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

have Iraqi soldiers with us on every operation. Does anyone not
understand this?”
The room was quiet. Everyone understood. They didn’t have to jump
for joy at the thought of fighting alongside Iraqi soldiers on a dangerous
battlefield. But they did have to understand why they were doing it so
that they could believe in the mission.
Afterward, I spoke to my key leaders in greater detail about why this
mission was important. Unlike the previous SEAL task unit, I told my
officers and chiefs they were not to submit any concept of operations
(CONOPS)—a document that lays out the basic idea of an operation for
approval by higher headquarters—without Iraqi soldiers as part of our
force.
“What about all the unilateral^2 operations you did on your last
deployment?” Leif asked me. “Didn’t they make a difference?” The
other platoon commander and both platoon chiefs waited for my
response.
“Yes. We did a whole lot of unilateral DAs^3 in Iraq two years ago,” I
answered. “And since that time, coalition forces across Iraq have
continued to do them. But, here are the facts: in the last two years,
enemy attacks are up three hundred percent. Three hundred percent! This
place is on a downward spiral. We’ve got to do something different if we
want to win.”
“Every one of your operations will have Iraqi soldiers,” I told them.
“These Iraqi soldiers are our means to do something different—our
ticket to operate. We will get them up to speed. We will prepare them
the best we can. We will fight alongside them. And we will crush the
enemy until even the Iraqi Army will be able to fight them on their own.
Any other questions?”