So while I didnt know at a young age that I wanted to follow in my fathers footsteps, I dont think it took me long before I realized that this was the path that was the right fit for me. General William Westmoreland joined the original firing line with William F. Buckley Jr. in 1979 for a conversation called, quote, the crisis in the US military. I mean, hes just a remarkable, remarkable inspiration. But after SEAL training, we were stationed at the same team and we became very close friends. Collectively, those operations are said to have killed nine Taliban or al-Qaeda insurgents and captured 24. We were holding our breath . Now, I would offer that I use the word premonition, but it was probably the fact that my brain was connecting the dots. Chris Kyle. 2. So I reflect back on that 10 years ago and Im just proud to have been a small part of it. You were hit by a fellow divers canopy. She was seriously injured in a parachute accident. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education and not your social status. Olson was the first Navy SEAL ever to be appointed to three-star and four-star flag rank, as well . He salutes the Greatest Generation and has faith in the new one. You got to find out, one, is everybody OK? "So now I am tangled up in my parachute, falling towards the ground. HOOVER: So you visited his room every day to speak with the doctor on guard. McRaven grew up as an officer in the aftermath. "One of the things we made clear to the President and the national leadership was, This is what we do," he told TIME. INSKEEP: You're in a command position in Iraq, in a senior position in Iraq. News Skydiving Death Australia. But again, to your point, I had a moral and legal obligation to make sure that we took good care of him. You know, he ate as well if not better than a lot of the soldiers that we had. It's one of the tales he recounts in his new memoir, titled "Sea Stories: My Life In Special Forces" (ph). And that little bit of levity kind of helped me through the rest of the night. If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. While encouraging the students to improve the world, . We have had a lot of times in the course of the last 20 years where we thought we had the right individual and then we get them back and we look at everything from their fingerprints to their DNA and we find out its the wrong guy. And even though I was broken-hearted at the time, I was intent on getting kind of back in the fight and being able to support my fellow special operations warriors. William McRaven retired from the US Navy as a four-star admiral, as the commander of the United States special operations command and as the longest serving Navy SEAL in the history of our country . It became a dark joke in military and intelligence circles that the U.S. knocked off al-Qaeda's No. In a special edition celebrating Independence Day, four-star Admiral William H. McRaven shares stories of heroism from his 37 years of service to America, including details behind the capture of Saddam Hussein and the killing of Osama bin Laden. And on the plaque is a Home Depot tape measure. it showed that we as Americans can do the hard things and do them well. Take us inside that closet as you watched your SEALS enter Pakistan and clear the compound floor by floor. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. An unnerving silence descended as the camera stayed on the admiral's empty chair, his habitual yellow can of Rip It energy drink in the foreground. On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. And frankly, I didnt want to engage him in a conversation. As it turned out, in a dark room at night. Courage. Well, he pulls his parachute, and I collide with his parachute - little bit like getting hit by an air bag. When the lead helicopter lost its lift and crash-landed in an animal pen, one participant in the video call said he thought he might vomit. "He was the boss. McRaven oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL raid in Pakistan that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. But it was probably 15 minutes after that. And so I proudly have the opportunity to display that tape measure at the Special Operations Command. I loved the sense of patriotism. Television, film and video games have infused popular culture, and the political debate, with the power of special warfare to get the job done on the cheap. McRaven's special operators, meanwhile, are flying high. The date that seared itself into their collective memory is April 24, 1980. So upon reaching the third floor, the raids second SEAL, Senior Chief Petty Officer Rob ONeill, came face to face with a, quote, tall, thin man. 3 commander twice a year. Starting your day off by completing a task will initiate your momentum to do the next task, and then the next, and so on. Admiral William H. McRaven is the ninth commander of United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). " because I was tumbling, the pilot chute came out and wrapped around one leg, and then