CHAPTER 6

Simple

Jocko Willink

COMBAT OUTPOST FALCON, RAMADI, IRAQ: INTO THE FRAY
WHOOM!
A massive explosion shook the walls of the building I was sitting in
right in the middle of Combat Outpost (COP) Falcon. Adrenaline shot
from my core, down my arms, into my hands. Seconds later, another
explosion rocked the compound. Soon the word spread: mortars.
Insurgents had lobbed 120mm mortar rounds smack-dab into the center
of COP Falcon with deadly accuracy. “One-twenties” were vicious. Each
massive projectile carried twenty-plus pounds of high explosives
wrapped in a half-inch-thick steel jacket designed to throw jagged pieces
of shrapnel in all directions, causing catastrophic wounds and death. The
rounds had wounded several American Soldiers at COP Falcon, one
critically, who later succumbed to his injuries. A third 120mm mortar
round hit the roof of the building I was in, but thankfully for the Soldiers
nearby, it didn’t explode: it was a dud. The mortars were alarmingly
accurate, proving once again that the insurgents we were fighting were
highly capable. As daylight dawned on this early morning, it was a grim