June 23, 2025 • 38 mins
Robert J. O'Neill, the Navy SEAL who took out Osama Bin Laden, brings raw truth and battle-tested wisdom to this riveting conversation about what separates elite performers from everyone else.
"Stress is a choice," O'Neill states with conviction, describing it as "a bag of bricks you pick up." Drawing from over 400 combat missions, including the most famous raid in modern military history, he reveals how elite operators manage fear and make split-second decisions when lives hang in the balance.
The most powerful moment comes when O'Neill recounts saying goodbye to his three-year-old daughter before departing for the Bin Laden mission. Not understanding the gravity of the situation, she packed her Hello Kitty suitcase and left it by the door, asking him to take her on vacation when he returned. These deeply human moments remind us that behind every warrior's face is a person with profound personal connections.
From his accidental journey into the SEALs (he didn't even know how to swim) to the mental techniques that helped him survive the world's most brutal military training, O'Neill shares actionable wisdom applicable far beyond the battlefield. His philosophy – "Don't quit today, quit tomorrow" – offers a powerful framework for tackling seemingly impossible challenges by breaking them into manageable pieces.
O'Neill's insights on leadership resonate whether you're leading a team into combat or through a difficult project: "Panic is contagious, but calm is even more contagious." His emphasis on mastering fundamentals, communicating clearly, and staying present are lessons distilled from life-or-death situations but remarkably relevant to everyday challenges.
Subscribe now to hear more unfiltered conversations with extraordinary performers who've tested themselves at the highest levels. These aren't just war stories – they're masterclasses in mental toughness, leadership, and finding purpose in the most demanding circumstances imaginable.
Connect & Discover Robert:
Website: http://www.robertjoneill.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mchooyah
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RJORobertJONeill
Books: The Operator
Book: The Way Forward: Master Life's Toughest Battles and Create Your Lasting Legacy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Robert J O'Neill (00:00):
Stress is a choice.
Yes, it is, and that's anotherone where you can slow down and
realize.
If you take a step back andtake a deep breath and realize
that it's in your mind, stressis in your mind.
Stress is a bag of bricks andagain I give myself my own
advice Don't always take itevery single day.
But it's a bag of bricks youpick up and if you want to start
your day off with a negativeattitude, you can.
Intro (00:23):
Welcome to Mick Unplugged , the number one podcast for
self-improvement, leadership andrelentless growth.
No fluff, no filters, justhard-hitting truths, unstoppable
strategies and the mindsetshifts that separate the best
from the rest.
Ready to break limits, let's go.
Mick Hunt (00:47):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to probably the most
special episode of MickUnplugged that we have had to
date.
We're talking with the NavySEAL who took out Osama Bin
Laden.
He's a decorated combat veteranwith over 400 missions under
his belt and the author pullingback the curtain on the life of
an elite operator.
We're going to go frombattlefield to bestsellers and
(01:10):
from sacrifice to service.
He's relentless, he'scourageous, he's legendary but,
most important, he's my freakinghero.
We're talking about the one andonly Mr Robert J O'Neill.
Robert, how are you doing today, brother?
Robert J O'Neill (01:21):
I'm well, Mick .
Thanks for having me.
I appreciate it.
It's good to get a chance tosit down with you.
Mick Hunt (01:26):
Man, I told you offline I'm the honored one man,
Just what you mean, not just tome, but I would say for all of
the Americans here.
Man, there's not enough thankyous, there's not enough we love
yous that we could give you.
So I just wanted to give youmine from me personally, bro.
Robert J O'Neill (01:41):
That does mean a lot Thanks and it was just an
honor the whole time.
There was a lot of stuff thatwe did other than the Bin Laden
raid, but to be picked for thatteam was just such a great honor
.
There's just a great group ofguys and asked to do a really
hard job.
That started off horribly butwe pulled it off because we knew
how to work with each other.
Mick Hunt (02:02):
That it is, man.
I finished the documentary.
Obviously, your segment, thethird segment, I probably
watched 10 times.
I have so many notes on thatsegment that I want to get to
you about.
But the first question, man,like I like to go deeper than
people's, why, right, like Icall it your?
Because, like, that thing thatreally is your motivator, that
(02:25):
thing that really is yourmotivator, that thing that
really is what drives you.
If I were to ask you today,right, what's your?
Because?
Robert J O'Neill (02:29):
brother, oh well, I mean right now, it's to,
uh, just try to provide abetter life.
Not that I didn't have a goodlife growing up, but I'm a, I'm
a girl dad and I want to.
I want to try to make theirenvironment better than mine was
.
Just, and again, I was raisedfine and not not a you know
nothing.
Nothing horrible happened, butI just want to be in a spot
(02:51):
where I can help with, you know,student loans or tuition, cause
I've got.
I've got daughters, I've got asof next semester, I'll have
three daughters in college andthen I have a one-year-old.
So it's like I gotta, I gottapay attention to the older ones,
but also I have free babings,babysitting when I need it.
So, just, I think it's importantfor everyone to realize that
(03:13):
the core is family, and it'slike anything when you build a
base on the way up, you know ifyou can take care.
Obviously, family comes first,but in order to take care of
your family, you need to haveyour own personal health, mental
health, physical health.
Take care of yourself, takecare of your family, get to know
your neighbors, take care ofyour community, and that's going
to build out just to makebetter people and it's
everything like I would rather.
Now I'm at a point, instead ofstaring at my phone, at
(03:34):
Instagram or Twitter, I'd rathergo with my neighbors, hang out
and talk to real people, becauseI think we're getting sucked
into a place where we're lookingat things that aren't real and
a lot of the forces out therewant to try to divide people,
and that's just not healthy.
I find I'm a lot better offwhen I don't even look at my
phone.
Mick Hunt (03:52):
Dude, I'm telling you , man like my wife and I have
this rule like every day, whenwe're done with our nine to five
air quotes on the nine to five,we go outside.
Man, Like we, we literally justgo outside, we go out back and
we just become one withourselves, with nature.
Sometimes our neighbors comeover, we go, we walk next door.
But just that, that onenesswith each other, with the earth,
(04:16):
with people.
I feel like we have ageneration that's following us,
Robert, that doesn't understandthat, and that's what I try to
connect with my kids as well too.
Like, hey, you got to beoutside.
Robert J O'Neill (04:28):
Yes, that's the first key.
To you know, as someone whodeals with everything from a
little PTSD to depression, thefirst key is to get out of bed,
and that's like, if your alarmgoes off, great.
If you get up without an alarm,good.
Get up.
And then if I'm having a badday, I'll take my shirt off,
force a smile and go stand inthe sunshine, even if there's
clouds.
(04:48):
Get some vitamin D, go and getoutside, hear nature and I think
, like you're saying, getoutside with a walk.
That is so good for mentalhealth.
Do 10, 20 minutes a day justoutside man, you're going to
find life's a lot, sir.
Mick Hunt (05:01):
Yes, sir, I want to go to something that I heard you
say publicly in a keynote man,and I want people to understand
this and I know you probablytold this story a million times
now, but for our listeners andviewers you talked about when
you got the notice that you weregoing to be on the team and
that it was time to go Right.
Still, team six and you had totell your kids goodbye, and I
(05:26):
don't think people understandthe brevity of that moment.
Man, could you walk us throughthat, like from a father's
perspective, but also the dutyand service commitment that you
had, where it's like you didn'teven think about it right, like
tell them goodbye.
Robert J O'Neill (05:39):
Well, it was, I would almost cheat a little
bit, because when we and youknow, not just the Bin Laden
raid but other ones when we saidgoodbye we would try to leave
at night so that you didn't needto.
I had young daughters at thetime and I didn't want to
explain to them the gravity ofwhat we're about to do, but I'd
like to see him at night and beable to say you know, and then,
and then I, you know, I'd have a10 minute drive into work
(06:00):
before we got on the plane.
I can cry for those 10 minuteswhere no one's just to see me,
but just it's easier to leavethem at night.
But on the Bin Laden raid wastough.
My youngest daughter at thetime was three and nobody knew
where we were going, cause wejust got back from deployment,
so no one expected us to gooverseas.
But I knew we were goingsomewhere where we.
This.
The Bin Laden raid was a highrisk mission.
We're it's a one-way mission.
(06:22):
And so I told my three and I wecouldn't leave at night, we had
to leave during the day.
So I told her hey, dad's got togo to work and you know just a
way to tell you a three-year-oldgoodbye and she.
She told me to wait and she ranupstairs to a room and she
grabbed a hello kitty suitcase,put a pillow and her Mr Elephant
in it and she left it by thedoor and said when you get home,
(06:48):
you're going to take me onvacation.
However, a three-year-old canform that sentence and that's
one of the hardest things I'veever seen.
I actually just had a coffeewith her just now because
obviously it's been a few years.
But yeah, saying goodbye toyour family again, getting back
to the base, that's the hardestpart and it almost, it almost
asked the question is whatyou're doing worth it?
Is this worth it?
And for us in that case,because so many families were
affected by 9-11 and we mightdie, this is worth it.
This is what we're here for.
(07:09):
The passengers on United 93 didnot wake up that day to fight Al
Qaeda.
I've been training to fightthem.
We found bin Laden and I'mgoing to go do it and I mean,
even as morbid as it might sound, what an ending.
He's going to die If we diewith him.
That happens.
But uh, we're gonna do this.
Saying goodbye to the family ishard, but once you get there
and on the netflix documentaryyou can hear me say, uh, I'm on
(07:30):
this mission, this is the teamand we're gonna kill him yep, I
love that man.
Mick Hunt (07:34):
Another really cool thing that I saw in the
documentary was and I had thisquote written down after the
mission, or I shouldn't sayafter the mission after you have
done your deed to Osama binLaden, right.
Then you got to get out ofthere and what most people
didn't understand was, like itwasn't easy to get out.
(07:56):
Right Like you're trying to getto Pakistan and you you said,
I'm just trying to get to 90.
I'm just trying to get to 90.
I'm just trying to get to 90.
I'm just trying to get to 90.
Robert J O'Neill (08:03):
I'm just trying to get to 90.
It was a tough spot.
You got to figure, when we wentinto Pakistan.
We're going to Abbottabad,pakistan, which is actually a
resort town, and we're notsupposed to be there.
