Account Says Navy Author Wrote Book After a Slight (No Easy Day, book about bin Laden raid)

[alp227]

Source: NYT

The former Navy SEALs member who is a co-author of a first-person account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden was willing to break “the code of silence” honored by many commandos because of “bad blood” with his former unit, the elite SEAL Team 6, according to a new e-book written by other Special Operations veterans.

The e-book says the author, Matt Bissonnette, who wrote the book “No Easy Day” under the pseudonym Mark Owen, was effectively pushed out of SEAL Team 6 after he expressed interest last year in leaving the Navy and starting a business. Upset at how he had been treated, Mr. Bissonnette felt less compunction about writing a book that he knew might upset colleagues, the e-book authors say.

“How was he repaid for his honesty and 14 years of service?” a passage of the e-book asks. “He was ostracized from his unit with no notice and handed a plane ticket back to Virginia from a training operation.”

The e-book, “No Easy Op,” is scheduled to go on sale on Amazon on Monday, a day before Mr. Bissonnette’s book hits the market. The Pentagon has threatened legal action against Mr. Bissonnette because he did not submit the manuscript for review early enough in the publication process.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/us/bin-laden-books-navy-author-was-slighted-account-says.html

[Ken Burch]

1. Is it considered unforgiveable to say you don't want to be a SEAL anymore?

Last edited Mon Sep 3, 2012, 02:35 AM - Edit history (1)

I mean, you probably couldn't handle those types of missions past, say, age 40 or so, so what's the problem?
(I'm asking that to try to figure out if this supposed explanation of the guy's action is plausible.

[madokie]

4. I spent a tour at the Navy's SERE school which taught survival training to the Seals and UDT teams

that was back in 68 and 69 and there is still things that I can't talk about the school so I'd suspect that the seals are under the same limitations. Both my duty and theirs was/is Top Secret, Not your average secret clearance either.. A pretty extensive background check in done to obtain this Top Secret clearance too, its not just handed out to any tom, dick or harry.
To be honest with you I'm surprised he wasn't arrested on the spot.

[Ken Burch]

6. I'm talking about before the book...back when the other SEALS allegedly went off on him

for saying he was thinking of leaving and starting a business. It's not like no other SEAL in history has done that.

If you become a SEAL, how long are you expected to hang in with it?

[madokie]

7. There is some things that once in the program that you can't ever divulge

Thats what they're on him about now, or my understanding of it anyway. Just like me in the SERE training part there is some of that that I can never talk about and 44 or so years now I've kept to that. I doubt anything I'd remember from then would cause any harm today but I'm not going to take any chances.

[aquart]

11. You're taking his word for it. We already know he can't be trusted.

I'm going to assume that Seal Team 6, which knew him way better than we do, knew something was off about him.

To say that he has unsuitable-for-gov't-secrecy ego issues is to put it mildly.

[Ken Burch]

12. No, I'm not. What I'm actually doling

Last edited Sun Sep 2, 2012, 11:29 PM - Edit history (1)

Is trying to determine if his claim is in any way plausible.

I've changed the title of that post to clarify my intent.

[progressivebydesign]

26. of course that was HIS perception of things. Not necessarily the truth.

Some people seem to see things through their own goggles... I'm sure there is more to it.

[JDPriestly]

13. Writing this book makes giving classified e-mails to Wikileaks look like a joke.

[madokie]

20. You bet it does

Personally I hope they throw the book at him

[pnwmom]

8. Are you taking his word about the circumstances of his departure?

I don't know why we should take his word about anything.

[Ken Burch]

9. not necessarily

Last edited Sun Sep 2, 2012, 11:29 PM - Edit history (1)

My question was also about, in part, determining the validity of his word.

I've changed the title of that post to clarify my intent.

