Robert O'Neill‎ - Killing Bin Laden, Joining the Navy Seals, Life After and His New Book

your um thank you come on in how's it going good good we're on the air just so you know okay yes normally we don't like to tell people that we're hoping they say something stupid and inflammatory do we want to have a good yeah yeah yeah we saw you at Fox we didn't hear what you said we just got that we got to watch you a little contributed for those guys oh yes okay what made the decision I guess to start because you know usually it's so secretive and nobody knows who did what what made you the decision for you to actually come out and talk and let everybody know and by the way Rob is plugging his book the operator firing the shots that killed Osama bin Laden and my years as a SEAL team warrior well that was a unique time because when from the time that we the team killed bin Laden to the time we flew back the word had already started to spread it was like what's the first question you asked like who did it and so guys in the SEAL community and their friends around town sort of nua so it kind of came out slowly like that and it was kind of an uncomfortable time because the team did it the agency found him we were just the the end of it you know we were guys they told last we went in and did and then I made a donation to the memorial up here and then after talking to Jarrett Wright other short yes talking to a lot of the survivors that had had family members died in the towers and having them say that they'll you know they'll never be closure but this helps with the healing that we know it's a real name a real face this is uh this happened that kind of pushed me towards the I got it I got to tell them if I can help a few people here and in this auditorium I can I can probably help thousands of them it's it's a that's one reason then it's just the whole story I mean it's if the book is called the operator because it's the life of the operators now I'm not calling myself saying on myself out a lot of guys go through this operators or Ranger SEALs Green Berets all that stuff Marines and this is the lot of the story about starting as a normal person just going to feel like it's chapter 23 is the bin Laden raid it's not about the right the proof is if you stay positive and never quit doesn't matter where you're from what you look like you can do anything you want I mean I joined the Navy because of a girl because of a breakup and drunk right it's pretty much and then I did it you know it turned into well I found out what seals are and I it'll be just be cool to try the training and other four years I'll come back with some awesome stories from friends of Butte Montana and then I met the guys the other operators I'm like well god I can't leave these guys I got it I got to stick around with them so I reenlist it and then 9/11 happened like well I'm not leaving now they trained me to fight for you know eight years I got to go fight and then I found out about other SEAL Teams I went there and then you know I'm with a group of guys that on a large coalition team that rescued the lone survivor I found myself on my birthday 2009 leaving my daughter's classroom preschool classroom and 16 hours later we're in the Indian Ocean to rescue Richard Phillips same guys did we got called in for the bin Laden raid we flew around the base when that dude Bowe Bergdahl walked off you know this is all wow we're it's like it's almost like in Iraq right he's the guy that didn't he just kind of go into office a metallic grab them and he was a prisoner for five years I mean just going through he'll catch up if I want to ask you a question to first what the Pakistani government did I did they knew bin Laden was there and we had no idea even though he's right by the West Point on by for a sec I was asking certain parts of the government they've got their own interests they have interests with allies so some know some don't the military maybe didn't but their intelligence service did they have interest in hiding him because maybe if we protect them they al-qaeda won't attack us to speak there were some people didn't know he didn't I don't think he lived right there and nobody knew there's there's a there's a high-ranking Pakistani intelligence officer living less than a couple hundred yards away from him today know they had it know something was and we had we had Trump on the phone one time before he's president before he ran for president and I asked him on the phone like I gave Obama credit for authorizing I thought it was a ballsy thing you're going use it was definitely both but becomes like no any president would have done that and I'm like I don't know they didn't know a hundred percent he authorized them to go into Pakistan which was a flaw I mean they gave him a few options and it was a you know the missile thing a joint effort with the Pakistani mi5 options and he decided on it was usually he did a great job and he did authorizes his call and he just said I wasn't a hundred percent sure that bin Laden was there but I was 100% sure that you guys could go and find out and come back which he had more confidence in US living than I did like I thought we were going in one way like that's it when you thought you were dense yeah we're gonna it was almost to the point where looking up at the building it's like I'm gonna die tonight but this is historic and I'm going to I'm going to treasure this I'm going to this is cool and then you know I'm watching really cool guys other operators to really cool stuff that I described that in the book what they're doing what I started thinking that these guys are cool go up the stairs while the analysts told us we'd run into bin Laden's son which we did amazing story of how the appointment took him down and then we go up the stairs I turn right after watching you know one of my best friends jump on what he thought were suicide bombers so the guy behind him get the shot I'd say there's been lon three feet away so the tactics got me there so so mentally is the secret to doing this because I've seen like other interviews you down you talk about how like you know part of being a CEO is also it's just not allowing time to become your enemy just because you have so much of it like you would sit there and just count down and count down is is part of it to just be in the moment at all times like you said knives accounting was - yeah to get your mind off of it I'd done it before I learned as a sniper I'd worked also in Kosovo right around 9/11 we're doing recon and surveillance and just sitting there staring at a group of houses you need to occupy your mind you lose it so I just arted counting and then on the flight in de mons house I started counting again and just because we can get blown up at any time no one knows what these helicopters work we're invading a nation they can shoot us down and we can't even be mad at them because we're invading right like of course that's very I'm not a Maddie but then you know you start counting and then it was it was one of those things it's almost Hollywood as we turned we banked 80 minutes into a 90 minute flight and I was counting something like 556 557 and in my mind I said freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward and freedom will be defended and that's what President Bush that on 9/11 he dressed the world and I'm like whoa I'm on this mission this is it so it did hit you it hit me then and then it's sort of sunk in when I when I shot him and I had another guy come in and in the room after me and he said he looked at