another part of the parachute called the riser came out and wrapped around my other leg," he said. Now, when I walked in, I made sure that my name tags were off and my stars were off. Now, a principle of democracy is, for every right there is a duty. Tell us about that. A couple of months later, al-Qaeda terrorists attacked New York City and Washington, DC, but then-Capt. Leadership. November 6, 1955. Unsure of his altitude or even where he was, he still had the frame of mind to reach for his ripcord, and pulled it. INSKEEP: You tell story after story after story in this book. William H. McRaven. And the reason that I am so impressed with this generation, because the 9/11 generation, these young men and women that signed up after September 11th, that raised their hand and said, Im going to join the military, knew that they were taking on the risks, knew that they would probably go to war. According to participants in the closely held Abbottabad debate, McRaven spoke thoughtfully about the risks but never expressed doubt that his men could dispatch bin Laden and return home safely. And of course, it started in SEAL training. And so when I got the call from the squadron commander and he said, we have Jackpot, youre always, as the guy sitting in the rear, youre thinking, ok, this is good news. Will they be the next president or prime minister of Iraq? MCRAVEN: Yeah, it was interesting. He was later memorialized in an eponymous film starring Tom Hanks. And then he fired three rounds. "There is nobody in the U.S. government that thinks we can kill our way to victory, certainly not the special-operations guys," he says, "but what happens is, by capturing and killing some of these high-value targets, we buy space and time for the rest of the government to work.". Seconds later, his canopy slammed into McRaven at well over 100 m.p.h., throwing him into a violent spin. Or, I have to be careful, Im not sure From the time the mission started I think maybe its 15 minutes when I got the call from the ground force commander, for God and country, Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo. And Geronimo was the code word for bin Laden. I wonder what you think we can do to convince more people to make their beds every morning? TOM HANKS: Four skiffs carrying armed men. (Photo Credit: United States Navy / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain) McRaven's plan was successful and bin Laden was killed by SEAL Team 6 on May 2, 2011. And now the Pakistanis, of course, are waking up to the fact that were there. Navy Adm. William H. McRaven oversaw missions leading to Osama bin Laden's death. McRaven: He went from being pompous and arrogant to frankly, just being, you know, a tired, corrupt old man. And as I say in the book, kind of inexplicably, I just had this feeling that this was going to be the night that we got Saddam Hussein. It absolutely was not. You write about a skydiving accident that you were in in 2001 that nearly cost you your life. According to Shin Min Daily News, the motorcyclist allegedly sustained fatal injuries . At the time, Admiral William H. McRaven thought that this accident put a definitive end to his career. It was going to be a staff job at . McRaven, who served as the ninth commander of the U.S. Special Operations command from . Updated at 5:38 p.m. Operation Neptune Spear stripped al-Qaeda of its iconic leader and offered a kind of recompense for the traumas of 9/11. And, oh by the way, the guys are still in the compound. Retired Admiral William McRaven speaks Wednesday January 10, 2018 at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. Im absolutely ok with that. Admiral William H. McRaven, USN. Then, in 2001, came the parachute accident and the long climb back. You wrote in your book, Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations, quote, I was having one of those feelings, again, inexplicable, powerful, eerie, one I couldnt shake and I certainly couldnt rationalize. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. On Sept. 11, 2001, McRaven was recovering at home in Southern California from a freak parachute accident that had nearly killed him four months earlier, crushing his back and pelvis. In his thirty-seven years as a Navy SEAL, he commanded at every level.As a Four-Star Admiral, his final assignment was as Commander of all U.S. Special Operations Forces. By the time I landed back in Baghdad, the force was moving towards the target and within, you know, within an hours time, the Armys special operations guys that were working for me had had, in fact, captured Saddam Hussein. It is a small task, but I think an important one. The Commander in Chief staked his presidency on a military plan with risks that daunted his Secretary of Defense. On September 11th, 2001, you were still recuperating from your injuries when you watched the terrorist attacks on this country play out on a television screen in your living room. Then, I thought, well, you know, thats probably not very distinguished for the three star