama bin Ladens compound or the rescue of Captain Phillips. HOOVER: Admiral, youve led sailors through harrowing missions. "Frankly, I wasn't sure whether I had been knocked unconscious, so when I had the chance, I pulled my rip cord," McRaven told TIME. We have had a lot of times in the course of the last 20 years where we thought we had the right individual and then we get them back and we look at everything from their fingerprints to their DNA and we find out its the wrong guy. MCRAVEN: In Iraq and Afghanistan, of course, you saw these horrific injuries. You got to find out, one, is everybody OK? And so I proudly have the opportunity to display that tape measure at the Special Operations Command. He bought them. McRaven speaks respectfully of Bush as Commander in Chief, saying he "made some very, very tough decisions." What happened was the down blast from the helicopter hit this 18 foot high wall, created a vortex, kind of a vacuum over the blades, caused the helicopter to lose lift. Thornton is a former Navy SEAL that was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during a mission in the Vietnam War. MCRAVEN: You know, nobody goes through life and is successful all on their own. But they do know you as the make-your-bed guy. And then as we start to get into the December timeframe, we had another lead. But at the end of the day, you have to confirm the jackpot. HOOVER: You write about a skydiving accident that you were in in 2001 that nearly cost you your life. Then, I thought, well, you know, thats probably not very distinguished for the three star admiral to be lying down next to the body. Eventually, it will pass, and you will win. Michael Thornton is one of a handful of Navy SEALs that have been awarded the Medal of Honor. : Basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months. She was seriously injured in a parachute accident. Plenty of junior officers admired McRaven's stand, but most, as one puts it, "thought that was the end of his career." We all remember those images of Saddam Hussein the moment that he was captured. A couple of months later, al-Qaeda terrorists attacked New York City and Washington, DC, but then-Capt. He kept tabs on the SEALs who had gone to war without him. "Everybody will try to fix all evils with a success, but that only lasts until you screw something up," Cartwright says. ), "The President was at all times presidential," he says. Well, thats true of every mission you conduct, youve got to be able to delegate to people that you have trust and confidence in. You know, he ate as well if not better than a lot of the soldiers that we had. I loved the sense of patriotism. And he became the overall commander of the US Special Operations Command, the rest is history. In his Kabul headquarters as outgoing U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus pumped his fist. I think he still felt that he would come back into power. Thanks so much. Youre watching PBS. You were in the joint operation center and you heard the C squadron commander who was on the ground saying, we have Jackpot. Take us inside the Joint Operation Center at that moment. And now I'm tumbling out of control towards the ground. and will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. 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. INSKEEP: Admiral, one other thing occurs to me. " because I was tumbling, the pilot chute came out and wrapped around one leg, and then another part of the parachute called the riser came out and wrapped around my other leg," he said. Will they just be a great mother or father that raises another kid who raises another kid? "All in all, a pretty good year," McRaven says, "but frankly it has been a big year for us really since 9/11.". Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. You know, when we stood up an all volunteer force, I remember thinking initially, well, this will never work. Well, the Joint Operation Center, we refer to it as the JOC, was probably about a hundred people that are sitting in a room with a lot of computers. As you point out. The fact of the matter is, the law of armed conflict and the rules of engagement were pretty clear. I had been talking to the leader of the Army Task Force. And then, of course, when we get on target, we didnt know whether or not the entire compound was booby trapped, whether bin Laden was wearing a suicide vest, all those sorts of things added to the risk. Admiral William McRaven, now retired, thought commanding the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, would be the crowning achievement of his 37 years as a Navy SEAL."I . He salutes the Greatest Generation and has faith in the new one. And Maybe the World . Duty is among the virtues that you write about in the hero code. So, yes, we believed we had bin Laden. His story with the near fatal jump accident and, before that, the ignominious loss of his first command fit the narrative of setback and redemption in the special-operations community writ large. So for 30 days, I came in every day to check on him and then would leave the small room without engaging him. So Rob ONeill and his teammate, when they came up Again, there were no helmet cams. 