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The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior
This instant New York Times bestseller—“a jaw-dropping, fast-paced account” (New York Post) recounts SEAL Team Operator Robert O’Neill’s incredible four-hundred-mission career, including the attempts to rescue “Lone Survivor” Marcus Luttrell and abducted-by-Somali-pirates Captain Richard Phillips, and which culminated in the death of the world’s most wanted terrorist—Osama bin Laden.In The Operator, Robert O’Neill describes his idyllic childhood in Butte, Montana; his impulsive decision to join the SEALs; the arduous evaluation and training process; and the even tougher gauntlet he had to run to join the SEALs’ most elite unit. After officially becoming a SEAL, O’Neill would spend more than a decade in the most intense counterterror effort in US history. For extended periods, not a night passed without him and his small team recording multiple enemy kills—and though he was lucky enough to survive, several of the SEALs he’d trained with and fought beside never made it home. “Impossible to put down…The Operator is unique, surprising, a kind of counternarrative, and certainly the other half of the story of one of the world’s most famous military operations…In the larger sense, this book is about…how to be human while in the very same moment dealing with death, destruction, combat” (Doug Stanton, New York Times bestselling author). O’Neill describes the nonstop action of his deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, evokes the black humor of years-long combat, brings to vivid life the lethal efficiency of the military’s most selective units, and reveals details of the most celebrated terrorist takedown in history. This is “a riveting, unvarnished, and wholly unforgettable portrait of America’s most storied commandos at war” (Joby Warrick).
369 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 25, 2017
1748 people are currently reading
7806 people want to read
About the author
Robert O'Neill
2 books94 followersRobert J. O'Neill is a former United States Navy sailor. A former U.S. Navy SEAL and special warfare operator, O'Neill claims to have fired the shot(s) that killed Osama bin Laden during the raid on his Abbottabad compound on May 1, 2011.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 791 reviews
May 3, 2021
A reread, 10 year anniversary. 🗽🦅
I love to read these books. Somehow it's almost like reading a fiction. This is a page turner.
When I heard that The Operator was coming out, I didn't want to read it. I like Robert O'Neill. But like many people, I thought this is top secret, elusive SEALs and all that. You have to read to understand why he decided to write this book. It wasn't a one man mission. I'm glad I read it.
we can't tell other guys what's going on when we don't even know what's going on
How awkward it must have been to keep this unknown mission a secret from the rest of the teams. Only 24 operators were selected, less than half of a squadron. The tension. After the raid, O'Neill wondered if being the one who shot Osama bin Laden was the best thing or the worst thing to happen to him.
This is a great read. Operation Neptune Spear, the raid at Abbottabad compound was nail biting even when you already know the outcome.
I love to read these books. Somehow it's almost like reading a fiction. This is a page turner.
When I heard that The Operator was coming out, I didn't want to read it. I like Robert O'Neill. But like many people, I thought this is top secret, elusive SEALs and all that. You have to read to understand why he decided to write this book. It wasn't a one man mission. I'm glad I read it.
we can't tell other guys what's going on when we don't even know what's going on
How awkward it must have been to keep this unknown mission a secret from the rest of the teams. Only 24 operators were selected, less than half of a squadron. The tension. After the raid, O'Neill wondered if being the one who shot Osama bin Laden was the best thing or the worst thing to happen to him.
This is a great read. Operation Neptune Spear, the raid at Abbottabad compound was nail biting even when you already know the outcome.
May 30, 2018
I had the great privilege of hearing Robert O'Neill speak and so was pleased to read his book.
I have to believe everyone in the Action/Adventure and Orion Goodreads groups has already read this 2017-published book--if not, do.
I also recommend it for readers in the Good Thriller and Mystery, Crime & Thriller groups.
O'Neill writes about his strenuous SEAL training, and he tackled it in a very impressive way. But what I think readers will like most about this book, beyond the inside stories of some of O'Neill's 400 missions, is his emphasis on the many others on his teams. An unexpected, but important message, is the difficulty and frankly backbiting that emerge after one is being singled out as a hero, as one of his friends was for taking the shots that allowed Captain Phillips to be rescued, or as O'Neill himself has been for killing Osama Bin Laden. He emphasizes teamwork over and over, the camaraderie found nowhere else than with men (and now, women) who literally lay down their lives to save their fellow soldiers.
A minor point: O'Neill has a hilarious take on the real response after the mission is over of the CIA analyst who pinpointed bin Laden's location.
I have to believe everyone in the Action/Adventure and Orion Goodreads groups has already read this 2017-published book--if not, do.
I also recommend it for readers in the Good Thriller and Mystery, Crime & Thriller groups.
O'Neill writes about his strenuous SEAL training, and he tackled it in a very impressive way. But what I think readers will like most about this book, beyond the inside stories of some of O'Neill's 400 missions, is his emphasis on the many others on his teams. An unexpected, but important message, is the difficulty and frankly backbiting that emerge after one is being singled out as a hero, as one of his friends was for taking the shots that allowed Captain Phillips to be rescued, or as O'Neill himself has been for killing Osama Bin Laden. He emphasizes teamwork over and over, the camaraderie found nowhere else than with men (and now, women) who literally lay down their lives to save their fellow soldiers.
A minor point: O'Neill has a hilarious take on the real response after the mission is over of the CIA analyst who pinpointed bin Laden's location.
July 10, 2019
"To the victims of 9/11 and their families who never asked to be in the fight, but were and are.
It was in memory of you that I fought" - Robert O'Neill
Follow Robert's point of view as he recounts growing up in Butte, Montana to the wars in the Middle East and the death of Osama Bin Laden.
Censored for national security
To the reader: The author has blacked out selected text in this book to comply with the Department of Defense Prepublication and Security Review.