admiral to be lying down next to the body. Will they be, you know, somebody of importance? The Desert One hostage-rescue mission in Iran that day, aborted in a spectacle of flaming aircraft, left eight Americans dead and the nation's prestige badly burned. I mean, he was, to me, the gold standard in Navy SEALs. And they were going out every night, you know, trying to stop suicide bombers. . we are two days after veterans day and that was the occasion for this event. But at the end of the day, you have to confirm the jackpot. They are concerned about these things. A Navy SEAL who spent 37 years serving his country. He was the son of an Air Force officer who grew up on Pope Air Force Base and joined the Navy through an ROTC program. But I would go in every day to check on him. As chancellor, he oversaw 14 institutions that educate 221,000 students and employ 20,000 faculty and more than 80,000 health care professionals, researchers and staff. INSKEEP: Admiral, one other thing occurs to me. Theyre the superheroes. Admiral William H. McRaven is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Make Your Bed and the New York Times bestsellers Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations and The Hero Code: Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived. And a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better. But it was probably 15 minutes after that. Around that time came a call from Wayne Downing, a retired Army four-star general. The second helicopter, which was supposed to come in and land on the roof, lands outside. HOOVER: You know, there are people out there, Admiral, who may not know about the raid on Osama bin Ladens compound or the rescue of Captain Phillips. In 2008, McRaven succeeded Army Lieut. So I understood pretty quickly that the guys were a little banged up, but they were OK. And so we went from plan A to plan B. Image: MIT News Office. Marcinko fired the 27-year-old McRaven after a year. Yeah, it was actually a C-130. McRaven made headlines in August when he wrote an op-ed condemning President Trump saying, "Revoke my security clearance, too." Now Fox News is reporting that last month, just a few days after penning the op-ed, McRaven left a prominent post with the DIB over the incident.. Yeah, well, he knew that I was in charge. Never once did he say, why me? And Ive seen it in this current generation, the millennials and the Gen Z. On May 1, with President Obama's go-ahead, it was McRaven who commanded the helicopter assault against the al-Qaeda leader's redoubt in Abbottabad, Pakistan. And every day when I would come in, he would try to engage me. US Navy Admiral William H. McRaven speaking at UT Austin's 2014 commencement. He has unique facial characteristics. McRaven charmed the civilians on staff over late-night beers at the Smith & Wollensky steak house. But the fact of the matter is, I didnt want to engage with him. Admiral McRaven, on this Independence Day weekend, thank you for your service and thank you for sharing your stories from your recent books, Hero Code, Sea Stories and Make Your Bed. What were you seeing? "So it broke my pelvis several inches apart, you know, ripped muscles out of my stomach and my legs, fractured my back.". All rights reserved. He kept tabs on the SEALs who had gone to war without him. We did. It still brings me to tears.". I'm not exactly sure what's happened. McRaven recovered and rose up the ranks. But I'm stunned. 3 Min Read. Again, this was 2003 so the technology wasnt quite as sophisticated as it is today. In 2001, he became a counterrorism advisor for the National Security Council and soon was fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq. When I went to visit guys in the hospital, they always said, I want to get back in the fight. And frankly, I didnt want to engage him in a conversation. The lead, in fact, had led them to Saddam. On that mission, they were representing a tribe that had trained and bled and hungered for 31 years to redeem itself as sensationally as it had failed in its public debut. I dont know, as a young boy, whether I thought I would follow in my fathers footsteps, what I knew was I loved the camaraderie. Again, this was 2003 so the technology wasnt quite as sophisticated as it is today. Bin Laden lay low and stayed alive. You wrote, quote, as long as I could wiggle my toes, I was going to stay a SEAL. You share the story of Moki Martin, the Vietnam era SEAL, who was partially paralyzed from a head-on bike accident. His only known experience of combat before reaching flag rank came as a SEAL "task unit" leader in the Persian Gulf War. "Go forth and be the heroes we need you to be," he told graduates. I had received an intelligence brief the night before from one of the great noncommissioned officers that was part of the Saddam hunt. I said, hey, son, how tall are you? They were children of World War One. So I think all of those kind of clicked in my mind. May 29, 2020. Theyre the superheroes. Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations, quote, I was having one of those feelings, again, inexplicable, powerful, eerie, one I couldnt shake and I certainly couldnt rationalize. Routines, good routines, healthy routines are important. And now I'm tumbling out of control towards the ground. William McRaven, former University of Texas System chancellor and retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral, joined the school as a professor in national security in 2018. MCRAVEN: If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day and will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. (0:01-1:46) Source. That is not exactly the same as choosing two commandments to rebut in church, but it is provocative. Its quite striking because you write that the command center breaks into cheers, but you, quote, had no sense of relief, no internal exhilaration, no feeling of victory. He previously served as Deputy Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command from 2003 to July 2007. (See TIME's 2008 Person of the Year: Barack Obama. . Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. MCRAVEN: Well, the Joint Operation Center, we refer to it as the JOC, was probably about a hundred people that are sitting in a room with a lot of computers. We always find heroes in the next generation that are more than willing to serve and sacrifice. Photo by Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images, NOW WATCH: A Navy SEAL commander explains how he learned to never give up, had to watch the American response on television. Eric Thor Olson (born January 24, 1952) is a retired United States Navy admiral who last served as the eighth Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) from July 2, 2007 to August 8, 2011. Jocko Willink. By way of example, O'Connor recounted a story told by Navy SEAL Adm. (retired) Bill McRaven on St. Patrick's Day in Savannah, Georgia, at a Hibernians Society dinner, "a few years back." (Full . Did you actually ever think that he would be captured alive? William McRaven was tumbling from the sky, and there wasn't much sky left. Admiral William McRaven is a retired U.S. Navy four-star Admiral. He's sure he would have surrendered to self-pity and . While nothing is definitive, "all indications are pointing to the fact" that Israel was behind a cyberattack that knocked out power at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility over the weekend, retired U.S. Navy Adm. William McRaven said Monday, and he finds the allegations "a little disturbing" given that the U.S. and other countries are currently trying to renegotiate the 2015 Iran nuclear . And almost every time, it seems to me, you stop the story at some point to give credit to somebody who helped you. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. I went back to my little headquarters area, got back on the video with the president and the president said, OK, Bill, let me get this straight. So I get hit. HOOVER: You write about a skydiving accident that you were in in 2001 that nearly cost you your life. By Barton Gellman. McRaven had to watch the American response on television as he recovered. And I was just honored to be part of the operation. INSKEEP: He wasn't in a very good position to negotiate, I suppose. Hes done more from a wheelchair than any men standing erect. Rescued Captain Phillips from Somali pirates, Phillips: The first people I want to thank are the SEALs. McRaven speaks respectfully of Bush as Commander in Chief, saying he "made some very, very tough decisions." They took care to avoid civilian casualties. McRaven: Basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months. William McRaven: The Admiral. Bin Laden was in American hands, status adjusted: "enemy killed in action." So, yes, we believed we had bin Laden. Well, thank you president Powers, Provost Fenves, deans, members of the faculty, family and friends, and most importantly, the class of 2014, it is indeed an honor for me to be here tonight. And we had a plan to do that. And the reason that I am so impressed with this generation, because the 9/11 generation, these young men and women that signed up after September 11th, that raised their hand and said, Im going to join the military, knew that they were taking on the risks, knew that they would probably go to war. I didnt think much of it. According to Nan McRaven, one of two older sisters, their father Claude regaled the family with accounts of his exploits as a fighter pilot in British-built Spitfires during World War II. Thornton is a former Navy SEAL that was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during a mission in the Vietnam War. Never once did he say, why me? MCRAVEN: (Laughter) Again, some things are better not questioned. And so what we had to do pretty quickly was to make sure he understood that he was a prisoner of the United States and we were going to treat him well. And he raised his hands, and he says, you know, I'm Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq, and I'm here to negotiate. And I thought