Author: William H. McRaven
tl;dr: IMO McRaven will go down in somewhat of an odd spot in history. He was on the ground when we captured Saddam and played a pivotal role in advancing our Special Operations capabilities since 9/11. He was the commander of JSOC - the Joint Special Operations Command when we killed Bin Laden. He led that mission and is what he’s most famous for.
After that raid he was promoted to lead all of USSOCOM, taking over for another figure that may be lost to history - the first SEAL to achieve the ranks of both 3 and 4 star Admiral, Eric Olson.
McRaven is famous now, also in part because of his legendary Texas commencement speech (hey, that’s just how the world works now), but the War on Terror has left many of the most impactful figures like him out of the spotlight compared to commanders of large theater scale wars of the past. This is because those high impact roles are often times part of the Special Operations Command, far from the public eye.
McRaven details his life story in the book, it’s a quick read and entertaining too. I hope it helps cement his legacy among others.
Amazon: Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations
First published on May 23, 2020