In his 2014 commencement speech, former Navy SEAL Admiral William H. McRaven offered 10 lessons to the University of Texas at Austin graduating class.He outlined the lessons of the bed, paddle, heart, cookie, circus, obstacle, shark, dark moment, song, and bell. He was arrogant. Four-star Admiral Bill McRaven, former commander of the U.S. Special Operations and Navy SEAL, has led a high-profile careerincluding facing Somali pirates, Osama Bin Laden, and his own commander in chief. So I get hit. The first of Admiral McRaven's 10 lessons is: start your day with one successful task completed, such as making your bed, and you will find the motivation to tackle others. And sure enough, by the time we got back, the great Army Special Operations unit had gotten the lead. SEAL training was a great equalizer. . McRaven has a long, storied history with the military. MCRAVEN: Well, I think its interesting when you think about Westmorelands observation in context. So he didnt know my rank or my name. How was it that you came to be inside Iraq, though, on the day that Saddam Hussein was captured? I wonder what you think we can do to convince more people to make their beds every morning? These lessons helped Admiral William McRaven overcome SEAL training and found that they applied to overcome life's challenges. And what I told him is, you never know how the missions you conduct are going to change the lives of the people that you save. MCRAVEN: I had arrived in Iraq in October of 2003, and we were hunting Saddam Hussein. Thank you for your service. Yeah, well, he knew that I was in charge. I didnt think much of it. MCRAVEN: In Iraq and Afghanistan, of course, you saw these horrific injuries. Hes done more from a wheelchair than any men standing erect. The good news is, as I fell a couple hundred feet or a thousand feet or so, the parachute finally opened. There were a lot of people that get you to where you are. And we had a plan to do that. The fact of the matter is, the law of armed conflict and the rules of engagement were pretty clear. We'd had a lot of leads on him, but frankly, none of the leads had panned out. McRaven grew up as an officer in the aftermath. As you point out. But the fact of the matter is, I didnt want to engage with him. We werent going to put him in a cell with other people, that his days as the leader of Iraq were over. And the SEALs entering the room did absolutely the right thing and shot him, not knowing whether or not he was wearing a suicide vest or what was happening at that instant. And youve probably seen the iconic photo from Pete Souza. . William McRaven retired from the US Navy as a four-star admiral, as the commander of the United States special operations command and as the longest serving Navy SEAL in the history of our country . Admiral McRaven also explains how it isn't necessary to change everyone's lives for the world to change. Take a look. McRaven: The SEALs entering the room did absolutely the right thing and shot him, not knowing whether or not he was wearing a suicide vest. February 22, 2023 6:56 PM. He was later memorialized in an eponymous film starring Tom Hanks. He said, well sir Im six two. HOOVER: In your account of the rescue. Then McRaven swung back into the picture. I said, hey, son, how tall are you? "He was a bright guy, but he didn't like my rude and crude way," Marcinko said. So Im getting radio calls from the ground force commander. Date of Birth. And that little bit of levity kind of helped me through the rest of the night. I didnt want to engage with him because, frankly, I didnt want him to, at least psychologically, think that he was a VIP, that he was somebody important enough to be able to engage me in conversation. Yeah, well, obviously, like a lot of people who watched it on TV, it was a horrifying moment for all of us. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. So Rob ONeill and his teammate, when they came up Again, there were no helmet cams. Theyre all kind of crammed into this small room with General Brad Webb, who was my liaison to the White House at the time. HOOVER: Admiral William McRaven, welcome back to Firing Line for a special edition episode honoring Independence Day. And Maybe the World . I think he still felt that he would come back into power. MCRAVEN: Yeah, I would say its a little surreal, but, you know, I go back to that whole operation and Ive offered to the American people, regardless of what side of the political aisle you might be on, you know, you would have been proud of the national security team the president, the vice president, secretary of state, secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, director of national intelligence director of the CIA all of these men and women that came together to do what was right by the nation. McRaven: He went from being pompous and arrogant to frankly, just being, you know, a tired, corrupt old man. In his thirty-seven years as a Navy SEAL, he commanded at every level.As a Four-Star Admiral, his final assignment was as Commander of all U.S. Special Operations Forces. And as I was descending, I noticed that there was . 