Robert O'Neil - Never Quit!

our special guest speaker mr. Robert O'Neill is one of the most highly decorated combat veterans of our time he's a team leader for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group deployed in more than a dozen times and held leadership roles in over 400 missions as a Navy SEAL team leader mr. O'Neill certifications include master training specialists Special Warfare sniper survival expert and master naval parachuter to name a few mr. O'Neill has been decorated more than 52 times with honors including two silver stars four Bronze Stars with ballet a joint service commendation medal with valor as well as three Presidential Unit Citations and two Navy Marine Corps commendations with valid since leaving out active duty Seesmic since leaving active duty O'Neill's how the best-selling book titled the operator in which he takes readers on an intimate journey into a number of missions including the rescue of Captain Phillips from Somali pirates the rescue of lone survivor marcus luttrell from behind enemy lines in Afghanistan the book offers powerful stories and new insights into our war on terror and captures the fierce and unique brotherhood among Navy SEALs most significant significantly the book recounts the preparation for the u.s. attack on Osama bin Laden's compound in May of 2011 since leaving active duty O'Neill is a co-founder you're grateful nation which provides individualized transition support for Special Operations heroes and their families they provide executive level mentoring transition services and family stabilization support he is also a contributor for Fox News [Applause] legendary naval special warfare developmental assessment of all the nation's most challenging majestic scored and of all time O'Neal's of every was formed two combatants across four different views in an expanding opportunity using mostly the spirit stranded in a classified clover so Nina was the Vandal around we had never heard of but now exists as one of the professionals for the most vividly tasks the most available circumstances serving is a remarkable career in the shadows [Music] honors of the consumers laws more broad stars without a choice expedition led by presidential misogynist at a bigger conversation about was tough and years old optimism conditions Lamoreaux meals and living in function always and characteristics greatest Oh Robert oatmeal thank you what I kind of want to do today is I'm not gonna I'm not gonna stand up here and talk about the bin Laden raid because that's the story's been told it's out there and a lot of people know it went down it is I have some of my books I'll be signing later call me operator if details and they're approved by the Pentagon approved by the Department of Defense at certain agencies so that's what happened on the mission that night the spoiler alert for the book is at the end of it bin Laden dies [Applause] talk about other missions that we did that we actually more exciting the lessons we learned from being high performance teams and the traits that will comment to being successful I've been on the private sector now for quite a while and yet to see rules not work with other people so the team building skills would be had to comment training for combat we were really good for one reason we were good to each other you know we believe that morale is high the team works harder I had bosses in the Navy that you don't need to say in the military but they say please and thank you for normal work just to let you know you're part of the team actually you can write this down to one of our models as nobody wants to work for a dick I remember that another reason we were successful is we learn the difference between over planning and being prepared the too often people want to plan and we're going to sit here and plan the plan through the planning room and no one gets to go home until we have the perfect plan but what we learn is the only time the perfect plan exists is in the planning room you know we wonder that in combat once we believe that when we call execute the mission Murphy would stroll up everything changes a prime example was we had a few weeks to Train for the mission to kill Osama bin Laden we had the perfect plan some of the best tactical minds came up with a perfect plan we rehearsed every single day day and night all day long with helicopters all night long with helicopters we were done with that 15-hour day we go back to where we're staying you're standing on a table as a exactly what the bin Laden compound looks like and we talked about the perfect plan and one you know we can happen to it one of the very tired box of cinnamon what's the worst thing that could happen and immediately the youngest kind of route said helicopter crash to the front yard we're like what the by about 30 seconds and that's exactly what happened so we were able to take the potentially catastrophic event and turn it to something positive not because of our perfect plan which never even came close to coming to fruition it was because of our preparation another reason we're successful is we learned how to take emotion out of the decision-making process that your initial reaction is usually the wrong reaction and supportive take a deep breath and you take a step back make an informed decision it's like go ahead and type that angry text but wait 24 hours if it's still you're angry about that is probably legit I would tell my guys even in combat don't react do respond and the fourth thing is no matter what we never quit the too often people are so close to a long-term goal and have a bad day or a series of bad days which believe me you can have you're not having a bad life you're having a bad day take that wrap off time does feel everything we we've learned about this the hard way at young ages in a school that every world very very difficult to get through but it's not difficult to understand it's not complex the schools and how they're a concrete slab the size of this room where you get tortured every day that's school and cold and miserable thousand push-ups a day a thousand sit-ups add a thousand flutter kicks a day we have these boats full of ice water one on each corner we call it the grinder one of these corners is to convince the students that no matter where in Southern California I can keep you as close as I want for as long as I want taller bars up there outside of these this grinder all there is is miles of soft sand and salt water a couple ropes to climb a big scary obstacle course that's the whole school it was even a mile from where we would do this to the galley to the chow hall so we get to run six miles a day just to eat on top of the additional 14 miles a day you're running with boats on your hands are carry really heavy logs what's unique about this course though the only easy thing there to do is quit they make it really easy to quit a month I remember this training beep so hard I knew I had a past I came from somewhere I don't have a future I'm just going to be in hell forever that's kind of an effect but you can make the pain all end by quitting because the worst thing you ever imagined keep doing this board you can quit and get a warm shower then Drive Becky to dine for ten hours of sleep if you keep doing this to make it in all you need to do is go ring the bell three times the whole thing ends now the system works they always they want them to work baby seals so their answers to put more people into the course doesn't matter what you look like we rated from 85% don't make it through because the system works now even the reason the system works again is because of the people skills because of the instructors every instructor there is a Navy SEAL and they've been through this training they know what it's like and guys that have been through this training have certain qualities a lot of wits to get through this and a lot of military guys the veterans out that will agree is a sense of humor because it gets so hard and so bad sometimes if you can't laugh at yourself you'll lose your mind like you know what horrible decision that I make in life to get here so we learned about this dark that that's good advice for life to you guys don't be afraid to smile and give someone a hug every single day cuz think about this getting out of this alive you know I work for Fox News I don't believe a lot of the polls but I'm pretty sure 10 out of 10 people die so have a little fun so we learned about this dark sense of humor being the first day we had a 227 sailor sitting in a room we'd all read the books