As I’m sure you’ve heard by now Robert O’Neill is the Navy Seals memeber who is personally responsible for killing Osama Bin Laden. This week his big interview comes out, and he’s written a book on the harrowing tale as well.
But the SEAL leaders have issued a memo on this, and the message is clear: SEALs keep their damn mouths shut.
There are many, MANY problems that have arisen from Robert O’Neill coming forward and taking credit as the SEAL responsible for killing Osama Bin Laden. In fact, you could probably write an entire book on the problems that may arise. From the security issues, to the problems of future mission’s privacy, and the slight to other members of the armed services who go unnamed, there are so many issues here I’m not even going to begin to touch on them.
The SEAL leadership has however issued a memo on the subject, and it’s obvious that they want Mr. O’Neill and other SEALs to keep their mouths shut:
As we’ve seen here on BroBible, Robert O’Neill is VERY OUTSPOKEN in his role of killing Osama Bin Laden…but on the eve of his big interviews coming out, people are speaking out against his actions to take credit.
Robert O’Neill may have fired the shot that killed Osama bin Laden, but he was merely the triggerman. The U.S. and members of its military—thousands of them—killed the 9/11 mastermind. The fact is that O’Neill and those telling his story seem to miss that point.
There is no “I” in “team,” coaches and military commanders are fond of saying. But that rule apparently applies less and less if you’re at the “tip of the spear” like the Navy SEALs who allegedly killed Osama bin Laden in his lair in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011.
“These things have to be kept quiet for a number of reasons,” Don Mann, a former SEAL and author of Inside SEAL Team Six, said Sunday. “Talking out like this goes against the fabric of our community.” But Mann cuts O’Neill some slack: first of all, the government made it clear, shortly after bin Laden’s death, that SEAL Team 6 was responsible (“To me, that’s the bigger problem,” Mann says). Then Bissonnette took too much credit for his role, Mann believes.
But O’Neill’s and Bissonnette’s decisions to go public with their role violates the SEALs’ tenets and irritates many in the military. These SEALs, in the eyes of the public, become heroes once their stories are told. But the action that warrants such acclaim has been built on the backs, boots and blood of thousands of anonymous troops (not to mention Pentagon civilians). An untold number of them played critical roles in the hunt for bin Laden; remove any one from the chain of success and the mission could have failed, with the loss of O’Neill, Bissonnette and the other SEALs who participated in the raid.
Both the public and the press seemingly relish identifying such SEALs, and glorifying their exploits, without care for what may be lost in the transaction.
If fame, and the fortune it can bring, become part of the allure of signing up with U.S. Special Operations Command, the men and women who actually make those missions possible are going to sour on their private sacrifice. The net result will be a less-capable force.
And with that we’re at the crux of the real problem there: sour grapes for the unnamed heroes, and heroes taking credit for other’s accomplishments.
This is NOT how one of the deadliest special forces outfits in the world operates, and if this is the path the individual members have chosen they will begin to unravel at the seams.
But now that we’ve established my feelings on the topic, and what others have to say, I’m curious as to what you the readers think about it all. Should Robert O’Neill have remained silent or is he right to come out and take credit after the government gave Seal Team 6 credit then ostracized him (by way of personal benefits)? Answers down below in the comments…and don’t be afraid to get MAD.
RELATED:
Green Berets at Ft. Bragg Firing Heavy Weapons In Slow-Motion Is Absolute Freedom Porn
Some Gamer Bros Filmed A ‘Top Down Shooter’ In Real Life—And Holy Shit I Want To Play It