n your account of the rescue. We actually didnt have a drone. We know that theyre getting ready to launch aircraft to come intercept us. But again, to your point, I had a moral and legal obligation to make sure that we took good care of him. And you know, after a couple days, they pinned me and plated me and got me going. Thank you, Margaret. McRaven: He went from being pompous and arrogant to frankly, just being, : The first people I want to thank are the SEALs. With her father by her side, she laughed off the injury like it was a scratch. He went right into Naval Special Warfare, serving in SEAL Team Six under its creator, Richard Marchinko who fired McRaven for being too rigid. On the downside, "relative superiority" does not last long. : Basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months. 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. 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. While encouraging the students to improve the world, . Admiral William H. McRaven, Address to Class of 2015, 18 January 2014. November 6, 1955. Why is that, Admiral? "I said to him, 'You can grow up to be 007.' Capture him if you can, but if he presents a threat at all, any threat whatsoever, kill him.. An experienced skydiver and another man died in an accident in Australia over the weekend after falling out of a plane. But it was a relatively straightforward mission in terms of the first part of it. Adm. William McRaven shares anecdotes from his life and military career. You told the SEAL Team Six, This mission is to capture or kill bin Laden. 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. 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. 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. And I was just honored to be part of the operation. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Now, a principle of democracy is, for every right there is a duty. You were hit by a fellow divers canopy. And of course, it started in SEAL training. Updated at 5:38 p.m. And you know what? In 2003, you were the commander of Task Force 714 in Iraq. As McRaven tells it, the leg with his pilot chute wrapped around it and the leg with the risers, the straps used to connect the parachute and steer it, were wrapped around the other leg. We had a helicopter with an optical ball on it that was providing our ISR, our video coverage, if you will. She was seriously injured in a parachute accident. But here's what I'll tell you. HOOVER: 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. And a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better. So Im getting radio calls from the ground force commander. 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. MCRAVEN: Well, I think its interesting when you think about Westmorelands observation in context. I didnt want to because I didnt want him to think that he was somehow important enough to be able to engage El Jefe, as he called me. I think he still felt that he would come back into power. commander under the obama administration. 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 . I knew that there would have to be some sort of follow on action against Al-Qaeda. You got to find out, one, is everybody OK? If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. As the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, he led a force of 69,000 men and women and was responsible for conducting counter-terrorism operations worldwide. 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? You know, Ive heard you say that you are the quote biggest fan of the millennial generation and generation and Gen Z. 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. . Im listening to the radio. INSKEEP: You write that somehow your staff sometimes lost people's paperwork. I kind of tumble through the parachute. But it wasnt the first time Id had a, quote, premonition. It was going to be a staff job at . . INSKEEP: Admiral William H. McRaven is author of "Sea Stories: My Life In Special Operations." Take us inside that closet as you watched your SEALS enter Pakistan and clear the compound floor by floor. . He was a Vietnam vet. You know, if we go out and stop one suicide bomber from blowing up a market in Baghdad where a hundred people are killed, who are those hundred people? And I was just honored to be part of the operation. (See TIME's 2008 Person of the Year: Barack Obama. And just something said, hey, we got to turn around, weve got to get back, because, you know, tonights going to be the night. As they neared the release point, one of the men below McRaven drifted directly underneath. Take a look at this video. Did you have a sense that you would follow in your fathers footsteps? William Harry McRaven (born November 6, 1955) is a retired United States Navy four-star admiral who served as the ninth commander of the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) from August 8, 2011 to August 28, 2014. Bush famously kept a list of al-Qaeda leaders in his Oval Office desk drawer and drew an X over each face as the target was captured or killed. Bin Laden was in American hands, status adjusted: "enemy killed in action." Michael E. Thornton - BUD/S Class 49. HOOVER: Its quite striking because you write that the command center breaks into cheers, but you, quote, had no sense of relief, no internal exhilaration, no feeling of victory. Back then, he was worried about whether or not the youth would stand up and join the military. . Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations, quote, I was having one of those feelings, again, inexplicable, powerful, eerie, one I couldnt shake and I certainly couldnt rationalize. William H. McRaven. I mean, who in the world is going to join the military for relatively low pay, to put your life at risk, et cetera, et cetera? MCRAVEN: I had arrived in Iraq in October of 2003, and we were hunting Saddam Hussein. 