In a tell-all interview with Fox News titled "The Man Who Killed Usama Bin Laden," Butte, Montana native Robert O'Neill describes the tensions his team faced before deploying to find and kill bin Laden.

"The more we trained on it, the more we realized, this is going to be a one way mission," O'Neill said. "We're going to go and we're not going to come back. We're going to die when the house blows up, we're going to die when he blows up, or we're going be there too long and we'll get arrested by the Pakistanis and we're going to spend the rest of our short lives in a Pakistan prison."

Still, O'Neill says his team thought the mission was worth the risks.

"We're going to die eventually... this is a good way to go," O'Neill said. "It's worth it to kill him, because he's going to go with us."

In the interview O'Neill also reveals the limited information the team had in the initial planning stages (they thought they were going to take out Muammar Gaddafi) and how a tip from a now-famous investigator led him to turn down a leadership position in one of the attack teams  so that he could be deployed on the roof to "get a shot at bin Laden who was on the third floor."

In Part II (below), O'Neill describes the shooting of bin Laden and tense moments leading up to the event. Among the notable details, are an explanation of how the SEALs handled children in bin Laden's home and how one brave SEAL, who would have been in position to kill bin Laden, chose to use himself as a human shield to protect his team from an explosive blast.


O'Neill is also on the speaking circuit these days, discussing the lessons he learned in his life and how he originally became a Navy Seal sniper at 19. Below is the bio for O'Neill posted on the Leading Authorities website. The website also features one of O'Neill's speeches.

One of the nation’s most decorated veterans, O’Neill has been decorated more than 52 times with honors, including two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, three Presidential Unit citations, and two Navy/Marine Corps Commendations with Valor. Silver Stars, the military’s third highest honor, are awarded for extraordinary gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States. Bronze Stars with Valor are awarded for merit, with Valor signifying a heroic act and direct participation in combat operations. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award overall. Joint Service Commendation Medals are given for senior service on a joint military staff and is the most senior of the commendation medals.

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