[revolution breeze]

22. The guy had an enlistment contract with the Navy

just like every other sailor in the Navy. When it came time for him to re-up (re-enlist), he had the choice to either do it or get out of the Navy, just like every other sailor in the Navy. SEALS are no different than any other sailor other than their training. And it is possible to be moved from a SEAL command to any other command in the Navy. My husband was enlisted for 22 years, part of the SEAL community when I met him, then transferred to the fleet upon re-enlistment, then shore duty and retirement. There are SEALs that have secret security clearance, some have top secret, just like any other sailor in the Navy.

[Ken Burch]

23. Thanks for that response.

n/t.

[CJCRANE]

2. OK, so this is about another book called "No Easy Op"...

which is a response to "No Easy Day".

Anyone else want to write a book about this...?

[JDPriestly]

14. I think it is probably a typo in the OP.

[CJCRANE]

15. There's more detail in the article:

"Upset at how he had been treated, Mr. Bissonnette felt less compunction about writing a book that he knew might upset colleagues, the e-book authors say."

It seems to be an e-book written by some other Navy SEALs.

[bemildred]

3. He's pissed because he got what he said he wanted?

after he expressed interest last year in leaving the Navy and starting a business

Also, would you want to do special ops with a guy whose professional interests have moved on?

[msongs]

5. once again repubs show us they are master of the art of catapulting the propaganda AND there is a

movie out as well. 2 books and a movie. dems only had the one movie

[Honeycombe8]

10. Sounds like he's in "gobbles," as my niece used to call "trouble." Big gobbles. The publisher?

I guess the publisher checked out whether they would get in trouble? Hard to believe that anyone would publish the book because of the secrets.

[reACTIONary]

17. What secretes? We killed UBL? The SEALS use silencers on their guns?

They have helicopters? They practice at an undisclosed location before a mission?

I doubt very much there are any secretes in this book. In any case, in a few days we will be able to judge for ourselves.

[Honeycombe8]

18. I just assume there are some secrets. Maybe not. How would the publisher have been able to verify

whether something is a secret or not, I wonder?

[reACTIONary]

24. The Navy SEAL would most definitely know what is and what isn't secrete...

...it wouldn't be the publisher's responsibility, unless they brought in an outside expert as CYA insurance. I don't think it is hard, in a first person autobiographical narrative, to leave out details that might be classified. If you run up a stair case, you say "we ran up the staircase." If you used a super secrete classified anti gravity levitation gizmo to float up the staircase, you just say "we ran up the staircase". The narrative value is the same and running up a staircase isn't disclosing any special operations or tactics.

[EC]

16. So, he wanted to start his own Special Ops Private Mercenary

business? Are they allowed to recruit out of the ranks? That is what it sounds like he was doing and his team shunned him for it. I'm guessing here, but isn't it kinda like an insult to ask dedicated guys to sell their services? Isn't that more for the washed up and money hungry?

[Historic NY]

19. Guy wants to leave Navy, they let him go and now he is pissed off....

sure sounds like his wagon went off the bend and they were glad to oblige him. These is definietly more to the story than they are letting out right now.

[1monster]

21. Expressing an interest is not necessarily intent. Haven't you ever thought of and/or

expressed an interest in a different job or career than you were currently involved in? Did you then actually follow through on that speculation? Or did it a speculation? Did Bissonnette do more than express an interest? Did he actually make a serious move toward leaving the Navy?

And I get the impression from this article that the source of the info saying he felt less compunction to keep quiet because he was summarily dismissed for said speculation did not come from Bissonnette, but from his former SEAL associates. (Ooops! Now we have another book out there about SEAL operation.)

All this, though, is still speculation about what the book reveals. The Pentagon has, in the past, to go after people who have written books about their service for revealing classified information, when, in fact, nothing was revealed in those books that was not already public knowledge. (And plenty of things that were already public knowledge have been classified after the fact. (Efforts to lock the barn door after the horses got away.)

I'm always amazed at those who are so ready to condemn before any real evidence or facts are known.

[progressivebydesign]

25. I totally figured that one. He sounds like a vindictive person...

no doubt someone that blames everything for everything else.