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

But he did as directed, replying on the radio, “Roger that. Stand by.”
It should have taken no more than fifteen seconds to count the
buildings up the block to the target building, but the silence over the
radio was longer—too long.
Finally, the radio silence broke: “Correction: The suspected enemy
position is Building 94. I say again, 94. I counted the buildings up the
block. We misjudged the distance. Over.”
“Hold your fire!” the company commander quickly said with
authority over his battalion net, recognizing that the “enemy” reported in
building 94 were really friendlies. “All stations: Hold your fire.
Personnel in building 94 are friendly. I say again, building 94 is a
friendly position. We have SEAL snipers on the roof of that building.”
“Roger,” said the Bradley vehicle commander in a solemn tone,
recognizing his mistake had almost caused fratricide.
“Roger,” answered the captain. Alarmed at how easily such a mistake
could happen and acknowledging how deadly and devastating it could
have been, the company commander looked at me and said heavily,
“That was a close one.”
Without formal street signs or numbers—with confusing
intersections and alleyways—such a mix-up was something that could
easily happen. But had they engaged, it would have been horrific. The
25mm heavy gun from the Bradley fired high explosive rounds that
would have ripped through the rooftop, likely killing or wounding
multiple SEALs in that position.
Thankfully, our troop operated under Decentralized Command. My
platoon commanders didn’t just tell me what the situation was, but what
they were going to do to fix it. That sort of Extreme Ownership and
leadership from my subordinate leaders not only allowed them to lead