Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win

COP Falcon, we would probably get shot at. But it would likely be a
hasty attack that the muj wouldn’t have enough time to coordinate for
maximum effectiveness. We could help mitigate that risk by moving
quickly and utilizing misdirection in the streets and alleyways to prevent
the enemy from predicting our exact route back to COP Falcon so they
couldn’t set an ambush. Still, any gunfire we received no matter how
hasty could certainly kill or horribly wound any of us.
No options were good options. We had to choose the least bad option.
“So what are we doing, L-T?”^2 asked the LPO. Time was ticking.
I had to make a call. “We’re pulling out,” I decided. It was the least
bad option. “Let’s get packed up quick and break out of here as soon as
we can.”
“Roger that,” said the LPO. He passed the word to the rest of OP2,
and everybody quickly gathered up their gear and double-checked to
ensure nothing was left behind. Our OP2 radioman contacted OP1, the
other sniper overwatch team, to tell them we were moving back on foot
to the combat outpost. We also notified Team Bulldog’s Soldiers back at
COP Falcon, where Jocko and a few of our SEALs with the clearance
team had returned.
For OP1, only a short three-hundred-meter patrol from COP Falcon,
there was no such dilemma about what to do. They had an easy foot
patrol back to COP Falcon, covered by COP Falcon’s nearby tanks and
heavy machine guns the entire way. OP1 radioed to us in OP2 that they
too were pulling out. But OP1 made the mistake of not telling Jocko,
which meant he could not coordinate the movement.
“Roger that,” our OP2 radioman responded to OP1’s call. He relayed
the information to the LPO and me. With our focus entirely on getting
OP2 moving out in a hurry, we thought little of it. Every minute that