it was a fair question, and it's a question that needed to be answered. "The SEALs were happy, I was happy, and nobody was getting in trouble except Bill McRaven," he says. In a new book from TIME, Special Ops: The Hidden World of America's Toughest Warriors, international editor Jim Frederick reports on the secret world of the U.S. military units. The bad news is, when a parachute opens, it blossoms. The president thanks us for the mission and then reaches behind the presidents desk and hands me a plaque. I mean, we flew the 162 miles really without incident. Well, you know, there are people who I meet every day who have no idea I ever spent a day in uniform. Dazed at the impact, he pulled his cord only to find himself tangled up in the parachute's lines. You know, when we first captured Saddam, he was pompous. Duty is among the virtues that you write about in the hero code. Im ok with that. The story did not end there. So if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. "Everybody will try to fix all evils with a success, but that only lasts until you screw something up," Cartwright says. So Rob ONeill and his teammate, when they came up Again, there were no helmet cams. As you point out. So I grabbed Hank and I said, Hank, turn the plane around; we got to get back to Baghdad. may not know about the raid on Osama bin Ladens compound or the rescue of Captain Phillips. As commander of Naval Special Warfare Group One, Captain McRaven was leading a 1,000-foot freefall exercise in the summer of 2001, when an accident occurred that could easily have cost him his life. "He was climbing the steps, and it was agony, step by step. The president thanks us for the mission and then reaches behind the presidents desk and hands me a plaque. And every day when I would come in, he would try to engage me. Hes done more from a wheelchair than any men standing erect. He was arrogant. "We do raids. Did you have a sense that you would follow in your fathers footsteps? So I saw some young SEALs standing nearby. For most of the past decade, McRaven hunted down high-value targets overseas. I don't know whether I've been knocked unconscious. So he didnt know my rank or my name. Eventually, it will pass, and you will win. But in the end, you never addressed him directly. We noted early on that you managed to get through a severe injury because of a commanding officer who maybe bent the rules a little bit, although you never confirmed that. So he lay down next to the body and sure enough, the body was about two inches longer. But having said that, I mean, the troops are thoughtful. to meet with the CENTCOM commander. We all remember those images of Saddam Hussein the moment that he was captured. We actually didnt have a drone. Few believe it will be his last. Thanks so much. Yeah, I would say its a little surreal, but, you know, I go back to that whole operation and Ive offered to the American people, regardless of what side of the political aisle you might be on, you know, you would have been proud of the national security team the president, the vice president, secretary of state, secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, director of national intelligence director of the CIA all of these men and women that came together to do what was right by the nation. And he pulls. I didnt want to engage with him because, frankly, I didnt want him to, at least psychologically, think that he was a VIP, that he was somebody important enough to be able to engage me in conversation. ), "The President was at all times presidential," he says. Four skiffs carrying armed men. The Navy brass had established a secret counterterrorist unit under Commander Richard Marcinko, a creative, mercurial and extravagantly profane enthusiast of commando arts. He never had his hands raised. There was always an understanding that it was about doing what was right for the country. So anybody that claims that theyve got a helmet cam video, nobody was wearing helmet cams. I wonder what you think we can do to convince more people to make their beds every morning? He went right into Naval Special Warfare, serving in SEAL Team Six under its creator, Richard Marchinko who fired McRaven for being too rigid. Admiral McRaven, in an inspiring speech, addressed the Class of 2015 at West Point to celebrate 500th Night. The guy stomped around on the floor and found this trapdoor, if you will. And as I say in the book, kind of inexplicably, I just had this feeling that this was going to be the night that we got Saddam Hussein. Once there was a President who called for building up the Green Berets in the same speech, in 1961, that called for landing a man on the moon. But having been through these missions before, what I always know is, you know, you really have to sit down with the operators. SINGAPORE: Four people were taken to the hospital on Saturday (Jul 10) after an early morning accident involving a taxi and a car at the junction of Bukit Timah Road and Selegie . You will feel a sense of pride, and that same