We didn't invade Pakistan,we're not at war with Pakistan
and it's a first world country.
And out of respect for peopleliving their lives, the first
living their lives, the firstpeople to show up would not have
been Al Qaeda or even thePakistan military.
(08:25):
It would have been thePakistani police or locals that
are armed, like what's going on,and the last thing I wanted to
do was kill a policeman doinghis job.
So we have that like very fineline there, which means we got
to get in and get out quick.
So we, but we found so muchstuff there, we stayed a little
bit longer to gather moreintelligence.
Meanwhile, outside, ourinterpreter and our snipers were
like, hey, the locals aregathering, the cops will be here
(08:47):
.
We got to go and so we'redealing with that.
We don't want to get in agunfight, especially there.
A lot of bad stuff can happen.
But you got to figure we mightrun out of fuel too.
So we stayed extra minutes.
The helos are going longer.
(09:09):
And then we get in thehelicopter and we're leaving on
a mission.
We're supposed to die, but wehave 90 minutes.
Now we got 90 minutes left on aone-way mission, but if we can
cross the border in afghanistanin 90 minutes, we get 50 years.
I gotta see those kids again.
And so that 90 minute flightyou've.
I found myself in a spot whereand I give myself my own advice
every day if you're worriedabout something right now that
your worry will not affectyou're wasting your energy.
You need to get your mind offit because you're thinking the
wrong stuff.
So we could get shot down atany moment by a Pakistani jet
(09:32):
that launched, and justifiably,because we invaded.
But worrying about a missile isnot going to stop it.
So I just started my stopwatchon my wrist and I was looking at
that.
I'm sitting next to guys I'vebeen working with forever and
we're all in this together.
I was looking at that.
I'm sitting next to guys I'vebeen working with forever and
we're all in this together.
One missile kills us all.
We know that and we probablywouldn't even feel it.
But it's been 10 minutes, thenit's been 20 minutes, kind of
looking around.
(09:52):
30 minutes, 40 minutes, nowit's been 50 minutes, got to get
to 90, 60, 70 minutes.
I can get goosebumps.
Right now.
I love sports analogies becauseI mean anything in life that you
do successfully.
You didn't really do it on yourown, you got a team, someone
helped you, someone supportedyou your wife, your husband,
your mother, somebody supportedyou Teammates.
(10:13):
So I started thinking aboutYankee Stadium, top of the
seventh and no hitter, like ifyou're watching it you don't
want to say anything, but Idon't want to jinx it.
And then it's been 80 minutes,I got to get to 90 and I started
thinking about the singlegreatest sporting event in in
american history in 1980, whenuh team usa, the hockey team,
(10:33):
was playing the greatest hockeyteam ever assembled in the
soviet union and that teamhadn't lost.
I mean, they're beating peopleby 10 goals.
They'd won every gold medalsince, I think, the early 60s or
50s and these college kids haveno business being on the ice.
But now they're winning in thethird period.
You can hear the crowd countingdown.
You can hear Al Michaels Tenseconds, five seconds.
Do you believe in miracles?
(10:53):
Yes, and I'm thinking thatstuff so close.
And now I hear the pilot.
He was flying a little fasterthan 90 minutes because 85
minutes in, he said all right,gentlemen for the first time in
your lives, you're going to behappy to hear this welcome to
Afghanistan.
And that's, I mean that's forthe.
I think that's the first timeon a mission over 400.
Mick Hunt (11:13):
I actually started giving high fives out because
this, this was good yeah, I meanI, I got goosebumps just
hearing you retell that story.
That I've heard, right, butjust just hearing it in this
moment, man, like I still getthere.
You know, robert, you have, youknow, 400 plus missions, man,
and I have this saying that Igive to leaders and to athletes
(11:34):
you don't rise to the occasion,you rise or fall to your level
of preparation.
Yes, and one of the things thatI know about you and the
missions that you've been on,what most people don't realize
is how I don't even call itover-prepared you guys are, but
just how prepared you freakingare and the things that you
simulate and the things that yougo through, just because in
(11:55):
that moment you don't knowwhat's going to happen and you
have to be able to react and notthink Like, talk to us about
preparation and why that's soimportant.
Robert J O'Neill (12:03):
Well, it's a fine line.
You want to be prepared forcontingencies, you want to think
of all the stuff that couldhappen If this goes wrong.
What will their reaction tothat be?
But before you do any of that,you need to make sure you are
the master of the easy stuff.
You've got to make sure youknow the basics and the easiest
(12:23):
way that I mean it all came down.
You know, we invent tactics, wemeet Al Qaeda, we fight the
Taliban, we come up with othertactics.
But the further and moreexperience we got, we found
ourselves getting keep it simple, keep it simple.
And when someone says, like youknow, even after a helicopter
crashing in the front yard, howdid you clear a compound as big
as Osama bin Laden's?
And the answer was simple theguy in front of me went left, I
(12:43):
went right and we did that overand over.
And that's what we did.
We mastered the basics and andthe way that I put that now is
never talk yourself into an asswhipping.
It'll come.
You know you don't, you don'tneed to, you know you don't need
all the nonsense.
And then and then, another keyto our preparation just go, go,
(13:05):
go all this stuff, pipe down Ifyou want to communicate very
effectively with a team, stoptalking when you're done saying
what you're saying, stop sayingit.
If you're a salesman and yourcustomer says yes, shut up,
don't talk yourself into an asswhooping, don't talk yourself
out of a sale, he said yes, signthe paperwork, shake a hand,
thank you and uh, that that'sjust it.
(13:27):
It's, it's the it's.
Just because you're talking doesnot mean you're communicating.
Um, an example too is some ofthe younger guys which, because
everything for us seemed to comedown to a house and so we call
it the close quarters battle orCQB, and a lot of guys just like
to talk because they want to bepart of the moment.
I had a guy one time I'll neverforget it in training turn a
corner and he pointed up and heyelled stairwell.
(13:48):
And I stopped him and I saidhey, dude, look, I saw you do
that.
I saw you point up.
I'm assuming you either saw astairwell or an 18 foot
terrorist.
So we're going to figure it out.
You don't need to yell, becausewhen you start yelling obvious
stuff, you might as well besaying here we come, here we are
, run a second yeah.
I mean, you got it.
We crashed a helicopter in binLaden's front yard.
(14:09):
Explosion, immediate gunfight,we land.
My helicopter landed in thewrong spot when that eight and a
half seconds of complete chaoson the most important mission in
modern history was over shitand we went in his house quiet.
And that's why we weresuccessful, because they didn't
know where we were or who wewere.
We had the enemy confused.
(14:30):
They didn't know it was us Atfirst.
It might have been the Pakistanmilitary or intelligence
services coming to get them, tomove them.
They weren't sure.
And when we got on the stairwell, especially moving up in close
quarters, the only thing thatwas set we ran into Khalid Bin
Laden, his 20 year old son, onthe stairs and actually the
woman that found bin Laden toldus he would be there.
She's very impressive, by theway, a hundred percent right on
everybody.
(14:50):
But when we got the only wordsI really heard spoken, it was
when we got to a place whereKhalid was hiding and the guy up
front, the number one man, thepoint man, just whispered to him
.
He said come here, come here intwo different confused him.
So he just leaned out andthat's how the fight started,
because he whispered to himright there and confused him.
And then I mean, that's againwith preparation.
(15:10):
That guy was so smart, he wasprepared how to say something in
two languages.
He knew the number oneterrorist in the world's son
spoke, and that's preparation.
Mick Hunt (15:20):
That is wild brother I never would have done that.
Robert J O'Neill (15:23):
He was way smarter than me, man.
I was smart enough to carry thesledgehammer and a gun.
I just followed people.
Mick Hunt (15:28):
No, I love your analogy of keep the simple
things simple right Again, Itell leaders all the time you're
trying to beat down a door or awall, well, maybe the door was
just unlocked and you could havejust turned the knob right, did
you try opening it?
Robert J O'Neill (15:48):
It's almost like when you get to people in a
hotel and we're standing thereat the elevator.
You're kind of like, did anyonepush the button or are we just
standing here like a bunch ofassholes?
But it is that simple.
That's one of the steps ingetting into a house.
The first thing you do is checkthe door, and we ingrain that
because when bullets are flying,that's what we do with muscle
memory.
When bullets are flying, youmight forget some of the simple
stuff like checking the door.
So what we would do is if youwant to be good at something, do
(16:12):
it 10,000 times.
If you want to be great, do it ahundred thousand times and do
everything like you do anythinglittle stuff Like, um, when
we're on the range, if you droplike the pistol range, a rifle
range, if you drop something,you don't pick it up until it's
cold, because you don't want toget in that spot where in a
gunfight, oh, I dropped my waterbottle, I bet.
No, you don't need to pick itup.
You need to get rounds at theenemy.
When the fighting's over andwe're about to head back in the
helo, then you can grab yourwater bottle or your magazine
(16:32):
that you dropped, and that'sjust good, um, just good
business, because when thebullets are flying, you want to
do it like you've been doing it.
You want to everything from ifyou're wearing a sports coat,
how do you move the coat to getto your pistol, which parts fast
, which parts slow?
And then the muscle memory thatslow is smooth, smooth is fast.
If you want to be fast, slowdown.
Mick Hunt (16:52):
Hmm, hmm.
I love that brother, I lovethat man, because you're
thinking and talking a lotfaster than you realize.
Robert J O'Neill (16:59):
Like I mean, think about the first time you
talked to us, talked in front ofpeople, and it's like, okay, I
got a 45 minute speech, I'verehearsed it.
Of people and it's like, okay,I got a 45 minute speech, I've
rehearsed it.
Then you get up in front ofthem and you're done in 15
because I just ran through it.
Mick Hunt (17:09):
It's like, oh man, okay, I got to slow down, I
train speakers and I tell themall the time your first five
speeches that you do.
If they tell you you have 30minutes, you need to build a 50
minute speech.
And they're all like what areyou talking about?
I'm like, just trust me, youneed to build a 50-minute speech
Like I'm going to train you,I'm going to coach you.
(17:29):
But there's nothing like beinglive for the first few times
because you don't understandyour pace and you're going to
blow through this.
