INSKEEP: You're in a command position in Iraq, in a senior position in Iraq. The master's thesis, which weighs in at 612 pages, proposes a theory of "relative superiority" to explain how a small offensive force can defeat a larger, well-fortified defense, which Clausewitz described as holding a decisive advantage. 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.. 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. 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. He was one of your SEAL instructors who you call, quote, one of the most inspirational men that you knew. General Stanley McChrystal as JSOC's top commander. MCRAVEN: Oh, absolutely. But by then he and his young lieutenant had fallen out. McRaven, then a 45-year-old Navy SEAL captain, led a jump exercise near San Diego. (See pictures of the history of special ops.). 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 had received an intelligence brief the night before from one of the great noncommissioned officers that was part of the Saddam hunt. And never once, never once in all those years have I heard Moki Martin complain about his lot in life. Shortly after jumping out, McCraven says something was clearly wrong. But I also knew at that moment that life was about to change. MCRAVEN: You know, nobody goes through life and is successful all on their own. I wonder what you think we can do to convince more people to make their beds every morning? Of course, as we began to come in to target the one helicopter loses lift as it got over the target. HOOVER: 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. We go through this cycle every couple of decades. and will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. Im absolutely ok with that. "He walked again, which was amazing," sister Nan recalls. He has unique facial characteristics. 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? 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. 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. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. So Im getting radio calls from the ground force commander. The one source we had that led us to Saddam kind of pointed in the general direction. . MCRAVEN: No, I dont think that contributed to his decline. "That was his favorite!" 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. McRaven says it is just one part of a broader offensive against America's foes. "There was a degree of coming to closure," he says. You got to find out, one, is everybody OK? "Well, he pulls his parachute, and I collide with his parachute little bit like getting hit by an air bag. "I said to him, 'You can grow up to be 007.' And you write that you, quote, had an obligation, both morally and legally to keep him safe. 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? US Navy Admiral William H. McRaven speaking at UT Austin's 2014 commencement. The potency of that image may depend on making sure the triumph in Abbottabad is not succeeded by another Desert One or Black Hawk down. With her father by her side, she laughed off the injury . "I kind of tumble through the parachute. Copyright 2019 NPR. 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. So admittedly that particular operation was a lot sportier, a lot further, a lot more political ramifications, a lot riskier for a lot of reasons, but basically similar to things that we do every night. It is a small task, but I think an important one. But it was a relatively straightforward mission in terms of the first part of it. I mean, hes just a remarkable, remarkable inspiration. "If I was a loose cannon, he was too rigid. I mean, we flew the 162 miles really without incident. ), https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101745_2102133_2102330,00.html. Bush famously kept a list of al-Qaeda leaders in his Oval Office desk drawer and drew an X over each face as the target was captured or killed. What were you feeling in those moments? Theres a lot of things that go on post operation. 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. I mean, we flew the 162 miles really without incident. And so I recognize that shots are being fired. Taking Apart al-Qaeda Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education and not your social status. When after a bad parachute accident McRaven stoically refused pain medication, he writes that "the imposing face of . How have you seen this generation rise to the occasion in a way thats perhaps different than General Westmorelands observations? The good news is, as I fell a couple hundred feet or a thousand feet or so, the parachute finally opened. And as I would find out later, it wouldnt be the last time. Admiral, tell me about that premonition. 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 . 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. Again, this was 2003 so the technology wasnt quite as sophisticated as it is today. 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. ), (See TIME's 2008 Person of the Year: Barack Obama. And as I would find out later, it wouldnt be the last time. Admiral, tell me about that premonition. We were holding our breath . A Navy SEAL who spent 37 years serving his country. 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. "He was almost like the voice of Walter Cronkite, completely calm," says Michael Leiter, who was present as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Now, a principle of democracy is, for every right there is a duty. 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. 