Kill Bin Laden: a Delta Force Commander's account of the hunt for the world's most wanted man (60 page)

I was lucky, and rode the Delta stallion as long as I could. When the ride was done, I officially retired in February 2005. A month earlier, my family and I stood inside the Beckwith Room, aptly named after the Unit’s first commanding officer, at the Delta compound for a small and informal ceremony. I recall humbly looking around the room in awe at the warriors who had taken the time to attend.

In the room were Delta operators young and old. Standing only a few feet from me were heroes from the invasion of Grenada in 1983, Panama in 1989, some from Desert Storm, some from Somalia, and others from the Balkans. Mixed among these dedicated operators were fellow teammates in the war on terror, whose efforts and reputations in Afghanistan and Iraq meet the legacy of those who came before them.

This time, I knew I would not be coming back, but it was also a much easier parting, because it had not been so abrupt. All dues had been paid, and the personal demons were finally at rest. It was more of a passage than a retirement, for an operator represents Delta until the day he dies.

You think about it for months, even years, after you leave, and it is forever engrained in your mind. Your thought process for the rest of your life is largely affected by the way you were taught to operate, to organize, to plan, to execute, to lead, and to kill. The men with whom you served are guys you stay in close touch with for a lifetime and for whom you would do anything.

As the years pass, as the hair thins, as the knees and back go, you cling to the unrealistic idea that you still have what it takes to hang with the current operators.

Each time you pass a children’s playground, you feel the urge to climb over the monkey bars instead of swing on them. You think about snaking up the swing chain and sliding over the high bar. You can’t walk
by a neighborhood privacy fence without thinking how fast you can get over it. You check your hands to make sure you still have the rough calluses acquired from hour upon hour of pistol shooting, climbing caving ladders, going over cinder block walls, commando crawling on or pulling yourself up the thick ropes on the obstacle courses, and routinely pumping iron. Even crazier, each time you shake another man’s hand you mentally gauge the grip strength.

You compare normal human emotions with abnormal experiences. When it is really cold outside, I think,
Not as cold as Tora Bora
. When the summer temperature soars, I think,
Not as hot as Baghdad
. When I experience physical pain or mental discomfort, I think,
Not as bad as Delta selection and assessment
.

Hundreds of years ago, ordinary citizens fought for recognition of a new, free, and sovereign nation called the United States of America. They were known as the Minutemen because they had to be ready to grab their weapons and be ready within a minute’s notice. Their operational battle space more than two hundred years ago was down the dirt road, across the back forty, past ole man Fiddler’s pond, or a half-day hike past Broken Wagon Creek.

Today, Delta serves not as Minutemen, but rather
Momentmen
, and their battle space is the globe. The unpredictability of terrorism has them on a short leash and a full-time war footing. The operators’ beepers are always on, their bags are always packed, personal wills have been signed, and notes to loved ones are taped inside their lockers with the bland instruction: “Give to my wife in the event of my death.”

Today, hundreds of thousands of committed American servicemen and women face the same risks and dangers, sacrifice just the same, and pull their fair share of the load. Delta, however, remains unique and does what must be done in a manner that draws little attention. Of course, it’s designed that way. It still does not officially exist.

There are no “reluctant warriors” in Delta. All are eager to enter harm’s way. They aren’t stupid, don’t carry a death wish, and aren’t necessarily
looking for any more holes in their bodies than the good Lord already provided. But these elite operators are paid more and enjoy millions of dollars more in funding than any other command. In return, they are expected to do more. It is their raison d’être, and they will not let down their mates.

As my wife, two daughters, and I pulled out of the compound shortly after the retirement ceremony, it came to me that Gus Murdock had been wrong about that last look in the rearview mirror. I had already seen that view, and now I had to look at it again.

I became a former Unit member—for the second time! It was twice as bad.

* Authors Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor document well Delta Force’s crossing of the Saudi border and long push into Iraq to start the war in their book
Cobra II
.

Acid Gambit

AC-130 gunship (aircraft)

actionable intelligence.
See also
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); HUMINT; intelligence

Admiral (U.S. Air Force combat controller)

Advance Force Operations (Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC))

Afghanistan.
See also
Tora Bora, Battle of (Afghanistan); Tora Bora Mountains (Afghanistan); specific Afghan cities, towns, and provinces

Bagram Air Base

culture of

Dailey, Dell

deception plan

Delta Force missions

deployment decision

intelligence

intermediate staging base (ISB)

Pakistan border

planning for

preparation for

quick-reaction force

Shelter Now International hostage crisis

Soviet Union

Tora Bora Mountains

United Kingdom

United States Marine Corps

Against All Enemies
(Clarke)

Agam Valley, Afghanistan

Ahmed, Gul

bin Laden, Usama

capture of

Delta Force mission

described

helicopter evacuation

home of

Hot Wash

HUMINT

air force special tactics combat control.
See also
Admiral (U.S. Air Force combat controller); Tora Bora, Battle of (Afghanistan), air bombing

air supremacy, Tora Bora Mountains, Afghanistan.
See also
Tora Bora, Battle of (Afghanistan), air bombing

AK-47 assault rifle

Al (Special Forces officer assigned to CIA)

Alabama National Guard

Albright, Madeleine

Alexander the Great (king of Macedonia)

Alexandria, Virginia

Algeria

Ali, Hazret (Pashai warlord).
See also
mujahideen

al Qaeda

al Qaeda surrender

bin Laden, Usama

biography of

BLU-82 bomb (Daisy Cutter)

