Getting Bin Laden

[KyJim]

I don't post a lot in this section but ran across a recent article from the online version of The New Yorker. It goes quite a bit into detail about the raid, right down to places where the Seal team trained for the raid, some of the firearms used, and the name of a dog which participated. Of course, we'll never know how much is true but it seems to ring true to me for the most part (it does paint Obama very favorably). Here's one bit about the guns some of the used:

The commander of DEVGRU’s Red Squadron, whom I will call James, sat on the floor, squeezed among ten other SEALs, Ahmed, and Cairo. (The names of all the covert operators mentioned in this story have been changed.) James, a broad-chested man in his late thirties, does not have the lithe swimmer’s frame that one might expect of a SEAL—he is built more like a discus thrower. That night, he wore a shirt and trousers in Desert Digital Camouflage, and carried a silenced Sig Sauer P226 pistol, along with extra ammunition; a CamelBak, for hydration; and gel shots, for endurance. He held a short-barrel, silenced M4 rifle. (Others SEALs had chosen the Heckler & Koch MP7.)

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/08/110808fa_fact_schmidle#ixzz1Tp3vblyQ

I think it's worth a read. Cairo, BTW, is the name of the dog --- unless the author considered him a covert operator and changed it for the story.

 

[GM2]

That's a good read thanks for posting it. Being an old Navy Vet it's good to see they are still getting the job done.

 

[Hiker 1]

MP7 - sweet!

 

[old bear]

KYjym, don't have time to read the article now, but I have bookmarked it and will enjoy reading this tonight.

Thanks...

 

[Dwight55]

Thanks KyJim, . . .

May God bless,
Dwight (Carter County, Ky., transplant )

 

[motorhead0922]

Thanks for the link KyJim.

It'll be a great movie one of these days.

 

[Doc TH]

At last!
Go Navy

 

[THEZACHARIAS]

Very well written article. The sheer depth and variety of detail so soon after the op makes me a little suspicious (though I will admit that it sounds pretty close to what you'd expect from the SEALs), but it will be interesting to see if anyone acknowledges the article through official channels. A bit too much Obama glorification for my taste, but then, it is the New Yorker...

 

[nyc71]

Amazing how people forgot when then Clinton's secretary of state mentioned Bin Laden's death. Oh well we all want to believe in something.


"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety"- Benjamin Franklin

 

[skoro]

Very interesting read. Thanks for posting that.

 

[Noreaster]

M4 in 300 blackout with suppressors, don't know what they carried for handguns.

 

[moose_nukelz]

The "regular" SEALs carry SIG P226 in 9mm

 

[Patriot86]

Glad to hear our spec ops guys are getting the best of the best in P226's and MP7's.

Would love to see a picture of an actual Navy Seal P226 setup though.

 

[Jason_G]

I saw no mention of it in the article posted, but I heard at least twice on different television shows that there were also Delta operators and Rangers present? Anyone else hear the same? I'm wondering if it was just confused journalists referring to SOAR, since they're Army? I was honestly surprised to hear that it was mostly (perhaps exclusively, aside from infil/exfil?) a DEVGRU mission. I thought this sort of thing was supposed to be SFOD-D's forte. I figured they would've spearheaded a mission like that.

Jason

 

[ClydeFrog]

NBC-TV news, DevGru, SEAL-06, CAG, DickMarcinko.com...

Discovery/NBC's 60min tv doc reported that the US Navy & the Joint Spec Ops Command ended the use of the name; DevGru or Development Group in 1987.

Richard Marcinko, www.DickMarcinko.com started SEAL-06 in 1980. SEAL team 6 formally became DevGru in 1983. Marcinko retired in 1990(he also became a convicted felon for DoD contract abuses but that's another issue, ).
To my limited knowledge the SEALs used a HK416 5.56mm to "smoke-check" Bin Laden.
I'd be almost 100% certain there were also a few US Army CAG(combat applications group), SAS/SBS(UK spec ops) and/or CIA PM(contract para-military officers) on station during part or all of Trident Spear.
For many years the US Army SOAR(Task Force 160) pilots & air crews packed HK MP5K 9mm select fire weapons. I'm not sure if these crews used the MP5Ks too or if they now carry the M11 9mm or a SMG(sub machine gun).
Dalton Fury's non fiction; Killing Bin Laden is a good resource on this topic.

 

[TylerD45ACP]

They Double Tapped his head with a 5.56 right? After he was cowering behind a woman, Im so glad he's gone. They should of released photos of him dead, how come we cant see the man mainly responsible for 9/11 dead after he killed 3000 people. We had to watch terrified souls jump out windows because of the heat . To this day it bothers me I really hope I get into Ranger School.