me said are you okay and I said yeah what do we what do we do now and he said we find the computers bro we've done this hundreds of times yeah you're right my god you just killed a lot in like your life changed yeah and you knew in the moment like this is that was it I don't yeah this is this is big this is a big one was there resentment from the other guy I like because again they say team effort but it's not a team effort no no that it is but do they start to feel like he adamantly didn't stuff when I explained it in the book to that like when the lead sniper for the Phillips raid the souls rescue took the initial shot some guys were so close to him but didn't get a shot they're mad at him and it's just a it's an alpha male thing a lot I mean you know did any any ceil in my position would have done what I did I sure and get there but if you're that closest I mean it's yeah you some people five grips and that's fine and especially if guys were on the mission I respect anything they say is fine if you're mad about it and mad about it but it's a it's a historic story there's nothing wrong with being proud of a great American thing that we did minute that's what it was it's a great story do you think that they don't like the fact that you're speaking about it because a lot of them at home it like who God and they're like I can't say that a lot and generally it's like if the guy that says well I can't talk about it's like well you probably have anything to talk about right because I mean I you know I know a lot of seals I know a lot of pilots I know a lot of Marines and if they've done some they'll tell you they'll tell you about it I mean some guys are quieter than others but you know the guys that obviously I can't talk about it but that's they're usually not not much there do you have times in daily life because you said in the book you talk about being on the way to you got on the way to take off for this mission you're in still in the SEPA generator or Miami and you look driving by people and you're going no they have no idea what these bearded guys are about to go and do yeah it was it was a it was a pretty surreal feeling I mean just from the moment that the commanding officer from that SEAL team came in and said the reason you guys are here is because this is as close as we've ever been to Osama bin Laden's it was cool looking around at my these are my brothers and just seeing that there was no cheering there was it was just like bye we going now just about a bunch of pros and they're ready to rock and roll and we're ready that day but we had to train for a few weeks just something at that level you need to convince people that are actually making the calls hey we can do this we'll do it just fine in the helicopters well ideally won't fall out of the sky and and which one did yeah yeah that was a funny story too because a life is what happens around you while you're planning for us and that was like on a Wednesday week and a half into planning it we had the perfect plan and one of the bosses he's all tired he's like alright what's the worst thing that could happen I think it was the youngest guy in the room said the helicopter could crash in the front yard maybe which is like don't talk about that for 30 seconds and that's what happened the worst thing yeah but you guys and then you try to blow off I mean which I know were jumping all over I don't care Stefan Sorenson yeah you went to blow off the the front gate yeah we knew there was a gate on the northeast side so we went to blow that and we it was I mean it's what's neat about this to this book a lot of people that go through this training great senses of humor because you need to if you can't laugh at some point you'll lose your mind so we joked about we're going to get to this place and it's going to be one of those hallways that give small and small and it's like open line you know like a bug we went to the northeast corner where we knew there was a gate we put a charge on him blew it and it opened like a tin can into a brick wall it was a fake door it's like this has happened then but and the even the breacher was like this is bad and I'm like no this is good that's a fake door he's in here they wouldn't do that because they're right because we wouldn't there wouldn't be that kind of security and then we didn't nobody right I know the helicopter crashed it's always we announced that we don't know where it was like we're going to blow the front door and they said well we'll just open it so like what and then the door opens the thumb came out like a thumbs up and that's the point where like you know what I worrying about why they're in there now doesn't matter we'll talk about it after I don't care how they got in there other guys are in there and didn't know the helicopter crew it's amazing bin Laden must have been in this house like oh like some american becoming his worst night the only good like you look at like he had at least a 30 minute nightmare however long it took you guys to get up there 15 minutes i think it was the guys were so good and we're so good at we've been it in combat so like this was like mission 419 for me personally other guys had done more and it's a it's uh there's were so quiet so going up the stairs there's really good stories in there about i don't they might not have known what was going on they heard of crash i'm assuming and we were creeping up the stairs of the dark were quiet and they could have thought that you guys had come and that your helicopter had crashed and you would you'd fail they couldn't hear no he heard the helicopter crash he heard shots and then he heard another one is like well there's khalid and his wife might like anything's happening it's an ugly story cuz it's in the book and always self-doubt in the book that I saw the point men deal with Khalid and I remember thinking I really hope we lived through this because that's the coolest thing I've ever seen I never would have thought it it was really great and just the way you describe and again you have to read the book as I read it and it was like I saw zero dark thirty I saw but there's still things in the book from your point of view that I didn't know yeah and there was a lot of money you just find out that the the most simple answer is what happened that's what we did and it wasn't I mean there are parts in there where we're fighting these tough online jihadis and seriously asking each other after a big fight like are we missing the war because that's easy right but are these the toughs guy okay I mean we're just here and but when me turns out we're fighting the guys that are Isis now but it wasn't it was the problem for just an amazing team what do you think was the bet like when you look at him and he stayed hidden for ten years I mean his his team I guess the courier was a very effective guy and didn't turn the phone on till he was 90 minutes away that's right I've been a very smart but what do you think finally did them in like I was obviously that woman caught yeah I think it was just her determination there was a you mentioned the movie zero dark thirty it was about a woman it was it was actually a team of women that found him but there was one woman in particular that was the one that think he's a hundred percent just why are we waiting go get him he's there and she wanted to bomb him she didn't really want us to go but she turned out to be pretty happy there's a good story in her in there too about she was pacing outside and was like why you nervous he's like are you kidding me why aren't