Very small, tight community. But in the course of my questioning for him, he said, “Well, you are developing a theory here, yes?” And at the time I was actually just trying to cull out the principles of special operations, much like the broader principles of war. So for example, when I did the theory and the thesis, the Germans for example used gliders to get into Eben-Emael. That had come up in discussion. Dad was a big deer hunter and dove hunter, and we spent a fair amount of time together. McRaven, the retired U.S. Navy … How am I going to do that as well as I can? But it’s true of a lot of military training, whether you’re an Army Ranger — Ranger training is very similar — Special Forces, Green Beret training is very similar, Air Force Special Tactics training is very similar. This officer has described himself as something of a loose cannon. So he came in and we began talking. And you just can’t do a cursory cleaning of it, particularly not if it’s been in the salt water. He has two older sisters. We have the examples of Mozart and Beethoven, who were incredibly creative within a very, very clear structure. Can you tell us more about that? he rest of the stuff is, I don’t want to say. So you grew up with the idea of military service. McRaven was born in Pinehurst, North Carolina. I was actually in news reporting so I learned how to do what I think is the best writing, in terms of it had to be clear, it had to be concise, you had to check your facts. Well, the problem was, in the course of the planning for the mission, they knew that they were going to have to tow these mini-subs across from Scotland over to Norway. When he had recovered sufficiently to report for duty, he returned to Washington to serve as Deputy National Security Advisor and director for strategic planning in the National Security Council Staff’s Office of Combating Terrorism. But I was very fortunate. I am very proud of what my guys did, but the real risk and the burden was borne almost solely by the President. So the doctors were able to put you back together again. You led a jump exercise that did not go as planned. And of course, there is an aura, I think, around Texans in the sense that they are folks that believe that, “Hey, you pull yourself up by the bootstrap and you keep moving and you don’t complain about things.” And you have this attitude that things can get done if you just work hard enough and press forward. People always ask me, “Was it of any value to you?” And I said absolutely. So now we are working to help the families and to make them resilient, to talk to the wives and the husbands and say, “You need to exercise as well. So tell me what it would take to get to them affecting 800 million people. Graduate thesis based on this theory was subsequently published by Random House in 1995 under the title, SPEC OPS. As you get up underneath the ship, as you approach a ship, there’s a little bit of light above you. I was actually in news reporting so I learned how to do what I think is the best writing, in terms of it had to be clear, it had to be concise, you had to check your facts. For a young officer, that’s an important part of your career building and that platoon went very well. Part of my discussion the other day was there are some things in life you control. You come in probably a little bit overconfident, but you also come in physically strong. We had family friends like Tex Hill, and Tex Hill was a very famous fighter pilot during World War II. Share with your friends. When you were a young man undergoing SEAL training, you might have stopped and thought, “I don’t have to do this. So they will, for example, they used to play a little bit of mind games. As commander of Naval Special Warfare Group One, Captain McRaven was leading a 1,000-foot freefall exercise in the summer of 2001, when an accident occurred that could easily have cost him his life. And then, by 1940 he was in the Army Air Corps, and then when the war broke out in ’41, he went over to Europe and actually fought in cross-border between Europe and France. And you also know that under a ship there are suctions which could, in fact, pull your facemask off or do some things. Given the military background of his father and his family’s friends, a career in the military was something he had always considered. News of Bin Laden’s death was greeted with nearly universal relief and approval in the United States, and as McRaven’s role in the operation became known, the Senate moved to unanimously confirm his appointment as commander of USSOCOM. What was the state of Naval special operations back there in the 1980s? He was named deputy commanding general for operations at the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). When I look back, I think we did a lot of good things in my tenure as the four-star at Special Operations Command, but that’s the one I take the greatest pride in is knowing that we are taking care of the soldiers and their families. So you come into a situation like that and there is — and of course when you’re young you’re a little bit cocky. (2019). An enthusiastic athlete, he competed in as many sports as possible. So this is the creative piece. William McRaven: SEAL training is like a whole life crammed into six months. Some people have an image of creativity as a sort of muse that alights on your shoulder. So you can control that and so take the opportunity — every opportunity you can — to be kind, be generous, because you have no idea what that can do for people. It seems that in this case perseverance and discipline are integrally wrapped up with creativity. You cannot see anything. Like any other large organization you have to lead people. So there is a lot of