SEAL Team 6 veteran reveals firsthand details of the bin Laden raid
SEAL Team 6 veteran Alex West pulled back the curtain on the raid to kill Osama bin Laden.
The mastermind and chief of Al Qaeda was killed in May 2011 in SEAL Team 6’s daring raid deep into Pakistan. A small commando element of DEVGRU flew into Pakistan in modified stealth helicopters to ensure justice for 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 White House Situation Room in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 2011. (Pete Souza/White House)
The mission nearly went awry when one of the helicopters crashed while trying to get the men to the ground. Fortunately, the 160th SOAR pilots were able to pin the tail against the wall and the men landed to finish the job.
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After several different firefights in the area, the SEALs found Osama bin Laden on the third floor and took him out.
SEAL Team 6 member talks about Osama bin Laden raid
Portrait of former Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was killed in a daring raid by SEAL Team 6 in Pakistan in 2011. (Photo: Stephane 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 biggest mission of his career.
“Okay, boom [breaching] charging goes. Then other men entered from there. There was another element that also destroyed other buildings at that time. Someone [SEALs]…they got into a small gunfight. He was hit by his bolt cutters and broke his traps a bit. Then the team entered from there. [UBL’s] my son. They killed the guy,” West explained in a podcast released Monday.
The SEAL Team 6 veteran was also in the crashed helicopter, and his adrenaline was pumping too hard to notice his injuries.
The former DEVGRU operator further explained: “I didn’t realize it at the time. I had a few herniated discs in my back, but a lot of men had that condition too. But my adrenaline was pumping. I had no idea.”
You can watch his comments, which start around 1:40:00 in the video below, and let me know your thoughts at: David.Hookstead@outkick.com.
It is fascinating that we are almost 15 years removed from the night Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and the stories about it never get old.
Imagine the adrenaline felt by the SEALs on the ground. The helicopters successfully bypassed Pakistan’s layered air defenses, there was an immediate skirmish at UBL’s compound, men scrambling to get inside, Khalid bin Laden melted down in the stairwell, and then the SEALs captured bin Laden on the third deck.
I personally found this to be the coolest Special Operations mission known to the public before the Maduro raid. The latter currently holds the number one spot, but the bin Laden raid is still beyond legend.
Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden is shown in an undated photo. On October 10, 2001, Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban lifted restrictions on Bin Laden, allowing him to wage “Jihad,” or holy war, against Afghanistan’s enemies. (Getty Images)
Huge props to everyone involved in the largest manhunt in human history, and to the SEALs who took care of things when it mattered most. Let me know your thoughts David.Hookstead@outkick.com.
