Don Mann is a retired Navy SEAL Team SIX commando, an internationally renowned endurance athlete, and a multiple New York Times Best-Selling Author.
He shares fascinating stories about taking down Bin Laden, saving Captain Phillips, surviving capture, and nearly dying while climbing Mt. Everest.
How SEAL Team Six took out Osama Bin Laden:
“Rob (O’Neill) looked left, and Bin Laden was there holding one of his wives, with an AK-47 next to him. And Rob shot him twice, and once on the ground. Then all the other guys came rushing up and said, ‘What happened up here? What happened?’ And Rob said, ‘I think that’s him.’ He wasn’t distinguishable at that point. They did the DNA testing, put him in a body bag, got all the intel, the hard drives, the soft drives, everything they could. … They all jumped back in the helicopter, Rob and the others holding the body nag with Bin Laden in it, and they all flew off. All of that in 45 minutes.”
Navy SEAL training is harder than the missions:
“You train harder than what you think the mission is going to be. And we have a saying that, ‘The more sweat and tears you put into training, the less bloodshed at wartime.”
The daring SEAL rescue of Captain Phillips:
“These (Somali) pirates are on a lifeboat, and they have Captain Phillips at gunpoint, and some other hostages, and the lifeboat is being towed by a ship. And the SEALS jump in, make it onboard, and then three sniper SEALs sit at the deck of the ship … and it’s hard. The ship’s going up and down. The lifeboat’s going up and down. … So, then they finally said to the three SEALs, ‘Okay, if you guys can get the shot, take the shot.” … And in that one second, all three SEAL snipers fired at one time, off the rear deck of the ship, into a moving lifeboat, and all three Somali pirates were killed, and Captain Phillips was saved.”
How Don survived being captured in enemy territory:
“They kept saying, ‘Down, down, get on the ground. We’ll shoot you in the back!’ And (us getting down) wasn’t even a possibility. Our combat mindset was that we were going to win, no matter what. We were going to get out of that situation. None of us thought that we were going to get killed. And finally, an interpreter came from the village and said, ‘Go, get out of here. Just go.’ They were just tired of dealing with us. We got back in the rubber boat, came around the finger of land, did another mission – which was a success – and we won, and they lost.”
Do these four things every day:
“When I talk to kids, I say, ‘All you have to do is four things if you want to become a SEAL. But do them every day. Number one is just doing something that will make you physically stronger. You might be able to do 100 pushups today. Tomorrow, do 110. … Number two is every day do something to make yourself faster. … More importantly than that, I think, is everyday do something to make yourself smarter. … And most importantly, I really believe, is that everyday just do something good for somebody. That might be your neighbor, it might be your brother, it might be your daughter, it might be somebody you don’t even know. Because, I tell kids, if you start this when you’re eight, nine, 10 years old, when you’re 17 and you go for selection at whatever you’re trying to do, you just might be the strongest and fastest person there, you’ll probably be the smartest person there, but you’re the teammate everybody wants on their team because all you know is doing good for people.”