Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011 at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan after a daring mission led by elite US military operators who pulled off the seemingly impossible
Despite their fears, they went anyway
The Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden says he knew he was going to die on the famous mission to kill the US's most wanted man.
Operation Neptune Spear saw the revered SEAL Team 6 hunt down and kill the leader of Al-Qaeda at his compound in Pakistan.
Rob O'Neill was on the mission to Abbottabad on May 2, 2011, but feared it would be his last.
Speaking on the Full Send Podcast, he explained: "We were actually calling ourselves the martyr's brigade.
We knew we were going to die. Shot down on the way in, immediate fight when we get there.
Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011
"We were going to run out of fuel and end our short lives in a Pakistani prison."
Part of the conversation came with another man on the podcast, Donald Trump Jr, with O'Neill explaining to him the reality and horror of the situation.
"There's nowhere to go. We had nothing. But we accepted this.
"I had a guy say to me 'If we're going to die, I need to know why we're going', which is fair."
O'Neill claims his answer related to the loss of life that took place when the World Trade Centre was destroyed in the September 11 attacks in the US.
O'Neill was part of the famous SEAL Team 6 mission mission
He explained: "We're going after Osama bin Laden for the single mom who dropped her kids off at elementary school on a Tuesday and then 45 minutes later, she jumped to her death out of a skyscraper because that's a better alternative than whatever the hell was going on inside the 2,000 degree Fahrenheit.
"And her last gesture of human decency was to hold her skirt down as she killed herself.
"She was never supposed to be in the fight. We're supposed to be in the fight."
But despite the horrors of the mission facing them, he said he remained steadfast, as all his comrades did in the face of death.
"There was no fear involved with this mission,” he said.
"You accept death. This is what we came to do."
O'Neill shot bin Laden and said that when he saw him he recognised him straight away.
O'Neill has recounted the moment bin Laden
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"I recognised his nose, his beard, how tall he was, how skinny he was.
"He's not surrendering, he's a threat. So I got to take him down.
"And when you're dealing with a suicide bomber - which he should have been - you shoot them in the face.
"I shot him in the face twice then once more on the ground."
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