but we didn't know what to expect we didn't know what it was but I mean look what we do so the status that had brought a Navy SEAL instructor in to explain to us what to expect for the next eight months of our miserable lives he came walking here looking like a Navy SEAL camouflage pants blah student who was a Titan through t-shirt that has ripped in gold and says UDT steel instructor is that tattoos nominal two methyls he isn't maybe steal somebody's obviously ridiculously good-looking he had a bald cap pulled down over his eyes so he can't even see his eyes and we're looking at him like you're looking at beeps them we were terrified no idea what he's gonna say and he knew that so we can acknowledge the silence he finally said looking good today jets not you me I don't even thinking I love a little tires because I am I was up all night my wife out of jail she was arrested for shoplifting earlier that afternoon when believing them all together she had her arm around me security thought she was trying to steal an Anatomy charts so we're sitting there terrified what is this complete psychopath talking about man we were just having fun at our expense he knew we were scared so he was he was early then you got motivation upset get up I know you've read the books and seeing the movies regardless of what you've been told this course is not impossible people have graduated look at me I'm living proof so I'm never gonna ask me to do anything impossible but I will make me do something very hard followed by something very hard followed immediately by something harder day after day after day for eight straight months but don't think about that way that is not able to achieve a long-term goal do it like this wake up in the morning on time and make your bed the right way then brush your teeth little victories make it to the 5 a of a workout on time and think about making it to breakfast after breakfast concentrate on lunch that's our next goal after lunch make it to dinner after dinner do everything you need to do to get back and that perfectly made bed and because the bed was made the right way no matter how bad today was and it was going to be bad tomorrow the clean slate a fresh start and when you feel like quitting which you will do not quit right now because that's emotion quit tomorrow you keep doing that in that time because I'll never ask you to do anything impossible all you need to do to get from now the graduation day does not do one thing no matter what never quit you'll be fine now it's easy to say never quit it's another thing to live it so I need to tell you a story me we would do tests every single day that you must pass to stay in the course for you know time or completion whatever the the tests were not hard to understand they were simple I understand we have the 50-meter underwater swim give the test jump in the pool feet first go underwater he was fronting do not kick off the side to swim half the distance of a football field without reading simply better 5.5 nautical mile ocean swim against the current which is seven point one miles faster we have a test the entire hands behind our backs our feet together throw us in the deep end for a 45 minutes at a time doing different drills exhaling the sink floating which is difficult title up to 800 meters grabbing stuff that they throw in off the bottom of mass broke and basically this test is to introduce you what it's like to not be able to breathe but what they're actually instilling in you is that panicking will not help so just stay calm if you can stay calm here you stay calm in a lot of situation I actually started to find it relaxing all the drunk roofing the test I want to talk about those underwater knot-tying they tied a rope the width of an Olympic pool off the bottom so 40 feet down the rope on the surface one on one is a student and an instructor and the student as an 18 inch both of us off and we're in the Navy so we don't have to buy a bunch of different must so the test is the tie a series of knots with this roll around the rope down there so you'll be able to surface for example in the instructor will say go tie the bowline knot right hold your breath swim down who stays on the surface with a storm on a mast so he had really but it's watching also so you tie a bowline knot put your hands that means you're done he comes down slowly kind of looks at you and looks at the knot and acts like he's never seen her bowling on before first one's always going to be wrong he goes up for air and of course untie it straighten out we tie the knot it's been about a minute 15 seconds he comes down here yeah it's good so the untie the knot both go back to the service for one breath of air which is enough time for me to tell you that night number two is a square so go do the whole thing again another minute believe let's go back up not the three all right anyway so the test is simple type I found in the world am I awake and passed tests a friend of mine named John was on his last attempt they will let you try certain fun times but if John doesn't tie all five months right now they're gonna kick him out today he'll never be a Navy SEAL lifelong dream a lot of pressure so on it's just not John in the travel so he's down there an instructor sees him he's not trying to kill him so he grabbed John he just ran back to the thing threw over the pool that he jumped down starts yelling from the form of medic he's gathering is definitely running and it's a long way the instructor realized that so he straddled John he started going to sternum up I'm starting CPR we get up to here yelling Hannah come back to the light so this kid was out for a minute and a half they can finally spit up all the water out of his lungs and the first words he said where did I pass the instructor kind of sat back on his history Hector he's getting his color back to us he is to keep his job so he's happy and he goes ham in past the jungles thank God I find the type of v naught and the instructor said well no noontime look I'm in a really good mood right now so I'm gonna let you in on a little secret I don't care how many not to know how to die that's not part of the curriculum to become a Navy SEAL my job simply is to see how far I can push yourself you just killed yourself and we're from me about 33 originals graduated from Bug's class to generally from there we were assigned allure CLT to the way to see how people work there does groups of seals divided by a number so the high numbers in San Diego SEAL Teams 135 and it set the even under Virginia co team two to four eight and again I have a sign of SEAL team two so we drove out each stop by for Benning Georgia for Army Airborne it type of projects likewise that jump went up to steel t2 and then we started a 13 week course called sealed tactical training which is now toward that small unit act I'll be a seal you can have to wait that 13 weeks and then you put into a six-month probationary period for the test journals evaluations fist with an oral board if they like you at the board you are awarded the insignia for Naval Special Warfare which is a trainer you become a seal they put you in a group now called platoon which is 14 to 16 guys that so two words together every single day for a full year get to know each other's tendency standard operating procedures how many word then extent that's what receives on employment my first employment was two years after I listed in the Navy as a seal 3 9/11 so not a lot to do with never jobs here there occasionally in the Middle East Kosovo Liberia but most of the time we're training with our allies became civil war in case of contingency so a lot of times that you pay Scotland with a special boat sir is the SPS Norway with the daggers the German whimpers but worked working four or five days a week and we have the weekends off and we're 23 year old single guys so we're going out to the pubs and hitting Oktoberfest at Stonehenge so you're seeing the sights they were like working vacation these deployments that we did for a number of years we had fun but it all changed and properly 2001 I felt like everybody I want to fight I knew I could fight against al-qaeda in Afghanistan with SEAL team two but I knew about another team that would be going in probably first one more team is in Virginia Beach on the base by itself big budget way bigger budget better opportunities older more experienced SEALs work there we would see those guys out of town and refer to them as the boys across the street but they become known today of SEAL Team 6 or Naval Special Warfare