The document provides an overview of American heroes by summarizing key passages from a sample book about soldiers, SEAL Team 6 operations, and the US response to terrorist attacks. It discusses how US soldiers undergo rigorous training, describes SEAL Team 6's mission to kill Osama bin Laden, and outlines the US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the War on Terror in response to 9/11.

1. American Heroes
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2. Soldiers in the post-9/11 era train in groups and hone their mastery of
individual skills in environments simulating what they will encounter
in the Middle East. The images on these four pages were taken during
rigorous training exercises at domestic bases. Night images with flares
were taken during the Army’s 10th annual Best Warrior Competition in
Fort Lee, Virginia, October 21, 2010.

3. DEATH OF A TERRORIST:
SEAL TEAM 6 AND OSAMA BIN LADEN
On May 2, 2011, the United States Naval Special Warfare
Development Group (DevGru) brought down the most-wanted terrorist
in the world: Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda and mastermind of
9/11 and other deadly attacks against the United States.
DevGru (more commonly known by its former name, SEAL Team
6) is the top unit of the Navy’s elite Sea, Air and Land Forces—the
SEALs. Formally established in 1962 at the behest of President John
F. Kennedy, the SEALs are specially trained to handle unconventional
warfare. There are currently nine operational SEAL teams with about
3,000 members overall; of these, it is believe that about 300 are in
Team 6. from SEAL Team 6, working with CIA paramilitary operatives, dropped
The initial SEAL training may be the most physically and mentally into Bin Laden’s compound, located at the end of a dirt road and
demanding of any special force in the world, with a drop-out rate surrounded by 12-foot-high concrete walls and two security fences.
around 80 percent. Candidates embark on a year of intense physical Of the 22 inhabitants of the compound, five were killed. Among them
conditioning, combat diving, land-warfare training, parachute jump was bin Laden himself, shot in the head and chest.
school, and final qualification training, followed by another 18 months Moving quickly, the team took photos, collected computers
of specialized and pre-deployment training. Not surprisingly, the and other evidence, removed bin Laden’s body, and left the scene,
SEALs’ motto is “The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday.” destroying a damaged helicopter as they left. The entire raid took less
SEALs are intensively trained in a maritime environment, but in the than 40 minutes.
War on Terror their operations have been almost exclusively land- In a December 1998 interview with Time magazine, Osama bin
based. Their activities include counter-terrorism, the rescue of hostages, Laden proudly stated, “If the instigation for jihad against the Jews and
special reconnaissance, foreign internal defense, unconventional Americans . . . is considered a crime, then let history be a witness that
warfare (e.g., guerilla warfare and intelligence activities), and direct I am a criminal.” On a moonless May night nearly 10 years after the
action—approaching a target in secret, striking it with fearsome World Trade Center attack and the death of almost 3,000 Americans,
precision and force, and then withdrawing from the site as secretly SEAL Team 6 brought him to justice.
as possible. Direct action by SEAL Team 6 was the method chosen to
capture or kill Osama bin Laden.
The ultra-elite SEAL Team 6 was developed in response to the failed
1980 attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran. This mission failure
highlighted the need for a superbly skilled counter-terrorism force
capable of operating in secrecy. At the time, there were only two other
SEAL teams; the number 6 is thought to have been chosen to confuse
Soviet intelligence about how many teams existed. When the team
was dismantled in the mid-1980s and DevGru was developed in its
place, the name “SEAL Team 6” stuck.
Members of Team 6 began training for the assault on Osama
bin Laden in March 2011, holding “dry runs” in U.S. facilities built
to resemble the layout of the terrorist’s compound in Abottabad,
Pakistan. In April their practice runs were made in a more thorough,
one-acre model of the compound, housed on the Bagram military
base in Afghanistan.
The night of May 2 was chosen for the assault because there would
be no moon, and the helicopters could fly in below Pakistani radar
with less chance of being seen. A team of two dozen commandos

