AS JANUARY NEARED ITS END, WE STARTED GETTING WORRIED, not that the war was going to break out, but that it would start without us. The usual SEAL deployment at the time was six months. We’d shipped out in September, and were due to rotate back to the States within a few weeks. I wanted to fight. I wanted to do what I’d been trained for. American taxpayers had invested considerable dollars in my education as a SEAL. I wanted to defend my country, do my duty, and do my job. I wanted, more than anything, to experience the thrill of battle.