you nervous I'm like well we do this every night I mean this is we fly somewhere missing people up fly back this is a longer fly you need to be right so hi I'm amazing I guess I was gonna say at what point do you realize that you might be going home because like you said you go in a meeting it was wrong we know we were flying out we were leaving on a helicopter different helicopter because we had more operators coming to get us so we had other guys in there that were in a different one and we're flying out and now it's like okay we got 90 minutes like we might live through tonight and if we get 90 minutes we have 50 years of life like this this could be good for everybody and then you're looking at your watch like say okay spent 10 spent 20 spent 30 minutes we're flying 40 minutes night you know you're thinking it and the way I described it as using a sports analogy it's like watching a no-hitter at Yankee Stadium right top of the 6th I don't want the same thing I'll just say so but this is this is what's amazing though that other people take into account that like you can't let's not get all excited and think that we're going to live live for another hour like let's not put the Hort let it it was just so funny for like looking around near 70 minutes and now if you can and another sports analogy it's like up and Lake Placid to the hockey game when the Americans beat the Russians people are counting down but they don't want to count too loud like Ryan 9 you and then over the radio the pilot says I gentlemen for the first time in your lives you're going to be happy to hear this welcome to Afghanistan really we did it you knew you were in and you knew you were out you may say it makes F ganna stand we live a minute touching us have you talked about before which is the idea of going to kill this guy and you guys know the mission do you and I'm sure people some people recognize you and some people don't now that you've been on TV do you ever have an interaction in daily life whether it's like you're online at the airport of doing something someone's just kind of being a dick and you're like God you have no idea it's gotta be tempted I think the best one I had is it was a I came out with a special on Fox a couple years ago and I wasn't used to anyone recognizing me I wasn't used anyone especially knowing my name and I was behind a woman and heard her high school age daughter at LaGuardia and I heard her say thank you for what you did and I looked up and she's kind of staring at me and she elbowed her daughter and said this is Rob O'Neil and the daughter looked at me she goes oh man we have a test about you on Monday and I was like what do you mean it's a current events course in high school I said well ok do you have a pen and paper and she said yeah so I said what's your name and she said it's Victoria so I said Victor I said put please give Victoria an A and then I we took a selfie and I'm like she's like what do I do with this I said you show your teacher and you say you took her assignments so serious that you found me you know just like a little thing like that or what you should have done was give it a really wrong information just as she failed the test it's not even close to what happened yeah no not at all I was in Iran what it's all one day no less years ago but even being like a contributor to Fox News Thank You Lloyd for me you know I get having that as a career but I feel like if I'd gone through what you went through and somebody was like oh would you hear about this news story like what do you think I'd be like do you what I shot bin Laden why would we talk about anything else well I think there's so much more to it because you know we were we were at that I hate the term tip of the spear but we were you know a tier one unit and the guys in there aren't just these you know their stories are these murderous whatever these are smart dudes that analyze stuff they come up with the plans and so I'm just just some of the stuff with some of my [ __ ] I still in the Navy still in the the Marine Corps is like I'm able to get on they're sort of I try to dumb it down it's like this is what's happening I don't need to get on television tell you a lot of names of this and that's what I sound smart it's like bad guys are here good guys are here we probably should try this just I mean I don't you know trying to get the political just try to tell the truth as best I can so do you feel like because I kind of feel like when when things happen more and more nowadays that for some reason society here in America has gotten less tolerant of killing bad guys whereas like right around 9/11 and right around when you doing to have people were or hungry for justice and and well the problem is with everything being so fast patient or mobile devices the people the problem with never forgetting is people forget to never forget so they all of a sudden time heals everything you forget about stuff and then with with everything being on social media you see how violent it is and war is violent and killing people is very very violence very fast like I just talked about in the book about seeing a suicide bomber it's just he's there he explodes it's like alright I'm good that was fast it's a permanent nasty nasty thing and you know justice does need to be served a lot of people don't they don't need to see what it looks like it's not pretty and that's what do you think skews people's opinions is that some of these people are not trained to even see what it actually looks like and I mean it is surprising because a lot of violent stuff out there when we were always just as humane as we could be you know we had a lot of latitude as far as rules of engagement at first then it started to change and we're you know we're not saying we can prove they're women and children in that cave that are shooting at you but we're not saying we can't say that they're not kind of stuff but right we were never you know we were always very precise what we did always hit when you aim at I was fortunate never see a child get hurt it was a precision but the really was solid solid dudes when you would you walk here sergeant when you walk into bin Laden's bedroom and you see that it's him what's that mean obviously you're not thinking in react it was about a less than a second of target identification I saw him I remember I mean I can see it if I close my eyes taller than I thought skinnier than I thought beard is gray shorter than I thought that just knows he's a threat he's not surrendering you needed to put him down that's because he's a suicide bomber I would have died was going in the going up the stairs even it wasn't a bravery thing it's like I'm tired thinking about this let's get in there and he's gonna blow up he didn't and then that's it what is house smell like or they have no smell to know it smelled like it was it was similar inside to a lot of the houses so it smelled like an Afghan a house in Afghanistan especially we we blown a few charges so smells is that the distinct air of gunshots were fired so smoky almost but you know was a as far as complexity it wasn't it was the most difficult house we've seen it wasn't it's not even the best story in the book I mean there's other stuff that we did in there just watching what happens that's not love guys figuring out the hard way that there are belt doorbells on houses in Iraq leaning up against all of a sudden the doorbell rings and watching the breaches putting a bomb on like I guess we don't have that roll this back up we'll say that for the target