demand placed on you physically, but there was also a lot of demand mentally. And some people say, “Well, we can’t be the policemen of the world.” I am not sure at this point in time we have a choice. It’s about, “Don’t be afraid under a ship. He had 28 confirmed kills, both as a Navy fighter pilot and then he also was part of the legendary Flying Tigers. So we know there is a physical component to this. He had played professional football with the Cleveland Rams, and as he began to see kind of the storm clouds brewing, if you will, he and five guys left the football team and traveled out to Los Angeles, as I understand, signed up to join the Army Air Corps. Going both up and down the chain of command? The remaining ten years of his military career would focus almost entirely on counterterrorism operations and strategy. William McRaven: I was raised more on poetry than I was on books. He was a resident of Queen City TX and 85 years old. It was, “Okay, he is some diver or something in the military.” But in 1986 when she passed away, nobody had heard of Navy SEALs. This was probably — I want to say either the early ’70s or the late ’60s, ’69 or maybe ’70. He had entered as a student of the National Security Affairs program, but soon saw the need for a graduate level program in special operations limited warfare, not just for the Navy, but throughout the armed services. And then you have to be right on target with the talented people you bring. And the jumper below has got — in terms of freefall they always have the right of way. But once you get close to the ship, the ship blocks out all the light, and the target for a ship is the keel, the center line of the ship. I enjoyed writing. They were in their 70s — early 70s to early 80s — and the folks I interviewed were still very sharp and remembered the missions they went on as though they were yesterday. With that and the attack on the Pentagon on the same day, McRaven was immediately aware that the United States was entering a new era of armed conflict and that special operations would be needed as never before. I mean, a lot of people think that the military is: the commander gives an order and everybody moves out. Aug 20, 2018 Gold Star parents, Billy and Karen Vaughn have issued a scathing response to retired Navy Admiral, William McRaven, who recently penned a snarky Washington Post op-ed, defending former CIA Director John Brennan and insulting President Trump for revoking the former director’s security clearance. Looking at some of the tenets you outlined in your book The Theory of Special Operations, a lot of it applies to Operation Neptune Spear, as the Bin Laden operation was called. Then General Wayne Downing had been selected by the President of the United States to run the Office of Combating Terrorism. Frankly, the smart thing to do would probably have been to wait and get stable again. Enjoy the best William H. McRaven Quotes at BrainyQuote. William H. McRaven, a retired Navy admiral, was commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014. The Vietnam generation kind of raised my generation, but we didn’t have a lot of equipment. And across the board, not only for Navy SEALs, but for Army Green Berets and the Air Force, we really got a lot better starting in about the mid-’80s. So one, we didn’t want to change what we were doing for fear that people would know. The first officer to graduate from the Special Operations and Limited Warfare program at the Naval Postgraduate School, he has held commands at every level of the special ops community, from leading a single SEAL platoon, to his final post as commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, USSOCOM ensures the readiness of all special forces and directs their operations worldwide. William McRaven: I absolutely think they do. You’re being tested across the full range of your emotions and your fears. William McRaven: Absolutely, he did. You would come back at about 4:00, 5:00 in the morning. On Friday evenings, the five-year-old McRaven would creep into the American Officers’ Club in Fontainebleau, France where his family was located. I don’t know his name, but he was dating my sister at the time. So when I came in, nobody aspired to be an admiral. McRaven is adapting his best-selling “Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life … We had the Reagan buildup, we had the establishment of the U.S. Special Operations Command, and with that came more money and we began to train more. With the helicopters, I knew we could get in and we would probably only be vulnerable about two minutes out, and I felt that was good enough. William McRaven is adapting his best-selling "Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life ... And Maybe the World" for younger audiences. William McRaven: This was at the beginning of the war as the Germans came against the Belgians as part of the initial movement into Belgium and then into France. During this period the SEALs, Rangers and other special forces units under McRaven’s command at JSOC were carrying out as many as 15 missions a night in Afghanistan, but Operation Neptune Spear presented difficulties unlike any other. So in talking with this Green Beret who had done a number of tours in Vietnam, he said, “Well, if you want to be in the best there is in the Navy, you need to go be a Navy SEAL.” Well, back in 1970 I had never heard of Navy SEALs. But you have to get there, because if the enemy spots you two minutes away, or three minutes away, their ability to engage you — and you not being able to get to target — changes the whole dynamics of the mission. Not once, not twice, but a lot of times that kind of moved me along this path to be where I am today. Browse 