Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win

During his first big operation in Ramadi, author Willink rides in a Humvee toward street fighting. The neighborhood is covered, not only in the “fog of war” (17)—the chaos and uncertainty of battle—but in a literal fog of dust and smoke. Charged with clearing the neighborhood building by building, Willink’s men face fierce resistance from mujahideen, “those engaged in jihad,” or “muj” for short, pronounced “mooj” (18).

Marines and Iraqi soldiers are caught in a vicious firefight with defenders of a building, and Marines prepare to bomb it. Willink senses that something’s wrong, and he and another SEAL move forward to enter the building. Inside is a squad of his own SEAL team. Out-of-position Iraqi soldiers had entered the building during fighting and had been shot at by the SEALs, and soon both sides had called for support. Willink tells the SEAL commander, “It was a blue-on-blue” (22), a case of friendly fire. Somehow, only one SEAL is slightly wounded. Though they’re rattled, Willink gets them out of the building, into a troop carrier, and onto their next assignment. He then explains the screw-up to the Marines and the Army commander.