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

combat practices of

Delta Force

demands on

espionage

Green Berets

headquarters of

Jalalabad, Afghanistan

media

money

night vision

politics

surrender and

Tora Bora, Battle of

Tora Bora forward command

Tora Bora tactics

victory declared by

Zaman Ghamshareek, Haji (Pashtun warlord) and

Al Majallah
(magazine)

Alpha Team

al Qaeda.
See also
bin Laden, Usama; Taliban

Ali, Hazret (warlord)

bin Laden, Usama

BLU-82 bomb (Daisy Cutter)

casualties

deception plan for

equipment of

intelligence on

9/11 terrorist attacks

observation posts of

prisoners

Rumsfeld, Donald

Shelter Now International hostage crisis

Spin Ghar Mountains (Afghanistan)

surrender

tanks

Tora Bora, Battle of

Tora Bora Mountains, Afghanistan

Towr Ghar Mountains (Afghanistan)

Zaman Ghamshareek, Haji (Pashtun warlord)

Al Qaeda Martyr Memorial (Tora Bora, Afghanistan)

Al Qaeda’s Great Escape
(Smucker)

American Indians

ammunition

supply problems

Tora Bora, Battle of

Anderson, Bruce

AN-PEQ2 laser

AN/PVS-5 night vision goggles (NVGs)

ANVS-9 night vision goggles (NVGs)

Arabic.
See also
language skills

Ashley, Jake

assessment process, Delta Force

Atef, Mohammed

Baader-Meinhof gang (Germany)

Badr, Battle of

Bagram Air Base (Afghanistan)

Afghanistan operations

supply problems

Tora Bora, Battle of

Balkans, Delta Force operations in

bandits, Afghanistan

Band of Brothers
(film)

Bargewell, Eldon

beards, Delta Force

Beckwith, Charlie

Belvoir, Fort (Virginia)

Benning, Fort (Georgia)

Bergen, Peter

Berntsen, Gary

B-52 bomber

Bierce, Ambrose

bin Laden, Mohammed

bin Laden, Usama.
See also
al Qaeda; Taliban

Ahmed, Gul

Ali, Hazret (Pashai warlord)

BLU-82 bomb (Daisy Cutter)

capture rumor

Daruna, Afghanistan

deception plan for

Delta Force mission

disposition of

escape of

expectations of

intelligence on

last will and testament of

life and death decision

media

mujahideen

popular support for

reward for

Sudan

Tora Bora, Battle of

Tora Bora Mountains (Afghanistan)

United States and

Zaman Ghamshareek, Haji (Pashtun warlord)

bin Laden, Uthman

Blaber, Pete

Blackfeet people

Blackhawk Down
(film)

Black Sea, Battle of (Somalia, 1993)

BLU-82 bomb (Daisy Cutter)

B-Monkey.
See
Bryan (code named B-Monkey)

bombs, unexploded

B-1 bomber

Bosnia.
See also
Balkans

Bradley fighting vehicle

Bragg, Fort (North Carolina)

Bravo Team

British intelligence

British Royal Marine commandos

British SBS commandos

British Special Air Service (SAS) commandos (U.K.)

British Special Boat Service (SBS, U.K.)

Bryan (code named B-Monkey)

bureaucracy, politics.
See also
military establishment; politics

Bush, George W.

9/11 terrorist attacks

Tora Bora, Battle of

Bushnell reflex HOLOsights

Cambone, Steven

Canada

capability exercises (CAPEXs), Delta Force

CAPEXs (capability exercises), Delta Force

capture rumor, bin Laden, Usama

Carlson, William

casualties

al Qaeda

civilian

Engagement Zones (EZ)

Kolokhel, Afghanistan

Tora Bora, Battle of (Afghanistan)

CBU-78 Gator mines

CENTCOM

Spin Ghar Mountains (Afghanistan)

Tora Bora, Battle of

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
See also
actionable intelligence; HUMINT; intelligence

Afghanistan

Ahmed, Gul mission

Al (Special Forces officer assigned to CIA)

Ali, Hazret (warlord)

al Qaeda casualties

bin Laden, Usama

BLU-82 bomb (Daisy Cutter)

Delta Force

George (agent)

Jalalabad, Afghanistan

Kabul, Afghanistan

language skills

members of

money

munitions

Predator (drone aircraft)

Shelter Now International hostage crisis

Spin Ghar Mountains (Afghanistan)

Sudan

Tora Bora, Battle of

Tora Bora Mountains attack

Zaman Ghamshareek, Haji (Pashtun

warlord)

Zawahiri, Ayman al-

checkpoints

Ahmed, Gul mission

Balkan mission

Northern Alliance

Tora Bora, Battle of

Cheney, Dick

CH-47 helicopter

civilian casualties.
See also
casualties

Engagement Zones (EZ)

Kolokhel, Afghanistan

Clancy, Tom

Clarke, Richard

Clarke, Torie

Clinton, William J.

Clinton administration, Delta Force

close-quarter combat (CQB), Delta Force

Coalition Air Operations Center (CAOC)

Cobra II
(Gordon and Trainor)

Combat Shooting and Tactics Inc.

Combat Talon aircraft

Combined Arms and Services Staff School

Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force

Command and General Staff College

communications

9/11 terrorist attacks.
See also
intelligence

conditioning exercises, Delta Force

costs, Tora Bora, Battle of

CQB light

Crapshoot (assault team leader)

Cruise, Tom

C-17 Globemaster (aircraft)

Dailey, Dell

Daisy Cutter (BLU-82 bomb)

Dari language

Daruna, Afghanistan

Dayton Peace Accords

deception plan, Afghanistan mission