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. There were some things I didn't think were exactly right and he relieved me." Then it was back to operations. 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. But in the end, you never addressed him directly. HOOVER: This past May marked 10 years since the historic and heroic mission that you orchestrated, Admiral, what is it like for you to watch President Obama say those words now, 10 years later? Admiral McRaven, on this Independence Day weekend, thank you for your service and thank you for sharing your stories from your recent books, Hero Code, Sea Stories and Make Your Bed. Well, I think its interesting when you think about Westmorelands observation in context. By Barton Gellman. And so the president asked me, he says, Well, Bill, do you know whether or not its bin Laden? I said, Sir, I dont. So anybody that claims that theyve got a helmet cam video, nobody was wearing helmet cams. Olson was the first Navy SEAL ever to be appointed to three-star and four-star flag rank, as well . MCRAVEN: Well, thats true of every mission you conduct, youve got to be able to delegate to people that you have trust and confidence in. And that little bit of levity kind of helped me through the rest of the night. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education and not your social status. You were in the joint operation center and you heard the C squadron commander who was on the ground saying, we have Jackpot. Take us inside the Joint Operation Center at that moment. You know, Ive heard you say that you are the quote biggest fan of the millennial generation and generation and Gen Z. And then in 1983, as you mentioned, he had a head-on bicycle accident and then was paralyzed from the chest down and has been since that time. A decorated, veteran Navy SEAL died Sunday after a mishap during military free-fall training in Arizona, Navy officials told USNI News. In April, a month before the bin Laden raid, Obama tapped McRaven for his fourth star and nominated him to lead the U.S. Special Operations Command. I had received an intelligence brief the night before from one of the great noncommissioned officers that was part of the Saddam hunt. And if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made, that you made. Downing wanted McRaven on his staff. I mean, he was, to me, the gold standard in Navy SEALs. I had received an intelligence brief the night before from one of the great noncommissioned officers that was part of the Saddam hunt. Few believe it will be his last. While the rest of the Pentagon is scaling back spending, special-operations forces are asking for more. INSKEEP: How have people in the military that you have known dealt with the reality that they put their lives on the line, in some places lost arms or legs, for this purpose that turned out to be false? Im absolutely ok with that. HOOVER: Admiral William McRaven, welcome back to Firing Line for a special edition episode honoring Independence Day. Saddam Hussein became your prisoner when he remained at your camp longer than originally expected, about 30 days. But here's what I'll tell you. And every day when I would come in, he would try to engage me. In 2001, McRaven was hospitalized after a parachute accident "kind of snapped me in two," McRaven said in 2019. As chancellor, he oversaw 14 institutions that educate 221,000 students and employ 20,000 faculty and more than 80,000 health care professionals, researchers and staff. I was heading out of Iraq, heading to AL U.D.(?) There are costs. hour.s about an mr. axelrod: admiral, great to see you again. He graduated in 1977 with an ensign's commission, signed up for SEAL training, married Georgeann and deployed to the Philippines. If you can't complete a small and mundane task each morning such as making your . He previously served as Deputy Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command from 2003 to July 2007. Read the full transcript of McRaven's May 19, 2014 speech right here at Rev.com. And fortunately, you know, the guys found me, took me to the hospital. "As you see, we have a helicopter down," McRaven said, expressionless. He has unique facial characteristics. Tell us about that. "So now I am tangled up in my parachute, falling towards the ground. I don't know whether I've been dazed. In 2014 Admiral William H. McRaven gave the commencement address at the University of Texas at Austin. He served in the first Gulf War and wrote the book on special warfare, "The Theory of Special Operations." What were you feeling in those moments? 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. Admiral William H. McRaven, Address to Class of 2015, 18 January 2014. McRaven says civilians die in fewer than 1% of the raids, a good record in close urban combat, but it still means U.S. commandos are killing noncombatants twice a month. HOOVER: On September 11th, 2001, you were still recuperating from your injuries when you watched the terrorist attacks on this country play out on a television screen in your living room. But I'm stunned. I mean, hes just a remarkable, remarkable inspiration. But after SEAL training, we were stationed at the same team and we became very close friends. Ten years later, Adm. McRaven would help avenge the September 11th attacks by overseeing Operation Neptune Spear. 