Book Review: No Easy Day by Mark Owen (Updated)

Source: Amazon.com

Book: No Easy Day by Mark Owen. (Amazon link).

Overview: This is an autobiography by a former Navy SEAL of different events while a member of SEAL Team 6 and, specifically, the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden.

Impression: This is an easy book to read--good writing, well-paced, and an interesting story. Having read several books by former SEALs, I have to say that it was nice to read one that didn't dwell on the selection and training process of becoming a SEAL. Instead, the author focused on a handful of memorable events or missions, finally leading up to Operation Neptune Spear (the name is a such a dead giveaway as to the SEAL's involvement, I have to wonder if it was the actual code name). The events sort of skip around, starting at the beginning of the raid, then jumping back to when the author was on "Green Team" (the selection and training to join SEAL Team 6), forward to a mission, back to his childhood, forward again, etc. At first, I thought this style of writing would be distracting, but it actually was very readable--coming across like a good friend or relative relating old war stories.The accounts were very sanitized, with identities changed, and abilities understated or changed. For instance, even though it has long been known that the team infiltrated into Pakistan on special, stealthy helicopters, the author refers to the helicopters as simple Blackhawk helicopters.There are no secrets spilled here. However, it was a good read, and I give it two thumbs up.

Notable Points: As mentioned above, the accounts have been sanitized. There is little to no discussion of  special tactics, equipment or training. Nevertheless, there are a few interesting points:

1.  Having read other books concerning the SEALs, Delta Force, and so on, it was interesting to note the evolution of tactics from hostage rescue situations to combating insurgents. Older accounts of CQB, based around hostage rescue and taking down terrorists, focused on sudden, rapid and violent penetration of building with widespread use of breaching charges, flash-bangs, and rapid progress through a building. This is still the basis of SWAT training. However, the author here details an evolution from this type of attack (which generally began with "landing on the X"--helicopter deployment to the target location), to missions where the team would land some distance off, approach the location quietly, and move through a target building slowly, carefully, and stealthily--similar to what Special Forces did in Vietnam and Rhodesia. In fact, one of the points that was memorable about the take down of bin Laden was that because of the location in an urban setting, the team had to make a "landing on the X" infiltration which, by that time, was unusual.

2. The author discusses mistakes or lessons learned. For instance, while on Green Team, he messed up on the kill house by forgetting to notify his teammate of a movement; in an early mission, several team members had not tested their equipment and had improperly secured it, so several vital pieces of equipment were lost. In another instance, an EOD specialist only used one detonator (the practice was to have a backup) which failed to work, emphasizing the "two is one, one is none" rule.

3.  If the account is accurate, bin Laden had some really poor security preparations and others that were not fully exploited. Because of roving blackouts, his compound did not have electricity during the attack, with the result that his guards had no lights to neutralize the SEALs' advantage of their night vision equipment. (Of course, we don't know if special weapons were deployed to knock out power to the area). Apparently bin Laden's guards didn't use flashlights or have any other method to see their attackers. There were no dogs or geese or other animals that could have warned of an attack (although, with two helicopters, including one that crashed, this may have been a moot issue). The use of steel doors and security doors, including an internal gate in the house, slowed the SEALs down considerably in taking the house. Yet, other than one guard, the SEALs encountered no active resistance; in fact, bin Laden's firearms in his room weren't even loaded. There was no emergency escape route, either out of his suite of rooms on the third floor of the building or the compound. Given his resources, I was surprised that there wasn't an escape tunnel. Bin Laden and one of the guards was killed when they poked their heads out of doorways to look.

Update (June 27, 2013): There were a couple other points that struck me from the book, that I would like to add.

4.  Depending on the weapons available, good internal security in a structure may only buy you some time. In one of the missions the author related, the team assaulted a building where the insurgents had built a sandbag "pillbox" on the second floor that prevented successfully taking over the building. However, Bradley fighting vehicles were called in and, using their 20 mm cannon, destroyed the second floor of the building.

5.  It was disturbing to see, by the end of the author's time in Afghanistan,  that insurgents were being afforded more rights than American citizens could expect from police here in the United States. The author related that the rules of engagement had changed such that the military forces could no longer do "no knock" raids on a house, but had to bring along someone with a bullhorn to announce the attack and give the people inside an opportunity to surrender or lay down their arms.

6. After the mission to kill bin Laden, Obama met with the team. The team members were required to go through a metal detector and couldn't even bring a pocket knife into the meeting. If the SEALs' training and screening cannot be trusted, why should we trust background screening to be effective in any other circumstance?