Development Group whatever they called it the best seals went there I wanted to be there so I went across the street how the process to get over here it's not well-known you know this isn't in the movies you need to get improve by your what would say a conventional SEAL team to represent them in the three-week screening process and that screening is just you show up on the first day and do a really hard physical test at the triathlon finish that in time you get in to peer evaluations top down tonight which is from seals that are already there my oral board like 14 senior guys grilling you and everything your tactics he asked me to finance to forget how much you drink home life then if they're like either they're sitting to the psychiatrist for a lot of psychological evaluations I'm kind of laughing to see one part of the psych eval took me a day and a half was finished because it was a 5,000 question multiple choice test and like you know the number two pencil a little bubbles and the answers are all based on behavior so one is I never feel that way there's two of them three is eight seven five is I always feel this way and it's all some shrink came up with an algorithm don't make sense to me enter in no more but it's like a question why do you love roses five always - do you want to decapitate kittens we actually finished the Tesla ask my shrink what was the point of the test she said we're not trying to figure out if you're crazy we're trying to figure out what flavor of crazy you are so you finished that and then you do another really hard triathlon type workout and if they like you in the three weeks they invite you to a nine-month selection course so SEAL training buzz the ones on the movies at eight months Long's what is nine months long so it's longer than buttons I thought it was harder but it's different because now it's not that group of sailors trying to become Navy SEALs these are experienced Navy SEALs trying to get to the next level everyone there has the never quit you'll die before they can tie the knot so in order to select guys we had try to find people who can not just think but who's willing to make decisions right now rapidly in a high-stress environment so as best we could we came up with drills to simulate the stress of combat but put it in a training environment so because it's not actual combat with bullets flying and it's a controlled training environment it's all self induced stress but we are looking for the person who can realize that in life all stress is self induced stress then it's in your mind stress is any choice stress the bag of directions since by your bed in the morning and you wake up it's your decision you can pick up stress and let it weigh down start them down with a completely negative attitude and ruin everyone else's day around you or at any time then you try this you can put stress down and forget about it because you should because it's not helping and it's in your mind it's like it's just like in combat bravery is it doesn't mean you're not afraid it's not the absence of fear it's simply the ability to recognize fear acknowledge fear for what it is then push it aside and do it anyway actively participate your own life don't be the person who sits there in the corner in the fetal position frozen that I exchange when the active shooter comes in waiting for someone better to come rescue me what are you going to do about it do something the amount that I've come up to put stress in perspective is whether you're taking effective fire on a mountaintop in Afghanistan or you're the woman landing a jet on an aircraft carrier at night in high seas or it is the person making latte in a coffee shop at 7:00 a.m. on a Monday there's a line of angry customers around the corner but those three have in common is they only feel the amount of stress they allow themselves to feel and then no one has ever ever accomplished anything positive by panic you know people ask me all the time on a lot of these missions weren't you afraid yeah so what it's okay to be afraid because fear is natural fears absolutely healthy fear will make you think more clearly did I think about the last time for some reason you decided to watch a scary movie by yourself and you can hear everything in the house that's fear I'm about to turn 40 - I was a Navy SEAL for 16 years I'll be in my apartment in Manhattan watching scary movie tonight and the ice machine will go off and I'll be like st. Jesus it's okay to be afraid but there's a very very fine line because panic is contagious panic will get us all killed I may be a prime example day I get to use airports as examples think about the last time you were flying somewhere and someone from zone three had been the nerve to try to thwart with someone what does everybody in the terminal start doing anyone who hasn't said at the baggage claim why is it we all crowd around why don't we just back off and we and the Sheep just start moving the point I make expand the case we change so the first group of tests we came up with all based on skydiving so we have students doing drills in the air after the department aircraft so the deployment or some weird reason to not stress certain people but this is not a daytime jump with the sun's out and we can see each other we have fun if you can picture a cargo aircraft flying this way so the plane is going down it is the c-130 and there's a ramp down in the back to the open air and there's 37 knots fixing this way and it's so dark you can't see anything but you can feel it because it's cold doing the air is pretty thin you know you're an altitude and one after another you fought each other into that black abyss 1,000 2,000 1,000 pulls out and that's employer ripcord the canopy comes up you're back in two sets of risers you want to grab the rear set of risers and assist the canopy with the opening and turn yourself to the right everything that we did is Navy SEALs we have one of our rules is on a compact job and you depart the aircraft the target is over there the reason it's argit's that way is because these parachutes are not rounded they don't go straight down they're elliptical little wing on a plane they're going to go 20 miles an hour forward if no wind so the reason the targets that way is because we know yes and when we bump each other which happens talking about fear that is terrifying but we're smart enough to know it's safe going the same direction if we hit each other one of the opposite directions it's going to be catastrophic because you smacked by the body of those foods you're going to die a big backbiting split in half and if you get each other's minds you're going to wrap up in a big nasty ball of rope and silk plummeting together towards the earth thinking about how painful that wasn't get my hand cut off by a Robin we both get to die in about 36 seconds when we spent right in the moment so this is all simulated stress so the first thing you want to do when you get under heading is pull down your night vision if you were dying to know what the sensation of night vision is go to happy hour tonight and not that six drinks really quickly then find two toilet paper rolls of the tender green the kind of wobbly the periphery goes of shitty specimen right so then we get in line with each other ten feet off so we've got jumper jumper jumper jumper that line is called the stack the stack is going to go to a squad 11 miles away that none of us has seen before except on a map now the little guy who's furthest out and the alley has the heart job with the fun job depending on your attitude he is called the lead jumper when he needs to do is get everybody aligned with him get on had him in the night vision down possibly identification on the drop zone then with his limited history that's who use into a calculation called the glider base you know in his head which is going to be about the to distance speed heading bearing the course can we make it there if we can't make it then I need to decide that right now find an alternate drop zone and the way to find that is a spot with limited obstacles and when you're skydiving obstacles or houses analyst fences government power lines make a nice safe pattern into that place because you don't want to hit each other on the bottom end go in the opposite directions it's just as bad you rapid 300 feet are going to be just as dead as 22,000 feet and he also needs to find out what the wind is doing on the ground when we the part of the aircraft altitude the windows that are back and ask me descended shits so as he's doing all the stuff he's