in the door because it's a terrorist are looking for you just Cheryl we're humans like that was easy yeah and we look at the boss like we should just do that every night I think he feels opening to do and there's the Americans accommodate other stuff in there too by going to Afghanistan I remember talking to some of my friends that went before I did and I was like how was it over there and they said you just need to see it you're you you think I'm lying you'd like people believe in fire-breathing dragons like they don't know how old they are then all the time is just go see it and it's true I mean a lot of those places the valleys it's a completely different world I'm from Montana I've never seen mountains like I did in Afghanistan just steep and rocky and it's an incredible adventure all because I got I got dumped and what was what was something when you're training to be a seal like what what what was the thing for you was maybe not the most difficult but the most annoying like I can't do this the the swims I we would do we swam all the time of seals and there was always a time to ocean swim and I when I joined the Navy I didn't really know how to swim and I go to SEAL training those guys that played like college to water polo and stuff and really good swimmers and so that I was worried I knew I wasn't going to quit just because that would have made so many people right because you know you joined the Navy to be a seal from Butte Montana no one's going to know there's no way no one makes it through this but the sweat I knew I wouldn't quit but I knew that I might not pass these swims but I never failed to swim so and what were the we're how long were you swimming for two miles two nautical miles Wow so it's like from the training compound of San Diego up to the hotel bill and then back down and it's so weird to be to look at the people on the beach one of the most beautiful beaches in the world of Coronado and you're out there getting tortured they're not even famous I'm gonna stop this because I have a couple of myths I want to ask you these made up if you love it ah the first one when you win Obama comes in and you guys talk to President Obama I did he asked who actually got him just his normal question and nobody would tell him it was uh he didn't ask me I had one of his I one of his I forgot who did it but they did ask myself in another seal and we just said we all did it it was we all did and then when he walked away my buddy said you could have just old one it was you like well did you want to tell me no no it was a human right if they were well we all did it and then you saw much more than others if you stood out just inbound with a guy who did nothing you know you're in a room full of great operators and you don't want the attention it's not it's not because the team did right said I'm well I got up to the third floor because of the guys over in front of me they breached the door they climbed the stairs they got rid of Khalid bin Laden and then it just my turn to go up into a room tactics got me there did you guys take I heard that you must have taken a souvenir of some sort no we know you're here no nothing um it was it was such a big time that personally I'll I was thinking about was let's find the stuff that we'll be able to prosecute more targets what al-qaeda is up to where the rest of us find is we have a time limit and then let's live let's see if we can live I wasn't concerned I mean looking back on it's like you know anything yeah might even cooler but knob at the time it was grab what you can God anything electronic any thumb drive any disks and he take a hard drive out of out of a tower of a computer and get it back turn everything over and we turned everything over as far as I know to the to the the agency people that were there and we just wanted to it was such a big thing you know and the photos there was any guys took a lot of photos you said but it was like dummy photos going around that warrant the Andals I'm sure I've seen him on the internet why haven't they really or what do you thinking I think they haven't because the initial the initial reason was because they didn't want up up rising I mean people get murdered over cartoons what are they going to do about this um if it gets too I mean I don't it happened been lots dead we killed them but if I don't know if they want to release and they can they're I mean they're more graphic than the fake ones I I assume that they were and I know that they burned him at sea so there's no site for martyrdom this was kind of made sense yeah where do you think when they where's al Zawahiri he's like the number two guy diseased up in Pakistan somewhere he's yeah he's up in those in one of the tribal areas I would guess you know he's kind of quiet he's not as charismatic he's he's obviously the number one al Qaeda guy but I wasn't he's like the real result in the group like like bin Laden yeah money he was yeah he was definitely a crazy more it's hard to say more fanatical but he was the guy that screams in the prisoners yelling that all this stuff and bin Laden was more the charismatic mastermind except to the point where people weren't sure if he was running it but he was from that house that we found when you talk about I mean how graphic the photos were I don't know if people realized that you guys had to push he's a headbanger the other pictures yeah yeah a lot of if anyone criticizes anything about that they've never seen what someone who did you got shot in the face looks like right it's I mean and it's like sorry we didn't kill them nice enough but but that today I know right maybe people who said you don't want to shoot them in this it's like well you've never dealt with a suicide bomber there's one way to see don't shoot them in the chest people people take a lot longer to die than you would think really a suicide bomber shoot him in the head Sonny Corleone it took 30 shots to kill you had to do it right to the face how good did it feel is that what the first shot went right into the temple yeah I hit up three times in the head three hours rest it was as fast and we done it before we we train to a point at that SEAL team to take head shots because our primary mission is hostage rescue and if you're rescuing a hostage you need to eliminate the threat if you negotiate fail which we've done so we get we take you always say the double tap to the chest one of the head now sits two or three to the head so they don't really think with the police they say you shoot for mass that's why the people so shoot for the legs they can't they shoot for like a center mass that means here but it's you got a lot of stuff going on when you're talking about shooting people people were moving people don't want to get shot it takes I mean I I must have fired my weapon a couple million times before I went to war just training to do it there's a lot to it and anyone can Monday Morning Quarterback my shoot him in the leg why didn't you shoot the gun out of his hand why do you work in a cubicle you know I think I think that was the best purchase record for target one time when uh an awkward question is always how many kills you have someone asked my buddies how many kills you have he goes I don't know how many emails you type today you know no did you have a friend to this this has got to just suck one of the guys on the team he had no idea they had announced a mission was and he asked to be taken off it because he was preparing for something there was there were a few guys that did that one guy needed shoulder surgery