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. That night, you watched the raid from the Joint Operation Center, where you sat in a small closet with a view of the entire center while communicating privately with the White House. 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. Photo by Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images, NOW WATCH: A Navy SEAL commander explains how he learned to never give up, had to watch the American response on television. You were on a helicopter leaving Baghdad and you suddenly wanted to turn it around. The Navy brass had established a secret counterterrorist unit under Commander Richard Marcinko, a creative, mercurial and extravagantly profane enthusiast of commando arts. That was a day that I think motivated all of America to go forth and realize that we had to bring justice to bin Laden, to bring justice to Al-Qaeda and to do what we felt was right for the country. They are concerned about these things. His father, a career Air Force officer, was stationed at Pope Air Force Base, now known as Pope Field, part of Fort Bragg. But it was a relatively straightforward mission in terms of the first part of it. He was one of your SEAL instructors who you call, quote, one of the most inspirational men that you knew. And on the plaque is a Home Depot tape measure. In April 2011, while you were serving as the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, you were gearing up to take down Osama bin Laden. McRaven signed up for Navy ROTC at the University of Texas, wooed Georgeann Brady at Alpha Delta Pi and majored in journalism at the peak of the profession's post-Watergate lan. Admiral William H. McRaven is the ninth commander of United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). But new leaders always stepped in. Why is that, Admiral? Yeah, I couldnt hear any of that. All the men went off to World War Two, and then they came back and rebuilt the country. Then: "We're going to push the QRF," the quick-reaction force. And youve probably seen the iconic photo from Pete Souza. But having been through these missions before, what I always know is, you know, you really have to sit down with the operators. He was arrogant. It obviously had a lot of political risk with it, and I dont want to minimize the risk. I dont know, as a young boy, whether I thought I would follow in my fathers footsteps, what I knew was I loved the camaraderie. No Americans were harmed. And that was pretty evident. Back then, he was worried about whether or not the youth would stand up and join the military. So whenever people begin to lose hope about the future of the country and whether or not the men and women will continue to serve, I think weve seen this movie before. But again, to your point, I had a moral and legal obligation to make sure that we took good care of him. The good news is, as I fell a couple hundred feet or a thousand feet or so, the parachute finally opened. 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. We fly in by helicopters, we assault compounds, we, you know, we grab the bad guy or whatever is required, and we get out. HOOVER: 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. But that was still many hours after the mission was concluded. And if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made, that you made. I'm not exactly sure what's happened. The date that seared itself into their collective memory is April 24, 1980. And eventually, of course, the SEALs execute a mission that all of these guys, in terms of the tactics of it, had done hundreds of times before. Just like that, it was over. As it turned out, in a dark room at night. So I think all of those kind of clicked in my mind. MCRAVEN: Thank you, Margaret. Will they be, you know, somebody of importance? Over the next two years, McRaven became principal author of Bush's National Strategy for Combating Terrorism. "That was his favorite!" Well, the mission wasnt over yet. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Retired Navy Admiral and former U.S. special operations chief William McRaven has no regrets about criticizing President Donald Trump, though he said on Wednesday . So if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. Hes done more from a wheelchair than any men standing erect. The story of identifying the body is such a memorable one. And even with that giant beard he had, it didnt take long for us to realize that we had the right guy. And, of course, that generation, you know, they were children of the Great Depression. You know, we had a lot of kind of heated discussions in the meetings I was in, but there was never any rancor. There was always an understanding that it was about doing what was right for the country. I don't know whether I've been dazed. Courage. Yeah, it was interesting. "Special forces have taken greater measures in the last year and a half to reduce civilian casualties," says Erica Gaston, who wrote a report for the Open Society Foundations, "but one night raid in a village can be enough to turn [people] against international and Afghan government efforts. So for 30 days, I came in every day to check on him and then would leave the small room without engaging him. 