No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden

Forces in Afghanistan six times, spent a month in 2006 with special operations units in east Africa, and has embedded with U.S. forces in Iraq and Haiti. He is the author of four books, including several about special operations.

An Afghan military gun truck sits in the mountain pass between Bagram and Kunduz. Due to the severe weather conditions, winter deployments tend to be less active than summer deployments.
    A view from our base in central Afghanistan. During my deployments in Afghanistan, the natural beauty of the country often struck me.
    My primary weapons: a Heckler & Koch MP7 with suppressor (top); a highly modified M79 40mm grenade launcher, a.k.a. the “pirate gun” (middle); and a Heckler & Koch 416 assault rifle with a ten-inch barrel and suppressor (bottom).
    My assault kit organized during an Afghanistan deployment. Visible are my pistols, assault rifles, helmet with NVGs, and my sixty-pound vest including ballistic plates.
    A ballistic helmet outfitted with the latest generation of night-vision goggles, helmet-mounted flashlight, and IR strobe. The four tubes on these NVGs allow better peripheral vision than the standard two-tube goggles. The IR strobe is vital when dealing with helicopters and other aerial assets.

    The open ramp of our C-17 moments before we jumped into the Indian Ocean on the Captain Phillips rescue.
    HAHO training over the Grand Canyon.
    Members of DEVGRU coming in to land during HAHO training.
    A CH-47 helicopter, a.k.a. the “flying school bus.”
    The view out the back of a CH-47. The bags contain fast-ropes.
    A CH-47 helicopter like the one we used on the Kunar mission.
    MH-6 Little Birds like the ones flown by the Night Stalkers during assaults in Iraq.
    Walking into the Iraqi desert for exfil after a long night of work.