one guy was running a trip in January and he wanted to go out there to plan it it's a lot going on and no one knew what they were doing and they willingly took themselves off the big mission I know guys that went to training to be instructors to date if they would have waited two days they would have been on the mission but they went to assist with training so just yeah it just it was great time it was so did you know how mad you must be when you get pulled off probably what is considered the most important seal mission which is telling the number one terrorist in the world just being a part of it was an honor it was trying a magic and pole I know how I would fly would be really bitter well you guys were also scheduled you your team was supposed to be on the perimeter for you weren't even supposed to be in the house I was the team leader for the snipers on the outside and when the female analyst was so convincing that the rooftop team is probably going to get them I just like we're going to need more people so I'm going to have team leaders out there let the other snipers do it I'm going to get on this one and we were so convinced the house was going to blow up when we initial plan was the land on top did we were actually calling ourselves the martyrs brigade like we're going to land there it's going to blow up that's how we're all going to die but but if we're out we might get a shot and then none of us ever went to the roof it didn't even happen because the helicopter crashed and they led us out here Andrews so when you I want to I want to go back to the to the photo where is this something you go like okay we're going to need a photo of this guy in training do you go wolf we shoot him in the head his head could burst apart because that's what happened before is it just common sense well we would generally take pictures of the guys that we did kill because you wanted you want to document everything that happened here's what you know here's the situation this do you want to be legal with everything you know when you're a good guys we're will arrest you but we will kill you if you put up resistance so we're used to taking pictures but never to the point of the facial recognition where we need the DNA we need you know we I've been on missions in Iraq going when Abu Musab al-zarqawi was an ikemen number one guy but we never he's not too startled beheading started well yeah they didn't start it but he made him oh yeah he moved a popular yeah yeah they started that stuff yes century oh yeah well yeah I'm grabbing laugh about beheadings well you know it was more will FM is my idiotic state no I know a terrible pain Engel one though that he was the one that and that actually that is terrorism that that that scared people yeah I mean that's that's evil it was it was I I was I performed in Iraq in 2003 we heading I know I did not know which I was a victim or not when I went over to off to perform for troops in Baghdad and you know and Kirkuk in Chile oh and that was right after that is when they started and it frightened me so much I didn't want to go back man he said helicopter graduated they want to show you they were so bad that was a alqaeda in Iraq that became Isis they were so bad even like leaders of Al Qaeda's like get your little to rule yeah weren't there a couple that they said that you're you're doing this to a Muslim this is terrible you because they consider most victims of terrorists are Muslims well you know and then they the beheading the mass shootings that they're doing I mean they're doing it now it's still the same ideology that started with without kind of with with that version but yet I mean what they wanted to do is they wanted to make fewer people want to go over there which I mean I can't blame that's that's scary it scared me soak we flew around in c-130s again it was only there for a week and it was not like you know anything compared to the guys who are on the front lines with what they go through at Blackhawk some from we didn't do but that scared me so much that the idea that I'd be in a Blackhawk that would go down or whatever like I just never went back so detected does work it does it does it's case you're thinking it's bad but there there's some bad people over there do you have a favorite movie based on the missions that you were a part of um cuz it event I mean you're part of the films you just said yeah part of the mission of lone survivors yeah this is a good movie I liked it that's a funny one I'll get I'll get asked how accurate is that movie and I'll say add depends on who's asking like where 70% if I'm talking to some dudes but if it's happy hour and some ladies I'll say you know it's a hundred percent accurate I took all free shots I think I'm on Survivor did a good job and I just watched out the other the best more we've all time is Saving Private Ryan I'm still mad that Shakespeare in Love won the damn Best Picture whole yeah but I think as far as if you want to know what a mountain gunfight in the mountains looks like watch the lone survivor it's good and we're and we were part of the rescue that same team we were there for that was my first deployment with that SEAL team and we're up there for for that just a and there's so much more going on that like our part of that story we weren't involved with that gun fight we were trying to get him out right and it was just never like the first time we called it an a-10 on people and an a-10 is an anti-tank flying done and I remember hearing it and I described that how it goes over my head then impact and we hear it fire and we came up with that saying what doesn't kill you makes you stronger except in a 10 and a 10 or about that are you scared Wadi I'm sure your hopefully you you are able to put self-protect it uh are you scared walking around because they you know in daily life or for family or not scared but aware you're aware we have stuff in place I don't really get into the show yeah there's there's you know guns dogs whatever okay there's stuff in place you're going to be okay I assume so yeah was that a big disagree that a big party occasion yeah I think about it a lot and it's important means the complacency kills its resting on your laurels and just because something that hasn't happened doesn't mean it won't do you think that speaking up incoming because I'm happy digs I wanted to know who you are and I think a lot of people wanted to know who you are you know is it one of those things that's kind of a sign of the times like we're much more geared towards coming out and talking about things now whereas we didn't 20 years ago or 30 years ago like I did I mean I think if people have always told their stories historically there was a there's a big gap about I can't talk about it because nothing was going on like I mean so you had Vietnam and there's a thousands of books then you nothing and then you have like Grenada books you have Panama books Desert Storm books like the books are out there and I think it's good I think if people go through that kind of thing and it's a good story and it's good for Americans to hear that I'm presenting wrong with telling the historical account like this book is the first one that's about to involve some of these raids that is approved by the Pentagon which it was a submitted that they read it they liked it to prove I don't use anything wrong with them with Americans knowing that there are good people out to donut a question about your desk this is the one one and I love the book - thank you one thing is they block out a word yes they