No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden

blocking our path to the second floor. Charlie was busy setting his third explosive charge of the night.
    All we could do was wait and pull security. I knew Charlie and the others were working as fast as they possibly could. While I was standing there I began to think about how surreal it all was. It felt like waiting to start a CQB run during Green Team.
    The sound of some pissed-off chickens pulled me from my thoughts. Our route to the north door had taken us through a small area of latticework and chicken coops. Our bulletproof vests and tactical gear were getting hung up in the narrow walkway, smashing the coops.
    Standing in one place was driving me crazy.
    Just in front of me I could hear a couple of guys talking.
    “Holy shit, I can’t believe we just crashed,” Walt said.
    “Crashed, what the fuck are you talking about?”
    “Yeah, our helo just crashed,” Walt said.
    Standing nearby was Jay, the mission’s commander, who had been on Chalk Two. When he heard Walt talk about the crash, he quickly cut in.
    “What?”
    “Yeah, we crashed,” Walt said, motioning back toward the crash site. “You might want to take a look in the courtyard.”
    Even through night vision I thought it looked funny as the expression on Jay’s face changed as he processed the information. He turned and sprinted back down the line of assaulters. I guess no one from Chalk Two knew we crashed. At this point, it had not been broadcast over the net. When the pilots of Chalk Two saw Chalk One go down in the courtyard, they had skipped the risky fast-rope onto the roof, and landed Chalk Two outside the walls.
    Back at the helicopter, Teddy and his crew were shutting down the engines and making sure all of the instruments were destroyed. For a second, he considered attempting to take off again. There was no major visible damage to the helicopter, and he figured with no weight he might be able to lift off. In the end, caution won out.
    After rushing to the scene of the crash, Jay immediately got on the satellite radio he was carrying and called the QRF.
    The QRF quickly took off from their initial position, located with the second CH-47 a short distance north of the compound, and headed our way. To save time, they took the most direct route over Pakistan’s military academy. But a few minutes later, Jay called back. Although we had crash-landed, we didn’t have any dead or wounded. All the assaulters were consolidated on A1 and they were about to start clearing up the stairs.
    “Hold your position,” he said to the QRF.
    Inside A1, Charlie set his next breaching charge and checked the back blast. Since the charge was going to explode inside the building, the over pressure was more dynamic and would blow out windows and doors. Two other SEALs were near Charlie. With almost zero cover to shield them from the blast, one SEAL was hiding behind a door that led to another room.
    “Hey, buddy, you might want to watch out for that door,” Charlie said.
    The assaulter stepped away from behind the door just as Charlie set off the charge. I could hear the loud boom echo from my position outside at the chicken coops. The over pressure blew the door the SEAL had been hiding behind from its hinges and sent it crashing into the opposite wall. The SEAL stood there stunned. A few seconds ago, he was in the path and would have likely been seriously injured if he hadn’t moved.
    “Thanks,” he said to Charlie, as they both pushed and pulled open the mangled gate.
    With the gate open, we started clearing up the stairs. It took a few seconds for me to get to the door. I hooked right through the second metal gate and began heading up the stairs. Most of the guys were already ahead of me.
    The tile stairs were set at ninety-degree angles, creating a sort of spiral staircase separated by small landings. We had no idea what to expect. By now, Bin Laden or whoever was hiding inside had plenty of time to get a weapon and prepare a defense. Since the only way up was through a spiraling staircase, we could easily get bottlenecked.
    It was dark and we were doing our best to be quiet. Every step was deliberate.
    No talking.
    No yelling.
    No running.
    In the old days, we’d storm the castle, throwing flash grenades as we cleared through an objective. Now we stayed as quiet as possible. We had the advantage with our night vision, but it would be lost if you went barreling into a room. It was all about throttle control. There was no reason to run to our