A team effort
Over the past forty years, I’ve had much to be grateful for, including the support of two wonderful parents and the gift of my special daughters. But it was as a member of SEAL Team *** that I learned how deep friendships can be. With the *** *** ****** Squadrons, I found a level of trust that, I believe, far exceeds anything that is possible in civilian life. When in the middle of a pitch-black night on the other side of the world you’re about to breach a building jammed with AK-47-wielding terrorists, you have your SEAL brothers—and no one else.
For a long time, I wrestled with whether to write about my four hundred missions as a SEAL. I didn’t want the book to be just about me. If that’s all the story was, I wouldn’t write it. Could I capture the incredible refusal to quit of my SEAL brothers? Describe what it’s like to be part of a team that functions as a single organism, trained by thousands of repetitions to act as one? Explain that when any of us succeed we all succeed?
Those are the questions that kept me awake at night.
When SEALs put their lives on the line for their country, sometimes it’s in obscurity and sometimes it’s in the media spotlight. When the latter happens, the media often get it wrong. One SEAL never returns a hostage to her loved ones. One SEAL never liberates a town from torturers. One SEAL never rescues a man behind enemy lines. One SEAL never kills the bad guy everyone has been searching for.
When the gun fires, it’s as if we all fire it. I decided, finally, to write this book to bring that truth to readers.
9/11
I was thinking about a pint of something at the pub, barely aware of a CNN financial report droning on the TV hanging from the ceiling. At 2:49 German time, the show transitioned from a commercial to a “breaking news” logo, and there was a stunning image of one of the World Trade Center towers in New York belching black smoke from a massive hole in its midsection. I stopped typing and watched, thinking, “What the hell?” A witness jabbered nervously as the tower billowed smoke. A passenger jet came slicing out of the flawless blue sky on the right side of the screen and flew directly into the second tower. A massive fireball rose up behind the streaming smoke from the first tower. The commentator, who hadn’t even noticed, or hadn’t been watching, continued his interview as if nothing new had happened. But we saw it. We saw it, but could barely believe what we’d seen.
Everyone was going, “Did you see that? Did you see that other plane?”
It couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds before someone said: “Osama bin Laden. This is al-Qaeda. We’re under attack.”
Join the army and travel to far away countries...
From that very first truck ride, whenever I drove in Afghanistan I kept a pistol in easy reach, either in my vest or under my leg. I put my rifle in the door in case I had to open the door and fall out. Your gun falls with you. You don’t leave it in the truck.
It was a weird feeling suddenly being in the middle of Jalalabad, a major city in Afghanistan—a place where Osama bin Laden used to live. It was summer, hot and dusty, with the penetrating stink of trash and smoke saturating the air. The pothole-laden streets were lined with drab low-rise buildings, “bazaars” on each side of the street for most of the drive, and weird speed bumps every few hundred meters.
Join the army, travel to far away countries, meet new people and shoot them before they shoot you.
My team got to the main entrance on “building 1-1,” our target. Because there was a gunfight all around us, we decided to put a charge on the primary entrance, the front door. Our breacher made his way up with my team leader holding security. The breacher placed the charge and moved to a safe distance and blew the door. Boom! We quietly entered and found ourselves in a long hallway. The charge had filled the house with dust while Andy, Jonny, two other guys, and I made our way forward in our usual CQB formation, only moving more methodically because you don’t sprint with the night vision down. I was the fourth man back. The infrared torches at the ends of our guns lit up the space. A guy with an AK-47 pointed right at us popped out of a doorway just like in one of those amusement park houses of horror. We were standing there looking at him, and he was looking right back at us, but he couldn’t see us. It was like we were ghosts. Before we could shoot, he disappeared back behind the door. Andy and another guy, a big tough guy, pushed through the door, and I heard the distinctive brraaatt of the big guy’s gun. Blasted him. We were all a little awed by the moment. This big, seriously tough guy had never killed anybody before, and now he’d just shot a guy in the face.
Multi-lingual
We’d leave our interpreters outside until the houses were clear; it was too dangerous to bring them in with us. I remember talking with intelligence folks and analysts about this. They questioned how we could communicate with our captives.
“You don’t speak Arabic,” they’d say.
“Yeah,” I’d respond, “but everybody speaks ‘gun.’?”
The conquering liberators
The next day, the locals who’d been terrorized by this al-Qaeda cell for four years realized that all their oppressors were dead. We could see their reaction because we had aircraft circling overhead, watching in case any more bad guys showed up to bury the dead. No more bad guys, just a big celebration. The party got so big, with all these jubilant people drinking juice and dancing in the street, that a newspaper in Baghdad sent a reporter up there. He asked, “Who did this? Who came last night?”
The women responded: “Ninjas, and they came with lions.”
That was the headline the next day in Baghdad.
Robert takes you through gruesomely hard training as he and his team became the super soldiers to fight terrorism.
Enjoy?
It was in memory of you that I fought" - Robert O'Neill
Follow Robert's point of view as he recounts growing up in Butte, Montana to the wars in the Middle East and the death of Osama Bin Laden.
Censored for national security
To the reader: The author has blacked out selected text in this book to comply with the Department of Defense Prepublication and Security Review.
A team effort
Over the past forty years, I’ve had much to be grateful for, including the support of two wonderful parents and the gift of my special daughters. But it was as a member of SEAL Team *** that I learned how deep friendships can be. With the *** *** ****** Squadrons, I found a level of trust that, I believe, far exceeds anything that is possible in civilian life. When in the middle of a pitch-black night on the other side of the world you’re about to breach a building jammed with AK-47-wielding terrorists, you have your SEAL brothers—and no one else.
For a long time, I wrestled with whether to write about my four hundred missions as a SEAL. I didn’t want the book to be just about me. If that’s all the story was, I wouldn’t write it. Could I capture the incredible refusal to quit of my SEAL brothers? Describe what it’s like to be part of a team that functions as a single organism, trained by thousands of repetitions to act as one? Explain that when any of us succeed we all succeed?
Those are the questions that kept me awake at night.