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. On September 1, 2014 . "One of the things we made clear to the President and the national leadership was, This is what we do," he told TIME. The most recent internal tally counted more than 2,500 such commando missions in and around Afghanistan over 12 months. May 29, 2020. And he raised his hands, and he says, you know, I'm Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq, and I'm here to negotiate. In fact, we had a plan with what we were going to do with bin Laden if we captured him. 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. Cartwright, the Marine general, says, "If every time you knock one off all they do is replace him, how valuable was that, particularly if you could have been watching him? Still, there was something more elemental in the final transaction. President Trump tried to sidestep criticism from a former top military commander by insisting that retired Adm. William McRaven is simply a political player from the camp . 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. 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. 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. They could see fine out of just one eye. I didnt think much of it. And when it did, the leg with the pilot chute went one direction, and the leg with the risers went the other direction and kind of snapped me in two. What happened was the down blast from the helicopter hit this 18 foot high wall, created a vortex, kind of a vacuum over the blades, caused the helicopter to lose lift. And then he fired three rounds. If bin Laden had his hands up and he clearly was not a threat which was going to be difficult because you dont know whether or not theyre carrying a suicide vest underneath but if he had come out of that room with his hands up and clearly not a threat, we had an obligation, a legal obligation, a moral obligation to capture him. The second helicopter, which was supposed to come in and land on the roof, lands outside. Then, as commandos set explosive charges around the wounded aircraft: "We're going to destroy the helicopter.". Adm. William McRaven, who oversaw the raid on Osama bin Laden's home, says as it went beyond the planned time, he feared Pakistani forces might find U.S. troops . I said, hey, son, how tall are you? 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. Moki, to me was this kind of quintessential Navy SEAL. Firing Line with Margaret Hoover is made possible in part by and by Corporate funding is provided by. And as I was descending, I noticed that there was . On the night of the bin Laden raid, there were 13 simultaneous operations in Afghanistan by clandestine "special-mission units" under JSOC, according to McRaven and Petraeus. We werent going to put him in a cell with other people, that his days as the leader of Iraq were over. Admiral William H. McRaven, Address to Class of 2015, 18 January 2014. Over the next two years, McRaven became principal author of Bush's National Strategy for Combating Terrorism. "Part of the chute wrapped around one leg, the risers around the other, and the good news is that it opened. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. You were in the joint operation center and you heard the C squadron commander who was on the ground saying, we have Jackpot. Take us inside the Joint Operation Center at that moment. Then, in 2001, came the parachute accident and the long climb back. The story of identifying the body is such a memorable one. There was always an understanding that it was about doing what was right for the country. I mean, there were risks every time we came close to the Pakistani border or crossed the Pakistani border, the Pakistanis were not concerned at all about engaging us. (See pictures of the history of special ops. Unfortunately, an SCDF paramedic pronounced a person dead on the scene. November 6, 1955. Four skiffs carrying armed men. SEAL training was a great equalizer. Unsure of his altitude or even where he was, he still had the frame of mind to reach for his ripcord, and pulled it. Four-star Admiral Bill McRaven, former commander of the U.S. Special Operations and Navy SEAL, has led a high-profile careerincluding facing Somali pirates, Osama Bin Laden, and his own commander in chief. Routines, good routines, healthy routines are important. So, yes, we believed we had bin Laden. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Retired Navy Admiral and former U.S. special operations chief William McRaven has no regrets about criticizing President Donald Trump, though he said on Wednesday . The drill was to jump at 13,000 feet and once you dropped to 5,500 feet, you pulled your ripcord. . When I went to visit guys in the hospital, they always said, I want to get back in the fight. Then, I thought, well, you know, thats probably not very distinguished for the three star admiral to be lying down next to the body. William H. McRaven is a retired four-star US Navy SEAL admiral and author of the number one New York Times best-seller Make Your Bed (2017).During his almost 40 years of service, McRaven became commander of America's anti-terrorist and hostage rescue operations, which included the capture of Saddam Hussein and the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Hes done more from a wheelchair than any men standing erect. She was seriously injured in a parachute accident. But in the end, you never addressed him directly. Admiral McRaven also explains how it isn't necessary to change everyone's lives for the world to change. And what I told him is, you never know how the missions you conduct are going to change the lives of the people that you save. As McRaven tells it, the leg with his pilot chute wrapped around it and the leg with the risers, the straps used to connect the parachute and steer it, were wrapped around the other leg. Thank you for your service. s 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. Then, I thought, well, you know, thats probably not very distinguished for the three star admiral to be lying down next to the body. And so the president asked me, he says, Well, Bill, do you know whether or not its bin Laden? I said, Sir, I dont. You will feel a sense of pride, and that same pride will greet you at . And then. Theyre the superheroes. commander under the obama administration. 