also looking for indicators from when so bushes trees Birds iced teas metal feet how am I being pushed because you want to find the maximum amount of wind on the ground so we can land into it slow down it's stopped because we're going 20 miles an hour nowhere if these screws that up and there's a 15 mile an hour wind at our back we get to say the air force a lot of time and money instead of borrowing their aircraft we went to Hertz and like a minivan and drove through the desert at 3 a.m. at 35 miles an hour and then just open the door and jump [Music] so that's the first three weeks and in that time we'll do 65 to 75 of those jumps sometimes times 25,000 feet we'll lose a few guys out of the course not because they quit but because they got perfect it's really easy to get very good than that or because they violated too many of our rules in a row and they're proving to us that that unsafe he's got to trying out for a hostage rescue team that job is way too precise if you're unsafe we'll just borrow some of the remainder of the tour is the next eight months is all based loosely on months that attack the public schools corners battle or CQB and CQB is these SWAT team stop entrance you'll see in action movies we're the good guys come into it we try to clear the area and the safety you know the other good guys from the bad guys the reason that we use these sets of tactics and so many spots is because in most environments you know jungle Desert Mountain it comes down to an entry point where we're going to go in and fight so when an operator comes through an entry point there are definite steps distances movements and angles for every single guys and basically they differ based on protecting each other's backs so we'll enter with four guys at a time to do what's called a shoot house or a kill house and a kill house is simply a training area that's played out like the hotel so it looks like a hotel but unlike the hotel the walls are ballistic because we're shooting live ammunition blowing up real bombs and up in the rafters on catwalks is 20 SEAL Team six instructors so a minimum of five sets of eyes on each guys they enter the Roman what they're doing with these guys is when a student comes into a room major mistake which he will you're gonna make mistakes they're going to point it out though they're not able to stop the training to correct it they're gonna let you keep going and now they're gonna start having pressure yelling at you calling your name call you stupid shine a flashlight what are you doing here to see what kind of a person you are are you the type of a person who comes into a situation makes a mistake and knowledge that mistake I made a mistake worrying about it right now is not going to help at a job people talk later both the corrector or are you the type of the person who comes into the situation makes mistake and then you can't stop thinking about that mistake people it's not going to help you're worrying about that mistake and then over here you make an even bigger mistake and that's what they're gonna get even if you don't make a mistake they're going to start yelling at you and adding pressure about a mistake you both know you didn't make to see how you handle making a mistake you didn't make they're trying to get your head it's all stressed I could talk about CQB the tactics for weeks at a time but to give you an idea of what's going on I'm gonna walk you through with the number one man is thinking as he enters the room now keep in mind this is going to be one guy through one door on one ball in one little think about how many rooms are in this hotel and angles and stairwells and it's going ten times faster than I'm about to explain so if you didn't mention the door right here I put the number one man 20 my gun at the door there's going to be a two man a three men and a four-man immediately behind me in it Eliab we call it staff or a training based on what the door looks like and it has to go in order every single time does the air watch me as I see it though I don't see hinges durables and put the fire trick the door doesn't longer to the Sailor and the signal is going to be a squeeze in the leg of the shoulder from the two men letting the one man know through effective communication we have enough guys it's timing on the room the one that doesn't need to waste time by turning around accounting for himself plus if he did that he just drop security on the door that's a safety violation deer fire so once use the squeeze it's open process Fred mr. pharmaceutical seconds before they're clear now the reason that can be stressful is because it's like you're the to man with your hand on the one man's shoulder and you're the one responsible for the squeeze but you're having a bad day and you don't want to screw up this next run so you try to choreograph what's gonna happen in the room because you should never do that don't assume something good until a certain way get there and then respond with your tactics in their training okay so he's the one man behind the two men so he's gonna go that way so I'm going this way so this is definitely my outside what we have enough guys go then all of a sudden he decides go this way now you just step in the wrong foot we have to go that but it comes back so you're tripping over yourself you're really mad at them they're dealing with you that's when you shoot the wrong target you are fired right now never coming back what mistake like that even if you don't make a mistake I was clear they actually stopped the training everyone's stuff so they can all yell with me on the Oh how could you do it you're supposed to be six feet from the door we taught you that you're way too far in the room why now the answer to that question is always because I'm an idiot deflate the arguments do not ever get into an argument you can't win it's like when your wife comes home honey we need to talk just start a fire in the kitchen it's way easier six feet from the door take a step half an inch to the right so I know man that's what we want you get outside so now you go outside to get your ass handed to you think at this big monster truck tire with a harness and you put down on it and drag it this you're writing about every year you're a hell that you're attached you're going to drag them to launch of trip times 105 degrees in Mississippi in Maine you do it this way to do it that way 27 minutes of tire drag to put it down climbing ropes use high you're mad at yourself you're pissed that's what it puts you right back in the train going through it again why they want to see how you handle it we know we didn't screw up but we punish you for it can you get over it get over it so this course is nine months long and 50% of the Navy SEALs who try out you're not naked so that's very humbling half of the guys who have been through what they call the world's most difficult military training fail this is military but the ones who make it through now you get to be part of what's called a Tier one unit not any part of the team that will get the most daring and dangerous this is where you go from actually being a Navy SEAL to being non-existent and you take your family with and you stay as long as you like and there's no social media there's fake email name so you can talk to your kids when you go to war now your the point you can no longer be taught tactics you need to invent that what is my opponent doing and how do I stay fluid how do we change the rules to make sure that we're adapting through their adaptations how do we make sure the guys coming through this course we're prepared to go to war as soon as they get here because when we go to war I do not have time to micromanage you there's too much of work going on that micromanagement is counterproductive waste time I always ask people are you teaching your people a new team how to do their jobs or are you trying to do their job for them you know our guys didn't need to be told what to do because they were prepared I know guys I graduated that course four days after they graduated their first mission at SEAL Team six was to jump into Somalia to rescue Jessica Buchanan from al-shabaab but none of them failed they killed 22 terrorists not one injury because they were prepared in preparation cultural training communication repetition training communication repetition you know we were trained hour after hour day after day fine-tuning our tactics changing our rules we needed to but most importantly learning the best place to effectively communicate with our team because we really believe if our