And I see folks do it all thetime where it's like, okay, I
have 15 minutes, what do I do?
Robert J O'Neill (17:44):
I know right and well.
The key there is, along withpreparation, if you forget what
you're talking about.
Just talk about something thatyou know and just assume that
you know more about the subjectthan the audience.
It was funny, my agent, when Ifirst started my very first
speech no experience whatsoever.
I was about to get ready infront of like a thousand airline
captains and I called her.
(18:05):
I'm like I've never given aspeech before, I've been in
gunfights, but am I going tofaint out there?
And she goes this is greatadvice for right before a speech
.
She goes okay, here's what youdo right now.
Go have two glasses of red wine, not one, not three.
Two, you'll be fine.
Mick Hunt (18:19):
There you go, I'm writing that down.
I don't like wine Bourbon, youwould have said bourbon, I was
with you.
Robert J O'Neill (18:25):
Okay, yeah, I mean well she, well she knows me
, and if I, if I hit twobourbons, I'll hit four before
the speech and then a Mike.
Mick Hunt (18:31):
O'Sullivan, there you go.
So you know, I call you ButteMontana's finest right.
Robert O'Neill, you got to keepin mind Evel Knievel's from
Butte Montana, evel.
Robert J O'Neill (18:45):
Knievel is not my hero, though you are.
Thank you you are growing up.
Mick Hunt (18:50):
Did you envision this ?
Robert J O'Neill (18:52):
no, no, I'm not from a military family and I
was never a tough guy and thiswas just not an option.
I knew dudes that immediatelyjoined the Marine Corps and then
I knew some guys that joinedthe Army.
That's what they always wantedto do.
But for me, again, it's okay tohave the perfect plan, but
realize that if you want to makeGod laugh, tell him what your
(19:15):
plan for tomorrow is, becausestuff's going to change.
The only time the perfect planexists is while you're planning.
Once you leave, stuff changes.
That's why you got to be readyfor contingencies.
But my perfect plan was to playcollege basketball, get a
degree and work with my dad, andthat's how the plan was going.
I was in my freshman year.
I was playing basketball atMontana Tech, had a bad
relationship and it was one ofthose moments where you know
(19:36):
what I want to get out of townnow.
And two of my buddies that wereMarines the ones I mentioned
earlier they were two yearsahead of me.
I'd see them when they camehome and they looked like US
Marines.
Man, they looked great Uniforms, top-notch physical specimens
and I was like you know what?
I want to do?
That, and the Marine Corps willput me on a bus right now and I
can go to Parris Island andjoin the Marine Corps.
I've got to leave town andthat's how it started.
(19:58):
And then I went to the Marine.
But again, sometimes it'sbetter to be lucky than good.
The Marine recruiter wasliterally out to lunch and the
Navy guy was there.
So I went over to the Navy guybecause my two Marines told me
the Marine Corps is actuallypart of the Department of the
Navy.
It's just the men's department,which is kind of cool.
(20:19):
So I walked in there just to askthe Navy guy if it's part of
the Navy, where's the Marine?
He said why do you want theMarine?
I said I want to be a sniper.
He said look no further, wehave snipers in the Navy.
You need to be a SEAL firstsign right here.
And I didn't know what a SEALwas, didn't know how to swim,
and I was thinking I'm kind ofnaive at 19,.
But here's a professionalrecruiter.
(20:39):
Why is he going to lie to me?
And so I signed and that's it.
But the cool thing about thatis um, I love referencing the
butterfly effect.
A decision you make right now,good or bad, in 30 years, is
going to have a profound effecton your life.
I mentioned my daughters and Iwas just talking to him a couple
minutes ago and I'll remindthem if that marine recruiter
was not at arby's at 11 30 on awednesday, you would not be
(21:00):
alive because I would havejoined the marine corps and gone
to north carolina instead ofvirginia.
Wow, is that crazy to thinkabout that?
Mick Hunt (21:08):
Carolina instead of Virginia.
Wow, Is that crazy to thinkabout that?
That's crazy.
So you didn't know how to swimright and, knowing what I know,
at some point you had to go toBud's right.
So what was Bud's like, man?
Robert J O'Neill (21:16):
Well, my first thought is I should have joined
the Navy Alves just air andland instead of sea.
Air and land.
But I did have someone show mehow to swim before I left, just
briefly, a couple strokes Again,just being lucky in a pool with
a guy that happened to be goingon a swimming scholarship
somewhere and he taught me.
But that was going to be it.
(21:37):
I'm not going to quit, but I'llprobably fail a swim.
But, being a positive attitude,I get to live in Coronado for a
while, then I'll get sent to aship and then back in Butte,
montana in four years.
But the advice that I got andI've said this before and it
just, it just stuck with me isan instructor told me before
SEAL training um, you'veprobably read the books at this
point or seen the movies.
(21:57):
Regardless of what you've beentold, this course is not
impossible.
People actually graduate.
Look at me, I'm living proof.
So I'm never going to ask youto do anything impossible, but
I'm going to make you dosomething very hard, followed by
something very hard, followedby something harder, day after
day for eight straight months.
And that sounds like a lot toget from now to eight months
from now, but don't think aboutit that way, because that's not
(22:18):
how you achieve a long-term goal.
Do it like this Wake up in themorning on time, make your bed
the right way and then brushyour teeth.
That's three wins.
You just started your day withthree victories.
Good start.
Make it to the 4 am workout ontime.
As I'm beating you, don't thinkabout the pain.
Concentrate on your next goalin life, which is breakfast
After breakfast.
Get to lunch After lunch.
(22:39):
Your next goal in life isdinner After dinner.
Do everything you need to do toget back inside that perfectly
made bed.
And because you took the timefor yourself in the morning to
make your bed the right way,regardless of how bad today was
and it will be bad Tomorrow's aclean slate and tomorrow's a
fresh start.
And when you feel like quittingwhich you will, do not quit
(23:00):
right now.
That's a motion quit tomorrow.
If you can keep quittingtomorrow, you can do anything.
And he simplified it.
And that's what taught me thatshort-term goals equal long-term
goals.
Don't overwhelm yourself withthe skyscraper at the top of the
Empire State Building.
Mick Hunt (23:16):
Get to the second floor man, I don't quit today,
quit tomorrow Just quit tomorrow.
Robert J O'Neill (23:26):
And and and even say to yourself, boy, this
sucks, I'm definitely quittingtomorrow.
And then tomorrow comes the manthis is horrible, I'm
definitely going to quittomorrow.
And you can even tell yourfriends that, hey, tomorrow
you're going to join me, andthen see him tomorrow.
Hey, tomorrow, come join me,we'll ring that bell tomorrow,
we're quitting, and that thatkind of helps with admitting.
Yeah, this is really hard, notimpossible.
I mean, look at him, hegraduated and he's I don't know
(23:46):
why.
That instructor gave me goodadvice, because SEAL instructors
are pretty mean historically.
Mick Hunt (23:54):
Man, man, man.
So.
So Bud's was literally aboutjust getting to tomorrow,
getting to the next goal, and Iguess it wasn't even tomorrow.
Robert J O'Neill (24:02):
If the next goal is four hours from now, get
to four hours, yeah the nextevolution, finishing the swim
five minutes before someone sothat you have five minutes to
rest before the five-mile run.
Just little goals like that,but just learning the short-term
goals, not worrying about thestuff that can affect you.
I mean, buds was so hard.
Buds is Basic UnderwaterDemolition Seal affect you.
(24:24):
I mean, buds was so hard.
Buds is a basic underwaterdemolition seal training.
It was so hard.
I remember knowing I had a past.
I know I came from somewhere,but I do not have a future, I'm
just going to be in hell.
And I accepted that to thepoint where you know there's
evolution, evolution meal,evolution meal.
But then a Monday came aroundafter 40 days on San Clemente
Island and they're like, okay,you need to go to dental and
(24:44):
medical, get your records andyour service record, check out.
You're going to be heading outto SEAL Team 2 and graduating on
Friday.
And it's like, wait, I'mgraduating.
And it's almost like, oh man, Igot to be a Navy SEAL now and
you guys haven't taught meanything.
What am I supposed to do now?
And it's kind of scary, butthat's, it's almost.
It's cool, because this is goodfor life too.
(25:05):
No matter where you are, you'regoing to get used to it.
So don't freak out off the bat,you get used to it.
And one of my favorite sayings Ican't even uh for living in the
moment, I can't take credit forthis, but somebody said
wherever you are, be there.
And uh, if you make yourselfavailable, stuff can happen.
I mean, look at me.
My wife calls me the luckiestunlucky man in the world because
(25:26):
, uh, I've actually I had um, anarmy, uh, a special forces guy,
say.
I remind I'm the, the forestgump of the Navy, only I'm not
as good looking and can't run asfast, which is kind of funny.
But just because I wasavailable, I, you know, I found
myself on the on the mountainafter the lone survivor, marcus
Latrell.
I, I left my my four year, fouryear old daughter's preschool
(25:49):
on my birthday.
Good Friday, april 10th 2009, isthe lead jumper to rescue
Captain Phillips, and we did onEaster Sunday, 16 hours from
Virginia into the Indian ocean.
I found myself on the Bin Ladenraid.
I was on the base when BoBergdahl walked off, and it's
not like I'm a hero, I just wasavailable.
I didn't slack off.
I'm going to do this to thefullest, and just being there
(26:13):
you might get pit for the team.
Mick Hunt (26:13):
Hey, there it is.
That's my leadership lessonnumber one.
Actually, for leaders Bepresent, that's it.
Be present, be available that'swhat your team needs the most
out of you as a leader.
Robert J O'Neill (26:24):
Present and available you know what else is
a leader too, because I I dotell people that panic is
contagious, like if we see it inairports all the time.
We all complain about why iseveryone lined up and why do we
box up and get another plan.
Why do we always do that?
Because we're hurt animals andpanic is contagious.
That's why we ran out of toiletpaper in 2020, because someone
bought it all.
I better go buy what I can andpanic, but as a leader and
(26:46):
people don't think of this as aleader you know what's really
contagious is calm, becausenobody knows what you're
thinking.
They don't feel your adrenalineor your fear, but if they see
you calm, they will be calm.
Them being calm will calm youdown.