When SEALs put their lives on the line for their country, sometimes it’s in obscurity and sometimes it’s in the media spotlight. When the latter happens, the media often get it wrong. One SEAL never returns a hostage to her loved ones. One SEAL never liberates a town from torturers. One SEAL never rescues a man behind enemy lines. One SEAL never kills the bad guy everyone has been searching for.
When the gun fires, it’s as if we all fire it. I decided, finally, to write this book to bring that truth to readers.
9/11
I was thinking about a pint of something at the pub, barely aware of a CNN financial report droning on the TV hanging from the ceiling. At 2:49 German time, the show transitioned from a commercial to a “breaking news” logo, and there was a stunning image of one of the World Trade Center towers in New York belching black smoke from a massive hole in its midsection. I stopped typing and watched, thinking, “What the hell?” A witness jabbered nervously as the tower billowed smoke. A passenger jet came slicing out of the flawless blue sky on the right side of the screen and flew directly into the second tower. A massive fireball rose up behind the streaming smoke from the first tower. The commentator, who hadn’t even noticed, or hadn’t been watching, continued his interview as if nothing new had happened. But we saw it. We saw it, but could barely believe what we’d seen.
Everyone was going, “Did you see that? Did you see that other plane?”
It couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds before someone said: “Osama bin Laden. This is al-Qaeda. We’re under attack.”
Join the army and travel to far away countries...
From that very first truck ride, whenever I drove in Afghanistan I kept a pistol in easy reach, either in my vest or under my leg. I put my rifle in the door in case I had to open the door and fall out. Your gun falls with you. You don’t leave it in the truck.
It was a weird feeling suddenly being in the middle of Jalalabad, a major city in Afghanistan—a place where Osama bin Laden used to live. It was summer, hot and dusty, with the penetrating stink of trash and smoke saturating the air. The pothole-laden streets were lined with drab low-rise buildings, “bazaars” on each side of the street for most of the drive, and weird speed bumps every few hundred meters.
Join the army, travel to far away countries, meet new people and shoot them before they shoot you.
My team got to the main entrance on “building 1-1,” our target. Because there was a gunfight all around us, we decided to put a charge on the primary entrance, the front door. Our breacher made his way up with my team leader holding security. The breacher placed the charge and moved to a safe distance and blew the door. Boom! We quietly entered and found ourselves in a long hallway. The charge had filled the house with dust while Andy, Jonny, two other guys, and I made our way forward in our usual CQB formation, only moving more methodically because you don’t sprint with the night vision down. I was the fourth man back. The infrared torches at the ends of our guns lit up the space. A guy with an AK-47 pointed right at us popped out of a doorway just like in one of those amusement park houses of horror. We were standing there looking at him, and he was looking right back at us, but he couldn’t see us. It was like we were ghosts. Before we could shoot, he disappeared back behind the door. Andy and another guy, a big tough guy, pushed through the door, and I heard the distinctive brraaatt of the big guy’s gun. Blasted him. We were all a little awed by the moment. This big, seriously tough guy had never killed anybody before, and now he’d just shot a guy in the face.
Multi-lingual
We’d leave our interpreters outside until the houses were clear; it was too dangerous to bring them in with us. I remember talking with intelligence folks and analysts about this. They questioned how we could communicate with our captives.
“You don’t speak Arabic,” they’d say.
“Yeah,” I’d respond, “but everybody speaks ‘gun.’?”
The conquering liberators
The next day, the locals who’d been terrorized by this al-Qaeda cell for four years realized that all their oppressors were dead. We could see their reaction because we had aircraft circling overhead, watching in case any more bad guys showed up to bury the dead. No more bad guys, just a big celebration. The party got so big, with all these jubilant people drinking juice and dancing in the street, that a newspaper in Baghdad sent a reporter up there. He asked, “Who did this? Who came last night?”
The women responded: “Ninjas, and they came with lions.”
That was the headline the next day in Baghdad.
Robert takes you through gruesomely hard training as he and his team became the super soldiers to fight terrorism.
Enjoy?
June 11, 2017
I love SEAL books! Marcus Luttrell, Chris Kyle, Mark Owen, Kevin Lacz - they've all written great books. I've read about BUD/S training so many times, yet I still found O'Neill's account interesting and different (a bit more detailed). But the best part of the book comes in the second half with the rescue of Capt Phillips and the UBL raid. Those never get old!
August 3, 2017
The title implies this is primarily about the actual events involved in killing Bin Laden. That is only the last fifth of the text. The prior material covers O’Neill’s career, including the famous BUD/S training to qualify for the Navy SEALs. But don’t pass this up just because you have already read books on “what it’s like to be a SEAL.” O’Neill manages to convey insights into the training that are original and well worthwhile. And he gives a fascinating account of his career. He participated in over 400 combat missions including the hunt for Ahmed al-Zarqawi, the effort to rescue “Lone Survivor” Marcus Luttrell, and the rescue of Captain Phillips from the Somali pirates, before being hand-picked for the Bin Laden raid.
The right balance of personal views and technical details. It told me things I didn’t know. And it provided the fuel for not putting it down. None of which are easy in a crowded field. Excellent.
The right balance of personal views and technical details. It told me things I didn’t know. And it provided the fuel for not putting it down. None of which are easy in a crowded field. Excellent.
June 27, 2017
Having a fascination with the American military and those who make the sacrifice to serve their country, how could I not read The Operator by Robert O'Neill? Sure, it's got a grabbing subtitle: Firing the Shots That Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior; but I still wasn't prepared for how much I enjoyed this experience. This book was a delightful read despite the sometimes heavy subject matter.
Robert O'Neill is the guy who ended up shooting 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in the face after finding him in a third floor bedroom in the dead of night on May 2, 2011 in a walled compound in the middle of Abbottabad, Pakistan. The Operator tells the story of how a boy from Butte, Montana ended up finding himself in that third floor bedroom a little after 1:00 am armed with a Heckler & Koch 416 rifle and a mission to put an end to a nearly decade old manhunt.
