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

hospital in Germany, those hopes were dashed when we learned Ryan
would never see again: he was blind. This news was absolutely crushing.
Then, just as our deployment came to a close, a Task Unit Bruiser SEAL
in Delta Platoon, Mike Monsoor, was out on what would likely have
been his last combat operation before returning home, when an enemy
hand grenade was tossed into Delta Platoon’s position. Mike dove on top
of that grenade, shielding his teammates around him from the bulk of the
blast and sacrificing himself for them. Each of these fallen SEALs were
beloved teammates, friends, and brothers. We would forever mourn their
loss.
On the rooftop that night, as Jocko and I talked about all we had been
a part of in Ramadi, we knew Task Unit Bruiser had fulfilled a key role
in the U.S. Army Ready First Brigade’s (1st Armored Division) strategy
that successfully wrested control of key Ramadi neighborhoods from the
insurgents. After months of effort and countless firefights, U.S. forces
and their Iraqi Army partner forces now had a presence where they
previously had none. They could now secure the populace from the
savage insurgents who had long controlled most of the city. This, and the
foresight of the Ready First Brigade’s leadership, set the conditions for
tribal sheiks to successfully rise up against al Qaeda in Iraq and unite
with U.S. forces in what would become the Anbar Awakening.
Task Unit Bruiser was proud to have played a role in the Ready First
Brigade’s success. We had killed hundreds of insurgent fighters, helped
to eliminate many of their safe havens, and deeply disrupted their
freedom of movement. Now, with the Ready First’s combat outposts in
place throughout much of the city, the enemy no longer exercised
complete control over many neighborhoods of Ramadi. But the distant
firefight we had just witnessed from the rooftop was a reminder that the