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

Our intelligence indicated the hostage location was a house on the
outskirts of a Ramadi suburb. The roads into the area were heavily
IED’ed, and the threat extremely high. It was a dangerous, enemy-
controlled neighborhood. But that’s where the hostage and the bad guys
who held him were believed to be, and we had to figure out the best way
into and out of the area. Our plan had to maximize the chance of mission
success while minimizing the risk to our assault force of SEALs, EOD
bomb technicians, and our partner force of Iraqi soldiers.
Task Unit Bruiser had an intelligence department of a dozen SEAL
and non-SEAL support personnel. At the head of Bruiser’s intel shop was
a young ensign (the most junior officer rank in the Navy) recently
graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. He wasn’t a SEAL. His
specialty was intelligence. He was new and inexperienced, but he was
smart, hardworking, and highly motivated. In deference to the character
from Comedy Central’s South Park cartoon series, we nicknamed this
young intelligence officer “Butters.” Butters and his team of intelligence
specialists data-mined hundreds of reports and gathered as much
information as they could to help facilitate our planning. Meanwhile, we
—the Task Unit Bruiser SEALs—set about putting together the plan.
As Charlie Platoon commander, I would serve as assault force
commander for more than a dozen SEALs, an EOD technician, and
fifteen Iraqi soldiers who would enter and clear the house. Jocko, as Task
Unit Bruiser commander, would be the ground force commander with
responsibility for command and control of all assets—the assault force,
our vehicles, aircraft, and any other supporting elements—involved in
the operation.
With the clock ticking, we analyzed the mission, laid out what
intelligence we had, and detailed the supporting assets that were