CHAPTER 7

Prioritize and Execute

Leif Babin

SOUTH-CENTRAL RAMADI, IRAQ: THE HORNET’S NEST
All day, murderous bursts of machine gun fire hammered our position,
shattering windows and impacting interior walls, each round with the
violence and kinetic energy of a sledgehammer wielded at full force.
Some of the incoming rounds were armor-piercing and punched through
the thick concrete of the low wall surrounding the rooftop. All our
element of SEALs, EOD bomb technicians and Iraqi soldiers could do
under such accurate enemy fire was hit the deck and try not to get our
heads shot off. Rounds snapped inches above us, and shards of glass and
concrete fragments rained down everywhere.
“Damn! Some of these bastards can shoot!” yelled a SEAL operator
pressed as close to the floor as humanly possible. We couldn’t help but
laugh at our predicament.
RPG-7 rockets followed in rapid sequence of three or four, exploding
with tremendous concussion against the exterior walls. Hunkered down
inside the building, we were separated from the bone-jarring explosions
and deadly shrapnel by a foot or so of concrete. One errant RPG rocket