4. ✯ 37
T he response of the United States to the 9/11 terrorist attacks has been a
concerted and multi-layered “Global War on Terror.” Its military actions
encompass the entire world, with particular emphasis on Afghanistan and
Iraq.
The military buildup started before the sun set on that fateful day.
At first, it was called “Operation Infinite Justice.” That name, with its
religious overtones, was soon changed to Operation Enduring Freedom
(OEF)—on the diplomatic side, operation planners knew it would be
counterproductive to paint the anti-terrorism fight as a modern-day bat-
tle of Christianity versus Islam. (President George W. Bush, in the early
days of the operation, was criticized for using the word “crusade” during
impromptu remarks to the press.) Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
announced the name change on September 25, 2001, two weeks after
the 9/11 attacks. He emphasized that Enduring Freedom referred to
the nation’s military response, while the comprehensive strategy would
include economic, diplomatic, and political tactics as well.
In addition to Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom also includes
action in the Philippines, the Horn of Africa, and the Sahara/Sahel region
of Africa.
O peration Objectives
On September 20, 2001, President Bush addressed a joint session of Con-
gress and laid out the operation’s initial military objectives. (Later, on
October 7—the day OEF commenced—he would address the nation as
a whole, continuing that process of education.) The goals in Afghanistan
were
to destroy terrorist training camps and infrastructure;
to capture leaders of al-Qaeda; and

5. A sailor in his berthing space aboard the USS Carl Vinson is surrounded
by cards of thanks and support sent by school children from across
America.
Marines with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the first conventional
force deployed to Afghanistan, raise the first American flag in that
country after seizing a forward operating base. The helicopter flight
from the ship to Dolangi, where they would secure their target, was
approximately 400 miles long—the longest-distance amphibious and air
deployment in U.S. Marines history.

6. A major part of the U.S. military’s presence in Afghanistan is the comprehensive
training of Afghan security forces. At far left, women from the first graduating class
of the Afghan National Army (ANA) Female Officer Candidate School stand for the
playing of the national anthem during their graduation ceremony. The 29 Afghan
women completed 8 weeks of basic training and 12 weeks of advanced training
in logistics and finance. At top center, Captain Kevin Mercer observes as an ANA
trainer adjusts the site on an M-16 rifle in Kandahar. The trainers will qualify with
the M-16 rifle, then assist with the issue of M-16s to Afghan soldiers of the 205th
Corps. Above, Private First Class Ryan L. Carson and an Afghan police officer
search a hillside at the Shege East Afghan National Police (ANP) Checkpoint in
the Kunar province prior to a firefight. Below, Senior Airman Phillip Borde teaches
ANA soldiers how to take vital signs in the field.

7. * 75
W hile the War in Afghanistan was a relatively sudden event, beginning
only a month after the 9/11 attacks, the War in Iraq was a much
slower development, with roots stretching back to the First Gulf War under
President George H.W. Bush. Since that first war, the United Nations
required Iraq to submit to weapons testing to ensure it was not rebuilding
its stock of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) or developing new ones.
Inspections were frequently halted, however, as Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein alleged that inspectors were foreign spies.
After 9/11, suspicion of Iraq reached new heights. Many Americans
suspected that Saddam Hussein was connected in some way to Osama
bin Laden and al-Qaeda terrorist activity. Others were concerned that
Saddam was hiding a program for developing WMDs, and that that was
why he was not allowing UN weapons inspections. And nearly everyone
deplored his totalitarian Baathist regime’s suppression of ethnic and reli-
gious minorities, with steady abuses toward the Kurds in the north as well
as the Shiite majority of the population.
In September 2002, President George W. Bush addressed the UN
General Assembly to list Iraq’s violations and continued defiance of pre-
vious UN resolutions. After a period of international negotiation and
debate the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1441
in November 2002; the resolution “afford[s] Iraq . . . a final opportunity
to comply with” previous UN rulings and presaged that “the Council has
repeatedly warned Iraq that it will face serious consequences as a result
of its continued violations of its obligations.” Meanwhile, Congress in
October authorized President Bush to use whatever force was deemed
necessary in Iraq.
Inspections did indeed resume, but they were not entirely satisfactory

8. On the opposite page, at top, a Stryker vehicle known as the General Lee
lies on its side after surviving a deeply buried IED blast in 2007. (“The Gen-
eral” was repaired and went on to protect its soldiers on more missions, until
another bomb finally put it out of action.) The cell phone shown at bottom left
was rigged as an IED detonator. It was recovered, undamaged, after it being
successfully jammed by electronic warfare personnel using Counter Radio-
Controlled IED Electronic Warfare equipment.
Training to deal with the wildly varied forms of IED is intensive. On this
page, at left, Sergeant Evan Cameron sets out to detonate an IED during a
Vanguard Focus training exercise at Fort Stewart. Below, a soldier recon-
nects a simulated tripwire after learning how it works and how to spot it.

9. GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS
David Petraeus was born November 7, 1952, in Cornwall-on-Hudson, U.S. Central Command. From this position overseeing all U.S. military
New York. Petraeus attended the U.S. Military Academy at West operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, he again urged for the
Point and quickly distinguished himself as a scholar and a soldier. He adoption of counterinsurgency and community-building strategies. In
graduated in the top 5% of the Class of 1974, won the George C. Marshall June 2010, he was named commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan,
Award in 1983 as the top graduate from the U.S. Army Command and bringing his powerful strategic vision to Operation Enduring Freedom.
General Staff College, and earned a Ph.D. in international relations In his Tactical Directive for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, he emphasized,
from Princeton University in 1987 with a dissertation entitled, “The “We must never forget that the center of gravity in this struggle is the
American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam: A Study of Military Afghan people; it is they who will ultimately determine the future of
Influence and the Use of Force in the Post-Vietnam Era.” Afghanistan.” This focus on partnership, and not just firepower, will
When the invasion of Iraq began in 2003, Major General Petraeus forever be the hallmark of General Petraeus’s legacy.
commanded the 10First Airborne Division and was responsible for
capturing and holding territory in northern Iraq. During the invasion,
embedded reporters recorded Petraeus as frequently asking, “Tell me General David Petraeus, prospective com-
how this ends?” He was cited as one of the first commanders to realize manding general of U.S. Central Command
that the task of securing Iraq after the invasion would be radically (CENTCOM), listens to Secretary of Defense
different from the task of ousting Saddam’s regime and taking the Robert M. Gates during the CENTCOM
assumption-of-command ceremony on
country in the first place.
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida,
In 2003 and 2004, Petraeus was in control of the large northern October 31, 2008.
city of Mosul, where he first began employing his counterinsurgency
methods. Signs posted inside bases in the region asked, “What have
you done to win Iraqi hearts and minds today?” The 10First was at
the forefront of American troops working hard to build relationships
with local citizens: distributing money, holding elections, and engaging
in community projects such as rebuilding factories, schools, and
infrastructure systems. Petraeus said that he didn’t want Iraqis to look
at their current situation and see it as worse than under Saddam: “We
don’t want to have a situation a month from now when people are
saying . . . ‘Saddam didn’t allow us to speak our mind but at least there
was gas at the gas station.’”
After leaving Mosul, Petraeus continued to work on developing his
counterinsurgency methods, encouraging military leadership to adopt
them as official policy. In 2007, when President Bush announced
the beginning of the surge strategy, it seemed natural to appoint
Petraeus to be the commander of the U.S. troops in Iraq, as the new
strategy adopted the very counterinsurgency techniques Petraeus had
championed for several years.
A major change Petraeus instituted involved troop deployment in
Baghdad, the most important city in the country and the key to securing
Iraq. Instead of stationing soldiers at a central base and patrolling
the city in high-tech vehicles, Petraeus set up smaller joint-security
stations all around Baghdad in each neighborhood. Iraqi troops and
U.S. personnel lived and worked together, so that there was a constant
U.S. presence as well as a clear environment of cooperation. Rather
than simply neutralizing enemies, Petraeus focused on rebuilding
communities throughout Iraq.
The surge and Petraeus’s counterinsurgency strategy yielded
incredible results. He was a runner-up for the T ime Person of the Year
for 2007, and in October 2008 he was named commander in chief of