The Operator had me hooked from the start. I found it fascinating and enjoyable to read. O'Neill's writing style is very casual and conversational. His recollections are always detailed and have the feeling of authenticity since he doesn't shy away from mistakes he's made or flaws in his character. He just throws it all out there saying, "This is how it was. Like it or not, it was my life."
Nearly the first fourth of the book dealt with his early life and his experiences in BUD/S. BUD/S or Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL school is the Navy's training program to weed out the wanna-be's and refine the pure gold from the regular ore. BUD/S is renowned for having an 80% drop-out rate. It's a course that is devised to find only those individuals who have the physical and mental toughness to remain faithful to the mission in the face of the most adverse conditions a human being could be asked to endure. The fact that O'Neill spent so much time describing it was a surprising high point. Many SEAL autobiographers spend a chapter on Hell Week and move on. O'Neill's account gave a much more in depth look at the full 26 week course.
The rest of the book is dedicated to action packed accounts of his more memorable escapades throughout the course of his 400 plus combat missions taking him to such exotic locations as the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Indian Ocean and, ultimately, Pakistan. O'Neil provides an insiders look into high profile missions he participated in such as the search for Bowe Bergdahl, the rescue of Captain Phillips and the shooting of Osama bin Laden. Wow. Just, Wow. What a career. What a life.
I was impressed by the lack of errors in this book. No major spelling issues, formatting errors or grammatical woes jumped out at me. Nothing that pulled me out of the narrative or pried my attention away from the story presented itself and I was free to devour the text and immerse myself in the strangely ordered but violent world of SEAL Team 6. Note: O'Neill was asked to black out occasional unit designations and minor details in the story, but lets face it, we all know he was SEAL Team 6.
As I write this I'm wracking my brain to find something I didn't like about O'Neill's book. I have yet to come up with anything. If you enjoy military non-fiction, if you enjoy autobiographical accounts of high achievers, or if you just want to know what it might feel like to look Osama bin Laden in the eye before pulling the trigger of your rifle and ending America's nightmare; check out The Operator. Five stars.
Robert O'Neill is the guy who ended up shooting 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in the face after finding him in a third floor bedroom in the dead of night on May 2, 2011 in a walled compound in the middle of Abbottabad, Pakistan. The Operator tells the story of how a boy from Butte, Montana ended up finding himself in that third floor bedroom a little after 1:00 am armed with a Heckler & Koch 416 rifle and a mission to put an end to a nearly decade old manhunt.
The Operator had me hooked from the start. I found it fascinating and enjoyable to read. O'Neill's writing style is very casual and conversational. His recollections are always detailed and have the feeling of authenticity since he doesn't shy away from mistakes he's made or flaws in his character. He just throws it all out there saying, "This is how it was. Like it or not, it was my life."
Nearly the first fourth of the book dealt with his early life and his experiences in BUD/S. BUD/S or Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL school is the Navy's training program to weed out the wanna-be's and refine the pure gold from the regular ore. BUD/S is renowned for having an 80% drop-out rate. It's a course that is devised to find only those individuals who have the physical and mental toughness to remain faithful to the mission in the face of the most adverse conditions a human being could be asked to endure. The fact that O'Neill spent so much time describing it was a surprising high point. Many SEAL autobiographers spend a chapter on Hell Week and move on. O'Neill's account gave a much more in depth look at the full 26 week course.
The rest of the book is dedicated to action packed accounts of his more memorable escapades throughout the course of his 400 plus combat missions taking him to such exotic locations as the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Indian Ocean and, ultimately, Pakistan. O'Neil provides an insiders look into high profile missions he participated in such as the search for Bowe Bergdahl, the rescue of Captain Phillips and the shooting of Osama bin Laden. Wow. Just, Wow. What a career. What a life.
I was impressed by the lack of errors in this book. No major spelling issues, formatting errors or grammatical woes jumped out at me. Nothing that pulled me out of the narrative or pried my attention away from the story presented itself and I was free to devour the text and immerse myself in the strangely ordered but violent world of SEAL Team 6. Note: O'Neill was asked to black out occasional unit designations and minor details in the story, but lets face it, we all know he was SEAL Team 6.
As I write this I'm wracking my brain to find something I didn't like about O'Neill's book. I have yet to come up with anything. If you enjoy military non-fiction, if you enjoy autobiographical accounts of high achievers, or if you just want to know what it might feel like to look Osama bin Laden in the eye before pulling the trigger of your rifle and ending America's nightmare; check out The Operator. Five stars.
August 10, 2017
As the son of a young man who went to fight in Vietnam, finding that I have less peers than I'd expected - this book really made me angry.
The people who yell the loudest about "Supporting our troops," as if there are Americans who don't respect and thank heavens every night that a few brave American kids take it upon their shoulders so that while their families suffer financially, health-wise and psychologically -- allowing other self-proclaimed,"Patriots" to go "play war" buying their guns, preach about the 2nd Amendment nonstop when, in fact at any given hour, it's being protected by men and women who don't just play guns, they risk their bodies and take hits.
They're out there being changed forever to allow you to drive around in you overdone truck with giant American flags and obscene accoutrements, one of which is the classic yellow magnet (MAGNET)! Even they can't commit to their ridiculous rhetoric!
So, yes I'm pissed. I'm a 44 year old man who will never forget the pain my father fought and carried around 3 AK-47 slugs, spinal injuries and a PTSD of watching his company wiped out before his very eyes with him from 1966 until a summer night in 1985 when neither love of family, your helpful giant gas guzzling F-350 or Toyota Camry with slogans and BS that add up to absolute zero action, were not enough to keep him from calmly putting a pistol under his chin and ending the untold horrors he witnessed and partook in the Ia Drang valley.