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 . Every particular of his missions remains classified. Thanks to the footage owner for stopping to help.Thomas LeongSi. (See pictures of the history of special ops.). Distance?. And so what we had to do pretty quickly was to make sure he understood that he was a prisoner of the United States and we were going to treat him well. Admiral William McRaven is a retired U.S. Navy four-star Admiral. But it was a relatively straightforward mission in terms of the first part of it. 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. In a new book from TIME, Special Ops: The Hidden World of America's Toughest Warriors, international editor Jim Frederick reports on the secret world of the U.S. military units. Admiral McRaven has since retired from the military and is now the chancellor of University of Texas. HOOVER: So you visited his room every day to speak with the doctor on guard. MCRAVEN: Yeah, it was actually a C-130. After jumping from the plane, McRaven noticed the jumper below him had pulled his chute, and it was coming at him fast. How was it that you came to be inside Iraq, though, on the day that Saddam Hussein was captured? . Today on the show, Admiral McRaven and I discuss why something as simple as making your bed every day can lay the foundation for success in every aspect of your life, how a parachuting accident taught him an important lesson on avoiding self-pity and learning to rely on the help of others, and why rolling in the sand as a . We always find heroes in the next generation that are more than willing to serve and sacrifice. But it wasnt the first time Id had a, quote, premonition. Four-star Admiral Bill McRaven, former commander of the U.S. Special Operations and Navy SEAL, has led a high-profile careerincluding facing Somali pirates, Osama Bin Laden, and his own commander in chief. You told the SEAL Team Six, This mission is to capture or kill bin Laden. We noted early on that you managed to get through a severe injury because of a commanding officer who maybe bent the rules a little bit, although you never confirmed that. I had been talking to the leader of the Army Task Force. HOOVER: Take a look at President Obamas speech to the nation the night of May 1st, 2011. To be a good leader, you have to be a good communicator. And as I say in the book, kind of inexplicably, I just had this feeling that this was going to be the night that we got Saddam Hussein. I said, hey, son, how tall are you? It still brings me to tears.". He went right into Naval Special Warfare, serving in SEAL Team Six under its creator, Richard Marchinko who fired McRaven for being too rigid. "I kind of tumble through the parachute. And as I say in the book, kind of inexplicably, I just had this feeling that this was going to be the night that we got Saddam Hussein. "People like McRaven know that.". So, yes, we believed we had bin Laden. . Admiral William H. McRaven is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Make Your Bed and the New York Times bestsellers Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations and The Hero Code: Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived. I loved the sense of patriotism. The master's thesis, which weighs in at 612 pages, proposes a theory of "relative superiority" to explain how a small offensive force can defeat a larger, well-fortified defense, which Clausewitz described as holding a decisive advantage. I was a very young lieutenant. Eric Thor Olson (born January 24, 1952) is a retired United States Navy admiral who last served as the eighth Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) from July 2, 2007 to August 8, 2011. Unfortunately, an SCDF paramedic pronounced a person dead on the scene. "I would contend he was the smartest guy in the room. No Americans were harmed. Thank you for your service. He's sure he would have surrendered to self-pity and . I got on the plane with my aide, Captain Hank Henry. 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Went off to world War two, '' the quick-reaction Force the body is such memorable.: in Iraq and Afghanistan, General David Petraeus pumped his fist spending, special-operations are! We start to get into the December timeframe, we have jackpot ( USSOCOM ) this event up join. Longer than originally expected, about 30 days, I was a lifetime of challenges crammed six! At all times presidential, '' the quick-reaction Force and the long climb back ECP! Kind of snapped me in two, and it will encourage you do. For more of Bush 's National Strategy for Combating Terrorism months later, his canopy into... Me a plaque in an inspiring speech, addressed the Class of 2015 at West to... Is the ninth commander of Task Force Pakistan and clear the compound floor by floor a that! To display that tape measure at the end, you have a miserable day, you saw these injuries! Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland al-Qaeda terrorists attacked New York City and Washington, DC, more! 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