guys what they were doing and why they were doing it they would be more efficient and we learned the less we talked the more effective our communication was because we got rid of the noise the useless nonsense ping said think about the email you've probably got today with like 19 people on the CC line that all says FYI see below fYI some jackass so much words came you know it's like where's the message just because you're talking does not mean here communicated week we learned of member silent we were faster more efficient and communicating at the highest levels without talking so we did that at work we wouldn't talk to each other the prime example the bin Laden raid helicopter crash immediate gunfights people in the wrong spots was that eight and half seconds of complete chaos over now there's 2,300 guns coming through your house I got almost seven years to think about that to him I thought a lot about it many to share this with you that had to be really scary for al-qaeda so it's here to get me and I can't hear it and I can't see it and then it's over they actually submissions of my teen idol para they actually made for motion pictures about doesn't I need to share this with you I am horrible to watch action movies with it's always the same thing the helicopter lands and the Americans get out and something blows up like you're just scaring us we had a guy do that in Afghanistan sorry but what am i you're I'm assuming most people here have not been to Afghanistan so I need to back up and explain to you because people don't believe what it's like it's like over your time well so I need to explain what I have some Afghanistan looks like so if you could imagine a crossword puzzle Party Rock village from Star Wars like you're going to Fred Flinstones house is kind of know there's walls but there's rooms with no ceiling so it's open air to start like next to that room is a two-story structure that's made out of mud but there's no windows and you get to the outside door to get to the second floor to get inside the the doors this tall so you're reading your stuff and you squeeze your way into the room and you probably get the room and now you're terrified you are face to face with a full-grown male [Music] so I'm on this side and one of my newer guys started here and it's not quite a place if he starts taking fire and he don't got a little afraid which we definitely got adrenaline because the first few times some of the suit shoots in 1847 to get a turn on the pretty loud so he came over us push the tuck which is pushing the topic start talking hey I'm on my place that there's a guy so I got students never quitting for this just bothering works and other guys here you know they can get excited because that breathe right yeah yeah yeah no probably going to subscribe side in four dimensional jacquard everyone's talking no one's communicated so I was on rooftop I came over mind I said everybody calm down take a deep breath it's a push to talk not a push to think I need you to think push the point of what I'm getting out there is not don't talk to people we just learned it's very important to effectively communicate with each other and our first computers effective communication is when you're done saying what you're saying stop saying I love quotes I don't know where to give credit one of my favorites has never pass up the opportunity to shut up so we claim to be prepared for anything at a time and we had a chance to prove it in April 2009 piracy became really popular off the coast of East Africa Somali pirates were getting these ships or the crew of the crate and they weren't hurting anybody but they were keeping them until someone paid the ransom which they always did so that services rendered money changing hands this is a lucrative business I was aware of into thinking what does it have to do with me I was in Virginia Beach it was Good Friday April 10th which is my birthday and I was my daughter's Easter Tea Party and her preschool and what we had done is we put the kids in the middle of the room in their desk and we had they set up with Easter treats the parents thought it'd be cool to feed to kiss so I'm a mind with like Marine Corps and Navy parents and I had a pink played right hand I remember that and you know go through this thing and couldn't like cookies and smiley face with cupcakes you ship it for your team on Easter and I'm not gonna back over and I got a message what happened is a guy by the name of Captain Richard Phillips had just been taken by Somali pirates they're calling our team and go get him right now so I put my daughter in the eyes gave her a kiss and turn around and go to war from a preschool classroom in Virginia on my birthday which is believed bizarre when you think about it and that's the hardest part right there the March quarter combat is lucky it's not getting shot up we're having stuff blow up over there that's easy the hardest part is kissing your kid goodbye looking him in the eyes we're both old enough to realize this could be it it's gonna be the last time there's a there's a huge difference between kissing your kid goodnight and kissing your kid goodbye she's 13 and she's been through everything with me she was accused one year old when we went to rescue the launch of my other market rather than she was four with him and Isaac Kathleen Richard Phillips I'm gonna fast-forward a little but the hardest one was when she was seven that's what we went after Osama bin Laden and that was a mission we're not coming home from you know we're gonna die on Evelyn we knew it was one witness we're going to get shot down on the way and showed up as soon as we land if anyone's going to blow his little family up with us in the houses hand we're going to run out of fuel and have 23 guys trapped in Pakistan and we're not coming back we were so convinced that the guy that had never to believe that me up the stairs into the haunted room he pulled me aside and said I don't take this the wrong way because I'm going 100% going but I have to say it out loud we know we're gonna die why are we going which is fair so we had a little discussion and what we decided is we're not going after bin Laden for the fame or the money or bravado we're going on this mission for the single mom who drop their kids off at elementary school or Tuesday morning and then 45 minutes later she jumped to her death out of the stratosphere because that was a better alternative than what was going on inside and her last gesture of human decency was the holder skirt now so no one could see her underwear she took two thousand feet to her to death she was not supposed to do that to didn't want to do either one of those she's not supposed to be in the fight we're supposed to be in the fight that's what her go so we're at home I had a date last I had to write a letter to my kids so I'm writing a letter to my daughter was seven but I didn't I wrote a letter to the 27 year old I'm really sorry I missed your wedding I know you were beautiful thanks for taking care of your sister what we did was noble cheer saving the page not even fun to think about then I went to the mall to get she and her sister I don't know what you buy a seven-year-old with four year old for daddy's never coming home but I bought something in them and walked out of the mall I wasn't scared I was focused you know so I'm walking out I wasn't to focus because I bumped into this kiosk and I look down but there's a pair of prada sunglasses on sale from 214 I'm a chief in the Navy I can't afford these says no but I am gonna be dead next week an American Express cam since my last and I'm learning around town for my last day in Virginia better start thinking there's never a perfect plan what if we do live through the 95th mom's house and like need to steal a car which we do not do that and drive to the embassy four hours away it is long about yeah it comes to that the sun's going to be out I'm going to need sunglasses so I carried out of sunglasses in my pocket the night I went to Osama bin Laden's bedroom and I wasn't thinking about them at the time cuz I assure you I had a lot of going on right here but we got back from this mission we're supposed to live and we're cleaning ourselves up and what happened against your family to get rid of shower I reach it like oh you gotta be kidding me then I start thinking I'm not going to be in the Navy forever I might get a job in marketing because this could work if you did picture a billboard with like an operator and short sleeves tattoos have gone in really cool sunglasses and all