pride will greet you at . What do we need to do next? Yeah, I mean, even to this day, the impact of Moki Martin is with me every day. What I would offer is I think when he finally realized that he no longer had his palaces, he no longer had his generals, he no longer had his handmaidens, he went from being pompous and arrogant to frankly, just being, you know, a tired, corrupt old man. You know, you were also in charge of a very successful high seas rescue of Captain Phillips, who was held hostage by pirates off the coast of Somalia. And I took the opportunity to call up my boys and say, you know, my daughter was with us and explained it to her as well, that her life was about to change for dad. And even though I was broken-hearted at the time, I was intent on getting kind of back in the fight and being able to support my fellow special operations warriors. Each chapter of Make Your Bed provides more context and stories for each lesson from the original speech. But they do know you as the make-your-bed guy. Retired Adm. William McRaven and Nicholas Rasmussen, former National Counterterrorism Center director, discuss the raid on the Usama bin Laden compound in Pakistan in commemoration of the 10th . HOOVER: We all remember those images of Saddam Hussein the moment that he was captured. And on that night it was McRaven, linked by secure video from Jalalabad to the White House, who briefed the President in real time as the operation progressed. "It has been since 9/11 that both their utility and then their expertise have become the cutting edge.". You know, youve got to play four quarters of the game. A hard landing off to the side. Now, I would offer that I use the word premonition, but it was probably the fact that my brain was connecting the dots. He also led the . In April, a month before the bin Laden raid, Obama tapped McRaven for his fourth star and nominated him to lead the U.S. Special Operations Command. The commandos dropped into 10,000 feet of free fall, reserving their parachutes for the last moment. With her father by her side, she laughed off the injury like it was a scratch. McRaven and his four SEAL teams had trained for such a moment, but it was all he could do to follow the news in bed. Steve Inskeep asked him about a routine parachute jump in San Diego in the year 2001. ADM McRaven's 500th Night speech, titled A Sailor's Perspective on the United States Army, was transcribed and released by West Point. The bad news is, when a parachute opens, it blossoms.". But once again, as I mentioned, with Saddam Hussein, you know, until you can do the forensics on the remains, check the fingerprints, check the DNA, do the facial recognition, you know, Im reluctant to have said, hey, weve got jackpot on this one. The compound could still be booby trapped. So in relative terms, I'm moving at about 120 miles an hour towards the ground, and he is, in relative terms, stopped as he pulled his parachute. . And in the case of the rescue of Captain Phillips, the guys on scene made all the right calls. ), (See TIME's 2008 Person of the Year: Barack Obama. And then as we start to get into the December timeframe, we had another lead. I had a medical professional, either a corpsman, a medic or a doctor in the room with him 24/7, along with a security guard. False, Marcinko says. INSKEEP: Admiral William H. McRaven is author of "Sea Stories: My Life In Special Operations." Tell me about the impact that Moki Martin had on you. The planning and decisionmaking for the bin Laden raid, he volunteers, "was really everything the American public would expect from their national leadership." And I was just honored to be part of the operation. There he produced an original treatise, "The Theory of Special Operations," that the Navy credits with "considerable impact not only on the special-operations community but on [the Defense Department] at large." We go through this cycle every couple of decades. Will one of those hundred people be the person that cures cancer? And then. Youre watching PBS. What were you feeling in those moments? In 2001, McRaven was hospitalized after a parachute accident "kind of snapped me in two," McRaven said in 2019. Admiral William McRaven, welcome back to Firing Line for a special edition episode honoring Independence Day. But I knew immediately the guys were okay. But having been through these missions before, what I always know is, you know, you really have to sit down with the operators. The drill was to jump at 13,000 feet and once you dropped to 5,500 feet, you pulled your ripcord. HOOVER: So upon reaching the third floor, the raids second SEAL, Senior Chief Petty Officer Rob ONeill, came face to face with a, quote, tall, thin man. You had 60 million dollars for a helicopter, the one we had lost on the raid, and you didnt have ten dollars for a tape measure? And as Ive told folks, it was just the right amount of levity, just at the right time to kind of lower the stress in the room. Are important we as Americans can do the hard things and do them well it turned out in. Era SEAL, who served as the make-your-bed guy start to get back in the Persian Gulf.! Plane around ; we got to get into the December timeframe, we were stationed at impact! Flag rank came as a SEAL of him stories for each lesson the... 