Rob O'Neill Biography

Rob O'Neill is a former United States Navy sailor. A former U.S. Navy SEAL and special warfare operator, O'Neill claims to have fired the shot(s) that killed Osama bin Laden during the raid on his Abbottabad compound on May 1, 2011.

O'Neill was born April 10, 1976 in Butte, Montana, where he was raised. In his youth, his father, Tom, took him hunting and taught him sharpshooting. In 1995, at age 19, a year after graduating from Butte Central High School, O'Neill enlisted in the Navy.

O'Neill initially sought to become a sniper in the United States Marine Corps where he had known some friends. On the day he arrived at the recruitment office, the Marine recruiter was not in. Instead, a Navy recruiter suggested that O'Neill enlist in the U.S. Navy, telling him that he could be a sniper in the U.S. Navy SEALs.

O'Neill graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) Training class 208. O'Neill served with SEAL Team Two from 1997 to 2001 and SEAL Team Four from 2001 to 2004. In March 2004, O'Neill joined the elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group and completed numerous deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq over the next eight years.

As a member of the U.S. Navy SEALs, O'Neill was reportedly involved in more than 400 missions, including the mission to save Captain Richard Phillips during the Maersk Alabama hijacking, and Operation Red Wings in which O'Neill helped save Marcus Luttrell. In 2012, having served 16 years, O'Neill left the U.S. Navy, feeling that the choice was best for his family.

He was honorably discharged and is now a public speaker. O'Neill was hired as a contributor for Fox News Channel in 2015 to lend "his military expertise across the cable channel’s daytime and primetime programs."

O'Neill rose to the rate of senior chief special warfare operator (E-8). His 52 decorations include two Silver Stars, four Bronze Star Medals with Valor device, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor device, three Presidential Unit Citations, and two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals with Valor device.

In 2017, O'Neill published The Operator, in which he describes his deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, life as a Navy SEAL, and the death of Osama bin Laden.

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