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. Just like the young female sergeant who I just visited at Walter Reed this week. Yeah, it was interesting. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. william mcraven on his time in the military and his criticism of president trump. So I think all of those kind of clicked in my mind. In a special edition celebrating Independence Day, four-star Admiral William H. McRaven shares stories of heroism from his 37 years of service to America, including details behind the capture of Saddam Hussein and the killing of Osama bin Laden. ET. He also survived being ripped in half by a parachute. His father, a career Air Force officer, was stationed at Pope Air Force Base, now known as Pope Field, part of Fort Bragg. We always find heroes in the next generation that are more than willing to serve and sacrifice. The sentiments appear to be mutual, for McRaven and his special-operations units. . By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Admiral William McRaven is a retired U.S. Navy four-star Admiral. SEAL training was a great equalizer. What I would offer is I think when he finally realized that he no longer had his palaces, he no longer had his generals, he no longer had his handmaidens, he went from being pompous and arrogant to frankly, just being, you know, a tired, corrupt old man. No Americans were harmed. He also survived a gnarly parachuting accident that broke his back and pelvis in 2001 during an exercise near . Now, what I am getting, of course, is reports from the ground force commander when shots are fired. Taking Apart al-Qaeda That is not exactly the same as choosing two commandments to rebut in church, but it is provocative. Ill lie down next to the body just to see whether or not the remains are a little longer. McRaven had to watch the American response on television as he recovered. "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. And even with that giant beard he had, it didnt take long for us to realize that we had the right guy. 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 . The most recent internal tally counted more than 2,500 such commando missions in and around Afghanistan over 12 months. But I would go in every day to check on him. And in the case of the rescue of Captain Phillips, the guys on scene made all the right calls. TOM HANKS: Four skiffs carrying armed men. You got to find out, one, is everybody OK? The mishap happened when Chief . Image: MIT News Office. Tell us about that. But having been through these missions before, what I always know is, you know, you really have to sit down with the operators. But they do know you as the make-your-bed guy. There was something about the new intelligence, something about the confidence of the intelligence, something about everything. Did we inadvertently kill people we shouldnt have killed? 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. And you've probably seen the iconic photo of the spider hole. Thank you for your service. So I get hit," he recalls. I went back to my little headquarters area, got back on the video with the president and the president said, OK, Bill, let me get this straight. So Rob ONeill and his teammate, when they came up Again, there were no helmet cams. I don't know whether I've been knocked unconscious. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education and not your social status. In fact, we had a plan with what we were going to do with bin Laden if we captured him. It's one of the tales he recounts in his new memoir, titled "Sea Stories: My Life In Special Forces" (ph). To be a good leader, you have to be a good communicator. And now I'm tumbling out of control towards the ground. The good news is, as I fell a couple hundred feet or a thousand feet or so, the parachute finally opened. The story of identifying the body is such a memorable one. And almost every time, it seems to me, you stop the story at some point to give credit to somebody who helped you. "Part of the chute wrapped around one leg, the risers around the other, and the good news is that it opened. Retired Adm. William McRaven earned fame for leading US special-operations forces on some of their most well-known missions. 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. But that particular day, I actually had a meeting down in Qatar. We always find heroes in the next generation that are more than willing to serve and sacrifice. 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. And to this day, Moki oversees the triathlon that we run every year as part of our underwater demolition team and our SEAL fraternity. Take us inside that closet as you watched your SEALS enter Pakistan and clear the compound floor by floor. As it turned out, in a dark room at night. These lessons helped Admiral William McRaven overcome SEAL training and found that they applied to overcome life's challenges. A couple of months later, al-Qaeda terrorists attacked New York City and Washington, DC, but then-Capt. One of its central messages was intended to caution against a literal idea of combat: "We will not triumph solely or even primarily through military might. As it turned out, in a dark room at night. Moki, to me was this kind of quintessential Navy SEAL. And, of course, that generation, you know, they were children of the Great Depression. to meet with the CENTCOM commander. So whenever a shot is fired, somebody is reporting through the chain. Marcinko picked McRaven to lead a team in the hot new command with a purposely wonky name: Naval Special Warfare Development Group. I wonder what you think we can do to convince more people to make their beds every morning? And you think that contributed to his decline in custody? . as well as other partner offers and accept our. And as we're taking off from the C-130 and we're kind of getting out of Baghdad, all of a sudden it hits me - this is going to be the day we're getting him. With her father by her side, she laughed off the injury like it was a scratch. . ), "The President was at all times presidential," he says. Retired Adm. William McRaven is a lot of things. 