SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama Bin Laden (35 page)

SA-7 (NATO code-named Strela).
A shoulder-fired, heat-seeking guided missile used as an antiaircraft weapon.

SBU.
Special boat unit.

SDV.
SEAL delivery vehicle. A wet minisub used to deliver SEALs into target areas and also to attack enemy ships and facilities.

SDV Team.
SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team. SEAL unit specializing in maritime sabotage and operation of SEAL submersibles.

SEAL Team.
SEAL Teams are comprised of a number of platoons or detachments, as well as support personnel. Usually captained by a commander (O-5), platoons and detachments are mostly commanded by lieutenants or lieutenant commanders. Although SEAL Teams are geographically specialized, all Teams are trained to operate in all environments. Geographical areas of focus are as follows: SEAL Team One, Southeast Asia; SEAL Team Two, Northern Europe; SEAL Team Three, Middle East; SEAL Team Four, South America; SEAL Team Five, Korea; SEAL Team Six, worldwide; SEAL Team Seven, worldwide; and SEAL Team Eight, Africa.

SF.
Special Forces. Refers to the Army’s Green Berets.

shift fire.
Coordinated movement of SEAL Team fire. Instantaneous engagement of a second target. Also used to indicate a shift in focus or a change of tasking.

Shiite.
Also known as Shias. Shiites comprise the second largest Islamic sect in Lebanon. The word “Shia” comes from
Shiat Ali,
or “party of Ali.” Shiite Muslims believe that Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, should have succeeded the Prophet.

SIGINT.
Signals intelligence. The gathering and analysis of an enemy’s communications, written, as well as electronically transmitted.

sleeve.
A slick sleeve, i.e., a person without a Navy rating. A useless idiot. A non-SEAL Team member, regardless of rank.

snake eater.
Any member of the special operations community.

sneak attack.
Underwater maritime sabotage operation, usually conducted at night with rebreathing Scuba.

SOF.
Special Operations Forces, to include Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps Units.

soft duck.
Insertion of a CRRC by helicopter.

SOP.
Standard operating procedure.

squadron.
A combat unit consisting of an assembly of SEAL troops.

SQT.
SEAL Qualification Training. Post-BUD/S training to prepare candidate SEAL Team members for deployments.

SR.
Special reconnaissance. Deep-penetration reconnaissance operations, carried out by both clandestine and covert means.

Stinger.
U.S.-made man-portable antiaircraft missile.

Strela.
An SA-7 surface-to-air missile.

Suchka.
Russian name for machine pistol version of the AK-74. Also called the AKSU, it was used by
Spetsnaz
forces in Afghanistan.

Sunni.
The largest Muslim sect. Those who believe that Muhammad’s successor should have been chosen by the community came to be known as Sunnis.

tadpole.
BUD/S student. An inexperienced operator.

tango.
Terrorist. A bad guy.

Taliban.
Meaning “students” in Arabic, a violent fundamental Islamist militia that has ruled parts of Afghanistan since 1996.

target lock.
Loss of situational awareness resulting from overconcentration on the target. The state of being too goal-oriented.

TF-10.
Task Force 10. Special Forces including JSOC elements in Afghanistan.

TF-20.
Task Force 20. Special Forces including JSOC elements in Iraq.

TF-160.
Task Force 160. The Army’s elite special operations helicopter squadron. Also known as the Night Stalkers, this unit specializes in deep insertion and extraction of special operations forces in both land and maritime operations.

TOC.
Tactical operations center.

troop.
A SEAL combat element consisting of two or more SEAL platoons.

UDT.
Underwater Demolition Team. The original frogmen, specializing in maritime sabotage, reconnaissance, and recovering NASA space capsules.

UNODIR.
Navy acronym meaning “unless otherwise directed.”

VBSS.
Vessel board, search or seizure. Also called an “underway,” this is the operation where SEALs board and seize a ship on the high seas.

wadi.
Arabic. A canyon or watercourse.

TOP:
Assault elements practiced at secret locations on the East Coast of the United States and at a full-scale mock-up of Bin Laden’s compound at SEAL Camp Alpha outside Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
BOTTOM:
TF-160’s Stealth Hawk helicopters were considered so secret they were not used in daylight mission rehearsals. The raid was planned for multiple contingencies. Here, SEAL operators practice HBVI, helicopter-borne vehicle interdiction. At Abbottabad, one of the SEAL elements was prepared to capture Bin Laden if he attempted to flee by vehicle. (
AUTHOR’S COLLECTION
)

ALSO BY CHUCK PFARRER

Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy SEAL

Killing Che: A Novel

Chuck Pfarrer
is a former assault element commander of SEAL Team Six. He has written op-eds for
The New York Times
and the Knight Ridder syndicate, and appeared as an author and counterterrorism expert on C-SPAN2, NPR, Alhurra, IPR, Voice of America, Fox News, and
America Tonight
. Pfarrer serves presently as an associate editor of
The Counter
Terrorist,
the American Journal of Counterterrorism. Pfarrer is the author of the bestseller
Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy SEAL.
His Hollywood credits include writing and producing work for
Navy Seals, Darkman, Hard Target, The Jackal, Virus,
and
Red Planet.
He lives in Michigan.

SEAL TARGET GERONIMO: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE MISSION TO KILL OSAMA BIN LADEN
. Copyright © 2011 by Chuck Pfarrer. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available Upon Request

e-ISBN 9781429960250

First Edition: November 2011