it says on the thing is if you only have one day left to live you might as well wear prop so I haven't heard from you brought him so anyway so that's Tutsis for so we're going to happen to Richard Phillips and kiss around the Florida German I'm going to work out I have a set amount of time to get where I'm going but I'm ahead of schedule and there's a 7-eleven outside of the base where we're going so I stopped at the 7-eleven with the plan I'm gonna get as much cash as I can out of the ATM a lot of : headed into the park service the reason I'm doing this there's never a perfect plan we are going to be jumping on the east coast of Africa we might not end up working what if I land in a semi permissive environment I might be able to buy my way to sink with the cash I might be able to barter with the locals with the tobacco I might end up on a Kenyan beach on their birthday have caching tobacco so I'm in line and there's one dude in front of me who is not in a hurry I'm in a hurry this guy just finished the night shift not a care in the world and I'm looking over her shoulder and one of the things I could see these biting is a USA Today and the hemline is about the mission we're trying to go do very patriotic thing this guy's slammed down on the counter and kind of announced the entire store man I see where someone would do something about this so I'm kind of smile recognizing the irony and I tempo he turns around nobody picks that will do something about the national security time line is squarely on your shoulders huge porch will he get out of the way I got to work on time all my guys got to work on time and then 15 hours with 46 minutes after I got the message in my daughter's preschool [Music] we're gonna see at an au-pair [Music] yes [Music] [Music] so that was that like tips first guys the reason it was his first one is cos he was not a Navy SEAL he was a communicator his job was a set of radios on the airplane so we could talk to Washington with the flying over but were five hours into the fly I'm like never a perfect plan what if we need better communication when we get down there I'll handle this hey bro wake up huge cheese plans yes skydive PNL nervous who's adorable destroy you try to talk with way out I know I didn't I came up to my one of my best friend's my kids the tandem master and I tried to hook this kid at the end baton attendant that's awesome so I got on there and learn the military I can just make him go but for some reason I'm trying to talk him into it hooking up by hand that people pay for the show we get this plastic one is 80 degrees in sports and he's not scared yet so I was a lead jumper on the captain Phil's rescue so I'm on the ramp looking down at the Indian Ocean different jump I turn around one last time to get before I hit up I'm dead nothing he just just just looking through straws offset Mike's head comes from around his head goes he grabbed his hand with both panting kind of covers back and now they're looking at each other like totally the chose intimacy so the last thing that hurt Mike tell him before I show goes well don't look at me bro I would have this does anyone always having fun and that poor kids that scared the entire mission it didn't last long it was over on a day later on Easter Sunday we rescued mr. Phillips with some shots were amazing snipers we were able to do that because we were prepared contrary to what Hollywood believe we didn't jump in there to kill those guys we just jumped in to get the hostage however we need to so we put snipers down to watch them make sure nothing unsafe happens as we're preparing to go get for the rescue as we're preparing something very very unsafe happen and they took the shots basically without authority and I'll hit now wrap their minds around this four days prior those three snipers were in their own beds in Virginia Beach their guns have not need to be cited infidels difficult shots of their life but their guns were cited in for the most difficult shots of their lives because they were prepared the way we stay prepared as a hospital rescue team is every operative has a big Locker that looks like a cage and inside the cage or shells on the shelves a big bag that are full of gear and the garrote sightings magnet designed to assist you in a certain environment so the bag would be to have a big bag tag labeled as such but water jump land jump high-altitude diving dead or jumping counter-terrorism then you've got a laminated inventory what's in the bag and a try Rachael are the reason it happened that way is the bag might be sitting there for a number of years and you want to train with something out of the bag that's fine open that bag up pull that geared up and Mark it off with a dry erase marker it's not in transit as long as you like the second you're done using your gear you clean it now did you take care of your gear your gear will take care of you everything like you do anything put the gear back is in the bag up in the white seventy-six was actually developed designed to rescue American hostages at sea but believe it or not it had never been done not one time in over 25 years so you can imagine it's Friday it's my birthday and we've never done this and it's a long weekend I'm going to skip work today and drink beer and I'll take care of my hair on Tuesday no we didn't do that that is a shortcut and we don't take shortcuts in the save the man's life I meant to our rules that are one of our rules we have as follows written in blood as complacency kills you know Casa complacency success to what success and people have a tendency to say the worst thing they could say when they're ruining a key well this the way we've always done it you know that's resting on your laurels stay ahead of the game just because were winning by 20 why are we winning by 30 you know think about the job site was the injury or the fatality is after me under safe days you wouldn't think your place is here successor university-related another great one a learning tool is fail because trust me we all fail it's a question of whether my to admit you're gonna fall get up and look yourself in the mirror and just own it be honest with yourself why did I fail whatever how do I avoid this in the future highway teach my team about this so we don't do it again I'll tell another story this is just a fun story to tell but there is a lesson of failure we were I'm gonna be to talk of these Tigers we're sneaking up to a house in Iraq in 2007 after a a high-value individual HPI now that happen to be the point man we were just creeped up in the house pick the lock go in and catch some sleep because it avoid a lot of collateral damage knowing it doesn't need to get her gets her we don't need a pipe bombs wake people up so we're sneaking up in this house and these people start moving around inside I can see it so we know that was out here but we're going after them so we're gonna ask play for us now America put a moment or we're coming in on so I thought a preacher of a preacher is of methods of entry yeah he's the guy who's going to get you in and he decided he wanted to use and a lot of bets I didn't love this he wanted to use the 7 foot charge of c6 battle over the dark so a seven point it looks like yeah it looks like a big fruit roll-up same color and everything and the way it works if you just stick it on one side of the door and it's TV on one side and you roll it down and you back away to the captain there's some sort of advise device you get to a minimum safe distance hit the magic button boom the door opens now whether the bridge is going to be doing that as private as slums he wants both hands so he needs to charity that's gonna be me so I went to the door the door opens this way so there's hinges obvious and that side of the door so we put it down there it'll push the hinges off so I'm hold the crack of the door he's doing this and that's when my boss came up did I see him I've been working for probably 13 years at this point never seen him screw up once and he's coming up not to micromanage he wants to observe just to get situational awareness so he comes up and that's when he put his elbow on the doorbell [Music] so the Bleacher is right down here and you can't get on them because that's his boss so he just goes nice we will start turning these fiscally conservative he doesn't want to waste the taxpayers money so right now I'm standing right here and I do not want to be here anymore this is a very dangerous but a lot kind of loves the street through the door and I'm like Hollywood but let's go through a