20. University of Texas System Chancellor William H. McRaven, a retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral, leads one of the nation's largest and most respected systems of higher education. You wrote, quote, as long as I could wiggle my toes, I was going to stay a SEAL. You share the story of Moki Martin, the Vietnam era SEAL, who was partially paralyzed from a head-on bike accident. So while I didnt know at a young age that I wanted to follow in my fathers footsteps, I dont think it took me long before I realized that this was the path that was the right fit for me. In fact, we had a plan with what we were going to do with bin Laden if we captured him. McRaven says civilians die in fewer than 1% of the raids, a good record in close urban combat, but it still means U.S. commandos are killing noncombatants twice a month. But it was probably 15 minutes after that. Admiral, Youve just written a book, The Hero Code: Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived. And your father served in World War Two, and you share memories of him and his fellow service members swapping stories about their missions. I mean, it showed that we as Americans can do the hard things and do them well. At the time, Admiral William H. McRaven thought that this accident put a definitive end to his career. And frankly, I didnt want to engage him in a conversation. Eric Thor Olson (born January 24, 1952) is a retired United States Navy admiral who last served as the eighth Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) from July 2, 2007 to August 8, 2011. . Once there was a President who called for building up the Green Berets in the same speech, in 1961, that called for landing a man on the moon. ), "The President was at all times presidential," he says. HOOVER: On September 11th, 2001, you were still recuperating from your injuries when you watched the terrorist attacks on this country play out on a television screen in your living room. One was to parachute in a SEAL . I mean, if thats not service, I dont know what is. You got to find out, one, is everybody OK? You know, he ate as well if not better than a lot of the soldiers that we had. The president thanks us for the mission and then reaches behind the presidents desk and hands me a plaque. On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. And you know, after a couple days, they pinned me and plated me and got me going. Today on the show, Admiral McRaven and I discuss why something as simple as making your bed every day can lay the foundation for success in every aspect of your life, how a parachuting accident taught him an important lesson on avoiding self-pity and learning to rely on the help of others, and why rolling in the sand as a . McRaven says it is just one part of a broader offensive against America's foes. The sentiments appear to be mutual, for McRaven and his special-operations units. You know, if we go out and stop one suicide bomber from blowing up a market in Baghdad where a hundred people are killed, who are those hundred people? In April, a month before the bin Laden raid, Obama tapped McRaven for his fourth star and nominated him to lead the U.S. Special Operations Command. On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. But in the end, you never addressed him directly. It begins by stating matter-of-factly that Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian strategist whose On War is a standard text, was wrong about two of his central maxims. Well, because I was tumbling, the pilot chute came out and wrapped around one leg, and then another part of the parachute called the riser came out and wrapped around my other leg. You know, when we first captured Saddam, he was pompous. You had 60 million dollars for a helicopter, the one we had lost on the raid, and you didnt have ten dollars for a tape measure? And as Ive told folks, it was just the right amount of levity, just at the right time to kind of lower the stress in the room. And every day that I went in, he tried to engage me in a conversation. I don't know whether I've been dazed. Updated at 5:38 p.m. INSKEEP: How have people in the military that you have known dealt with the reality that they put their lives on the line, in some places lost arms or legs, for this purpose that turned out to be false? By the time I landed back in Baghdad, the force was moving towards the target and within, you know, within an hours time, the Armys special operations guys that were working for me had had, in fact, captured Saddam Hussein. The fact of the matter is, the law of armed conflict and the rules of engagement were pretty clear. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, // A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. As they neared the release point, one of the men below McRaven drifted directly underneath. When you make your bed first thing in the morning, you start the day with purpose and confidence. SINGAPORE - The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) had to prise open a taxi's roof to rescue two female passengers following an accident in the early hours of Saturday morning (July 10). And you know what? INSKEEP: You're in a command position in Iraq, in a senior position in Iraq. So by the time the helicopters had passed back over the border, now Im on the video with President Obama and his team. "All in all, a pretty good year," McRaven says, "but frankly it has been a big year for us really since 9/11.". Retired Admiral William McRaven speaks Wednesday January 10, 2018 at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. 