10. ✯ 115
T he modern U.S. military carries on a long national tradition of provid-
ing humanitarian relief to people in need around the world. Lieutenant
General Ken Keen (U.S. Army Commander, Joint Task Force–Haiti) dis-
cussed this important non-combat role in March 2010, two months after
a devastating earthquake hit Haiti. “When an international humanitar-
ian crisis occurs,” he said, “the U.S. military is often called upon to be
a first responder with its capacity to provide robust logistics, manpower
resources, and life-saving aid.”
The general went on to describe the cycle common to most natural-
disaster responses. The humanitarian situation begins with an immediate
crisis response, and then transitions to sustained relief and long-term
reconstruction. “I can tell you, without hesitation, the skills our sol-
diers, sailors, airmen, Marines, coastguardsmen, and civilians bring to this
humanitarian assistance mission are still useful [months after the initial
Haiti response],” he said, while noting that the U.S. military’s active role
“should transition to other humanitarian and United Nations organiza-
tions for long-term relief and recovery.”
Without the U.S. military serving as a first responder—and as a project
manager for administering long-term recovery to the broader interna-
tional community—death and suffering would be even greater for many
disaster-stricken communities.Here are some of the ways the modern
U.S. military is making a humanitarian difference around the world.

11. Louisiana to patrol the devastated streets.

12. Support in Japan’s Triple Crisis
As if the world hadn’t seen enough of disaster and suffering in recent
years, on March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake struck off the cost of
Japan. Registering 8.9 on the Richter scale, the quake was the most pow-
erful ever to have hit the island nation—but it was only the beginning
of an unprecedented disaster. A devastating tsunami followed in its wake,
rolling over coastal areas in the north and leveling entire towns. By March
31, the official death toll was more than 11,500; with another 16,000 or
more missing, the final number was predicted to be around 20,000.
As rescue assistance and supplies poured in from around the world,
yet another disaster was emerging: two nuclear power plants in the earth-
quake zone had been damaged. Partial meltdowns were taking place at
two reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi power station, and four other
reactors were beginning to overheat.
U.S. military assistance, termed Operation Tomodachi (Japanese for
“friendship”), was swift. Fourteen U.S. Navy ships, more than 100 aircraft,
and thousands of U.S. service members assisted or stood at the ready to
assist the Japanese people. Even as Naval bases in the area were riding out
the aftershocks, evacuating family members, assessing structural damage,
The child of a U.S. Navy sailor waits for transportation out of Yokosuka, Japan,
with the rest of her family. Navy families voluntarily returning to the United States
spent the afternoon waiting in line to register for travel.

13. T he men and women whose names appear on this list all died in the terrorist attacks of
9/11. Multiple available lists were compared in the hope of creating as complete and
accurate a listing as possible as of press time. Names in italics were removed from some lists
because no proof could be found of their death; because so many victims’ remains were never
recovered, we chose to keep them on this listing. There were likely others who had no one to
report their disappearance. We have referred to them collectively as “Unknown Hero, Jane,”
and “Unknown Hero, John,” that in some way they might be remembered for their sacrifice.
Aamoth, Gordon M., Jr. Adams, Patrick Aguiar, Joao A.D., Jr. Alegre-Cua, Grace
Abad, Edelmiro Adams, Shannon Lewis Ahearn, Lt. Brian G. Alger, David D.
Abad, Maria Rose Adams, Stephen George Ahern, Jeremiah Joseph Alikakos, Ernest
Abate, Andrew Anthony Adanga, Ignatius Udo Ahladiotis, Joanne Marie Allegretto, Edward L.
Abate,Vincent Addamo, Christy A. Ahmed, Shabbir Allen, Eric
Abel, Laurence Christopher Adderley, Terence E., Jr. Aiken, Terrance Andre Allen, Joseph Ryan
Abraham, Alona Addo, Sophia B. Ajala, Godwin Allen, Richard Dennis
Abrahamson, William F. Adler, Lee Alagero, Gertrude M. Allen, Richard Lanard
Aceto, Richard Anthony Afflitto, Daniel Thomas Alameno, Andrew Allingham, Christopher Edward
Acevedo-Rescand, Jesus Afuakwah, Emmanuel Alario, Margaret Ann Allison, Anna Williams
Ackermann, Heinrich Bernhard Agarwal, Alok Albero, Gary M. Alonso, Janet M.
Acquaviva, Paul Andrew Agarwala, Mukul Albert, Jon Leslie Alva-Moreno, Arturo
Adams, Christian Agnello, Joseph Alderman, Peter Craig Alvarado, Anthony
Adams, Donald LaRoy Agnes, David Scott Aldridge, Jacquelyn Delaine Alvarez, Antonio Javier

14. End of Sample Pages