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. And that little bit of levity kind of helped me through the rest of the night. There was always an understanding that it was about doing what was right for the country. "I was not some white knight on a horse going with my lance against the windmill," he says. The fact of the matter is, the law of armed conflict and the rules of engagement were pretty clear. Olson was the first Navy SEAL ever to be appointed to three-star and four-star flag rank, as well . Later, William McRaven shares his story of a horrible parachute accident, which leaves him hospitalized for . . But it was a relatively straightforward mission in terms of the first part of it. William McRaven was tumbling from the sky, and there wasn't much sky left. And at one point in time, a senior chief petty officer, Navy SEAL senior chief petty officer, he said, Admiral, I don't get it; why are we still doing this? We'd had a lot of leads on him, but frankly, none of the leads had panned out. 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. Michael E. Thornton - BUD/S Class 49. It's one of the tales he recounts in his new memoir, titled "Sea Stories: My Life In Special Forces" (ph). Good evening. And to this day, Moki oversees the triathlon that we run every year as part of our underwater demolition team and our SEAL fraternity. You know, Ive heard you say that you are the quote biggest fan of the millennial generation and generation and Gen Z. 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. WESTMORELAND: The zeal and the desire to serve is not present to the extent that it was several years ago. According to Shin Min Daily News, the motorcyclist allegedly sustained fatal injuries . You know, he ate as well if not better than a lot of the soldiers that we had. Billions of dollars and the labor of countless men and women had led to that day. HOOVER: You write about a skydiving accident that you were in in 2001 that nearly cost you your life. 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: Yeah. With her father by her side, she laughed off the injury like it was a scratch. 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. It was going to be a staff job at . . The Navy admiral was celebrated for the success of his plan, and was the runner-up for Time's Person of the Year for the operation. Just like the young female sergeant who I just visited at Walter Reed this week. Routines, good routines, healthy routines are important. Again, this was 2003 so the technology wasnt quite as sophisticated as it is today. Did you actually ever think that he would be captured alive? Adm. William McRaven shares anecdotes from his life and military career. You know, youve got to play four quarters of the game. It was really about the people that were around me, the people that helped me when I stumbled, the people that picked me up and dusted me off and said, you're going to be OK; keep moving. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. But before all that, he had to recover from a terrible accident. But I knew immediately the guys were okay. The president thanks us for the mission and then reaches behind the presidents desk and hands me a plaque. And that was pretty evident. But it was pretty clearly bin Laden. As the chief executive officer of the UT System, Chancellor McRaven oversees 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. And, oh by the way, the guys are still in the compound. MCRAVEN: I had arrived in Iraq in October of 2003, and we were hunting Saddam Hussein. How was it that you came to be inside Iraq, though, on the day that Saddam Hussein was captured? Ill lie down next to the body just to see whether or not the remains are a little longer. Admiral McRaven, in an inspiring speech, addressed the Class of 2015 at West Point to celebrate 500th Night. 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. So a static line parachute is where you hook up inside the aircraft, the freefall you jump out with a parachute on your back. William McRaven: We were doing a freefall. It's a lesson Admiral William H. McRaven (retired) learned after a parachute accident that left him bedridden for months. You know, when we stood up an all volunteer force, I remember thinking initially, well, this will never work. On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. 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. 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. 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. I had been talking to the leader of the Army Task Force. There were more serious charges, one of which eventually landed Marcinko in prison. "As you see, we have a helicopter down," McRaven said, expressionless. "Special forces have taken greater measures in the last year and a half to reduce civilian casualties," says Erica Gaston, who wrote a report for the Open Society Foundations, "but one night raid in a village can be enough to turn [people] against international and Afghan government efforts. McRaven speaks respectfully of Bush as Commander in Chief, saying he "made some very, very tough decisions." Tell me about the impact that Moki Martin had on you. to meet with the CENTCOM commander. 