Mark Owen’s Navy SEAL memoirs rife with humor, patriotism

By Fredrick Misleh

Senior Staff Writer
When I heard there was a book being released by a retired Navy SEAL, especially a SEAL who was a member of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group [a.k.a. DEVGRU, formerly known as SEAL Team 6] and was on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, I had to get it. I bought it the day it came out, Sept. 4, and one week later thanks to school and work, I turned the final page. I loved this book entirely.
The government, however, has been investigating whether or not Mark Owen, the author, can be charged with leaking classified information, since he did not follow Department of Defense protocol in submitting his book to the D.O.D. for the pre-publication review. Instead, Owen submitted the manuscript to a team of lawyers who had experience in dealing with other Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel and their own memoirs as experience in making the edits. With that said, “No Easy Day” offers an uncensored, eyewitness account into the death of the world’s most-wanted terrorist.
Owen enlisted in the Navy to become a SEAL; after completing his training with the “Green Team,” Owen joined DEVGRU and found himself on a whirlwind of combat operations around the world.
He wrote, “(I’ve) been on hundreds of deployments all around the world (since 9/11).” Despite this, Owen only details four operations.
“No Easy Day” is a thrilling read for those interested in our military, our SOF community, and what they endure on a daily basis. Owen writes eloquently and succinctly (keeping the actual story to 299 pages) and maintains his professionalism while inserting humorous political commentaries along the way. I highly recommend this memoir as a must-read for all Americans eager to know more about the raid that took out Bin Laden.
(A note about this piece: Although Mark Owen’s real name had leaked into the press and is now common knowledge, I chose to use the pseudonym the author published under as per the wishes of Owen and his publishers to protect Owen’s identity out of respect for him and the sacrifices he has made for our country.)

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