The Operator, Robert ONeill
The Operator, Robert ONeill
301 Rating(s)
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
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The Operator
Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior

Bestseller

Author: Robert O'Neill

Narrator: Robert O'Neill

Unabridged: 9 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/25/2017


Synopsis

This instant New York Times bestseller—“a jaw-dropping, fast-paced account” (New York Post) recounts SEAL Team Operator Robert O’Neill’s incredible four-hundred-mission career, including the attempts to rescue “Lone Survivor” Marcus Luttrell and abducted-by-Somali-pirates Captain Richard Phillips, and which culminated in the death of the world’s most wanted terrorist—Osama bin Laden.

In The Operator, Robert O’Neill describes his idyllic childhood in Butte, Montana; his impulsive decision to join the SEALs; the arduous evaluation and training process; and the even tougher gauntlet he had to run to join the SEALs’ most elite unit. After officially becoming a SEAL, O’Neill would spend more than a decade in the most intense counterterror effort in US history. For extended periods, not a night passed without him and his small team recording multiple enemy kills—and though he was lucky enough to survive, several of the SEALs he’d trained with and fought beside never made it home.

“Impossible to put down…The Operator is unique, surprising, a kind of counternarrative, and certainly the other half of the story of one of the world’s most famous military operations…In the larger sense, this book is about…how to be human while in the very same moment dealing with death, destruction, combat” (Doug Stanton, New York Times bestselling author). O’Neill describes the nonstop action of his deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, evokes the black humor of years-long combat, brings to vivid life the lethal efficiency of the military’s most selective units, and reveals details of the most celebrated terrorist takedown in history. This is “a riveting, unvarnished, and wholly unforgettable portrait of America’s most storied commandos at war” (Joby Warrick).

About Robert O'Neill

Robert O’Neill was born and raised in Butte, Montana, and lived there for nineteen years until he joined the Navy in 1996. Deploying as a SEAL more than a dozen times, O’Neill participated in more than four-hundred combat missions across four different theaters of war. During his remarkable career, he was decorated more than fifty-two times. Among the honors he received were two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, three Presidential Unit Citations, and a Navy/Marine Corps Commendation with Valor. O’Neill helped cofound Your Grateful Nation, an organization committed to transitioning Special Operations veterans into their next successful career. You can find him at RobertJONeill.com.


Reviews

Goodreads review by L.A. on May 30, 2018

I had the great privilege of hearing Robert O'Neill speak and so was pleased to read his book. I have to believe everyone in the Action/Adventure and Orion Goodreads groups has already read this 2017-published book--if not, do. I also recommend it for readers in the Good Thriller and Mystery, Crime &......more

Goodreads review by Rex on August 03, 2017

The title implies this is primarily about the actual events involved in killing Bin Laden. That is only the last fifth of the text. The prior material covers O’Neill’s career, including the famous BUD/S training to qualify for the Navy SEALs. But don’t pass this up just because you have already read......more

Goodreads review by Adam on August 10, 2017

As the son of a young man who went to fight in Vietnam, finding that I have less peers than I'd expected - this book really made me angry. The people who yell the loudest about "Supporting our troops," as if there are Americans who don't respect and thank heavens every night that a few brave America......more

Goodreads review by Craig on January 28, 2019

The main criticism I have noticed lodged against this book is the fact that the first half of the subtitle, which is the primary interest to most readers, only makes up a small portion of the story that shows up near the end. No doubt there are plenty of people who consider the shots that killed Osa......more