Navy SEAL Mentions Watching Phillies Game in Book About Killing bin Laden

I downloaded Navy SEAL Mark Owen’s book about killing Osama bin Laden, No Easy Day, when it came out on September 4. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet made it far enough to read the part where Owen (a pen name) explains what the SEALs did hours after taking down the most wanted terrorist in the world. The folks over at Philebrity did, however, and found this nugget about Owen and his buddies watching coverage when they got back to base. They smoked cigars, grilled lobster, and awaited their flight home. And, this: [Google Books]

“The mission had been secret for over a month now, and suddenly it was all over the news. We watched footage of the crowds that spontaneously gathered outside the White House, Ground Zero, and the Pentagon. At a Major League Baseball game in Philadelphia, fans started to chant “U-S-A.” Everyone commented about how young they looked. Kids like that didn’t know what the United States was like before September 11, 2001.”

None of that should be a surprise, but pretty cool to see that the SEALs, a world away, experienced joy the same way you did. Except for, you know, the fact that they had just put a round into bin Laden.