I ask that next time you think of buying that bumper sticker or go to fill up that gas guzzling beast that you stop, don't buy the sticker and stop $5 short of full and donate to the Disabled American Veterans, USO, or a multitude of organizations that try to bring a little bit of home to our cherished kids locked down in some far flung place. Send a shortwave radio ($50 on eBay), donate the last 12 months of your Car and Driver subscriptions... there are hundreds of things you can box up and donate to our men & women without keeping it all for ourselves. Or, even worse, fighting amongst ourselves over who gets what ... all the while, first sons like me took over the man of the house status at age 6 and at age 12 knew my training period was up.
I'm one of thousands of spouses, sons, daughters - whom grew up in poverty and also had the extra loss of no father to teach me how to throw a curveball, fix the lawnmower, do plumbing. But I taught myself anyway.
And I also learned:
1. Americans are selfish and lack respect of families who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
2. So many Americans love to play guns and become Special Forces... on Xbox, but never would dream of grabbing that weapon and signing on the dotted line.
Bitter? Hell yes. Because we still haven't fixed this. The bullets sprayed into my fathers body in 1966 are still ricocheting down through the decades, weakening my family and denying us much of what my father fought for.
And still, men like this man, the Navy men that know they're needed and know they're not going to be taken care of when they return, whether twisted, missing limbs or come back "whole" but will be jumping at sounds of bangs, having nightmares forever and working so hard to fit back in.
Well, dad, here's to you and the other Combat veterans that died next to you that day... or mostly died that day only to have the damage complete itself 20 years later.
I honor Harley Arlen "Sam" Smith, 1st Cavalry, 2/7th Cavalry, Company C. Combat scout, Bronze Star and Purple Heart true American Hero.
Please, next time you proclaim yourself a "Patriot" just put a cork in it. Titles like that are earned not claimed. It's like terms like "hero", ones that are bestowed. Ones that are granted. Ones that, most often, involve giving up a part of yourself and sometimes all of it.
The people who yell the loudest about "Supporting our troops," as if there are Americans who don't respect and thank heavens every night that a few brave American kids take it upon their shoulders so that while their families suffer financially, health-wise and psychologically -- allowing other self-proclaimed,"Patriots" to go "play war" buying their guns, preach about the 2nd Amendment nonstop when, in fact at any given hour, it's being protected by men and women who don't just play guns, they risk their bodies and take hits.
They're out there being changed forever to allow you to drive around in you overdone truck with giant American flags and obscene accoutrements, one of which is the classic yellow magnet (MAGNET)! Even they can't commit to their ridiculous rhetoric!
So, yes I'm pissed. I'm a 44 year old man who will never forget the pain my father fought and carried around 3 AK-47 slugs, spinal injuries and a PTSD of watching his company wiped out before his very eyes with him from 1966 until a summer night in 1985 when neither love of family, your helpful giant gas guzzling F-350 or Toyota Camry with slogans and BS that add up to absolute zero action, were not enough to keep him from calmly putting a pistol under his chin and ending the untold horrors he witnessed and partook in the Ia Drang valley.
I ask that next time you think of buying that bumper sticker or go to fill up that gas guzzling beast that you stop, don't buy the sticker and stop $5 short of full and donate to the Disabled American Veterans, USO, or a multitude of organizations that try to bring a little bit of home to our cherished kids locked down in some far flung place. Send a shortwave radio ($50 on eBay), donate the last 12 months of your Car and Driver subscriptions... there are hundreds of things you can box up and donate to our men & women without keeping it all for ourselves. Or, even worse, fighting amongst ourselves over who gets what ... all the while, first sons like me took over the man of the house status at age 6 and at age 12 knew my training period was up.
I'm one of thousands of spouses, sons, daughters - whom grew up in poverty and also had the extra loss of no father to teach me how to throw a curveball, fix the lawnmower, do plumbing. But I taught myself anyway.
And I also learned:
1. Americans are selfish and lack respect of families who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
2. So many Americans love to play guns and become Special Forces... on Xbox, but never would dream of grabbing that weapon and signing on the dotted line.
Bitter? Hell yes. Because we still haven't fixed this. The bullets sprayed into my fathers body in 1966 are still ricocheting down through the decades, weakening my family and denying us much of what my father fought for.
And still, men like this man, the Navy men that know they're needed and know they're not going to be taken care of when they return, whether twisted, missing limbs or come back "whole" but will be jumping at sounds of bangs, having nightmares forever and working so hard to fit back in.
Well, dad, here's to you and the other Combat veterans that died next to you that day... or mostly died that day only to have the damage complete itself 20 years later.
I honor Harley Arlen "Sam" Smith, 1st Cavalry, 2/7th Cavalry, Company C. Combat scout, Bronze Star and Purple Heart true American Hero.
Please, next time you proclaim yourself a "Patriot" just put a cork in it. Titles like that are earned not claimed. It's like terms like "hero", ones that are bestowed. Ones that are granted. Ones that, most often, involve giving up a part of yourself and sometimes all of it.
January 29, 2019
The main criticism I have noticed lodged against this book is the fact that the first half of the subtitle, which is the primary interest to most readers, only makes up a small portion of the story that shows up near the end. No doubt there are plenty of people who consider the shots that killed Osama bin Laden the "click bait" of this publication; however, I would argue that O'Neill's recollections of his training to become a Navy SEAL, along with some of the missions leading up to the Osama bin Laden assassination, are certainly worth the cover price. For example, I wish he had spent a bit more time on the mission to rescue Captain Phillips from the Somali pirates in 2009. Then again, he wasn't one of the shooters.
If the brutality of SEAL training is even half as agonizing as O'Neill portrays it, we should all be amazed that any soldier ever makes the grade. The author's journey to the climax of his military career is characterized by the requisite amount of bravado, hero-worship, and good old American bad-assness. Some readers may accuse him of being melodramatic in a few spots, but given the brevity of the circumstances, O'Neill gets a pass. I would never doubt the patriotism of any of these brave warriors, but the fame and bragging rights that follow the most dangerous missions are definitely an incentive to become a SEAL, a point that O'Neill freely admits fairly early in the book. At the same time, he later realizes that being a hero has its drawbacks, especially if you are part of an elite team.
