No Hero: The Evolution of a Navy SEAL

by Mark Owen

  When the door to the plane finally opened and I jumped into the crystal-clear blue sky over San Diego, I felt at peace. There was comfort in going through my jump procedures because I had little room in my mind to think about anything else.

  What I learned almost immediately after the news report containing my name was that the skills I’d tried for more than a decade to master actually meant something in the civilian world. When I focused on them, the drama revolving around the publication of No Easy Day and the transition to civilian life didn’t become easy, but they became manageable.

  Throughout the process I kept reflecting on all the lessons that I’d learned during my career. My ability to manage stress, stay focused, and keep the problems compartmentalized kept me from losing my mind. These skills spread to the publishing team. Concepts like the “three-foot world” became part of our vocabulary.

  The most gratifying part of the No Easy Day publication was the response from the people who read the book. Maybe the biggest surprise was that most of the readers who reached out to me wanted to talk not about the .................................. but about the glimpses of the rest of my career and my buddies that they had found in the book.

  So many people sent me inspirational accounts of challenges in their own lives and how they had overcome them, sometimes with some inspiration they had taken from No Easy Day. I certainly never intended that, but it makes me happy to know that the SEALs I wrote about in my first book have inspired others. It makes sense to me, because I always found inspiration in the team too. The men I served with drove me to be better, as a SEAL and as a person.

  I am still trying to get my feet underneath me, but every day my path gets clearer. I fell back on what I’d learned and that is why I wanted to write this book. No Hero is part of my reinvention and my way to pay it forward. The book is as much for non-SEALs as it is a way to honor my brothers in the SEAL community.

  These aren’t only my lessons. These are lessons I’ve learned from mistakes I’ve made as well as those made by others who were willing to share their lessons with me. I’ve screwed up plenty of times. I’m definitely not perfect. I’ve tried to bring those mistakes and lessons together in one place so that maybe others can avoid them.

  Getting off the speeding train was not easy. I have watched from the sidelines as my teammates, my brothers, continue to fight overseas. I read the news and follow the developments in Somalia and Iraq. My stomach hurts when I read about Fallujah being overtaken by al Qaeda because I’ve fought there. I sometimes wish there was something I could do.

  But I have a new mission now, one that I chose. For a long time, I thought the lessons and methods we used in the military could apply only to SEALs. A lot of people I talk to think there are major differences between combat and civilian leadership, motivation, and mental toughness.

  I tell them I now disagree.

  Since I’ve transitioned out of the SEAL teams and into civilian life, I’ve discovered that the lessons I learned during my career apply to a much greater audience than just our community.

  These lessons are fundamentals.

  There is no Navy SEAL secret sauce, but if I had to make one it would be built from the basics. When you’re stressed, like in combat, the simple skills are easiest to muster. Understanding the most basic principles perfectly, and working to execute them flawlessly in any circumstance, will always put you ahead of someone who lacks the fundamentals. All a SEAL does is master the basic principles and perform them as close to perfect as possible. I have found that if you remember the little things, the rest will work itself out.

  Now that I’ve gotten out of the Navy and had time to interact with people other than SEALs, I see the chance to inspire and inform people by telling the stories that my swim buddies and I have learned in the constant drive to be the best SEALs possible. I thought telling our story was important before I wrote No Easy Day, and now I think it is critical.

  I hope the next generation of SEALs, Delta, Rangers, and Special Forces soldiers will read this book, and No Easy Day, and be inspired to live a life of service like all our servicemen and women have. Maybe a few of them will carry some of my lessons learned with them onto the battlefield and be safer and more effective because of it. I know not everybody dreams of testing themselves in combat, but I think no matter what challenges you face, you can find something valuable in the stories of the men and women I served with, those still in the fight and those who’ve lost their lives.

  I hope No Easy Day and No Hero offer something most books on war don’t: the intimate side of it, the personal struggles and hardships and what we gained from them. I believe it would be irresponsible of me not to share the most intimate parts of my career in hopes that people don’t have to make the same mistakes I’ve made. This book is one way I can continue to give back. For the rest of my life I will find other ways to pass along the lessons I learned from my teammates and hopefully inspire others like they inspired me. Leaving a career of service didn’t need to end my life of service.

  Starting a fire during the winter growing up in Alaska. I always carried the beaver-skin fur hat my mom made for me on my coldest deployments.

  Meeting my first SEAL. Notice my sweet SEAL shirt, which I promptly took off and never wore again.

  My swim buddy and me in our hotel room waiting for the call to go board the U-Haul. Taken during the Ketchikan exercise.

  Divers and safety boat off the pier in Ketchikan, Alaska, a short distance from where a killer whale had had its breakfast that morning.

  Me during my first HAHO, or high-altitude high-opening, jump trip with my ST6 squadron, just before my parachute cutaway.

  A tandem jump during a training evolution. HAHO jumps require oxygen, and at night NODs are mandatory.

  Epic fail! If you look close, you can see the skid marks on the ground behind me.

  Hair Missile and handler on an Afghanistan deployment.

  Hair Missile during one of our missions in Iraq.

  Training off the coast of Virginia. Most units never have assets like this. We had a “big deck” aircraft carrier and a TF 160 helicopter.

  Me running and gunning during some training when I was at ST5.

  Training with our four-by-fours and side by sides.

  Afghanistan. The MiG is a reminder of when Russia fought there for years as well.

  Afghan partner forces.

  A buddy and me about to head out on a freezing-cold winter mission in a snow-swept valley.

  Me and my MP7 flying home from the mission with the house rigged to blow.

  The Delta guys and me after we almost landed on the wrong house.

  My team just before the mission in the Evolution chapter. Always watch the shoes!

  Phil and me taking a break before some training. Phil is not only a good friend but a mentor.

  The morning after the rescue of Captain Phillips.

  An Emerson Knife that I carried on the UBL raid and donated to charity. The money raised went to a fallen teammate’s family.

  Me trading books with Gene Wentz, the author of Men in Green Faces. It was the first SEAL book I read, and it set me on my track to become one.

  My camo uniform when I returned from the UBL raid. The blood on the upper left is where the bullet frag entered my shoulder.

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  MARK OWEN is a former member of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group, commonly known as SEAL Team Six. In his many years as a Navy SEAL, he has participated in hundreds of missions around the globe, including the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips in the Indian Ocean in 2009. Owen was a team leader on Operation Neptune Spear in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 1, 2011, which resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. Owen was one of the first men through the door on the third floor of the terrorist mastermind’s hideout, where he witnessed Bin Laden’s death. Mark Owen’s account o
f the raid, in No Easy Day, remains the only accurate eyewitness account on record.

  KEVIN MAURER has covered special operations forces for nine years. He has been embedded with the Special 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.

  In 1864, E. P. Dutton & Co. bought the famous Old Corner Bookstore and its publishing division from Ticknor and Fields and began their storied publishing career. Mr. Edward Payson Dutton and his partner, Mr. Lemuel Ide, had started the company in Boston, Massachusetts, as a bookseller in 1852. Dutton expanded to New York City, and in 1869 opened both a bookstore and publishing house at 713 Broadway. In 2014, Dutton celebrates 150 years of publishing excellence. We have redesigned our longtime logotype to reflect the simple design of those earliest published books. For more information on the history of Dutton and its books and authors, please visit www.penguin.com/dutton.