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. And then he fired three rounds. 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. " 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. Olson was the first Navy SEAL ever to be appointed to three-star and four-star flag rank, as well . This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. I mean, he was, to me, the gold standard in Navy SEALs. And that was pretty evident. Well, 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. I guess he did.". McRaven recovered and rose up the ranks. While nothing is definitive, "all indications are pointing to the fact" that Israel was behind a cyberattack that knocked out power at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility over the weekend, retired U.S. Navy Adm. William McRaven said Monday, and he finds the allegations "a little disturbing" given that the U.S. and other countries are currently trying to renegotiate the 2015 Iran nuclear . "I want to confirm we have a call of 'Geronimo EKIA,' " he said evenly. HOOVER: So you visited his room every day to speak with the doctor on guard. It absolutely was not. (Photo Credit: United States Navy / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain) McRaven's plan was successful and bin Laden was killed by SEAL Team 6 on May 2, 2011. I was heading out of Iraq, heading to AL U.D.(?) 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. Moki, to me was this kind of quintessential Navy SEAL. All the men went off to World War Two, and then they came back and rebuilt the country. They were children of World War One. 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. HOOVER: 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. By the time U.S. intelligence pinpointed its quarry, McRaven was a three-star admiral atop the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the U.S. military's clandestine strike force. ", Secret Agent Man He had leadership skills we'd expect from a guy who had 35 years in the military." We were holding our breath whether he could make it. So while I didnt know at a young age that I wanted to follow in my fathers footsteps, I dont think it took me long before I realized that this was the path that was the right fit for me. "Look how much of their leadership we've taken apart and how long it's taken, and the movement is still not dead," says Wade Ishimoto, a former Delta Force intelligence officer. And sure enough, by the time we got back, the great Army Special Operations unit had gotten the lead. McRaven grew up as an officer in the aftermath. Well, thats true of every mission you conduct, youve got to be able to delegate to people that you have trust and confidence in. SINGAPORE - The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) had to prise open a taxi's roof to rescue two female passengers following an accident in the early hours of Saturday morning (July 10). You know, we had a lot of kind of heated discussions in the meetings I was in, but there was never any rancor. What I would offer is I think when he finally realized that he no longer had his palaces, he no longer had his generals, he no longer had his handmaidens, he went from being pompous and arrogant to frankly, just being, you know, a tired, corrupt old man. You wrote in your book, Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations, quote, I was having one of those feelings, again, inexplicable, powerful, eerie, one I couldnt shake and I certainly couldnt rationalize. I think he still felt that he would come back into power. 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. Operation Neptune Spear stripped al-Qaeda of its iconic leader and offered a kind of recompense for the traumas of 9/11. I said, hey, son, how tall are you? William McRaven: We were doing a freefall. For most of the past decade, McRaven hunted down high-value targets overseas. By the time I landed back in Baghdad, the force was moving towards the target and within, you know, within an hours time, the Armys special operations guys that were working for me had had, in fact, captured Saddam Hussein. He was later memorialized in an eponymous film starring Tom Hanks. And now I'm tumbling out of control towards the ground.". Do you mind recounting it? You wrote in your book. "Well, he pulls his parachute, and I collide with his parachute little bit like getting hit by an air bag. MCRAVEN: Well, you know, there are people who I meet every day who have no idea I ever spent a day in uniform. On May 1, with President Obama's go-ahead, it was McRaven who commanded the helicopter assault against the al-Qaeda leader's redoubt in Abbottabad, Pakistan. . McRaven, who served as the ninth commander of the U.S. Special Operations command from . Yeah, it was actually a C-130. He was arrogant. Dazed at the impact, he pulled his cord only to find himself tangled up in the parachute's lines. A hard landing off to the side. 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. 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