O'Neill describes his idyllic childhood in Butte, Montana; his impulsive
decision to join the SEALs; the arduous evaluation and training process; and the
even tougher gauntlet he had to run to join the SEALs' most elite unit. After
officially becoming a SEAL, O'Neill would spend more than a decade in the most
intense counterterror effort in US history. For extended periods, not a night
passed without him and his small team recording multiple enemy kills-and though
he was lucky enough to survive, several of the SEALs he'd trained with and
fought beside never made it home.
His book and claims have been vetted by the Pentagon.
Robert O'Neill was born and raised in Butte, Montana, and lived there for nineteen years until he joined the Navy in 1996. Deploying as a SEAL more than a dozen times, O'Neill participated in over four-hundred combat missions across four different theaters of war. During his remarkable career, he was decorated more than fifty-two times. Among the honors he received were two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, three Presidential Unit citations, and a Navy/Marine Corps Commendation with Valor. O'Neill also helped cofound YourGratefulNation.org, an organization committed to transitioning Special Operations veterans into their next successful career. You can find him at RobertJONeill.com.