So that comes back to slow issmooth.
Talk slowly, take a step andbreathe, because you're actually
(27:08):
moving a hell of a lot fasterthan you realize.
Mick Hunt (27:09):
Yes, sir, yes sir, you know you just dropped a
quote and here's what I'm goingto give you a shout out.
So a book that has changed mymentality from a leader
perspective and I always feltlike I was a great leader.
But great people get better,right the Operator, bro, Love,
love, love, love, love that book.
(27:31):
You have some amazing quotes inthere.
The first one is what'd you say?
Nothing is scary and stress isa choice.
Man Like, talk to peoplethrough that a little bit.
Robert J O'Neill (27:45):
Yeah, I mean you don't need to be afraid, but
you do need to realize beingafraid is not a problem.
Fear is healthy and it makesyou think more clearly.
You know, without fear therewouldn't be courage.
But what was the second part ofmy quote?
I know I talked about fear.
What was the second part ofthat one?
Mick Hunt (28:01):
Stress is a choice.
Robert J O'Neill (28:02):
Stress is a choice.
Stress is a choice.
Yes, it is, and that's anotherone where you can slow down and
realize.
If you take a step back andtake a deep breath and realize
that you're, it's in your mind,stress is in your mind, stress.
Stress is a bag of bricks andand again, I give myself my own
advice Don't always take itevery single day, but it's a bag
of bricks you pick up and ifyou want to start your day off
with a negative attitude, youcan, or you can, throw stress
(28:25):
out the window, and you should,because it's in your mind and
it's like uh, the the example isa guilt.
What's the point of guilt?
It's a that plays over man.
You're not getting it back.
You learn from it.
You learn from failure.
Stop being guilty about it,learn from it, try not to do it
again.
And if you do, try to learnfrom it again, the stuff in the
past is the past.
When I talk to football teams,I will tell the offense it
(28:50):
doesn't matter why it's secondand 15, guys, it just is Right.
So you can bicker about it allday long and blame someone, but
the thing we all have in commonright now is that clock is
ticking.
What are we going to do?
We're just here.
It's like the Bin Laden raidhelicopter crash.
We didn't know it.
We're outside.
They opened the door for uswhen we were going to try to
blow it up.
Didn't know why they were inthere, my guys, but they just
(29:13):
were.
Let's talk about it later.
We have a job to do.
Mick Hunt (29:16):
Got a job to do.
Got a job to do.
Another quote, man, I want tojust briefly go through.
You said the scariest thing youever did was leaving the Navy.
Robert J O'Neill (29:26):
Yeah, because, again, that was the unknown.
Uh, and I actually knowveterans that would rather go to
combat than fill out a resumebecause combat makes sense to
them.
Uh, going into a job, and Imean it's, that's not normal,
for a lot of special operatorsespecially, and we work mainly
with dudes.
So we're, you know it's.
(29:47):
It's little things like hey, ajob interview, spit out the dip,
wear a different pair of shoes.
Here's how you tie a Windsorknot.
You know, dress for the job youwant, cause, like seals will
show up.
I call a tank top and flipflops a Navy seal business
casual.
It's like that's not the case.
But see, it doesn't make senseto them because they can show up
(30:08):
and kick someone's ass.
That's their job.
But when you get out of thecomfort zone, that's it.
You're going to be good at itand you got to realize the
skills you've accrued along theway, just as simple as the
stress management, team building, problem solving and listening,
leading and being led.
You bring that to a company.
You just got to get to thefront door and sit down with
someone.
It's a fear of the unknown likeanybody else.
(30:29):
It's almost refreshing to knowthat guys like Navy SEALs would
be nervous about an interviewwith Merrill Lynch.
Why would that scare them?
It's kind of funny, but it'strue.
And again it's because that'ssomething else we all have in
common is there's unknown to allof us, but once you get into it
, you're going to get used to it.
It's going to be normaleventually.
Mick Hunt (30:48):
Yeah, man, really good stuff, brother.
You know I told you RobertIrvine, celebrity chef, one of
my really good friends, mymentor.
His passion is all abouthelping, supporting and giving
to veterans and servicemen andwomen and that has become a
passion of mine.
So one shout out to RobertIrvine for that.
(31:10):
But one of the things that I'velearned always being in front
of veterans in particular is,while they appreciate the thank
you for the service, theconversation should really be
about how was your service right?
Right, like.
Thanking them is one thing, buttalking because what I've
learned is sometimes just beingable to talk for you for a
(31:34):
veteran is like a dream, right,like.
It's one of those things where,like, thank you for allowing me
to share what my service waslike.
So I love your take on that alittle bit too.
Robert J O'Neill (31:46):
That's really good because, yeah, a lot of
people don't know how to respondto thank you for your service.
It's like, okay, thank you.
I actually had one guy thatinstead of saying you're welcome
, he would say you're worth it,which is a good answer.
But saying to someone, how wasyour service?
That's a much cooler way toopen the door because it does
open a dialogue and it lets themtalk about stuff.
(32:07):
Because I mean, I mean myexperience in the military, even
at the top of the top, we canmake anything suck, so a lot of
the jobs suck we.
I mean, if we can makeskydiving and scuba diving suck,
we can make a lot of thingssuck.
So it's not.
Uh, you know, it's almost likethat poster of the poor dude
throwing a grenade at someonesaying I just joined for the
college money.
But uh um, but saying, yeah, howwas your service?
(32:28):
That?
That's almost a better way todo it, just because it gets
people talking and they're goingto explain, because not all
veterans have like a platformlike I do, but they definitely
had a more dangerous job than Idid.
Uh, because you know, we asnavy we were able to fight on
our terms and we could fight atnight and we can see at night.
The enemy can't Imagine beingthat 20 year old dude from
(32:48):
Georgia who's driving down RouteIrish in Iraq wondering am I
going to blow up now?
Am I going to blow up now?
Am I going to blow up now?
And he does that for 13straight months, every single
second.
That's going to wear on it andprobably you've seen your
friends get blown up.
Mick Hunt (33:17):
That's going to wear on it, and probably you've seen
your friends get blown up.
That's going getting people totalk.
So, Robert man, you've beenso gracious, so your time man,
like, where can people followfind you?
I know you don't, you don'tclamor on social, but you are a
great follow on Instagram.
I will just tell you huge onInstagram.
Robert J O'Neill (33:36):
Uh, yeah, so my, uh.
Well, robertjoneillcom is myhub.
Uh, that's where I have myapparel.
I'm actually the only one thathas hardcovers of the operator
left we're reprinting.
The publisher is, but Ipersonalize and sign them that
RobertJONeillcom, which is funBecause I'll put anything on
there.
Again, being more personalinstead of like a tough guy, I
(33:56):
will, within reason, putwhatever you want.
My favorite one to this day wasa dude bought one of my books
for one of his, like a guy heworked with and he had me sign
Dear Jeff, you kill it.
Selling mattresses like I killBin Laden.
Love Rob, like stupid stufflike that.
But it's more of a humanelement type stuff.
But also my apparel.
I'm wearing one of my shirtsnow because I've gotten into the
(34:19):
cannabis business, because thathelps me with post-traumatic
stress, helps me with sleepdeprivation and things like that
.
Stress helps me with sleepdeprivation and things like that
.
Intro (34:26):
So this was a headline that said seal team spliff,
which is kind of funny.
Robert J O'Neill (34:28):
So I have it a parallel line there.
Again, a lot of it's tongue incheek, because I'm a big
believer when you're running ateam, if morale is high, if
people want to be at work,they're going to work harder,
there's nothing wrong.
Never lose your sense of humor.
It's okay to have a good time.
But, yeah, so right, there hasall my.
My social media is mchoo yah,mch o-o-y-a-h, and that's.
That's a funny story, becausepeople ask me, why is it that?
(34:49):
Well, I was still in the navywhen twitter came out and my
buddy said hey, there's this newthing and if you make up a name
, you can just mess with peopleand no one will ever know.
So just make up a name and I'm.
I woke up with like 15,000followers and like, well, I
guess I'm Mick who, yeah, butalso uh, at the operator podcast
and my other handle and, uh,that podcast comes out usually
(35:10):
weekly.
Mick Hunt (35:10):
So yeah, an amazing podcast, by the way.
Um, I like calling you thetruth because one.
You're comical to you.
Like you talk about situations,you talk about news and you
give it the truth, like there'sno angles, which is why I love
that, because, you know, a lotof times I'm a podcaster too and
I like to think I'm.
I'm the truth, but a lot oftimes people like angles to try
(35:33):
to garner attention or praise.
Like you are the truth, you'regoing to give people the truth,
whether they want to hear it ornot.
It's the truth.
My version.
Robert J O'Neill (35:40):
I'll give them my version of the truth, but
also in the comments.
If someone calls me out onbeing wrong and I am I'll admit
it, because I think that's howyou learn to.
No one's ever learned frombeing in a room with everyone
that agrees with each other.
You know, the way you learn isconversation, not by shutting
someone down or canceling them.
Unfortunately, though, we dolive in a time where it might be
coming out of it, where you canlie and lie and lie all you
(36:02):
want.
You won't get called out, butif you tell the truth and offend
someone, you can get canceled.
So, but the truth?
I mean even with, uh, with myyou know my college age
daughters.
We have conversations abouteverything from current events
to socialism, to Donald Trump,to Joe Biden.
They have different opinions,but I listened to him and I want
to.
I want to hear you know how areyou going to learn?
Don't attempt to put yourselfin their shoes.
Where are they coming from?
That's right, that's right.
(36:23):
Nothing wrong with that Nothingwrong with having a conversation
.
Mick Hunt (36:31):
That's right Cool.
So, Robert J O'Neill, I needeveryone to go there Now you can
get a personalized copy of thebook.
There's some apparel, um, Ialways do this with books that I
enjoy, so here's what I'm goingto do.
I'm going to do it for five andhere's what I'm going to do.
Okay, give me what you wantpersonal from Robert as your
inscription for him to sign.
I'm going to pick the five onesthat I think are the best and
I'm going to order them on yourbehalf.
(36:53):
So the first five.
That's so cool, thank you, yeah,because one again, you're my
hero.
I can't.
