And I was just honored to be part of the operation. So I get hit. And he became the overall commander of the US Special Operations Command, the rest is history. It was July 18, 2001, midway through that quiet summer before the whole world learned Osama bin Laden's name. 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. And I really didnt have any relief in terms of the mission until after all the helicopters had come back across the border, the Afghan border and were landing at the back at our base. Based on a Navy SEAL's inspiring graduation speech, this number-one New York Times best seller of powerful life lessons "should be read by every leader in America" (Wall Street Journal).. But, you know, I think leaders know how to recognize other leaders. In April 2011, while you were serving as the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, you were gearing up to take down Osama bin Laden. But new leaders always stepped in. False, Marcinko says. But the fact of the matter is, I didnt want to engage with him. There were some things I didn't think were exactly right and he relieved me." 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. 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. I was heading out of Iraq, heading to AL U.D.(?) McRaven signed up for Navy ROTC at the University of Texas, wooed Georgeann Brady at Alpha Delta Pi and majored in journalism at the peak of the profession's post-Watergate lan. McRaven, who served as the ninth commander of the U.S. Special Operations command from . Later, William McRaven shares his story of a horrible parachute accident, which leaves him hospitalized for . You were hit by a fellow divers canopy. (See pictures of the history of special ops.). And we had a plan to do that. Kurt Ganapathy. William H. McRaven. We'd had a lot of leads on him, but frankly, none of the leads had panned out. . Now available in bookstores everywhere, or go to time.com/specialops to order your copy today. Tell me about that moment and what you heard come through the radio after that. 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. University of Texas System Chancellor William H. McRaven, a retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral, leads one of the nation's largest and most respected systems of higher education. 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. No Americans were harmed. So I think all of those kind of clicked in my mind. Retired four-star Navy Adm. William McRaven discusses why he finds it hard to be a Democrat or a Republican with CNN's Chris Wallace. HOOVER: 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. I didnt want to because I didnt want him to think that he was somehow important enough to be able to engage El Jefe, as he called me. 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. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to retired Adm. William McRaven, who may be best-known as the Navy SEAL commander who oversaw the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, about his new memoir. 00:23:10 He knew I'd been in a parachute accident. ), "The President was at all times presidential," he says. How was it that you came to be inside Iraq, though, on the day that Saddam Hussein was captured? Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. And now the Pakistanis, of course, are waking up to the fact that were there. And they were going out every night, you know, trying to stop suicide bombers. It obviously had a lot of political risk with it, and I dont want to minimize the risk. Theyre the superheroes. A hard landing off to the side. 20. That was a day that I think motivated all of America to go forth and realize that we had to bring justice to bin Laden, to bring justice to Al-Qaeda and to do what we felt was right for the country. And then in 1983, as you mentioned, he had a head-on bicycle accident and then was paralyzed from the chest down and has been since that time. And in the case of the rescue of Captain Phillips, the guys on scene made all the right calls. And so I recognize that shots are being fired. But I also knew at that moment that life was about to change. Admiral Bill McRaven (retired) (DoD photo by Ken Moore) RELATED: NAVY SEAL WHO OVERSAW BIN LADEN RAID PENS CHILDREN'S BOOK In his speech to the graduates, O'Connor recounted how McRaven spoke about being a young SEAL officer when he was assigned to the insular, and still relatively new, SEAL Team 6 in the early 1980s. I had a moment of relief, you bet. William McRaven was tumbling from the sky, and there wasn't much sky left. and a grotesque 2001 skydiving mishap that separated his pelvic muscles from the bone. Just like the young female sergeant who I just visited at Walter Reed this week. So you visited his room every day to speak with the doctor on guard. Those were the Wild West days of special operations, and McRaven did not share his commander's easygoing attitude about rules. I mean, who in the world is going to join the military for relatively low pay, to put your life at risk, et cetera, et cetera? And that was pretty evident. What kind of intelligence did we get off the target? But in the end, you never addressed him directly. Theyre all kind of crammed into this small room with General Brad Webb, who was my liaison to the White House at the time. I need to go personally identify the remains before I can kind of come back and tell you for certain its bin Laden. We put the body bag on the hangar floor and its a rubberized body bag. I wonder what you think we can do to convince more people to make their beds every morning? In 2003, you were the commander of Task Force 714 in Iraq. . And the SEALs entering the room did absolutely the right thing and shot him, not knowing whether or not he was wearing a suicide vest or what was happening at that instant. Nan McRaven says. And now the Pakistanis, of course, are waking up to the fact that were there. 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. So the mission was a long way from over. Yeah, it was interesting. Every particular of his missions remains classified. Admiral William H. McRaven, Address to Class of 2015, 18 January 2014. McRaven: The SEALs entering the room did absolutely the right thing and shot him, not knowing whether or not he was wearing a suicide vest. may not know about the raid on Osama bin Ladens compound or the rescue of Captain Phillips. You know, if we go out and stop one suicide bomber from blowing up a market in Baghdad where a hundred people are killed, who are those hundred people? If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. A lucky break came his way, it seemed, in 1982, two years after the hostage-rescue debacle. 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. McCraven is best known as the Navy SEAL commander who oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Chris Kyle. commander under the obama administration. It begins by stating matter-of-factly that Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian strategist whose On War is a standard text, was wrong about two of his central maxims. And he pulls. Speaking to MS News, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was alerted to a traffic accident on 1 Mar at about 6.45pm. It's a lesson Admiral William H. McRaven (retired) learned after a parachute accident that left him bedridden for months. The commandos dropped into 10,000 feet of free fall, reserving their parachutes for the last moment. As parents, as guardians, as teachers, as mentors, as coaches, encouraging the youth of America to develop healthy, happy, good routines is important for the future of this country. What were you feeling in those moments? 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. All rights reserved. "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.". Take a look. Distance?. I didnt think much of it. The president thanks us for the mission and then reaches behind the presidents desk and hands me a plaque. 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. I mean, it showed that we as Americans can do the hard things and do them well. Richard Marcinko, the hard-charging founding commander of Navy SEAL Team 6, the storied and feared unit within an elite commando force that later . So by the time the helicopters had passed back over the border, now Im on the video with President Obama and his team. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. And just something said, hey, we got to turn around, weve got to get back, because, you know, tonights going to be the night. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. "He was the boss. While freefalling, the man ahead of him deployed his parachute too soon, and McRaven collided with the chute as it opened. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education and not your social status. And on the plaque is a Home Depot tape measure. MCRAVEN: (Laughter) Again, some things are better not questioned. As you point out. Of course, are waking up to the fact that were there things are better not questioned heading to U.D.! The Wild West days of Special Operations Command from color, not your social status personally. Served as the ninth commander of the history of Special ops. ) that! Stop suicide bombers were some things are better not questioned the sky, and McRaven did not share commander. 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