lot of I don't want to be a part of that equation I'm thinking of how to get out of the situation someone might spin up the door opens and it's the goddamned era for your nightshirt very awkward so he grabbed me throwing down the buddy can you cut them and I have my feet out of small of his back with my box of that's just but the lesson we've learned I'm not making this up maybe came up on the role of this we've been working at a center so long they don't have door nuts Iraq has no rules so what's the new rules they have foot off the damn wall so these are not decisions you're making every day avoiding complacency staying prepared I'm 90 on the doorbell and like I mentioned at the beginning it's important to try to keep emotion out of the decision-making process right here's a prime example the casino have a House floor I have a ceiling you get outside the parameters cut it your first loss might be your best loss we would call that don't fall in love with your target I'm not going to get into the technology that I'll give you an example we had guys that could see terrorists when they would turn on and I'm sure you can figure that out of to think about when we see what they turn on in town a guy turned on one day in Baghdad at noon and 2007 that's a dangerous place so we have to do a quick risk assessment is the juice worth the squeeze this guy's improvised explosive device making these roadside bombs because believes every day yes we're gonna go get so we're gonna try to the Baghdad in the middle of that we're driving to the house he turns off but we know which house it is so we hit that house clear it he's not in there but he turns on again the three blocks away we could run that so we've run they're the vehicles of catch s he turns off from clear that have some done and there he turns on again two blocks away right you can see a panel and he kept doing that for about two and a half hours now it's 135 degrees Fahrenheit in Baghdad in July we've been chasing him for two hours we want to kill them for a number of reasons so protect this house everyone's emotional he turns on in the house all by itself it's across the bridge now we have rules about real-time bombing if you don't cross Briggs in the daytime going after them in a house that he stays on you don't get by itself you don't go in there for obvious reasons the bridge pulls at the house blows up he's gonna kill you sucker you my boss that I had look at each other's were trying to thing wolf okay so we cut turn around dog as we're driving back to the base every other Navy SEAL it's in there sweating and pissed it's like what are you afraid of him why did you come here we can kill them are you afraid of war calling us the worst things in the world they stink mad at us for about a week they're so mad that we couldn't get him I saw him a week later in the weight room and I said hey man that guy were going after the last week that made those bombs what was his name and they're like I don't know yeah they put your kids names what's important it will give them an extra that's our rules we're trying to get going that's what were think so these are a lot of the leaders that we were successful as Navy SEALs a sort of recap how it applies I mean we succeed because we were prepared to fight make the best decisions we could under fire based on the preparation that goddess dinner we could all trust each other and no matter how bad it got me never quit we're always happy to participating and making a better save your own life a good story about great advice I got from my instructor I mentioned at the beginning before we started to tell week help we get the hardest part feels ready it's bad enough to wake up at 3:00 a.m. do nasty stuff till 11:00 p.m. but help me starts on Sunday it doesn't end till Friday so you do this the whole time you don't if you get any sleep it's because I'm a Thursday you're both through what a race and they let you sit down for a minute half saturated from salt water and sand that by Wednesday morning when the Sun comes up every part of your body touching cloth starts to bleed so it's not a fun thing with the structure David it was great eventually any through hell week but it turned out to be great advice for life you said you were about to go to war for the first time and the enemy is all your doubts all your fears and everyone you know back home that told you you weren't good enough to do this keep your head down people think forward no matter what never quit and you'll be fine keep moving forward you know like I said I'm 41 years old I was a Navy SEAL for 16 years a lot of the Memphis but I'm excited because my life starts right now I'm as well as I've ever been but I'm also as young as I'll ever be this is the last mission I ever did that the Anna stand ten years after the long red ten months after the hundred the guys standing over my shoulder that's my team you can see they're standing there a car we could not see this picture laying in the snow around the car or fighting surgeons the reason those terrorists laying there is because they were on their way to conduct a suicide operation they found out whether there was a group of Americans in a remote village and they were going to they merciless God or son or dad you know these are not good people but we found out about their plan so we interdicted the vehicle on its way there and their suicide mission was successful just not a plan I'm able to come here today because I never quit this nation's prove performed well against with bold operations and very brave and women they believe everything to protect people it was refuted I have a tattoo of my left arm that I gotta die before I depart of the Navy I love clothes it's my favorite quote the president George Bush addressed the world on September 11 2001 he said freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless common of freedom would be defended now I know a lot of people have been defending us myself included right now and I assure you they're after their run that American flag and I'm never gonna quit for you so the next time you're working you're just stressed out or at home and like the walls seem to be closing in around it take that step back and take a deep breath and think of that and put your head down keep moving forward no matter what never quit [Applause] oh yeah I talk way too long when we do some questions if anybody has anything in particular the worse the question the better you can just shout it out - I can um I can repeat it if you if anybody wants yes sir you're welcome thank you for saying that a lot of people ask if they ever but I think betters don't get tired of doing that so that's everyone's ready to drive a happy hour trick I know what my vision is I'm still doing that hi Gary yes yeah yeah he was Richard Marcinko wrote a book called World War II I recommend reading it it's an excellent look it's actually the the reason a lot of guys my age join the military was because of that book there's a lot of accuracy in it there's a lot of peach stretches the truth there's one line I got asked about if you said everyone at SEAL Team six did benchpress 500 pounds it's not the case but I know like one guy in a can he's tires from oh yeah that's a great brother he was actually able to fight under the guise of the fiction because he didn't get approved to the Pentagon but a lot of the stuff and he you know he's gonna he's a war hero in Vietnam guys started SEAL team 6 a lot of counter-terror stuff he was he was the reason it was named SEAL team 6 because he thought that the answer what he wanted to and he just thought well we're making six because the Russians will be like we know about one two and six where the hell are three four five yeah he's got a little trouble because he was doing stuff a little under the table stop but I met him and he said he's got his head and his head was always about the men in the mission good good book hey I was just wondering is your life in danger do you need protection of any kind well yeah we do that stuff in place that we've set up a couple of things I don't discuss but yeah I mean it's changed because my name's out there but it's a porter that we're all targets and there are people that want to kill us because we don't believe in the philosophy believe and as far as like these radicals Isis al-qaeda they were rather soft target than a hard I just follow me around wherever I go in the ninth and I'll put up a fight you know they ran like they would rather if they were going to blow me up in a horrific explosion they would definitely