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

Leif and the SEALs of Charlie Platoon had been likewise heavily
engaged in constant gun battles with enemy fighters. In the J-Block, only
a couple of weeks prior, Ryan Job was shot in the face by an enemy
sniper and left blind. Later, on the same day Ryan was wounded, Marc
Lee was shot and killed just down the street in the J-Block from where
Ryan had been wounded. Marc was the first member of Task Unit
Bruiser killed in action and the first Navy SEAL killed in Iraq.
We were still reeling from those losses suffered during what was one
of the most furious battles that had taken place in Ramadi. Leif had also
been wounded, hit in the back with a round during the battle. Although
injured, it had not stopped him from continuing to lead during that
operation. Nor had it dulled his desire to hunt down the enemy and kill
them.
It was no coincidence that our largest operation would take place in
this area. It was a reckoning.
The operation began as our SEALs, under cover of darkness,
patrolled on foot into position—Charlie Platoon from COP Falcon to the
west, and Delta Platoon from COP Eagle’s Nest to the east. They passed
their positions over the radio periodically so that I, staged with our Army
counterparts at COP Falcon, and other friendly forces could track their
movement.
Both Charlie and Delta Platoons had preselected locations for their
sniper overwatch positions based on careful map studies of the area.
With the greater strategic picture to coordinate, I had left this entirely up
to them. They also had full authority to shift locations if those
preselected positions weren’t adequate once they were on the ground. As
they had been trained, the senior leader of each SEAL sniper overwatch
element made their decisions based on the underlying commander’s