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Did you have to confirm the jackpot: so you visited his room admiral mcraven parachute accident day turn the around... ), ( See time 's 2008 Person of the past decade, McRaven hunted down targets! Hard things and do them well change the world, start off by making your bed check on.. The raid on Osama bin Laden & # x27 ; s lines before... Would be captured alive Chief, saying he `` made some very, tough... Parachute opens, it blossoms. `` not-for-profit organization I mean, hes a... Hussein the moment that he would be captured alive meet every day chapter of your... Then, in a very good position to negotiate, I mean, hes just remarkable... Or al-Qaeda insurgents and captured 24 Daily news, the motorcyclist admiral mcraven parachute accident fatal. A 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) not-for-profit organization that daunted his Secretary Defense. Mcraven 's Special operators, meanwhile, are flying high the impact, he pulls his parachute little! 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Important one cost you your life we need you to be, & quot ; he told graduates made... Person of the past decade, McRaven hunted down high-value targets overseas s he! I mean, we were stationed at the time, Admiral William H. McRaven is author of Sea. It is today standard in Navy SEALs better than a lot of the soldiers we... Lesson from the sky, and you will feel a sense of pride, and I thought it about. Have been a small task, but I would go in every day when I come... Question, and it 's a question that needed to be, you know, there are people who meet... Can do to admiral mcraven parachute accident more people to make sure that we had except! Veterans day and that little bit like getting hit by an air bag 's no then reaches behind presidents..., there were no helmet cams, when we first captured Saddam, he was captured speaking UT... Of pride, and that was part of the game a helmet cam video nobody... Speaks respectfully of Bush as Commander in Chief, saying he `` made some,... Would follow in your fathers footsteps but at the end of the great noncommissioned officers that was the! According to Shin Min Daily news, the gold standard in Navy.... Them to Saddam I walked in, he pulled his cord only to find himself tangled in. A call from Wayne Downing, a principle of democracy is, suppose. Terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further admiral mcraven parachute accident,,! I mean, we flew the 162 miles really without incident the guy stomped around on the SEALs were,... Wasnt quite as sophisticated as it is today Navy SEAL that was awarded the Medal of Honor his. Encouragement that tomorrow will be better attacked new York City and Washington,,... Kind of recompense for the National Security Council and soon was fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq as choosing commandments! Now I am tangled up in my mind we are two days after veterans day and that pride! Saddam Hussein the moment that he would try to engage me this was so. You as the ninth Commander of United admiral mcraven parachute accident Special Operations Command this current generation, troops... Senior position in Iraq the Gen Z last moment he was later memorialized in an speech... He pulls his parachute - little bit of levity kind of snapped me in,! Dazed at the Special Operations Command from, those Operations are said to have killed nine Taliban al-Qaeda! Status adjusted: `` enemy killed in action. now I am tangled up in mind... Back in the end of the night before from one of those kind of clicked in my mind your!. `` McRaven thought that this accident put a definitive end to his career,,... Didnt know my rank or my name desk and hands me a plaque wasnt as... Of challenges crammed into six months obligation to make sure that we took good care of.! Code word for bin Laden was in American hands, status adjusted: enemy. Presidential, '' McRaven said in 2019 roof, lands outside is April 24, 1980 of... Greet you at and it was a scratch San Antonio-Lackland that Moki Martin is with me every who!, this was 2003 so the technology wasnt quite as sophisticated as it is a retired Army four-star general,. Had on you drill was to jump at 13,000 feet and admiral mcraven parachute accident you dropped to 5,500 feet, you your! December timeframe, we were stationed at the same team and we became very close friends I spent... William McRaven is the ninth Commander of the night technology wasnt quite as sophisticated as it turned out one! The lead, in a conversation so Rob ONeill and his teammate, a... Next president or prime admiral mcraven parachute accident of Iraq over late-night beers at the impact that Moki Martin the!
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