The most glaring contradiction in The Operator involves heroism and being a member of the team. It is clear that O'Neill and all of his mates are anxious to see action, thirsty to settle scores with America's worst enemies, and craving to distinguish themselves as fearless fighters. He repeatedly emphasizes how the members of a SEAL team act as a group, as a well-coordinated body that is far superior to the sum of its parts. From the very first pages, O'Neill stresses that no one person in a SEAL team can claim superiority.
At the same time, the whole point of writing this book is to identify himself as the "individual" who fired the shots that took down the most notorious terrorist in the world. He is careful to clarify that Osama bin Laden had not been hit by any of the bullets flying through his house as the team stormed the rooms, and the shots O'Neill fired from his own sidearm immediately and undeniably took the life of the terrorist. He explains how some of his mates became jealous and suspicious of him due to the praise poured on him following the mission. Some readers will recognize a personal and organizational conflict in the final chapter of the book.
There are a few personal revelations from the author that will perhaps catch many readers off guard. O'Neill takes a few opportunities to praise President Obama, even though he admits that SEAL soldiers are generally a conservative bunch. And, deep in the pool of masculinity where SEALs swim, the author boldly credits female soldiers with being just as qualified for combat as their male counterparts. I also admired how he repeatedly expressed gratitude and respect for his wife, who persevered through the years of his many deployments, always knowing that the next mission could be the last and that she and their children may never see him again. This domestic element is the most gut-wrenching part of the story that helps complete the picture of the life of a SEAL.
If the brutality of SEAL training is even half as agonizing as O'Neill portrays it, we should all be amazed that any soldier ever makes the grade. The author's journey to the climax of his military career is characterized by the requisite amount of bravado, hero-worship, and good old American bad-assness. Some readers may accuse him of being melodramatic in a few spots, but given the brevity of the circumstances, O'Neill gets a pass. I would never doubt the patriotism of any of these brave warriors, but the fame and bragging rights that follow the most dangerous missions are definitely an incentive to become a SEAL, a point that O'Neill freely admits fairly early in the book. At the same time, he later realizes that being a hero has its drawbacks, especially if you are part of an elite team.
The most glaring contradiction in The Operator involves heroism and being a member of the team. It is clear that O'Neill and all of his mates are anxious to see action, thirsty to settle scores with America's worst enemies, and craving to distinguish themselves as fearless fighters. He repeatedly emphasizes how the members of a SEAL team act as a group, as a well-coordinated body that is far superior to the sum of its parts. From the very first pages, O'Neill stresses that no one person in a SEAL team can claim superiority.
At the same time, the whole point of writing this book is to identify himself as the "individual" who fired the shots that took down the most notorious terrorist in the world. He is careful to clarify that Osama bin Laden had not been hit by any of the bullets flying through his house as the team stormed the rooms, and the shots O'Neill fired from his own sidearm immediately and undeniably took the life of the terrorist. He explains how some of his mates became jealous and suspicious of him due to the praise poured on him following the mission. Some readers will recognize a personal and organizational conflict in the final chapter of the book.
There are a few personal revelations from the author that will perhaps catch many readers off guard. O'Neill takes a few opportunities to praise President Obama, even though he admits that SEAL soldiers are generally a conservative bunch. And, deep in the pool of masculinity where SEALs swim, the author boldly credits female soldiers with being just as qualified for combat as their male counterparts. I also admired how he repeatedly expressed gratitude and respect for his wife, who persevered through the years of his many deployments, always knowing that the next mission could be the last and that she and their children may never see him again. This domestic element is the most gut-wrenching part of the story that helps complete the picture of the life of a SEAL.
February 26, 2018
A fairly interesting read that takes a look into becoming an elite Navy Seal. Most of the book is focused on that as opposed to the famous operations that O’Neill was involved with. Missions like killing Bin Laden are briefly mentioned towards the end of the book, so if your looking on details on that this isn’t the book for it. I’m not a military person so sometimes the way O’Neill described things rubbed me the wrong way. I also know there is much controversy about him writing the book and him taking credit for the kill shot of Bin Laden.
October 15, 2017
A very, very interesting and eye-opening read. The author Robert O’Neill spent several years in the service as a Navy Seal. Oh yeah, and he just happened to be part of the team that rescued Captain Phillips from the Somali pirates in 2009. Oh yeah, and he was also the guy that shot Osama bin Laden as part of the team that stormed his complex in 2011. This guy was pretty darn good! The repetitive and strenuous training these guys do on a continuous bases is mind-boggling. It is not only physical but extremely mental as well. They are put through stuff that most of us can’t imagine doing for just one day, let alone for several years. Thank goodness for America, there are men & women that devote their lives to keeping us safe. What a powerful story!
May 26, 2017
A great book! I got an idea of what the veterans of The Long War go through. The last mission for O'Neill was interesting in that it seemed like another day at the office.
January 2, 2020
A good story that could have been better written. A fast read and worth the time spent. Obviously, one of truly significant events of the decade.
May 15, 2017
Wonderful and educating!
This was a labor of love for sure. Rob put his heart and soul, the truth and great humor as well. I believe his group was the last of great Seals, and that band of brothers has been changed by all the new rules of engagement! Everyone should read this to know the truth about our fabulous, dedicated Navy.
This was a labor of love for sure. Rob put his heart and soul, the truth and great humor as well. I believe his group was the last of great Seals, and that band of brothers has been changed by all the new rules of engagement! Everyone should read this to know the truth about our fabulous, dedicated Navy.
June 9, 2020
Really amazing and better than the movie (zero dark thirty), but that's due to the perspective of the story.