There's nothing I could eversay or do that could show my
appreciation for what you'vedone for us.
But I want for five of myviewers and listeners.
We're going to get a book, verycool, personalized Cool.
(37:13):
Well, Robert, brother, Iappreciate you more than you
know.
Thank you for taking time outof your tremendously busy
schedule to spend time with us.
Robert J O'Neill (37:22):
This means a lot to me, dude.
I'm humbled that you gave methe time.
Thanks so much, and we can dothis again.
This is fun.
Mick Hunt (37:28):
You got it.
And to all the viewers andlisteners remember your because
is your superpower, Go unleashit.
Outro (37:36):
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mick Unplugged.
If today hits you hard, thenimagine what's next.
Be sure to subscribe, rate andshare this with someone who
needs it and, most of all, makea plan and take action, because
the next level is alreadywaiting for you.
Have a question or insight toshare?
Send us an email to hello atmcunpluggedcom.
(38:00):
Until next time, ask yourselfhow you can step up.
Stress is a choice.
Yes, it is, and that's anotherone where you can slow down and
realize.
If you take a step back andtake a deep breath and realize
that it's in your mind, stressis in your mind.
Stress is a bag of bricks andagain I give myself my own
advice Don't always take itevery single day.
But it's a bag of bricks youpick up and if you want to start
your day off with a negativeattitude, you can.
Intro (00:23):
Welcome to Mick Unplugged , the number one podcast for
self-improvement, leadership andrelentless growth.
No fluff, no filters, justhard-hitting truths, unstoppable
strategies and the mindsetshifts that separate the best
from the rest.
Ready to break limits, let's go.
Mick Hunt (00:47):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to probably the most
special episode of MickUnplugged that we have had to
date.
We're talking with the NavySEAL who took out Osama Bin
Laden.
He's a decorated combat veteranwith over 400 missions under
his belt and the author pullingback the curtain on the life of
an elite operator.
We're going to go frombattlefield to bestsellers and
(01:10):
from sacrifice to service.
He's relentless, he'scourageous, he's legendary but,
most important, he's my freakinghero.
We're talking about the one andonly Mr Robert J O'Neill.
Robert, how are you doing today, brother?
Robert J O'Neill (01:21):
I'm well, Mick .
Thanks for having me.
I appreciate it.
It's good to get a chance tosit down with you.
Mick Hunt (01:26):
Man, I told you offline I'm the honored one man,
Just what you mean, not just tome, but I would say for all of
the Americans here.
Man, there's not enough thankyous, there's not enough we love
yous that we could give you.
So I just wanted to give youmine from me personally, bro.
Robert J O'Neill (01:41):
That does mean a lot Thanks and it was just an
honor the whole time.
There was a lot of stuff thatwe did other than the Bin Laden
raid, but to be picked for thatteam was just such a great honor
.
There's just a great group ofguys and asked to do a really
hard job.
That started off horribly butwe pulled it off because we knew
how to work with each other.
Mick Hunt (02:02):
That it is, man.
I finished the documentary.
Obviously, your segment, thethird segment, I probably
watched 10 times.
I have so many notes on thatsegment that I want to get to
you about.
But the first question, man,like I like to go deeper than
people's, why, right, like Icall it your?
Because, like, that thing thatreally is your motivator, that
(02:25):
thing that really is yourmotivator, that thing that
really is what drives you.
If I were to ask you today,right, what's your?
Because?
Robert J O'Neill (02:29):
brother, oh well, I mean right now, it's to,
uh, just try to provide abetter life.
Not that I didn't have a goodlife growing up, but I'm a, I'm
a girl dad and I want to.
I want to try to make theirenvironment better than mine was
.
Just, and again, I was raisedfine and not not a you know
nothing.
Nothing horrible happened, butI just want to be in a spot
(02:51):
where I can help with, you know,student loans or tuition, cause
I've got.
I've got daughters, I've got asof next semester, I'll have
three daughters in college andthen I have a one-year-old.
So it's like I gotta, I gottapay attention to the older ones,
but also I have free babings,babysitting when I need it.
So, just, I think it's importantfor everyone to realize that
(03:13):
the core is family, and it'slike anything when you build a
base on the way up, you know ifyou can take care.
Obviously, family comes first,but in order to take care of
your family, you need to haveyour own personal health, mental
health, physical health.
Take care of yourself, takecare of your family, get to know
your neighbors, take care ofyour community, and that's going
to build out just to makebetter people and it's
everything like I would rather.
Now I'm at a point, instead ofstaring at my phone, at
(03:34):
Instagram or Twitter, I'd rathergo with my neighbors, hang out
and talk to real people, becauseI think we're getting sucked
into a place where we're lookingat things that aren't real and
a lot of the forces out therewant to try to divide people,
and that's just not healthy.
I find I'm a lot better offwhen I don't even look at my
phone.
Mick Hunt (03:52):
Dude, I'm telling you , man like my wife and I have
this rule like every day, whenwe're done with our nine to five
air quotes on the nine to five,we go outside.
Man, Like we, we literally justgo outside, we go out back and
we just become one withourselves, with nature.
Sometimes our neighbors comeover, we go, we walk next door.
But just that, that onenesswith each other, with the earth,
(04:16):
with people.
I feel like we have ageneration that's following us,
Robert, that doesn't understandthat, and that's what I try to
connect with my kids as well too.
Like, hey, you got to beoutside.
Robert J O'Neill (04:28):
Yes, that's the first key.
To you know, as someone whodeals with everything from a
little PTSD to depression, thefirst key is to get out of bed,
and that's like, if your alarmgoes off, great.
If you get up without an alarm,good.
Get up.
And then if I'm having a badday, I'll take my shirt off,
force a smile and go stand inthe sunshine, even if there's
clouds.
(04:48):
Get some vitamin D, go and getoutside, hear nature and I think
, like you're saying, getoutside with a walk.
That is so good for mentalhealth.
Do 10, 20 minutes a day justoutside man, you're going to
find life's a lot, sir.
Mick Hunt (05:01):
Yes, sir, I want to go to something that I heard you
say publicly in a keynote man,and I want people to understand
this and I know you probablytold this story a million times
now, but for our listeners andviewers you talked about when
you got the notice that you weregoing to be on the team and
that it was time to go Right.
Still, team six and you had totell your kids goodbye, and I
(05:26):
don't think people understandthe brevity of that moment.
Man, could you walk us throughthat, like from a father's
perspective, but also the dutyand service commitment that you
had, where it's like you didn'teven think about it right, like
tell them goodbye.
Robert J O'Neill (05:39):
Well, it was, I would almost cheat a little
bit, because when we and youknow, not just the Bin Laden
raid but other ones when we saidgoodbye we would try to leave
at night so that you didn't needto.
I had young daughters at thetime and I didn't want to
explain to them the gravity ofwhat we're about to do, but I'd
like to see him at night and beable to say you know, and then,
and then I, you know, I'd have a10 minute drive into work
(06:00):
before we got on the plane.
I can cry for those 10 minuteswhere no one's just to see me,
but just it's easier to leavethem at night.
But on the Bin Laden raid wastough.
My youngest daughter at thetime was three and nobody knew
where we were going, cause wejust got back from deployment,
so no one expected us to gooverseas.
But I knew we were goingsomewhere where we.
This.
The Bin Laden raid was a highrisk mission.
We're it's a one-way mission.
(06:22):
And so I told my three and I wecouldn't leave at night, we had
to leave during the day.
So I told her hey, dad's got togo to work and you know just a
way to tell you a three-year-oldgoodbye and she.
She told me to wait and she ranupstairs to a room and she
grabbed a hello kitty suitcase,put a pillow and her Mr Elephant
in it and she left it by thedoor and said when you get home,
(06:48):
you're going to take me onvacation.
However, a three-year-old canform that sentence and that's
one of the hardest things I'veever seen.
I actually just had a coffeewith her just now because
obviously it's been a few years.
But yeah, saying goodbye toyour family again, getting back
to the base, that's the hardestpart and it almost, it almost
asked the question is whatyou're doing worth it?
Is this worth it?
And for us in that case,because so many families were
affected by 9-11 and we mightdie, this is worth it.
This is what we're here for.
(07:09):
The passengers on United 93 didnot wake up that day to fight Al
Qaeda.
I've been training to fightthem.
We found bin Laden and I'mgoing to go do it and I mean,
even as morbid as it might sound, what an ending.
He's going to die If we diewith him.
That happens.
But uh, we're gonna do this.
Saying goodbye to the family ishard, but once you get there
and on the netflix documentaryyou can hear me say, uh, I'm on
(07:30):
this mission, this is the teamand we're gonna kill him yep, I
love that man.
Mick Hunt (07:34):
Another really cool thing that I saw in the
documentary was and I had thisquote written down after the
mission, or I shouldn't sayafter the mission after you have
done your deed to Osama binLaden, right.
Then you got to get out ofthere and what most people
didn't understand was, like itwasn't easy to get out.
(07:56):
Right Like you're trying to getto Pakistan and you you said,
I'm just trying to get to 90.
I'm just trying to get to 90.
I'm just trying to get to 90.
I'm just trying to get to 90.
Robert J O'Neill (08:03):
I'm just trying to get to 90.
It was a tough spot.
You got to figure, when we wentinto Pakistan.
We're going to Abbottabad,pakistan, which is actually a
resort town, and we're notsupposed to be there.
We didn't invade Pakistan,we're not at war with Pakistan
and it's a first world country.
And out of respect for peopleliving their lives, the first
living their lives, the firstpeople to show up would not have
been Al Qaeda or even thePakistan military.
(08:25):
It would have been thePakistani police or locals that
are armed, like what's going on,and the last thing I wanted to
do was kill a policeman doinghis job.
So we have that like very fineline there, which means we got
to get in and get out quick.
So we, but we found so muchstuff there, we stayed a little
bit longer to gather moreintelligence.
Meanwhile, outside, ourinterpreter and our snipers were
like, hey, the locals aregathering, the cops will be here
(08:47):
.
We got to go and so we'redealing with that.
We don't want to get in agunfight, especially there.
A lot of bad stuff can happen.
But you got to figure we mightrun out of fuel too.
So we stayed extra minutes.
The helos are going longer.
