BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — One day after a British ISIS supporter named him the terrorist group’s “number one target,” Rob O’Neill, the Navy SEAL who shot and killed Osama Bin Laden, delivered a speech to a packed house of Alabama business leaders.
A British ISIS supporter on Monday released O’Neill’s personal information, including his home address, on social media and called on American extremists to assassinate him.
“I leave this info of Robert O’Neill for my brothers in America and Al Qaeda in the U.S. as a number one target to eventually hunt down and kill,” the jihadi wrote before criticizing O’Neill for “traveling around America putting on seminars boasting about killing Sheikh Osama.” He also linked to a story in which O’Neill’s father said his family is “not afraid of ISIS.”
The first public speech O’Neill was scheduled to deliver after the threat came in just happened to be the following day in Birmingham at the Business Council of Alabama’s annual Chairman’s Dinner.
A defiant O’Neill delivered a stem-winding speech that included behind-the-scenes details of SEAL Team Six training and breathtaking stories from multiple missions, including the famed Operation Neptune Spear, which led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
One of the nation’s most decorated veterans, O’Neill has been decorated more than 52 times with honors, including two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, three Presidential Unit citations, and two Navy/Marine Corps Commendations with Valor.
Silver Stars, the military’s third highest honor, are awarded for extraordinary gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States. Bronze Stars with Valor are awarded for merit, with Valor signifying a heroic act and direct participation in combat operations. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award overall. Joint Service Commendation Medals are given for senior service on a joint military staff and is the most senior of the commendation medals.
O’Neill rose to the rank of senior chief petty officer in the United States Navy and served as a team leader at DEVGRU (Seal Team Six), positions not come by easily. O’Neill has a laundry list of certifications, including instructor, physical trainer, master training specialist, special warfare sniper and breacher, diving supervisor, and survival expert.
He was also an officer in charge of small arms, demolition, close quarters combat, explosives breaching, fire and maneuvers, and laser systems safety. His military air operations qualifications include high-altitude and high-opening free fall jump master, tandem and bundle master, parachute rigger, master naval parachutist, drop zone safety officer, and air operations trainer/examiner and quality assurance inspector. He has completed more than 1000 jumps.
Since leaving active duty, O’Neill is a co-founder of Your Grateful Nation, which provides individualized transition support for Special Operations heroes and their families. They provide executive-level mentoring, transition services, and family stabilization support. He is also a contributor to Fox News.
O’Neill did not address the recent death threats or his new distinction as ISIS’s “number one target” during his public remarks Tuesday, but his presence alone said it all, and the crowd responded with multiple extended standing ovations.
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— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) June 9, 2015
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