“The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday”

Operation Neptune Spear

Objective: Capture Osama bin Laden, evil mastermind of the Twin Tower attacks

May 2, 2011, Abbottabad, Pakistan

U

nder the cover of darkness, close to two dozen Stealth Black Hawk helicopters take off from Afghanistan with 25 elite soldiers aboard. These men are hardened, dangerous assassins, soldiers of the most elite military branch of the United States armed forces: Navy SEALS.

The SEALS are headed toward a heavily fortified compound where they believe Osama bin Laden is currently living with his family. Osama bin Laden is America’s most wanted man. He is a heartless terrorist who masterminded the September 11 terror attacks that claimed the lives of almost 3,000 people. The objective is to capture bin Laden, but everyone knows that he will never surrender. The likely outcome of this operation, if the mission is successful, is the death of the United States’s greatest enemy.

As the choppers touch down outside bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, one of the helicopters crashes. The mission had already hit a major snag and not one shot has been fired yet.

BIRTH OF THE SEALS

In 1962, as the Vietnam War was heating up, President John F. Kennedy created the first two teams of Navy SEALS. The name is an acronym for Sea, Air, and Land, and each SEAL is trained to conduct warfare in any of these three settings. Close to 50 SEALS were killed during the Vietnam War between 1965–1972.

A few years later, the Americans launched a mission called Operation Eagle Claw to rescue 53 Americans being held at the American embassy in Tehran. The operation failed miserably due to several communication errors, and there was a deadly explosion when a helicopter collided with another aircraft. Eight soldiers were left dead and the survivors were forced to evacuate the plane, leaving behind their dead comrades, top secret equipment, and weapons.

It was time for the army to step up their game. The Navy appointed Commander Richard Marcinko, a veteran of the Vietnam War, to build a specialized SEAL unit that would be capable of responding immediately to terrorist crises around the world. Marcinko put together an elite fighting force which he called SEAL Team Six. At the time there were only two SEAL teams in existence, but Marcinko wisely wanted to scare America’s enemies into believing that America had more elite soldiers than they actually did.

The SEALs Go Public

SEAL Team Six officially does not exist. They operate under the radar, traveling across the globe in civilian clothing to carry out dangerous, risky missions. Most people only learned of their existence in April of 2009 when they rescued Captain Richard Phillips, captain of the MV Maersk Alabama, who had been captured by Somali pirates and held hostage inside a lifeboat.

After negotiations with the Somali terrorists failed, the US army called in SEAL Team Six. Perched discreetly on the deck of the American destroyer USS Bainbridge, three SEAL Team Six snipers took aim through the scopes of their sniper rifles and successfully eliminated the three pirates standing over Captain Phillips. The SEALs had proven themselves to be the reliable, powerful fighting force that the army had always hoped for, and they captured the hearts and imaginations of the American public.

Still, even this risky mission paled in comparison to the massive raid on bin Laden’s compound in 2011.

A Shaky Start

Operation Neptune Spear, Abbottad, Pakistan

Without any warning, just as the helicopters are hovering above the compound about to land, one of the helicopter’s tail rotors smash against one of the high compound walls and the pilot is forced to crash land. Nobody is hurt, and the SEALs quickly proceed with the mission, scaling the compound walls, weapons ready. Explosives are placed against the reinforced walls and doors of the compound, and the sound of explosions echoes in the night.

The SEALs barge through the smoking openings they have created. There are many children there; the SEALs scream at them to get onto the floor. Gunfire erupts and the SEALs kill bin Laden’s adult son Khalid, bin Laden’s driver, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, al-Kuwaiti’s brother Abrar, and Abrar’s wife Bushra. The compound is completely dark, because the CIA has cut all power to the entire neighborhood. The SEALs are equipped with special night vision goggles that allow them to see the enemy.

The SEALs advance over the first two floors, but bin Laden is not there. They ascend to the third floor of the compound to confront the evil mastermind face to face. All of their extensive training has led up to this very moment.

ELITE TRAINING

The SEALs receive the most advanced training of any other branch in the army. Candidates who want to volunteer to join the SEALs must be US citizens in the Navy between the ages of 18 and 29 years old. Applicants must have a high school education and “good moral character.”

Obviously, physical strength is a major component of SEAL strength. Each applicant must fulfill these minimal requirements during the SEAL Physical Screening Test: swim 500 yards in under 12 minutes 30 seconds, 50 push-ups in two minutes, 50 sit-ups in two minutes, 10 pull-ups from a dead hang, run 1.5 miles in under 10 minutes 30 seconds. Next comes BUD/S, Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training. BUD/S is a 24-week training course that tests each SEAL candidate’s mental and physical limits. They will spend seven weeks on physical conditioning, seven weeks in combat diving, and seven weeks in land warfare.

During this training period prospective SEALs undergo brutal training including handling live explosives and ammunition, swimming two miles in the ocean in 75 minutes, running four miles with heavy boots in 30 minutes and running 14 miles straight. All of this and more while on minimal sleep, being woken up in the middle of the night by instructors who purposely scream in the faces of the trainees and push them to their mental limit.

There is a special bell on the beach where the SEAL hopefuls train. Candidates ring it when the pain and exhaustion become too great to bear and they want to give up. Once they ring that bell, they are out of the program. For the few and proud who persevere and hold back from ringing the bell, they alone are chosen to join the SEALs.

Face to Face With Osama bin Laden

Operation Neptune Spear, Abbottabad, Pakistan

On the third floor of the compound the SEALS finally see bin Laden. The wanted terrorist is peering out of his bedroom door just as the American soldiers are charging up the stairs. He is wearing pajamas with money and two phone numbers sewn into the fabric. Two SEALs by the names of O’Neill and Bissonnette storm into bin Laden’s room and fire from their machine guns, ending the life of an evil tyrant who had caused the deaths of close to 3,000 people.

The SEAL team leader radios a quick message back to headquarters,

“For God and country — Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo.” (“Geronimo” means “enemy killed in action”). President Obama watches all of this unfolding live on a screen in the White House Situation Room.

The president sighs in relief.

“We got him.”

Navy SEAL Mottos:

1. The only easy day was yesterday.
2. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
3. Don’t run to your death (meaning, don’t run into danger, go slowly and carefully)
4. Have a shared sense of purpose.
5. Move, shoot, communicate.
6. No plan survives first contact with the enemy.
7. All in, all the time.

SEAL FACTS

1. To practice for the invasion on bin Laden’s compound, the SEALs built a full-size replica of the actual compound to practice in before the mission.
2. Approximately 75% of SEAL trainees quit the training before finishing.
3. You can visit certain local beaches in San Diego and watch SEAL training there.
4. The other branches of the military also have elite special forces. The Army has the Night Stalkers, Green Berets Army Rangers, and Delta Force. The Marines have MARSOC and RECON.
5. Navy SEALs are also called “frogmen” and “the men with green faces.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha Jr., Issue 776)