December 5, 2021
I am a huge supporter of our military. My mother and uncle were both Navy. I was going to be a U.S. Navy helicopter pilot during Viet Nam but physical issues washed me out. And let me say this...I am so very thankful for Robert O'Neill and his service to the citizens of the United States. You will probably love this book. But I couldn't get through it. The amount of gratuitous bad language when it wasn't necessary spoiled it for me. Now I can handle it when it's called for or in a quote. But O'Neill uses the worse words for no reason, even just talking about his home life. I just have to compare this to the excellently written book Inside Delta Force: The Story Of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit. Eric Haney doesn't have to add vulgar language just for the effect. Haney tells the story straight and only uses strong words while quoting someone else in specific occurrences. You may think it's silly to stop reading a book for this reason but when you are still in the first chapter and you've counted the F word already on both hands...naw. I'm a writer and that's just poor writing skills. To bad because I was really looking forward to hearing the whole story. JMHO
March 19, 2020
It is amazing the type of training that Navy SEALs go through.
They have a very difficult life both in battle and at home.
This book is very detailed as to how difficult it is preparing to be and being a Navy SEAL.
Thank God for people like Rob, that dedicate their lives to protecting ordinary Americans.
Rob does an excellent job of recalling many of the training exercises and missions that he was on.
Kudos to him and all the other people that serve in our military protecting us.
This was an excellent book that describes the sacrifices that these people make for us.
They have a very difficult life both in battle and at home.
This book is very detailed as to how difficult it is preparing to be and being a Navy SEAL.
Thank God for people like Rob, that dedicate their lives to protecting ordinary Americans.
Rob does an excellent job of recalling many of the training exercises and missions that he was on.
Kudos to him and all the other people that serve in our military protecting us.
This was an excellent book that describes the sacrifices that these people make for us.
September 20, 2019
Not sure how this 2017 release slipped by me, but I’m glad to have finally heard about (and read) it. I found it more interesting than the better publicized “Mark Owens” books, though they’re pretty much cut from the same cloth. The BUD/S training section is particularly fascinating, as are the recounts of notable missions like the Captain Phillips rescue and bin Laden raid.
January 12, 2024
Absolutely fantastic ! The story of American Heroes by a hero.
February 22, 2020
Mindblowing! Endless respect
January 27, 2024
3.5 ⭐️ really interesting read just didn’t keep my attention the whole time.
August 29, 2024
1) makes me want to be a doctor for special operations people and reminds me how weak I am physically compared to these guys
2) crazy that he was involved in all three of the most popular SEAL incidents that became movies in the past 15 years (Captain Phillips, Lone Survivor, Zero Dark Thirty)
3) I needed a break from Les Mis
2) crazy that he was involved in all three of the most popular SEAL incidents that became movies in the past 15 years (Captain Phillips, Lone Survivor, Zero Dark Thirty)
3) I needed a break from Les Mis
March 18, 2023
"Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward. And freedom will be defended."
I remember watching President Bush say those words. I think every American over a certain age remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when America was attacked on 9/11. It does not feel like it's been over 20 years. How does time pass so quickly?
Nearly 10 years after that day, on May 2, 2011, Robert O'Neill was running those same words from President Bush through his mind over and over again. He said the words came unbidden to his mind, and he didn't even realize that he had them memorized until that moment. The words helped him to stay mentally ready for what he was about to do. He was on a helicopter, inside Pakistan, in the dead of night. He was part of the 24-man Seal team tasked with killing or capturing the man responsible for that horrific day ten years before.
And they succeeded - against all odds and in truly magnificent fashion. The men on that mission believed that they were not coming home, but they went anyway. They are American heroes, every one of them. Most of America's greatest defenders will never step into the spotlight, and what they do to safeguard our freedom will not be known. This book lifts that veil of secrecy just a bit, and it is fascinating and inspiring.
In addition to describing the infamous raid in detail, Mr. O'Neill recounts dozens of the more than 400 missions that he served on during his time with the Navy Seals. Captain Phillips? Yep. Recuses of other hostages in far-flung parts of the world? Yep. Raids on "high value targets" in Afghanistan? Dozens of them. Gun fights in the desert? Of course. The Operator is such an unbelievably adventurous ride of a book, and his stories are recounted in such a readable way, that you almost forget that what he writes about is all real.
I remember watching President Bush say those words. I think every American over a certain age remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when America was attacked on 9/11. It does not feel like it's been over 20 years. How does time pass so quickly?
Nearly 10 years after that day, on May 2, 2011, Robert O'Neill was running those same words from President Bush through his mind over and over again. He said the words came unbidden to his mind, and he didn't even realize that he had them memorized until that moment. The words helped him to stay mentally ready for what he was about to do. He was on a helicopter, inside Pakistan, in the dead of night. He was part of the 24-man Seal team tasked with killing or capturing the man responsible for that horrific day ten years before.
And they succeeded - against all odds and in truly magnificent fashion. The men on that mission believed that they were not coming home, but they went anyway. They are American heroes, every one of them. Most of America's greatest defenders will never step into the spotlight, and what they do to safeguard our freedom will not be known. This book lifts that veil of secrecy just a bit, and it is fascinating and inspiring.
In addition to describing the infamous raid in detail, Mr. O'Neill recounts dozens of the more than 400 missions that he served on during his time with the Navy Seals. Captain Phillips? Yep. Recuses of other hostages in far-flung parts of the world? Yep. Raids on "high value targets" in Afghanistan? Dozens of them. Gun fights in the desert? Of course. The Operator is such an unbelievably adventurous ride of a book, and his stories are recounted in such a readable way, that you almost forget that what he writes about is all real.
June 16, 2017
I have read several books about Navy Seals and the killing of bin Laden. I have enjoyed all of them. The Operator is another in that collection and I enjoyed it as well.
