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

comrades abandoned him in the street and ran for cover. Two SEALs had
to run through a hailstorm of enemy fire across an open street (what we
called a “Medal of Honor” run) to retrieve the wounded Iraqi soldier and
drag him to cover while bullets impacted all around them.
The Iraqi soldiers frustrated the hell out of our SEALs who trained
and fought alongside them. But they also proved useful in ways we
hadn’t anticipated. A SEAL breacher might use a sledgehammer or
explosive charge to open a gate—an effective method, though extremely
loud—which let everyone in the neighborhood know we were there. Our
Iraqi soldiers knew how the doors and gates were secured and would
quietly pop them open by hand with little effort. They also could tell the
bad guys from the good. To our American eyes, when unarmed enemy
fighters were hiding among the civilian populace, we often couldn’t tell
the difference. But our Iraqi soldiers could discern dress, mannerisms,
and Arabic accents that were different from that of the local populace.
Their local and cultural knowledge were advantageous in helping us
better understand and identify the enemy.
Over the next six months, we took Iraqi soldiers right into the thick
of some of the biggest battles for the city of Ar Ramadi. Several of them
were killed in action. Others were wounded. Despite the grumblings
from Task Unit Bruiser, a certain base level of camaraderie formed
between our SEALs and their Iraqi counterparts through the blood,
sweat, and tears of difficult combat operations.
Through the success of the U.S. Army 1st Armored Division Ready
First Brigade Combat Team’s Seize, Clear, Hold, Build strategy, enemy
fighters were forced out of their former safe havens within Ramadi.
Because we included Iraqi soldiers with us on every operation, our chain
of command approved all of our plans to push deep into dangerous