did however I got a call up a copy editor here they block out TLC a SEAL team blank no one knows what it is unless we've been alive for the last five years and they block out the number of the SEAL team however earlier in the book you say and now we named it that because I guess they were spared it was SEAL Teams wanted to and then yeah three I guess he wanted the Russian formation corn five the Pentagon was very gracious I was I was very careful not to put classified material in there and just because it was I submitted it they had to do something they had yeah they gotta block some stuff out they did a really good job I'm very happy with them and so they blocked blocked out a number so I don't know what I can't figure it out because I would they did mention as a SEAL team to and I went see looking for and then I would see looking blank that's true so it's one of a few numbers you don't know however the mistake they make though let me call the copy either again is under the double word event under they have the blanked out thing and you can see that it's three letters so I just you can do the math on how many three letters numbers there are so can I read the whole actually did the audio book - I read that out loud which is interesting I got to do it on one last proof read before it comes out there's stuff in there that I thought they would blank but they didn't so there's things it like so I can't say this number but I can say stealth helicopter well you also didn't go into details about the helicopter either no that's not interesting people people don't a lot of people don't want to know the mechanics of this and they want to know what it smelled like like you like you asked earlier what it what it what it is how did you how did your friends feel looking at the at your brother's eyes knowing this is probably it but we're doing it and we're doing it for the victims of 9/11 we're going for the country it's just they want to know that you know like a lot of people know that you know the gamers and stuff to know more about combat than I do ask me what kind of stuff on the trigger I don't know I mean the thing just it I pulled it what the word out and you met on the president the vice president of course you must have met some amazing people because of this yes I've been put in spots where I do meet some pretty cool people who did you meet that you really wanted to meet or you get to speak to the I've had access to otherwise ah you know to be honest Tony LaRussa he got manager from EA's yeah uh yeah he's in Arizona now okay did he manage das on my out of my mind well because he actually got past my security guy with a margarita innocent why normally they can't do that logging it shouldn't the bodyguards there to guard this is a former SEAL team plane guy as well oh yeah and LaRussa showed up at the margarita house going now that this other SEAL team guy will you obviously have people around you who really know what they're doing I was he a guy you knew before yeah I knew him in training in 1996 so we kind of went around the same time and then we ended up at UH at SEAL team two together and then he went over to the other team before I did then I saw him there work with him there and it's a it's interesting the way it like like it mentioned about the name of the operator it's about the life of the operator all of them and it intertwines there's a lot of people that I've met 96 and go through selection in 2004 and then we're in Afghanistan looking for lone survivor than he's a guy that takes a shot at this samal it was so cool to this they're so they're so humble that it's almost like wow man you just made worldwide headlines like yeah cool one with the gym let's go for ground yeah it's part of what you do is it yeah the best part of that movie too was when the snipers took the shot they just put the bipod up and left that's exactly how it went down really there's this is usual very very cool guys do you know what rereading all the SEAL training stuff to which you can never if you're a male you can never get bored reading SEAL training stuff yeah and it makes me realize how much I enjoy being comfortable the stuff that you guys have to deal with like that whether it's carrying the boat on the head I think the whole water this is and then get it all things and it's just a common question that I get is uh from like high school-aged guys that want to be SEALs they'll say what should I be doing to prepare for this training and I said well what are you doing and the common answer is I'm taking cold showers to get used to it oh my god that off right now because just embrace the suck when it gets there like what do you mean I said well here's the deal if I told you in 30 days I'm going to kick you as hard as I can in the nuts and you to get to get ready for it yet your best friend kick in the nuts every single day it's still going to suck when I do it just to create a point it happens right great way to look at it 30 unnecessary nut cake yeah there's no real in the shower so yeah so I thank you want to steal to take warm showers everything will just fall into place yes that simple do you have the memories of being comfortable though exactly because there's no way to prepare I'm sure I saw a photo and I might've even been above SEAL training with these poor guys are lying in the indus surf and they're laying there holding up a log and of water is coming over their face like you can't prepare yourself the log yeah they they used to have a log there one in particular that was called old misery and it was like three times as heavy as all the other laws which were heavy and it just add misery loves company and you get special treatment you get to log now that log was so evil like guys would try to swim it out to sea on the weekends and get rid of it would wash up me right back where it's supposed to be what's the closest to graduation you ever saw a guy drop out you said one thing usually if you make an iowa past wednesday usually ona is a good indicator that you're probably going to make it through hell week and that's like the most famous part there are harder test than hell week to come but you've proven you can get through hell week but there I mean you got a figure we get into diving so it's all the physiology the medicine the dive tables all the calculations in the mass and then you get into explosives and electrical non electrical how to do this and static and don't blow yourself up so there's a lot of stuff but one of my friends kind of lost his mind the last part of SEAL training is then people don't know about this it's on San Clemente Island which is right off the coast and the instructor because like I mentioned earlier we're right by the Hotel del Coronado for most of training you go to the island the motto is no one can hear you scream so it's 40 straight days or whatever and I'm convinced some of those guys brought some whiskey with them because they wake up angry or than other days you know and I saw a guy lose his mind out there and they had they had a Buddha but he ended up graduating with two classes behind oh okay are they very rare to quit what are they doing for 40 days it's technically land warfare so a lot of shooting that's when you really start getting into the weapons a lot of the automatic weapons and the explosives of patrolling small unit tactics just the basic stuff but they're teaching you now you're going to go to a SEAL team you need to have a good base before because after basic SEAL training then ascending to 13 it was 13 weeks when I got done