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. HOOVER: Saddam Hussein became your prisoner when he remained at your camp longer than originally expected, about 30 days. When the chute blossomed the two parts went different ways and took his legs with them. Yeah, it was interesting. HOOVER: You write about a skydiving accident that you were in in 2001 that nearly cost you your life. So I reflect back on that 10 years ago and Im just proud to have been a small part of it. And fortunately, you know, the guys found me, took me to the hospital. HOOVER: And you think that contributed to his decline in custody? 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. Around that time came a call from Wayne Downing, a retired Army four-star general. So the mission was a long way from over. He kept tabs on the SEALs who had gone to war without him. And a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better. Will one of those hundred people be the person that cures cancer? Plenty of junior officers admired McRaven's stand, but most, as one puts it, "thought that was the end of his career." And then two days later, when I was back in Washington briefing the Congress, I get a call to come over to the White House. And just something said, hey, we got to turn around, weve got to get back, because, you know, tonights going to be the night. Yeah, well, obviously, like a lot of people who watched it on TV, it was a horrifying moment for all of us. It was scuba diving that captured young Bill McRaven's imagination. But having been through these missions before, what I always know is, you know, you really have to sit down with the operators. So I reflect back on that 10 years ago and Im just proud to have been a small part of it. He began the new job this summer. I had to fly from Baghdad down to Al Udeid. Now, when I walked in, I made sure that my name tags were off and my stars were off. So by the time the helicopters had passed back over the border, now Im on the video with President Obama and his team. The DIB, on which McRaven served, was created during the Obama administration by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter. When you make your bed first thing in the morning, you start the day with purpose and confidence. Admiral, youve led sailors through harrowing missions. And I think he was probably glad I didn't ask him. A decorated, veteran Navy SEAL died Sunday after a mishap during military free-fall training in Arizona, Navy officials told USNI News. Marcinko picked McRaven to lead a team in the hot new command with a purposely wonky name: Naval Special Warfare Development Group. On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. Chris Kyle. So anybody that claims that theyve got a helmet cam video, nobody was wearing helmet cams. So now I am tangled up in my parachute, falling towards the ground. "It has been since 9/11 that both their utility and then their expertise have become the cutting edge.". (See TIME's 2008 Person of the Year: Barack Obama. Did you actually ever think that he would be captured alive? 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 . Caption. 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. In 2008, McRaven succeeded Army Lieut. "He was the boss. In his Kabul headquarters as outgoing U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus pumped his fist. MCRAVEN: Well, the mission wasnt over yet. Never once did he say, why me? 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 frankly, I didnt want to engage him in a conversation. He said, well sir Im six two. Retired Adm. William McRaven earned fame for leading US special-operations forces on some of their most well-known missions. We were holding our breath whether he could make it. So whenever a shot is fired, somebody is reporting through the chain. Years ago the author was badly wounded in a parachute accident and he had to go through months of recovery and rehabilitation. 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. At the time, Admiral William H. McRaven thought that this accident put a definitive end to his career. And even with that giant beard he had, it didnt take long for us to realize that we had the right guy. And frankly, I didnt want to engage him in a conversation. MCRAVEN: Yeah, I mean, even to this day, the impact of Moki Martin is with me every day. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. You said, quote, As a commander, you would like to be in ultimate control of all of the decisions, but the reality is you cant be. there are plenty of public issues right now that i want to ask you about, but i want to defer that for a moment and talk about . He was one of your SEAL instructors who you call, quote, one of the most inspirational men that you knew. ", Does killing high-value targets make sense as a recipe to defeat al-Qaeda? And in the case of the rescue of Captain Phillips, the guys on scene made all the right calls. "Everybody will try to fix all evils with a success, but that only lasts until you screw something up," Cartwright says. The fact of the matter is, the law of armed conflict and the rules of engagement were pretty clear. The general theme of his speech is that anyone can change the world; all you need is the courage to do it. I can see it on the overhead surveillance. And youve probably seen the iconic photo from Pete Souza. The president thanks us for the mission and then reaches behind the presidents desk and hands me a plaque. The first of Admiral McRaven's 10 lessons is: start your day with one successful task completed, such as making your bed, and you will find the motivation to tackle others. INSKEEP: He wasn't in a very good position to negotiate, I suppose. I said, good, come here and. Sometimes you need a boatload of people to help you through. Now, when I walked in, I made sure that my name tags were off and my stars were off. You know, when we first captured Saddam, he was pompous. 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