(09:09):
And then we get in thehelicopter and we're leaving on
a mission.
We're supposed to die, but wehave 90 minutes.
Now we got 90 minutes left on aone-way mission, but if we can
cross the border in afghanistanin 90 minutes, we get 50 years.
I gotta see those kids again.
And so that 90 minute flightyou've.
I found myself in a spot whereand I give myself my own advice
every day if you're worriedabout something right now that
your worry will not affectyou're wasting your energy.
You need to get your mind offit because you're thinking the
wrong stuff.
So we could get shot down atany moment by a Pakistani jet
(09:32):
that launched, and justifiably,because we invaded.
But worrying about a missile isnot going to stop it.
So I just started my stopwatchon my wrist and I was looking at
that.
I'm sitting next to guys I'vebeen working with forever and
we're all in this together.
I was looking at that.
I'm sitting next to guys I'vebeen working with forever and
we're all in this together.
One missile kills us all.
We know that and we probablywouldn't even feel it.
But it's been 10 minutes, thenit's been 20 minutes, kind of
looking around.
(09:52):
30 minutes, 40 minutes, nowit's been 50 minutes, got to get
to 90, 60, 70 minutes.
I can get goosebumps.
Right now.
I love sports analogies becauseI mean anything in life that you
do successfully.
You didn't really do it on yourown, you got a team, someone
helped you, someone supportedyou your wife, your husband,
your mother, somebody supportedyou Teammates.
(10:13):
So I started thinking aboutYankee Stadium, top of the
seventh and no hitter, like ifyou're watching it you don't
want to say anything, but Idon't want to jinx it.
And then it's been 80 minutes,I got to get to 90 and I started
thinking about the singlegreatest sporting event in in
american history in 1980, whenuh team usa, the hockey team,
(10:33):
was playing the greatest hockeyteam ever assembled in the
soviet union and that teamhadn't lost.
I mean, they're beating peopleby 10 goals.
They'd won every gold medalsince, I think, the early 60s or
50s and these college kids haveno business being on the ice.
But now they're winning in thethird period.
You can hear the crowd countingdown.
You can hear Al Michaels Tenseconds, five seconds.
Do you believe in miracles?
(10:53):
Yes, and I'm thinking thatstuff so close.
And now I hear the pilot.
He was flying a little fasterthan 90 minutes because 85
minutes in, he said all right,gentlemen for the first time in
your lives, you're going to behappy to hear this welcome to
Afghanistan.
And that's, I mean that's forthe.
I think that's the first timeon a mission over 400.
Mick Hunt (11:13):
I actually started giving high fives out because
this, this was good yeah, I meanI, I got goosebumps just
hearing you retell that story.
That I've heard, right, butjust just hearing it in this
moment, man, like I still getthere.
You know, robert, you have, youknow, 400 plus missions, man,
and I have this saying that Igive to leaders and to athletes
(11:34):
you don't rise to the occasion,you rise or fall to your level
of preparation.
Yes, and one of the things thatI know about you and the
missions that you've been on,what most people don't realize
is how I don't even call itover-prepared you guys are, but
just how prepared you freakingare and the things that you
simulate and the things that yougo through, just because in
(11:55):
that moment you don't knowwhat's going to happen and you
have to be able to react and notthink Like, talk to us about
preparation and why that's soimportant.
Robert J O'Neill (12:03):
Well, it's a fine line.
You want to be prepared forcontingencies, you want to think
of all the stuff that couldhappen If this goes wrong.
What will their reaction tothat be?
But before you do any of that,you need to make sure you are
the master of the easy stuff.
You've got to make sure youknow the basics and the easiest
(12:23):
way that I mean it all came down.
You know, we invent tactics, wemeet Al Qaeda, we fight the
Taliban, we come up with othertactics.
But the further and moreexperience we got, we found
ourselves getting keep it simple, keep it simple.
And when someone says, like youknow, even after a helicopter
crashing in the front yard, howdid you clear a compound as big
as Osama bin Laden's?
And the answer was simple theguy in front of me went left, I
(12:43):
went right and we did that overand over.
And that's what we did.
We mastered the basics and andthe way that I put that now is
never talk yourself into an asswhipping.
It'll come.
You know you don't, you don'tneed to, you know you don't need
all the nonsense.
And then and then, another keyto our preparation just go, go,
(13:05):
go all this stuff, pipe down Ifyou want to communicate very
effectively with a team, stoptalking when you're done saying
what you're saying, stop sayingit.
If you're a salesman and yourcustomer says yes, shut up,
don't talk yourself into an asswhooping, don't talk yourself
out of a sale, he said yes, signthe paperwork, shake a hand,
thank you and uh, that that'sjust it.
(13:27):
It's, it's the it's.
Just because you're talking doesnot mean you're communicating.
Um, an example too is some ofthe younger guys which, because
everything for us seemed to comedown to a house and so we call
it the close quarters battle orCQB, and a lot of guys just like
to talk because they want to bepart of the moment.
I had a guy one time I'll neverforget it in training turn a
corner and he pointed up and heyelled stairwell.
(13:48):
And I stopped him and I saidhey, dude, look, I saw you do
that.
I saw you point up.
I'm assuming you either saw astairwell or an 18 foot
terrorist.
So we're going to figure it out.
You don't need to yell, becausewhen you start yelling obvious
stuff, you might as well besaying here we come, here we are
, run a second yeah.
I mean, you got it.
We crashed a helicopter in binLaden's front yard.
(14:09):
Explosion, immediate gunfight,we land.
My helicopter landed in thewrong spot when that eight and a
half seconds of complete chaoson the most important mission in
modern history was over shitand we went in his house quiet.
And that's why we weresuccessful, because they didn't
know where we were or who wewere.
We had the enemy confused.
(14:30):
They didn't know it was us Atfirst.
It might have been the Pakistanmilitary or intelligence
services coming to get them, tomove them.
They weren't sure.
And when we got on the stairwell, especially moving up in close
quarters, the only thing thatwas set we ran into Khalid Bin
Laden, his 20 year old son, onthe stairs and actually the
woman that found bin Laden toldus he would be there.
She's very impressive, by theway, a hundred percent right on
everybody.
(14:50):
But when we got the only wordsI really heard spoken, it was
when we got to a place whereKhalid was hiding and the guy up
front, the number one man, thepoint man, just whispered to him
.
He said come here, come here intwo different confused him.
So he just leaned out andthat's how the fight started,
because he whispered to himright there and confused him.
And then I mean, that's againwith preparation.
(15:10):
That guy was so smart, he wasprepared how to say something in
two languages.
He knew the number oneterrorist in the world's son
spoke, and that's preparation.
Mick Hunt (15:20):
That is wild brother I never would have done that.
Robert J O'Neill (15:23):
He was way smarter than me, man.
I was smart enough to carry thesledgehammer and a gun.
I just followed people.
Mick Hunt (15:28):
No, I love your analogy of keep the simple
things simple right Again, Itell leaders all the time you're
trying to beat down a door or awall, well, maybe the door was
just unlocked and you could havejust turned the knob right, did
you try opening it?
Robert J O'Neill (15:48):
It's almost like when you get to people in a
hotel and we're standing thereat the elevator.
You're kind of like, did anyonepush the button or are we just
standing here like a bunch ofassholes?
But it is that simple.
That's one of the steps ingetting into a house.
The first thing you do is checkthe door, and we ingrain that
because when bullets are flying,that's what we do with muscle
memory.
When bullets are flying, youmight forget some of the simple
stuff like checking the door.
So what we would do is if youwant to be good at something, do
(16:12):
it 10,000 times.
If you want to be great, do it ahundred thousand times and do
everything like you do anythinglittle stuff Like, um, when
we're on the range, if you droplike the pistol range, a rifle
range, if you drop something,you don't pick it up until it's
cold, because you don't want toget in that spot where in a
gunfight, oh, I dropped my waterbottle, I bet.
No, you don't need to pick itup.
You need to get rounds at theenemy.
When the fighting's over andwe're about to head back in the
helo, then you can grab yourwater bottle or your magazine
(16:32):
that you dropped, and that'sjust good, um, just good
business, because when thebullets are flying, you want to
do it like you've been doing it.
You want to everything from ifyou're wearing a sports coat,
how do you move the coat to getto your pistol, which parts fast
, which parts slow?
And then the muscle memory thatslow is smooth, smooth is fast.
If you want to be fast, slowdown.
Mick Hunt (16:52):
Hmm, hmm.
I love that brother, I lovethat man, because you're
thinking and talking a lotfaster than you realize.
Robert J O'Neill (16:59):
Like I mean, think about the first time you
talked to us, talked in front ofpeople, and it's like, okay, I
got a 45 minute speech, I'verehearsed it.
Of people and it's like, okay,I got a 45 minute speech, I've
rehearsed it.
Then you get up in front ofthem and you're done in 15
because I just ran through it.
Mick Hunt (17:09):
It's like, oh man, okay, I got to slow down, I
train speakers and I tell themall the time your first five
speeches that you do.
If they tell you you have 30minutes, you need to build a 50
minute speech.
And they're all like what areyou talking about?
I'm like, just trust me, youneed to build a 50-minute speech
Like I'm going to train you,I'm going to coach you.
(17:29):
But there's nothing like beinglive for the first few times
because you don't understandyour pace and you're going to
blow through this.
And I see folks do it all thetime where it's like, okay, I
have 15 minutes, what do I do?
Robert J O'Neill (17:44):
I know right and well.
The key there is, along withpreparation, if you forget what
you're talking about.
Just talk about something thatyou know and just assume that
you know more about the subjectthan the audience.
It was funny, my agent, when Ifirst started my very first
speech no experience whatsoever.
I was about to get ready infront of like a thousand airline
captains and I called her.
(18:05):
I'm like I've never given aspeech before, I've been in
gunfights, but am I going tofaint out there?
And she goes this is greatadvice for right before a speech
.
She goes okay, here's what youdo right now.
Go have two glasses of red wine, not one, not three.
Two, you'll be fine.
Mick Hunt (18:19):
There you go, I'm writing that down.
I don't like wine Bourbon, youwould have said bourbon, I was
with you.
Robert J O'Neill (18:25):
Okay, yeah, I mean well she, well she knows me
, and if I, if I hit twobourbons, I'll hit four before
the speech and then a Mike.
