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

accomplished by sitting and hiding inside heavily reinforced bases. The
troops had to go out and into the neighborhoods surrounding the COP.
They had to conduct a type of operation so straightforward its name
requires almost no explanation: a presence patrol. It required a group of
soldiers to push into enemy-held areas to establish their presence among
the populace. In this situation, the mission called for a combined
operation including Iraqi and American Soldiers working together.
A U.S. Army officer from a military transition team (teams of U.S.
Soldiers or Marines built and deployed to train and combat-advise Iraq
soldiers, known as MiTTs) planned to lead a group of Iraqi soldiers out
into the neighborhood. The MiTT leader was very excited to get out on
patrol with his Iraqi soldiers and test their mettle. He had been working
and training with them for several months in another city in northern
Iraq and had conducted some fairly benign patrols and combat
operations with them. But this was Ramadi. There would be nothing easy
or benign about patrolling into these neighborhoods. Here, the enemy
was determined, well armed, and ready. They would be waiting to attack
and kill any U.S. Soldier, SEAL, Marine, or Iraqi soldier that they could.
My immediate discussions with the MiTT leader revealed he did not
fully appreciate the dangers that lay in store. I was also concerned that
his Iraqi soldiers might not yet be ready for the intense street fighting
that was likely to take place in this sector of Ramadi. So I assigned a
small group of our SEALs to accompany him and his Iraqi soldiers as
command and control to help coordinate any help should they need it.
I stood with one of Charlie Platoon’s young SEAL officers, who
would lead the SEAL element accompanying the Iraqi soldiers, as the
MiTT leader strolled over to us and pulled out his battle map to brief us
on the route he intended for the patrol. He outlined a path that snaked