No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden – Mark Owen

This book became a quick best seller that is a first person account of US Navy SEAL Team Six’s killing of Osama Bin Laden in Pakinstan. Written by then SEAL Matt Bissonnette and Journalist Hotler Maurer, the story starts off with Bissonnette’s training in for SEAL Team six, the elite group within the already selective Navy SEAL. The official name for Team Six is US Naval Special Warfare Development Group, and we learn that the team numbers were created somewhat randomly to confuse foreign intelligence. In any case, the books is a well written terse description of SEAL training and specifically the additional qualifications required to join Team Six.  The bulk of the book as expected is a blow by blow account of the raid on Bin Laden’s compound.  Along the way, we learn much about how these operations are carried out, what can go wrong, and also a dash of the author’s somewhat not well hidden distain for the those who command instead of ‘doing’. Other than that, the book is relatively clear of politics, instead it’s a well written and will be one of the key primary sources on this chapter of 21st Century history.