Mick Hunt (18:31):
O'Sullivan, there you go.
So you know, I call you ButteMontana's finest right.
Robert O'Neill, you got to keepin mind Evel Knievel's from
Butte Montana, evel.
Robert J O'Neill (18:45):
Knievel is not my hero, though you are.
Thank you you are growing up.
Mick Hunt (18:50):
Did you envision this ?
Robert J O'Neill (18:52):
no, no, I'm not from a military family and I
was never a tough guy and thiswas just not an option.
I knew dudes that immediatelyjoined the Marine Corps and then
I knew some guys that joinedthe Army.
That's what they always wantedto do.
But for me, again, it's okay tohave the perfect plan, but
realize that if you want to makeGod laugh, tell him what your
(19:15):
plan for tomorrow is, becausestuff's going to change.
The only time the perfect planexists is while you're planning.
Once you leave, stuff changes.
That's why you got to be readyfor contingencies.
But my perfect plan was to playcollege basketball, get a
degree and work with my dad, andthat's how the plan was going.
I was in my freshman year.
I was playing basketball atMontana Tech, had a bad
relationship and it was one ofthose moments where you know
(19:36):
what I want to get out of townnow.
And two of my buddies that wereMarines the ones I mentioned
earlier they were two yearsahead of me.
I'd see them when they camehome and they looked like US
Marines.
Man, they looked great Uniforms, top-notch physical specimens
and I was like you know what?
I want to do?
That, and the Marine Corps willput me on a bus right now and I
can go to Parris Island andjoin the Marine Corps.
I've got to leave town andthat's how it started.
(19:58):
And then I went to the Marine.
But again, sometimes it'sbetter to be lucky than good.
The Marine recruiter wasliterally out to lunch and the
Navy guy was there.
So I went over to the Navy guybecause my two Marines told me
the Marine Corps is actuallypart of the Department of the
Navy.
It's just the men's department,which is kind of cool.
(20:19):
So I walked in there just to askthe Navy guy if it's part of
the Navy, where's the Marine?
He said why do you want theMarine?
I said I want to be a sniper.
He said look no further, wehave snipers in the Navy.
You need to be a SEAL firstsign right here.
And I didn't know what a SEALwas, didn't know how to swim,
and I was thinking I'm kind ofnaive at 19,.
But here's a professionalrecruiter.
(20:39):
Why is he going to lie to me?
And so I signed and that's it.
But the cool thing about thatis um, I love referencing the
butterfly effect.
A decision you make right now,good or bad, in 30 years, is
going to have a profound effecton your life.
I mentioned my daughters and Iwas just talking to him a couple
minutes ago and I'll remindthem if that marine recruiter
was not at arby's at 11 30 on awednesday, you would not be
(21:00):
alive because I would havejoined the marine corps and gone
to north carolina instead ofvirginia.
Wow, is that crazy to thinkabout that?
Mick Hunt (21:08):
Carolina instead of Virginia.
Wow, Is that crazy to thinkabout that?
That's crazy.
So you didn't know how to swimright and, knowing what I know,
at some point you had to go toBud's right.
So what was Bud's like, man?
Robert J O'Neill (21:16):
Well, my first thought is I should have joined
the Navy Alves just air andland instead of sea.
Air and land.
But I did have someone show mehow to swim before I left, just
briefly, a couple strokes Again,just being lucky in a pool with
a guy that happened to be goingon a swimming scholarship
somewhere and he taught me.
But that was going to be it.
(21:37):
I'm not going to quit, but I'llprobably fail a swim.
But, being a positive attitude,I get to live in Coronado for a
while, then I'll get sent to aship and then back in Butte,
montana in four years.
But the advice that I got andI've said this before and it
just, it just stuck with me isan instructor told me before
SEAL training um, you'veprobably read the books at this
point or seen the movies.
(21:57):
Regardless of what you've beentold, this course is not
impossible.
People actually graduate.
Look at me, I'm living proof.
So I'm never going to ask youto do anything impossible, but
I'm going to make you dosomething very hard, followed by
something very hard, followedby something harder, day after
day for eight straight months.
And that sounds like a lot toget from now to eight months
from now, but don't think aboutit that way, because that's not
(22:18):
how you achieve a long-term goal.
Do it like this Wake up in themorning on time, make your bed
the right way and then brushyour teeth.
That's three wins.
You just started your day withthree victories.
Good start.
Make it to the 4 am workout ontime.
As I'm beating you, don't thinkabout the pain.
Concentrate on your next goalin life, which is breakfast
After breakfast.
Get to lunch After lunch.
(22:39):
Your next goal in life isdinner After dinner.
Do everything you need to do toget back inside that perfectly
made bed.
And because you took the timefor yourself in the morning to
make your bed the right way,regardless of how bad today was
and it will be bad Tomorrow's aclean slate and tomorrow's a
fresh start.
And when you feel like quittingwhich you will, do not quit
(23:00):
right now.
That's a motion quit tomorrow.
If you can keep quittingtomorrow, you can do anything.
And he simplified it.
And that's what taught me thatshort-term goals equal long-term
goals.
Don't overwhelm yourself withthe skyscraper at the top of the
Empire State Building.
Mick Hunt (23:16):
Get to the second floor man, I don't quit today,
quit tomorrow Just quit tomorrow.
Robert J O'Neill (23:26):
And and and even say to yourself, boy, this
sucks, I'm definitely quittingtomorrow.
And then tomorrow comes the manthis is horrible, I'm
definitely going to quittomorrow.
And you can even tell yourfriends that, hey, tomorrow
you're going to join me, andthen see him tomorrow.
Hey, tomorrow, come join me,we'll ring that bell tomorrow,
we're quitting, and that thatkind of helps with admitting.
Yeah, this is really hard, notimpossible.
I mean, look at him, hegraduated and he's I don't know
(23:46):
why.
That instructor gave me goodadvice, because SEAL instructors
are pretty mean historically.
Mick Hunt (23:54):
Man, man, man.
So.
So Bud's was literally aboutjust getting to tomorrow,
getting to the next goal, and Iguess it wasn't even tomorrow.
Robert J O'Neill (24:02):
If the next goal is four hours from now, get
to four hours, yeah the nextevolution, finishing the swim
five minutes before someone sothat you have five minutes to
rest before the five-mile run.
Just little goals like that,but just learning the short-term
goals, not worrying about thestuff that can affect you.
I mean, buds was so hard.
Buds is Basic UnderwaterDemolition Seal affect you.
(24:24):
I mean, buds was so hard.
Buds is a basic underwaterdemolition seal training.
It was so hard.
I remember knowing I had a past.
I know I came from somewhere,but I do not have a future, I'm
just going to be in hell.
And I accepted that to thepoint where you know there's
evolution, evolution meal,evolution meal.
But then a Monday came aroundafter 40 days on San Clemente
Island and they're like, okay,you need to go to dental and
(24:44):
medical, get your records andyour service record, check out.
You're going to be heading outto SEAL Team 2 and graduating on
Friday.
And it's like, wait, I'mgraduating.
And it's almost like, oh man, Igot to be a Navy SEAL now and
you guys haven't taught meanything.
What am I supposed to do now?
And it's kind of scary, butthat's, it's almost.
It's cool, because this is goodfor life too.
(25:05):
No matter where you are, you'regoing to get used to it.
So don't freak out off the bat,you get used to it.
And one of my favorite sayings Ican't even uh for living in the
moment, I can't take credit forthis, but somebody said
wherever you are, be there.
And uh, if you make yourselfavailable, stuff can happen.
I mean, look at me.
My wife calls me the luckiestunlucky man in the world because
(25:26):
, uh, I've actually I had um, anarmy, uh, a special forces guy,
say.
I remind I'm the, the forestgump of the Navy, only I'm not
as good looking and can't run asfast, which is kind of funny.
But just because I wasavailable, I, you know, I found
myself on the on the mountainafter the lone survivor, marcus
Latrell.
I, I left my my four year, fouryear old daughter's preschool
(25:49):
on my birthday.
Good Friday, april 10th 2009, isthe lead jumper to rescue
Captain Phillips, and we did onEaster Sunday, 16 hours from
Virginia into the Indian ocean.
I found myself on the Bin Ladenraid.
I was on the base when BoBergdahl walked off, and it's
not like I'm a hero, I just wasavailable.
I didn't slack off.
I'm going to do this to thefullest, and just being there
(26:13):
you might get pit for the team.
Mick Hunt (26:13):
Hey, there it is.
That's my leadership lessonnumber one.
Actually, for leaders Bepresent, that's it.
Be present, be available that'swhat your team needs the most
out of you as a leader.
Robert J O'Neill (26:24):
Present and available you know what else is
a leader too, because I I dotell people that panic is
contagious, like if we see it inairports all the time.
We all complain about why iseveryone lined up and why do we
box up and get another plan.
Why do we always do that?
Because we're hurt animals andpanic is contagious.
That's why we ran out of toiletpaper in 2020, because someone
bought it all.
I better go buy what I can andpanic, but as a leader and
(26:46):
people don't think of this as aleader you know what's really
contagious is calm, becausenobody knows what you're
thinking.
They don't feel your adrenalineor your fear, but if they see
you calm, they will be calm.
Them being calm will calm youdown.
So that comes back to slow issmooth.
Talk slowly, take a step andbreathe, because you're actually
(27:08):
moving a hell of a lot fasterthan you realize.
Mick Hunt (27:09):
Yes, sir, yes sir, you know you just dropped a
quote and here's what I'm goingto give you a shout out.
So a book that has changed mymentality from a leader
perspective and I always feltlike I was a great leader.
But great people get better,right the Operator, bro, Love,
love, love, love, love that book.
(27:31):
You have some amazing quotes inthere.
The first one is what'd you say?
Nothing is scary and stress isa choice.
Man Like, talk to peoplethrough that a little bit.
Robert J O'Neill (27:45):
Yeah, I mean you don't need to be afraid, but
you do need to realize beingafraid is not a problem.
Fear is healthy and it makesyou think more clearly.
You know, without fear therewouldn't be courage.
But what was the second part ofmy quote?
I know I talked about fear.
What was the second part ofthat one?