Robert O'Neill is from Butte, Montana. He talks about joining the Navy and deciding to become a Seal. He spends two-thirds of the book telling the story of his training and deployments with different Seal Teams. The last third is about killing bin Laden and his life after the Navy. He was involved in the operation that saved Captain Richard Phillips from Somali Pirates. He has been awarded a bunch of medal including to Silver Stars, the second highest combat award.
While I enjoyed the chapters that dealt with killing bin Laden and the fallout from that, I actually liked the first two-thirds of this book more. O'Nell is a good story teller. He shares stories about the men he served with who were dedicated to serving their country and making sure 9/11 never happens again. He tells his stories with wit and humor. He isn't the wordiest author I have ever read, but that seems to fit who he is.
If you are someone who is interested in military history, the wars in the Middle East, or the killing of Osama bin Laden, then you will enjoy this book. One note - the Navy asked O'Neill to redact some information for national security. As far as I can tell, the only thing he redacted is the number of the seal team that killed bin Laden, which is common knowledge that it was Team 6. So, there is redacted information, but very little. In fact, I was kind of surprised about how much they allowed him to tell of the mission to kill bin Laden. It was truly informative.
Robert O'Neill is from Butte, Montana. He talks about joining the Navy and deciding to become a Seal. He spends two-thirds of the book telling the story of his training and deployments with different Seal Teams. The last third is about killing bin Laden and his life after the Navy. He was involved in the operation that saved Captain Richard Phillips from Somali Pirates. He has been awarded a bunch of medal including to Silver Stars, the second highest combat award.
While I enjoyed the chapters that dealt with killing bin Laden and the fallout from that, I actually liked the first two-thirds of this book more. O'Nell is a good story teller. He shares stories about the men he served with who were dedicated to serving their country and making sure 9/11 never happens again. He tells his stories with wit and humor. He isn't the wordiest author I have ever read, but that seems to fit who he is.
If you are someone who is interested in military history, the wars in the Middle East, or the killing of Osama bin Laden, then you will enjoy this book. One note - the Navy asked O'Neill to redact some information for national security. As far as I can tell, the only thing he redacted is the number of the seal team that killed bin Laden, which is common knowledge that it was Team 6. So, there is redacted information, but very little. In fact, I was kind of surprised about how much they allowed him to tell of the mission to kill bin Laden. It was truly informative.
October 25, 2018
If you were given the opportunity to go on a top-secret mission to seek out your country’s worst enemy, would you do it? The Operator, an intensely moving fiction book written by Robert O’ Neill tells the story of the man who did just that. This book first takes place at navy seal training, where the main character, Robert O’Neill is pushed to his very limits with his peers. After seal training, he travels around the world fighting all kinds of terrorist that could be a threat to our country, putting his life on the line every single time. After 9/11 occurred, there was a secret meeting called for the most elite soldiers in the army. As they all sat around a table together, a man made his way to the middle and said “we have a line on Usama Bin Laden. This is the best intelligence we’ve had on his position since Tora Bora.”
In this book, the author is trying to show the world what its like to be a navy seal, what it takes to get there, and what you experience if you make it through training. This story is very well crafted, it keeps a person on their toes the whole way through. I found a liking in Robert O’Neill, he was a very brave, selfless man. This isn’t one of the best books I’ve ever read, but it is still very good. I would recommend this book to someone who is wondering what its like to be a navy seal, or to anyone who likes suspense, and violence. I enjoyed reading this action-packed book, it educated me on what our military is capable of, and what our soldiers go through overseas.
In this book, the author is trying to show the world what its like to be a navy seal, what it takes to get there, and what you experience if you make it through training. This story is very well crafted, it keeps a person on their toes the whole way through. I found a liking in Robert O’Neill, he was a very brave, selfless man. This isn’t one of the best books I’ve ever read, but it is still very good. I would recommend this book to someone who is wondering what its like to be a navy seal, or to anyone who likes suspense, and violence. I enjoyed reading this action-packed book, it educated me on what our military is capable of, and what our soldiers go through overseas.
July 17, 2018
This was the guy who killed Bin Laden. This book could have been rushed out to cash in on that event but ends up being a fascinating examination of SEAL training and how that training was really utilised post 9/11. The training was incredibly harsh (I didn’t know you could try for SEAL training without having to have first served elsewhere in the US military) and it was interesting to see how those ingrained skills made such a difference in war zones. A true band of brothers (except when one does something exceptional which was something I wasn’t expecting) and the tip of the US spear.
Some real insights here, the OBL mission takes up a small part of the book, but that felt right, we had to know quite a bit to lead up to that. Also involvement with the Lone Survivor incident and the Captain Phillips hostage situation brought this all to life
Really enjoyed this.
Some real insights here, the OBL mission takes up a small part of the book, but that felt right, we had to know quite a bit to lead up to that. Also involvement with the Lone Survivor incident and the Captain Phillips hostage situation brought this all to life
Really enjoyed this.
May 29, 2019
This book gets better and better with each passing chapter. It features many more stories and details than just the Bin Laden mission starting with BUD/S Training then into missions such as the rescue of Captain Phillips and ultimately culminates with the Bin Laden mission. The inside details in briefings and actual happenings of events is captivating. Highly recommended!
May 24, 2017
Relates his personal story on becoming a member of a SEAL team,some of the operations he was involved in,and his early retirement. Gives an excellent first person explanation of each. Easy to read,and not heavy with military jargon.
May 11, 2017
Thanks for sending that son of a bitch to hell. Great book.
As a veteran with 40 years in uniform, it was a great read I could not put down. SMsgt,USAF Ret.
As a veteran with 40 years in uniform, it was a great read I could not put down. SMsgt,USAF Ret.
July 26, 2020
This was certainly not my normal reading material, but I learned a lot about Navy SEALs. It was an exciting read! Thank you for the recommendation, former student Kyle Ridpath :)
January 31, 2024
4.5 overall but rounded up for bravery. Great storytelling and testament to what one can accomplish with teamwork and tenacity. Inspired to take a cold bath.
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