1. And then. I loved the sense of patriotism. Capture him if you can, but if he presents a threat at all, any threat whatsoever, kill him.. ET. : Basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months. "Look how much of their leadership we've taken apart and how long it's taken, and the movement is still not dead," says Wade Ishimoto, a former Delta Force intelligence officer. ), https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101745_2102133_2102330,00.html. And he became the overall commander of the US Special Operations Command, the rest is history. HOOVER: You write about a skydiving accident that you were in in 2001 that nearly cost you your life. Yeah, I couldnt hear any of that. Published Dec. 27, 2021 Updated Dec. 31, 2021. As the chief executive officer of the UT System, Chancellor McRaven oversees 14 institutions that educate 221,000 students and employ 20,000 faculty and more than 80,000 health care professionals, researchers and staff. They had doubled their size and tripled their budget since 9/11, and 10 years of high-tempo combat missions had honed their skills in Iraq, Afghanistan and theaters of war they did not usually acknowledge: Somalia, Yemen, Tanzania, Kenya, Indonesia, the Philippines and Pakistan, where bin Laden's compound was not the first to receive callers from JSOC. This past May marked 10 years since the historic and heroic mission that you orchestrated, Admiral, what is it like for you to watch President Obama say those words now, 10 years later? Navy Adm. William H. McRaven oversaw missions leading to Osama bin Laden's death. So I get hit," he recalls. He kept tabs on the SEALs who had gone to war without him. Admiral William McRaven commanded the Special Forces who captured Saddam Hussein. "I said to him, 'You can grow up to be 007.' "I would contend he was the smartest guy in the room. In a new book from TIME, Special Ops: The Hidden World of America's Toughest Warriors, international editor Jim Frederick reports on the secret world of the U.S. military units. 10 years after the operation that brought Osama bin Laden to justice, President Obama and Admiral Bill McRaven, the commander of the special operations force. And you write, (reading) "not a week went by without some wounded soldier pleading with me to keep them in special operations - they didn't need that second leg. And fortunately, you know, the guys found me, took me to the hospital. Marcinko fired the 27-year-old McRaven after a year. Bin Laden lay low and stayed alive. Retired Adm. William McRaven, shown here in 2014 addressing the Texas Board of Regents in Austin, Texas, is one of five prominent former defense officials who have been named to the inaugural . Good evening. And then he fired three rounds. (See pictures of the history of special ops. In 2001, he became a counterrorism advisor for the National Security Council and soon was fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq. They are concerned about these things. But I knew immediately the guys were okay. STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE: If I don't mistake this, your boss, Admiral Eric Olson, kind of bypassed a form that would say whether you were physically fit or not. And, oh by the way, the guys are still in the compound. Retired Adm. William McRaven and Nicholas Rasmussen, former National Counterterrorism Center director, discuss the raid on the Usama bin Laden compound in Pakistan in commemoration of the 10th . And so I recognize that shots are being fired. The story did not end there. When McRaven jumped he found himself falling at 125 MPH and hitting the parachute of another, who had deployed his chute too soon. But I'm stunned. You were on a helicopter leaving Baghdad and you suddenly wanted to turn it around. He's sure he would have surrendered to self-pity and . I need to go personally identify the remains before I can kind of come back and tell you for certain its bin Laden. We put the body bag on the hangar floor and its a rubberized body bag. Admiral William H. McRaven is the ninth commander of United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Im ok with that. Good to be with you. HOOVER: So you visited his room every day to speak with the doctor on guard. Police in Goulburn, a city in New South . He previously served as Deputy Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command from 2003 to July 2007. What are you trying to tell me there? The second helicopter, which was supposed to come in and land on the roof, lands outside. And as I say in the book, kind of inexplicably, I just had this feeling that this was going to be the night that we got Saddam Hussein. The good news is, as I fell a couple hundred feet or a thousand feet or so, the parachute finally opened. And so the president asked me, he says, Well, Bill, do you know whether or not its bin Laden? I said, Sir, I dont. In fact, we had a plan with what we were going to do with bin Laden if we captured him. And so I recognize that shots are being fired. And you know what? "I kind of tumble through the parachute. It obviously had a lot of political risk with it, and I dont want to minimize the risk. I'm not exactly sure what's happened. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to retired Adm. William McRaven, who may be best-known as the Navy SEAL commander who oversaw the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, about his new memoir. William H. McRaven is a retired four-star US Navy SEAL admiral and author of the number one New York Times best-seller Make Your Bed (2017).During his almost 40 years of service, McRaven became commander of America's anti-terrorist and hostage rescue operations, which included the capture of Saddam Hussein and the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. But he was not going to have outside contact with any of his former Iraqi leaders. I can see it on the overhead surveillance. I said, good, come here and. I knew that there would have to be some sort of follow on action against Al-Qaeda. It's a lesson Admiral William H. McRaven (retired) learned after a parachute accident that left him bedridden for months. Now, I would offer that I use the word premonition, but it was probably the fact that my brain was connecting the dots. Yeah, theres a lot of people out there that think that this was a kill only mission. But here's what I'll tell you. it showed that we as Americans can do the hard things and do them well. The Commander in Chief staked his presidency on a military plan with risks that daunted his Secretary of Defense. I wonder what you think we can do to convince more people to make their beds every morning? "If I was a loose cannon, he was too rigid. Yeah, it was interesting. It was going to be a staff job at . Stay up to date with what you want to know. Take us inside that closet as you watched your SEALS enter Pakistan and clear the compound floor by floor. "I want to confirm we have a call of 'Geronimo EKIA,' " he said evenly. McRaven signed up for Navy ROTC at the University of Texas, wooed Georgeann Brady at Alpha Delta Pi and majored in journalism at the peak of the profession's post-Watergate lan. In 2003, you were the commander of Task Force 714 in Iraq. No, I dont think that contributed to his decline. Now available in bookstores everywhere, or go to time.com/specialops to order your copy today. I need to go personally identify the remains before I can kind of come back and tell you for certain its bin Laden. We put the body bag on the hangar floor and its a rubberized body bag. Toward the end, with the assault team moving from room to room, McRaven stepped unexpectedly away from the screen. Steve Inskeep asked him about a routine parachute jump in San Diego in the year 2001. But once again, as I mentioned, with Saddam Hussein, you know, until you can do the forensics on the remains, check the fingerprints, check the DNA, do the facial recognition, you know, Im reluctant to have said, hey, weve got jackpot on this one. McRaven, then a 45-year-old Navy SEAL captain, led a jump exercise near San Diego. William McRaven, former University of Texas System chancellor and retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral, joined the school as a professor in national security in 2018. McRaven, who served as the ninth commander of the U.S. Special Operations command from . News Skydiving Death Australia. INSKEEP: You tell story after story after story in this book. So the mission was a long way from over. So I saw some young SEALs standing nearby. You write about a skydiving accident that you were in in 2001 that nearly cost you your life. Some folks believe that maybe it was possible. Will they be the next president or prime minister of Iraq? He bought them. But I also knew at that moment that life was about to change. The DIB, on which McRaven served, was created during the Obama administration by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Patient and ingenious work by U.S. intelligence agencies marked a spot tentative, but more likely accurate than not on the map. And every day when I would come in, he would try to engage me. Take a look at this video. Im ok with that. Retired Navy Adm. William H. McRaven has written a new book called, "The Hero Code: Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived." McRaven knows about heroic deeds, having directed the 2011 U.S . McRaven: I was just honored to be part of the operation. MCRAVEN: Yeah, well, obviously, like a lot of people who watched it on TV, it was a horrifying moment for all of us. They were children of World War One. If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. I can see it on the overhead surveillance. You know, youve got to play four quarters of the game. 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