Night falls over a compound in Abbottabad Pakistan; the compound in which Osama bin Laden resides. It’s a peaceful night in Pakistan that will soon be disrupted by the most elite of the Navy SEALs.
At an airbase in Afghanistan, SEAL team VI is briefing for a mission that could change the course of the war on terror. Based on CIA intel, the United States has found the compound in which bin Laden is believed to reside. Operatives have been observing the post for months and determining the best time to stage a raid. The time has arose and the teams are boarding specialized Black Hawk helicopters for the highly classified mission. The choppers left at the orders of General David Petraeus and began the flight to Abbottabad.
The events that followed caused anxiety in the situation room in which Barack Obama and his advisors sat watching the events unfold. One of the choppers lost control and crash landed inside the compound, but luckily it caused no injuries. The special operations team left the chopper and assaulted the compound while the pilots stayed behind to destroy the downed Black Hawk. The training these men undergo is arguably the most intense, hardest training of any military unit in the world, and this night required the men to put their training to work. The compound was swept through in an astounding 45 minutes and bin Laden was killed with two precise shots.
These events occurred one year ago on the night of May 1, 2011. To mark the anniversary of these events, President Obama addressed the nation from Afghanistan to remember the courageous actions of the world’s most elite military unit in the world. The effects of their actions changed the course of al Qaeda and eliminated their top leader.
In his address last night, President Obama said that “we have devastated the al Qaeda leadership” over the past three years.
The information captured at this compound may have been key to the prevention of attacks on the United States on the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11th. For these events, we must thank the unknown heroes of SEAL team VI who stormed the compound on that May night one year ago.