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SEAL Team 6 veteran Alex West pulled back the curtain on the raid to kill Osama bin Laden.
The mastermind and head of Al Qaeda was killed in a daring raid by SEAL Team 6 deep in Pakistan in May 2011. A small commando element of DEVGRU flew to Pakistan in modified stealth helicopters to deliver justice to the Americans and the world.
President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and members of the national security team receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House May 1, 2011, in Washington, DC. (Pete Souza/The White House)
The mission almost failed when one of the helicopters crashed while trying to bring the boys to the ground. Fortunately, the 160th SOAR pilots were able to secure the tail to a wall and the men climbed down to do the job.
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After a couple of different engagements throughout the area, the SEALs found Osama bin Laden on the third floor and took him out.
Member of SEAL Team 6 talks about the attack on Osama bin Laden
Portrait of former Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was killed in 2011 in a daring raid by SEAL Team 6 in Pakistan. (Photo by Stéphane Ruet/Sygma via Getty Images)
West, who had a distinguished career as a SEAL Team 6 operator, joined former Delta Force operator Brent Tucker on the Tier 1 podcast to discuss the most important mission of his career.
“Okay, boom! [breaching] the load goes. And from there the rest of the boys entered. At this time, there was also another element that was knocking down some other buildings. one of the [SEALs]…They got into a small shootout. He got shot in his bolt cutter and fragmented his traps a bit. Then, pretty much from there, the team came in. Sack [UBL’s] son. He eliminated the man,” West explained in a podcast released Monday.
The SEAL Team 6 veteran was also in the helicopter that crashed and his adrenaline was pumping too much for him to notice his injuries.
“At the time I didn’t realize it. I had a couple of herniated discs in my back, but so did a lot of guys. But my adrenaline was going down. I had no idea,” explained the former DEVGRU operator.
You can see his comments in the video below, starting around 1:40:00 in the video below, and let me know your thoughts at [email protected].
It’s fascinating that we are almost 15 years from the night Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and stories about it simply never get old.
Imagine the adrenaline the SEALs must have felt on the ground. The helicopters successfully evaded Pakistan’s layered air defenses, there was an accident immediately at the UBL compound, the guys rushed in, Khalid bin Laden melted in the stairwell and then the SEALs took bin Laden to the third deck.
I, personally, saw it as the most interesting Special Operations mission that was publicly known, before the Maduro incursion occurred. The latter now occupies the number one spot, but the attack on Bin Laden remains more than legendary.
Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden appears in an undated photograph. On October 10, 2001, Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban lifted restrictions on bin Laden, allowing him to carry out “Jihad,” or holy war, against Afghanistan’s enemies. (Getty Images)
Big props to everyone involved in the largest manhunt in human history and to the SEALs who took care of business when it mattered most. Let me know your opinion on [email protected].