74 william mcraven stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. But I said that the things that you do control are the little acts of kindness, the little acts of compassion, the little acts of courage that you can do every day. There was one point in your military career that didn’t go so well. A couple of things came out in your commencement speech at the University of Texas. I believe it was July 18, 2001. How do I get to my objective before the enemy knows I am there in a manner that we know will be effective, but generates that surprise that now, once I am on target, your force is probably going to be better than the enemy’s force? We are the country that can best deal with this, although we certainly need to build a coalition where we have willing and capable partners to go do it, I’m all about that. You had to do some dives in the dark waters and in cold waters. On entering active service in the Navy, McRaven sought and achieved admission to the training program of the Sea, Air, Land Teams (SEALs), the Navy’s elite special operations force. And then when tomorrow comes, I’m going to do that as well as I can, and I’m just going to kind of keep moving forward.” And the thought of being an admiral? I healed. McRaven retired from the University of Texas in 2018, having served four years as chancellor. Trump and his generals: the cost of chaos. You’ve screened for command.” And I thought, “Wow, so I’m going to be a commanding officer of a SEAL team!” I hadn’t thought about that until the moment he called. (2016). So this was the point I was trying to bring at “What starts here changes the world.” The idea that one person affecting the life of one other person, or ten other people, can over time change the world. So again, you have to understand where your talents are, where your expertise is, and within that framework be as creative as you can possibly be. But when you sit down to do a mission, you have got to do the detail planning. And oh, by the way, we’re going to set up mechanisms where you will know what is happening with your husband. The university system — it’s not just about Austin, it’s about the larger university system — was moving in the right direction. It has been fascinating. Once I got into journalism, I actually did pretty well. Sit down and talk to the psychologist, talk to the chaplain, talk to a friend. He was assigned to SEAL Team Four, where he was given command of an entire platoon. Find the obituary of William McRaven (1935 - 2020) from Queen City, TX. This was probably — I want to say either the early ’70s or the late ’60s, ’69 or maybe ’70. We need to figure out how you can get better sleep so you can deal with these problems. I know my mother didn’t understand what I was doing. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. When I look back, I think we did a lot of good things in my tenure as the four-star at Special Operations Command, but that’s the one I take the greatest pride in is knowing that we are taking care of the soldiers and their families. The more pressure there is, and the more there is at stake, the more ingenious and creative you have to be. Unfortunately, a year or so later he had a stroke and was never the same again, but it was a terrific moment for both of us. But I said that the things that you do control are the little acts of kindness, the little acts of compassion, the little acts of courage that you can do every day. Because the rest of the stuff is, I don’t want to say pro forma, but the issue is you have to be able to get on target, and you have to be able to do that before the enemy knows you’re there. It stunned me. Helicopters going from a forward operating base to an objective, taking care of business on the target, getting back on the helicopters and coming back. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1940. And so I believe that is true of America in general, but Texans take great pride in that. But again, he was the commanding officer. On the night of May 1, 2011, helicopters carried Seal Team Six from their base in Afghanistan into Pakistani air space. So we had, in my class I had a lot of swimmers and rugby players and water polo players and football players. The family — including his two older sisters — moved to Texas while William was in elementary school and settled in San Antonio. Young Bill McRaven was drawn to the sea at an early age and began scuba diving when he was 13. It was post-Vietnam, so there was this belief that maybe we didn’t need special operations anymore, so the amount of funding and available training opportunities for the SEALs went down dramatically until about the mid-1980s. This photo provided by The University of Texas at Austin shows Naval Adm. William H. McRaven, an alumnus, delivering the commencement keynote address on Saturday, May 17, 2014. And then after that I went back to an operational unit and kept moving. William McRaven: He was a World War II fighter pilot, World War II, a little bit of Korea time. They used gliders because they were quiet and they knew that the Belgians wouldn’t hear them coming. So I’m not sure that there was this great strength of character. So your mom might have preferred you to be looking after golf courses, but did your dad live to see your future career? They immediately gave me a SEAL platoon. So it absolutely followed the model, and I made sure that I went back and looked at my own research. Actually, my mother kind of moved me towards the military. I went to journalism because I knew there were good-looking women in journalism, so that was something I figured would be a good pursuit. And all of those things served me well when I later joined the military. Well, that’s not the