I've sealed tactical training now it's a more defined probably a better course advanced tactics and then so it takes about two years if you make it through everything on the first try to become soo can you describe the hiding because I get a bit claustrophobic yeah that's that's the tunnel oh yeah they they like to do the Beehive ink it's not a test it's just more of an experience when you have about 180 200 guys in the class and they they tell you to get as close as you can together in the deep end of the pool right so if you can imagine a big just a big group of dudes and people have a tendency to freak out when they involve water drowning is a really horrible feeling so people will like grab each other's heads and push each other down to try to stay up so you got a bunch of guys doing this and the only thing you got to do is go to the bottom take a wrap off relax and then swim to the edge and come up on these and then work your way back inside keep doing that but you know kind of panic if your panic is not going to help it's okay to be afraid fear is good like fear makes you think more clearly you know like you can hear like imagine when you're at home watching the scary movie and you hear everything right like I'm 41 years old I was a Navy SEAL I'll be watching the movie by myself the ice machine goes off and like Satan fears fine but panic is very final out to mean that that thing of like when you're watching a scary movie and all of a sudden you hear every creep down floorboard and every but you have to be and I guess as part of training you have to be aware enough to okay stop for a second and use all this and then make a decision as opposed to just going on and so that's the whole it doesn't mean you're not afraid it's what you do about it yeah you do it anyway you can deal with fair it's okay to be afraid but they were guys too and to me the most amazing thing I read in your book was that on the way to bin Laden's house there were guys in that helicopter that fell asleep yes I can't sleep on a king bed hotel and this guy they were it was incredible it was put the put the iPod in turn it up and fall asleep especially especially with what you told us before which was people go in that's not only not knowing if they'll make it but assuming coming we're not going to make it no it's like well if I'm going to I'm going to die doing this I might as well be 12 hours yeah right I mean how amazing is I could get blown up any second any second but I'm going to take five and right sweep it all but it goes back it goes back to get your mind up and and it goes back to training for being a seal it's like I'm not going to do something now that's going to make me uncomfortable I can't I know everything that I'm going to know going into this so I might as well be as comfortable as possible in these last few moments some guys biggest concern was why don't want to have to pee when I get there so how do I do it on someone's vanities like diaper things you don't pull out a little diaper looks like a dog bone you can pee in that I didn't even use mine I used a water bottle and I was so pumped to be in binlong house I forgot I had a bottle of urine in my pocket you carried you you're in an accident didn't mean whatever you are not that sort outside the helicopter it's the souvenir now it's an advantage is this is long as well you gave I thought you gave part of your your magazine to the woman who I did you think that was a really nice a magazine out of the gun and gave it to to her shoot I mean that was her thing see she sacrificed her whole life to find him she gets she didn't get married she didn't have a personal life she's I will find him and she was 100% right and they really changed the day of the raid because of the White House Correspondents Dinner yeah we had two days based on we wanted 0% illumination from the moon so we had either Saturday or Sunday that we can do it and Saturday we someone I didn't but someone called the White House and said hey were probably the Admiral McRaven or somebody and said hey we're going to move it because the weather was bad so we're shifting to tomorrow and I guess they were like it's 2011 we know exactly what the weather's doing it's night we just said because the Correspondents Dinner that all the cabinet gets up in the middle of it all the presses there what's going on people start calling so and even uh President Obama was getting roasted at that dinner I got house on bin Laden actually hosts a show on c-span every day at this time and he just poker face probably the best line ever done in a correspondence it was Seth Meyers said that I would add c-span was Obama bin Laden it was hosted a show and he's never saw one day everyone watches c-span could they watch now was there video could they actually see live action you know they could see from above they had some assets above us to watch but they weren't in the house they couldn't see in the house and and we don't want them to see what's going on and you know you're here well everyone Wargo GoPros nobody there was no cameras inside we had the disposable camera take the picture that's it were you able to keep a copy of the photo no you or not no so me begging you after this interview that I it's I don't have it I I don't know how I feel about that I mean it's all [ __ ] for us we demonstrated on the fan you know it's one of those things where you saw it that you don't need to have the picture no I mean I can close my eyes and see see what happened I I can I can I can see the stairs I can see the curtain I could turn the corner see the white I can see the little kid as two-year-old boy and I remember thinking this kid has nothing to do with this poor guy and like I watch guys on that mission putting kids at different spots because even though we're probably going to blow up I don't need that little girl being more afraid than she needs to be soft find a place to put her and the books are sorry I'm sorry the operator firing the shots that killed Osama bin Laden I'm guessing it's out today it's out today it's out now are you doing any book signings or no I did an online signing yesterday and again it's the security of yours I mean I would like to I probably will I'm not sure where yet but yeah we put out a couple sign copies yesterday and that's available right now and it's a great read I mean I really I mean I knew a lot about this because I've read about it I've seen the movie but there's a lot of stuff in here about the training and about the the rate is so much detail in here I was really happy I didn't just take for granted I knew what I was talking about I want to breathing it was really great and the signed copies are available at the operator book.com so if you want a signed copy of the book you can buy it right now have the operator book calm I'll be silent for a while what are you doing now with your selling like you obviously do in the book yes but now that you're out how do you top that in vain' life like what would be my greatest satisfaction now is helping veterans transition to the private sector because you'll notice in the book too that I didn't do 20 years I did almost 17 and I got out and the scariest part is like I don't fit now that it would rather go to combat and try to fill out a resume because the combat makes sense to them I don't know what do I have what are my skills but these guys have this the stress management the team awareness the big one now is loyalty that employer say so I started a foundation to help them call your grateful nation and I helped