wait till under the big room full of merit tonight but yeah sure like wait yes Exeter all four sides yes did I have no the truck she asked my team artist Riley did not I know him now and he's worried he's a wonderful man he just if you ever read this book launch survivor after you read the operators and buy a medium for a friend it is not the book launch of I was definitely a month one to read a day and a half the movie is the most accurate war movie about the mountains in Afghanistan the only complaint we have about long-term IRA is that the amount was the stunt men were jumping off of to simulate the snipers much Steve enough because it's like it's a perfect environment but yeah I know he's a great guy just talk to me other day is it possible that my team and I can come in take a picture you know Hillary yes man if you need another one I would check the craps tables tonight can I get a fever five don't tell Isis that I believe so we should ask yeah we have too much for sale I'm not sure exactly where they are but they're here we got a bunch and I could sign up for you to know before I joined was I was actually played a year of college basketball so I grew up playing a lot of basketball with my father universal Montana I played a Montana Tech and I wasn't I didn't you know I was never an athlete or a tough guy and I didn't joined the Navy because I always wanted towards the family legacy yeah I joined the Navy the same reason a lot of men Edwin and joining the military they don't I have downtime like I wave in town and I try to join the Marine Corps but the Marine recruiter wasn't in the office this is your story he wasn't there but the Navy I was and I had to front of my little 2 years old of me that I grew up with and join Malik or you sir they left high school and they told me something I didn't know that the Marine Corps is actually part of the Department of the Navy it's just a men's department so I would I went in to ask him where the degree bus and he said why do you want the Marines I'm on a sniper I hunt them the best nitrogen he said he said look no further my friend because we have snipers right here in the Navy you need to become a Navy SEAL first nobody go then we'll sit in the snipers completely flush next you didn't even know how to swim swim over there so I understand the thinking on the night I used to trust my coach is a basketball so I'm like I'm 19 I'm kind of me but this guy is a professional recruiter why are you lie to me did you find a line there's some hard parts the hardest part that I do is that I was cool to see the program is transitioning veterans now is it's a lot of guys I don't want to they would rather and go back to combat than fill out a resume because they don't really it does make sense to kind of that makes sense and then they start to wonder one of my qualified for I have no glasses feel deep sniffs I could I have a foundation to call you were a grateful nation if you want to check that our always put a special operative in every line of work but I'll ask them they'll say well I'm only qualified to come into a room to shoot much beaters and I'm like I'm not a very exceptional for that but the skills they learned just being part of the high-performance teams about stress management drama solving critical thinking loyalty just huge and then when we do a grateful nation is we just find where do you want to live what kind of good and introduce into someone in that industry and they get to the company benefits because they're getting asked people they normally wouldn't in the veteran gets access because they wouldn't have you know like that yeah for me it was I don't know what I was going to do I you know what I mean I haven't no I found out the hard way but I had mentors and stuff in DC New York that's like that it worked out pretty well yes any do you deal with stuff I don't think anyone's been to combat is ever the same just you know your demons have come up once in a while I have dreams about war except dreams about the dinosaurs bidentated yes yeah that's actually quite a team of 21 Navy SEALs one SEAL Team six different judgment and I'm saying now I know you're tough guys but if you look for it you're gonna find it here don't be afraid to dive in your ass but then they'll buy you here afterwards that's cool yes no no I'm done I know it was a good like it was he was a good time and I I gave him everything I had and they gave me everything they had I don't anything I do the best I can I pull invest because people ask if I miss it that my response is I don't miss the circus but I do miss the class so that's one of the actors but like I don't need to go to those parts of the world anymore if I'm dying to see a pyramid absolute tomorrow I go to Las Vegas is what sir a little favor go to the pyramid so now I'm going to stay local yes yeah what would you say was your hardest mission well it worked out really really well it's an awesome story would have sucked we had a group of 19 al Qaeda fighters who were on us peninsula north of Baghdad and they will they made alongside bombs - they were but they're in a spot so small but you can't just bomb because there's so many civilians there and you don't want to tell this to people and you can't drive in together because it's their IEP majors are gonna blow over the win kick lambda the X cos everything about shooters is all too small you're not going to jump into there so they came to us and said you know think outside the box I didn't get a number like whoa it's suck we can swim in so we'll swim a mile and a half is mostly swamp so we swam in 17 Navy SEALs and two dogs and they're part of the story so the Ducks record with us we sneak in a little bit at the details but we got the gunfights we're gonna enter a big tent house to be killed all my team of the guys neither one of our guys no sir not one we didn't heard a single woman or child that we swam out so there's a lot of swimming a lot of fighting a lot of adrenaline but the next day because we'll always keep assets above watching the the locals who were innocent people trying to live their lives being terrorized do they notice the bad guys are on bond the bullying the bullies are dead so they spent half of a block party right and so we've got a huge it got so big we had a reporter I drove up there get the school so he went into the house and we went in to talk to the women that was asking who came last night and the headline at the back that newspaper said they were ninjas and they came with lions that's just awesome that was that was a hard one but it was it was awesome at the end all right let's question pakka all right thank you for being here thank you for your service you mentioned SOPs are your standard operating procedures I've been trying to learn as much as I can from Navy SEALs that have published material because of things like that the mindset and strategies are you using that in your personal life I still have out of service yeah yeah I am trying to it's a it's it's always a work in progress it's August it's fluid I give myself my own advice every day when I fly deal with TSA and pissed-off people that can't figure out the metal detector and a score but you got it you gotta cool your jets take a wrapper off you know take a step back and try to make informative it's like it's not like you it's you need to work at it right like do every single day and it'd be the most a lot of veterans to watch watching walk into groups want to take that first step I'm starting about you know set that was through their SOPs maybe make sure your buddies covered your back but yeah I believe use them I want to tell one final story to protect me other embeds in the audience I'm condemned to talk about stuff I want to tell funny story has to know how I want to mention my daughter one more time who was involved with everything we were a year to visit my last one we were here to the day of the Midlands anniversary and we get in a water park where the hotel where she's putting her bathing suit I'm getting ready to swim with her and the TV's on CNN and they said I'd today's a wedding anniversary of what bin Laden was killed so we're taking viewer to email right now and the best story we get on the air wherever you leave now that Osama bin Laden was dead and my dad was oh my god you got emails just telling you in his bedroom

Channel: Joel Beattie

Views: 146,500

Rating: 4.8452554 out of 5

Keywords: 2018 NW Roofing Expo, robert oneil

Id: ZL91ixxe1cQ

Length: 74min 3sec (4443 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 05 2018