The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior

Robert O'Neill

Apr 2017 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

This instant New York Times bestseller—“a jaw-dropping, fast-paced account” (New York Post) recounts SEAL Team Operator Robert O’Neill’s incredible four-hundred-mission career, including the attempts to rescue “Lone Survivor” Marcus Luttrell and abducted-by-Somali-pirates Captain Richard Phillips, and which culminated in the death of the world’s most wanted terrorist—Osama bin Laden.

In The Operator, Robert O’Neill describes his idyllic childhood in Butte, Montana; his impulsive decision to join the SEALs; the arduous evaluation and training process; and the even tougher gauntlet he had to run to join the SEALs’ most elite unit. After officially becoming a SEAL, O’Neill would spend more than a decade in the most intense counterterror effort in US history. For extended periods, not a night passed without him and his small team recording multiple enemy kills—and though he was lucky enough to survive, several of the SEALs he’d trained with and fought beside never made it home.

“Impossible to put down…The Operator is unique, surprising, a kind of counternarrative, and certainly the other half of the story of one of the world’s most famous military operations…In the larger sense, this book is about…how to be human while in the very same moment dealing with death, destruction, combat” (Doug Stanton, New York Times bestselling author). O’Neill describes the nonstop action of his deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, evokes the black humor of years-long combat, brings to vivid life the lethal efficiency of the military’s most selective units, and reveals details of the most celebrated terrorist takedown in history. This is “a riveting, unvarnished, and wholly unforgettable portrait of America’s most storied commandos at war” (Joby Warrick).

Ratings and reviews

Just finished reading it for the second time. Outstanding book by one of America's Greatest Heroes. I graduated Navy boot camp at Great Lakes in '63. My experience was the same as Rob described 36 years later and brought back memories I thought I had forgotten. Thank you for your service and please continue to tell your story. America needs heroes like you Rob.

Great accomplishments by a modern Montana man who achieved the impossible with extraordinary men and fearless protectors of the the U.S.A. Many of us should use Mr. O'Neill's drive and work ethic to our daily lives to excell in areas others will not go to. Thank you for your service sir and for also sharing the story about the brothers and sisters you served alongside. The book was absolutely captivating!!

Excellent read, you cant put it down. 5 stars, a top 5 military book ive ever read! I've read ALOT of books to, this one is at or near the top along with Eric Blehm's two masterpieces "Fearless" and "Legend"

About the author

Robert O’Neill was born and raised in Butte, Montana, and lived there for nineteen years until he joined the Navy in 1996. Deploying as a SEAL more than a dozen times, O’Neill participated in more than four-hundred combat missions across four different theaters of war. During his remarkable career, he was decorated more than fifty-two times. Among the honors he received were two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, three Presidential Unit Citations, and a Navy/Marine Corps Commendation with Valor.

O’Neill helped cofound Your Grateful Nation, an organization committed to transitioning Special Operations veterans into their next successful career. You can find him at RobertJONeill.com.