Mick Hunt (28:01):
Stress is a choice.
Robert J O'Neill (28:02):
Stress is a choice.
Stress is a choice.
Yes, it is, and that's anotherone where you can slow down and
realize.
If you take a step back andtake a deep breath and realize
that you're, it's in your mind,stress is in your mind, stress.
Stress is a bag of bricks andand again, I give myself my own
advice Don't always take itevery single day, but it's a bag
of bricks you pick up and ifyou want to start your day off
with a negative attitude, youcan, or you can, throw stress
(28:25):
out the window, and you should,because it's in your mind and
it's like uh, the the example isa guilt.
What's the point of guilt?
It's a that plays over man.
You're not getting it back.
You learn from it.
You learn from failure.
Stop being guilty about it,learn from it, try not to do it
again.
And if you do, try to learnfrom it again, the stuff in the
past is the past.
When I talk to football teams,I will tell the offense it
(28:50):
doesn't matter why it's secondand 15, guys, it just is Right.
So you can bicker about it allday long and blame someone, but
the thing we all have in commonright now is that clock is
ticking.
What are we going to do?
We're just here.
It's like the Bin Laden raidhelicopter crash.
We didn't know it.
We're outside.
They opened the door for uswhen we were going to try to
blow it up.
Didn't know why they were inthere, my guys, but they just
(29:13):
were.
Let's talk about it later.
We have a job to do.
Mick Hunt (29:16):
Got a job to do.
Got a job to do.
Another quote, man, I want tojust briefly go through.
You said the scariest thing youever did was leaving the Navy.
Robert J O'Neill (29:26):
Yeah, because, again, that was the unknown.
Uh, and I actually knowveterans that would rather go to
combat than fill out a resumebecause combat makes sense to
them.
Uh, going into a job, and Imean it's, that's not normal,
for a lot of special operatorsespecially, and we work mainly
with dudes.
So we're, you know it's.
(29:47):
It's little things like hey, ajob interview, spit out the dip,
wear a different pair of shoes.
Here's how you tie a Windsorknot.
You know, dress for the job youwant, cause, like seals will
show up.
I call a tank top and flipflops a Navy seal business
casual.
It's like that's not the case.
But see, it doesn't make senseto them because they can show up
(30:08):
and kick someone's ass.
That's their job.
But when you get out of thecomfort zone, that's it.
You're going to be good at itand you got to realize the
skills you've accrued along theway, just as simple as the
stress management, team building, problem solving and listening,
leading and being led.
You bring that to a company.
You just got to get to thefront door and sit down with
someone.
It's a fear of the unknown likeanybody else.
(30:29):
It's almost refreshing to knowthat guys like Navy SEALs would
be nervous about an interviewwith Merrill Lynch.
Why would that scare them?
It's kind of funny, but it'strue.
And again it's because that'ssomething else we all have in
common is there's unknown to allof us, but once you get into it
, you're going to get used to it.
It's going to be normaleventually.
Mick Hunt (30:48):
Yeah, man, really good stuff, brother.
You know I told you RobertIrvine, celebrity chef, one of
my really good friends, mymentor.
His passion is all abouthelping, supporting and giving
to veterans and servicemen andwomen and that has become a
passion of mine.
So one shout out to RobertIrvine for that.
(31:10):
But one of the things that I'velearned always being in front
of veterans in particular is,while they appreciate the thank
you for the service, theconversation should really be
about how was your service right?
Right, like.
Thanking them is one thing, buttalking because what I've
learned is sometimes just beingable to talk for you for a
(31:34):
veteran is like a dream, right,like.
It's one of those things where,like, thank you for allowing me
to share what my service waslike.
So I love your take on that alittle bit too.
Robert J O'Neill (31:46):
That's really good because, yeah, a lot of
people don't know how to respondto thank you for your service.
It's like, okay, thank you.
I actually had one guy thatinstead of saying you're welcome
, he would say you're worth it,which is a good answer.
But saying to someone, how wasyour service?
That's a much cooler way toopen the door because it does
open a dialogue and it lets themtalk about stuff.
(32:07):
Because I mean, I mean myexperience in the military, even
at the top of the top, we canmake anything suck, so a lot of
the jobs suck we.
I mean, if we can makeskydiving and scuba diving suck,
we can make a lot of thingssuck.
So it's not.
Uh, you know, it's almost likethat poster of the poor dude
throwing a grenade at someonesaying I just joined for the
college money.
But uh um, but saying, yeah, howwas your service?
(32:28):
That?
That's almost a better way todo it, just because it gets
people talking and they're goingto explain, because not all
veterans have like a platformlike I do, but they definitely
had a more dangerous job than Idid.
Uh, because you know, we asnavy we were able to fight on
our terms and we could fight atnight and we can see at night.
The enemy can't Imagine beingthat 20 year old dude from
(32:48):
Georgia who's driving down RouteIrish in Iraq wondering am I
going to blow up now?
Am I going to blow up now?
Am I going to blow up now?
And he does that for 13straight months, every single
second.
That's going to wear on it andprobably you've seen your
friends get blown up.
Mick Hunt (33:17):
That's going to wear on it, and probably you've seen
your friends get blown up.
That's going getting people totalk.
So, Robert man, you've beenso gracious, so your time man,
like, where can people followfind you?
I know you don't, you don'tclamor on social, but you are a
great follow on Instagram.
I will just tell you huge onInstagram.
Robert J O'Neill (33:36):
Uh, yeah, so my, uh.
Well, robertjoneillcom is myhub.
Uh, that's where I have myapparel.
I'm actually the only one thathas hardcovers of the operator
left we're reprinting.
The publisher is, but Ipersonalize and sign them that
RobertJONeillcom, which is funBecause I'll put anything on
there.
Again, being more personalinstead of like a tough guy, I
(33:56):
will, within reason, putwhatever you want.
My favorite one to this day wasa dude bought one of my books
for one of his, like a guy heworked with and he had me sign
Dear Jeff, you kill it.
Selling mattresses like I killBin Laden.
Love Rob, like stupid stufflike that.
But it's more of a humanelement type stuff.
But also my apparel.
I'm wearing one of my shirtsnow because I've gotten into the
(34:19):
cannabis business, because thathelps me with post-traumatic
stress, helps me with sleepdeprivation and things like that
.
Stress helps me with sleepdeprivation and things like that
.
Intro (34:26):
So this was a headline that said seal team spliff,
which is kind of funny.
Robert J O'Neill (34:28):
So I have it a parallel line there.
Again, a lot of it's tongue incheek, because I'm a big
believer when you're running ateam, if morale is high, if
people want to be at work,they're going to work harder,
there's nothing wrong.
Never lose your sense of humor.
It's okay to have a good time.
But, yeah, so right, there hasall my.
My social media is mchoo yah,mch o-o-y-a-h, and that's.
That's a funny story, becausepeople ask me, why is it that?
(34:49):
Well, I was still in the navywhen twitter came out and my
buddy said hey, there's this newthing and if you make up a name
, you can just mess with peopleand no one will ever know.
So just make up a name and I'm.
I woke up with like 15,000followers and like, well, I
guess I'm Mick who, yeah, butalso uh, at the operator podcast
and my other handle and, uh,that podcast comes out usually
(35:10):
weekly.
Mick Hunt (35:10):
So yeah, an amazing podcast, by the way.
Um, I like calling you thetruth because one.
You're comical to you.
Like you talk about situations,you talk about news and you
give it the truth, like there'sno angles, which is why I love
that, because, you know, a lotof times I'm a podcaster too and
I like to think I'm.
I'm the truth, but a lot oftimes people like angles to try
(35:33):
to garner attention or praise.
Like you are the truth, you'regoing to give people the truth,
whether they want to hear it ornot.
It's the truth.
My version.
Robert J O'Neill (35:40):
I'll give them my version of the truth, but
also in the comments.
If someone calls me out onbeing wrong and I am I'll admit
it, because I think that's howyou learn to.
No one's ever learned frombeing in a room with everyone
that agrees with each other.
You know, the way you learn isconversation, not by shutting
someone down or canceling them.
Unfortunately, though, we dolive in a time where it might be
coming out of it, where you canlie and lie and lie all you
(36:02):
want.
You won't get called out, butif you tell the truth and offend
someone, you can get canceled.
So, but the truth?
I mean even with, uh, with myyou know my college age
daughters.
We have conversations abouteverything from current events
to socialism, to Donald Trump,to Joe Biden.
They have different opinions,but I listened to him and I want
to.
I want to hear you know how areyou going to learn?
Don't attempt to put yourselfin their shoes.
Where are they coming from?
That's right, that's right.
(36:23):
Nothing wrong with that Nothingwrong with having a conversation
.
Mick Hunt (36:31):
That's right Cool.
So, Robert J O'Neill, I needeveryone to go there Now you can
get a personalized copy of thebook.
There's some apparel, um, Ialways do this with books that I
enjoy, so here's what I'm goingto do.
I'm going to do it for five andhere's what I'm going to do.
Okay, give me what you wantpersonal from Robert as your
inscription for him to sign.
I'm going to pick the five onesthat I think are the best and
I'm going to order them on yourbehalf.
(36:53):
So the first five.
That's so cool, thank you, yeah,because one again, you're my
hero.
I can't.
There's nothing I could eversay or do that could show my
appreciation for what you'vedone for us.
But I want for five of myviewers and listeners.
We're going to get a book, verycool, personalized Cool.
(37:13):
Well, Robert, brother, Iappreciate you more than you
know.
Thank you for taking time outof your tremendously busy
schedule to spend time with us.
Robert J O'Neill (37:22):
This means a lot to me, dude.
I'm humbled that you gave methe time.
Thanks so much, and we can dothis again.
This is fun.
Mick Hunt (37:28):
You got it.
And to all the viewers andlisteners remember your because
is your superpower, Go unleashit.
Outro (37:36):
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mick Unplugged.
If today hits you hard, thenimagine what's next.
Be sure to subscribe, rate andshare this with someone who
needs it and, most of all, makea plan and take action, because
the next level is alreadywaiting for you.
Have a question or insight toshare?
Send us an email to hello atmcunpluggedcom.
(38:00):
Until next time, ask yourselfhow you can step up.
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