way it works. Bin Laden’s compound lay within the territory of Pakistan, ostensibly a U.S. partner in the war against Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies. McRaven was invited to apply for the position of chancellor of the entire University of Texas system. Preservation of the Force and Family is a Special Operations Command initiative focused on helping special operations forces and their families. His father, a career Air Force officer, was stationed at Pope Air Force Base, now known as Pope Field, part of Fort Bragg. My sisters have been fabulous as well. It has been reprinted numerous times, has been translated into several languages, and is studied around the world. Developed a military theory for why special operations succeed against seemingly overwhelming odds. McRaven, the retired U.S. Navy … While freefalling, the man ahead of him deployed his parachute too soon, and McRaven collided with the chute as it opened. I honestly believe that. So the courses were easier than the ones I had been in, and I had a phenomenal time over the next two years, my last two years at the University of Texas. So now we are working to help the families and to make them resilient, to talk to the wives and the husbands and say, “You need to exercise as well. McRaven, the retired U.S. Navy admiral who directed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, is continuing his career as an author. How did you receive what was happening? The families are a big piece of this. This is a generational problem. William McRaven: Absolutely. Because people knew that I had just been essentially relieved of that command position, and that’s not a good thing in any institution. It’s great to take care of the soldiers, but we need to put a lot of effort, and I think a lot of money, into making sure that the wives and the kids are well taken care of. Your mom probably did prefer the other scenario. Being able to convey your ideas, whether it’s in a speech or a briefing or just a discussion, is critically important for any walk of life, but particularly in the military. And then I went to accounting, did even worse in accounting. And the Tirpitz was up in a fjord far into Norway, and they knew that if they could get these mini-subs with these large mines on the side of them, they could come up the fjord, drop these mines underneath the Tirpitz and destroy the Tirpitz, so that it couldn’t get out and wreak havoc in the North Atlantic. So you were laid up for a while. In the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, there is this great scene where George Bailey, who is played by Jimmy Stewart, is taken to the local graveyard there at Bedford Falls, and the angel Clarence tells him, shows him the headstone, the tombstone of his younger brother Harry. You need better nutrition. You have to be creative. I have never been colder, I have never been more miserable, I have never been more tired. The athletic McRaven took to the exacting demands of SEAL training, a process he likens to “a lifetime crammed into six months.”. I could have gotten up and left. The success, that night in 2011, of the raid that eliminated Osama bin Laden without a single American casualty was due, in no small part, to the unique expertise of the man who organized and executed the plan, Admiral William McRaven. The young lieutenant was given a squad to command, but soon ran afoul of the team’s controversial commander, Richard Marcinko. So the President made a decision to risk American lives and frankly to risk his political fortune, I think, to do the right thing for America. Was it a personality conflict? The University came to me and frankly, that was one of the first questions I asked is, “Why are you interested in me? - 2017 Nimitz Leadership Award", "Ten Life Lessons From Navy SEAL Training (transcript)", Admiral William H. McRaven, USN, Biography and Interview on American Academy of Achievement, National Football Foundation Distinguished American Award, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_H._McRaven&oldid=1005529572, United States Navy personnel of the Gulf War, Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal, Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, United States Naval Special Warfare Command, Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States), Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2018, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the United States Navy, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 8 February 2021, at 04:04. You have to be physically fit and mentally prepared. I was very small in high school, but I did play football and I ran track in high school, which was really where I found my niche. You need to know also we’re going to take care of you and your husband or you and your wife.” So this has been an important part of this effort for my time in Special Operations Command. I remember he would get home from work around 5:30 in the evening, and if it was during dove hunting season, fortunately we were in an area where it was a couple-mile drive to the dove field. I was raised in a great household with two wonderful parents and two great sisters. So the thought that special operations are cavalier isn’t true. William McRaven: Right, absolutely. I don’t think they fully appreciated when I became a Navy SEAL. I don’t know his name, but he was dating my sister at the time. Absolutely. The right thing to do would probably have been to get stable again and make sure I knew what was going on before I pulled. And I do that today. What does being a Texan mean to you? He would later return to the SEALs as commander of SEAL Team Three.

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