special operators so it's Rangers Green Berets SEALs Air Force we find a mentor for them in a business and a place they want to live and work and they mentor them for six to nine months give them a job in there we got everything from we got guys working to Fox Sports to a NASCAR stuff all kinds of good things and they love them so you're grateful nation it helps them transition that's and the best email I get every week is say we play sergeant so-and-so with Goldman Sachs right and they go there and they do like they always add a crushing and and and you know your your life and the things you've seen and the things you've been a part of what is that what is the biggest thing that people don't understand about it that that they get wrong whether it's in the news or publicly when they criticize what's the thing you're like you just don't know what you're talking about I'm just at the negativity with what our men and women do over there so you get it's like anything you had a couple bad eggs and it just makes everyone look bad like these these people that I've seen the 19 year old marine the 25 year old Ranger these are the good guys they're really good people they really care about people and they're trying to do the right thing and when they when a lot of people just to get headlines wanted want to stress war crimes and go to the evil one it's like now they're doing a good thing and they're away from their family and they matter and you also said in GI Jane you guys did not eat out of a garbage can I thought you know her name was O'Neill in that movie what yeah that's my name is she spelled it with one L but that's not the worst I've ever seen it now we don't actually force-feed you then you're burning so many calories a date or a SEAL training they make you eat it's a fine line though because you don't want to scarf down five cheeseburgers and then do it six mile run it's that's not a good idea what are those between regular SEAL training and then the idea of the team whatever you know team we don't know ambiguous that what's the difference in the training between haha the seal and exactly when you're going for the the Tier one team it's everyone there is an experience usually what combat experience a seasoned Navy SEAL so they're going to you know they're going to die before they can't do something so you're not going to make them quit so we come up with drills to get in their mind stress management drills how do you how do you handle stress little things it's a very very advanced fast-moving tactics where you're going to get hammered for not permit not making a mistake but we're telling you you did to see how you can you can you get over it so it's a 50% when I left 50% of seals that tried out didn't make it that's Samsung these are very very very serious people after going through that kind of training do you find that when you get back into regular life your tolerance for people's excuse me diminish is I don't I don't like traffic the traffic still gets to me but as far as like the other stuff yes the what the best story I have about that getting out of life like this I don't have a desire to scuba dive or skydive or even shoot guns anymore and I had a psychiatrist in the Navy say well you need a hobby to relieve stress so she had me take up golf which actually is more stressful than combat and I also mentioned to the de fog if they sent me after Ben LAN with a 5-iron he might still be alive it's one of those things where you still have to have that instinct even though you seem like a humble guy where somebody will tell you you can't do something or like nada we don't have room for you today sir you have to just want to say yeah it's frustrating getting the extra security check at the airport and then the selfie with the TSA guy that's frustrating they asked like who I was and I'm not a threat to I'm not going to blow the plane up but let's go ahead and Pat me down a little bit and grab a selfie I think that you know because they want to selfie it could be they need to slow you down so they can get the opportunity to be like oh and one more thing I like to give them the benefit of the doubt though because I deal with passengers all day so once they recognize you that fella go well how else am I going to talk to him I would say just touch him into your arms [ __ ] want to try it for so gain a quick cup yeah that's a little creepy I don't know [ __ ] yeah I guess so yeah he shopped a lot guess I did to him well I get I appreciate you coming buddy our book is called the operator again we keep saying it but it's excellent I'm not saying that to be polite because you're sitting here I read a lot of it I read the most of the beginning I were also yet phenomenal and there's a lot of information here it's well written it's an easy read it's really great were you surprised when a conspiracy theorist or as a pop-up that because there's no photo evidence this didn't have no receptors are for the people they like I mentioned earlier usually the simplest answer is what happened but people make it like the big secret societies of this and that and that we didn't land on the moon the earth is flat no it's like you're not in the Illuminati is that we're doing or not is what I was looking for do it not that you know thank you yeah maybe that's the word that was it out of the one nail this is me I sealed Illuminati yeah before we let you go just a couple people want to say hello or thank you and there's a guy here who was a Navy veteran - tain sorry hello everybody all right I got hello okay let's meet you there yes we're good okay the special was awesome and Sam congratulations on the little one a senior Keith what's up buddy how's it going my friend I'm gonna l-3 from Desert Storm and I just want to say from what may be man to the next thank you buddy and I had the privilege to hang out with some guys that were in buds 151 back in oh wow yeah you [ __ ] are crazy thank you buddy thank you for your service that's awesome thanks for the call and one more guys a question for you i ray ray hello ray ray in West Point hi I'm Robert big head and I'm just watching thank you thank you for saying I didn't and I just have to two questions really really quick um I'm just uh I'm the simple army brat arm when you when you flew in with a Blackhawks or they like super quiet or this kind of loud uh you know anything with the helicopter is going to be loud I was impressed with with how they were pretty quiet and it was just more the radar stuff that they were pretty good at but a lot of a lot of helicopters have that and it pretty much looked like a like a Blackhawk it was a little more a little more room back okay second question which one which one's better five five six or or or a 300 blackout what depends on what you're doing five five six with a hollow-point worked pretty well for me most of my shots were really really close I think it's 300 for anything over 500 meters all right Roger that cool thanks we I didn't know what you mentioned piece of challah for you my god well thank you very much Rob really fascinating guy I'm so happy we got a chance I really ended

Channel: Jim and Sam Show

Views: 640,657

Keywords: Robert, Jim and Sam, Jim, Norton, Jim Norton, Sam, Roberts, Sam Roberts, Radio, Interview, War, Navy, Seal, Navy Seal, Military, osama, bin, laden, osama bin laden, talk, comedy, pentagon, army, O'Neill, Robert O'Neill, O'Neil, opie, anthony, jim norton and sam roberts

Id: bzH6j-JS-Ic

Length: 50min 24sec (3024 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 26 2017