robert o'neill the former navy seal credited with the killing of osama bin laden talks about his military career and to some osome ofthe 400 missions he pard in. this program contains language that some may find offensive. >> it is my pleasure to welcome you here today. to begin our program this evening please stand and welcome the high school j. rtc honor guard for the presentation of the colors followed by the

singing of the national anthem by lisa. ♪ oh say can you see ♪ ♪ by the dawns early light ♪ what so proudly we hailed ♪ at the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ whose broad stripes and bright

stars ♪ ♪ through the perilous fight ♪ o'er the ramparts we watched ♪ were so gallantly streaming ♪ and the rockets red glare ♪ the bombs bursting in air ♪ gave proof through the night ♪ that our flag was still there ♪ zero say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ o'er the land of the free ♪ and the home of the brave ♪ [applause]

please be seated. thank you to the high school and the junior rotc honor guard and lisa. i would like to welcome some special guests that are with us this evening. please welcome two members from the board of directors of the richard nixon foundation, john barr and sandy clinton. [applause] orange county supervisor todd fischer. [applause]

members of the yorba linda city council including mayor peggy, jeanne hernando's and city manager mark vallone delete [applause] close friend friend of the richd nixon foundation, rutan and ruth shannon. [applause] the national archives and records administration direct about the nixon library in his associate cliff wallis director of education. [applause] and our most important resource that is the envy of the other 12 presidential libraries, those that are here tonight to represent 150 volunteers, thank you. [applause]

the nixon foundation is largely supported by its members. members support educational programs and opportunities for the youth to engage in the civic discourse and learning. memberships also supports special engagement programs like this evenings event. the impact of your philanthropic support allows the foundation to continue its important work and allows president nixon's core vision of building a lasting structure of peace and building a more just society to expand other parts of the country into the world and make differences in people's lives. if you are not already a member i would encourage you to join us this evening we have a membership program where you entered this evening and can be a part of the extended and extended family.

now, president nixon was a navy man. he was exempt from the draft of world war ii because of his state as a quaker and he never backed down and enlisted voluntarily in the u.s. navy. he served honorably in the south pacific command air transport command eventually becoming its officer in charge of the guadalcanal in the solomon islands. while he was honorably discharged in 1946, he didn't retire from the u.s. naval reserve until 20 years later, in 1996. during which time he served as a u.s. congressman coming u.s. senator and vice president of the united states. as president, richard nixon's commitment to the military was unwavering. upon entering office, he faced the reality that young men had d been shipped off by the thousands to fight in the jungles of vietnam. facing that challenge, richard nixon focused on negotiating the

end of and five hours which are some. he negotiated the release of all pows from the prisons of the vietnam and welcomed them home in 1973. he ended the draft and instituted today's all volunteer military. today's secretary of defense recently visited the nixon library, and from this very podium said an enemy on 9/11 thought he could scare us by hurting us the maniacs who murdered over 3,000 innocents it is for our country and 70 other countries that they have all been taught a hard lesson by the all volunteer military that president nixon was confident could protect our country. that's why the foundation is so honored today to have robert o'neill as our guest. it's now my pleasure to introduce the featured speaker in this evenings moderator.

robert o'neill is a highly decorated combat veteran and a man who killed osama bin laden. [applause] while wearing the equipment displayed in the court county of clement is on display for the very first time i might add, he fired the shots that killed osama bin laden during the raid on the compound in pakistan on may 2, 2011. robert o'neill participated in hundreds o of top-secret missios including the rescue of the captain richard phillips from somali pirates in 2009 and he bled the retrieval of the fellow seal marcus luttrell, the lone survival in afghanistan in the summer of 2,005. [applause]

following his honorable discharge from the navy in 2012, he cofounded a grateful nation in non- for profit that helps the military elite special operations veteran's transition into their next successful careers. he will be joined this evening on stage by robert klepper. rob served in the army for two decades and was deployed all over the world. he received the general douglas macarthur leadership award from expounding leadership throughout his career and honor that distinguished him for more than 35,000 officers. rob will be joined on stage tonight with gunnar his lovable black lab service dog. ladies and gentlemen, please stand and welcome to the richard nixon presidential library. [applause]

[applause] [applause] ♪ >> thank you. >> we needed a navy guy to do it. come here. [laughter]

>> wasn't that interesting they introduced us by a song by senator kidd rock. [laughter] [applause] >> what a crowd. >> you look really good. who picked out the wardrobe? [laughter] great to see so many wonderful friendly faces. those that are not friendly are able to stand in the back. [laughter] know it's great to have you with us. we are going to jump in. the one question everybody wants to know, how did a guy from butte montana and up in the navy, much less having a career like you? >> that's funny. that is interesting because i am a big believer that life is what happens around you while you are

making a plan. 95% of the stuff you worry about never happens anyway. i joined the navy because of a girl. [laughter] on accident. actually the first sentence in my book is about that. i had my heart broken by a girl named hillary and butte montana. i was never going to join the military. i decided one day i needed to get out of town and i had friends for two years older than me that wanted to be a marine growing up and when they graduated high school they joined the same day and every time they came home i remember thinking that's awesome, marines are tough and strong, the uniforms are incredible and it was like i want to join the marine corps so i went to join the marines because sometimes it is better to be lucky than it is to be good and the marines

proved it was not the opposite. [laughter] and the needy wives, [laughter] the only reason i went into the navy is because by marine friends told me something i didn't know and many of you may not know. they said the marine corps is part of the department of the navy. [laughter] just the men's department. [laughter] i went in to ask where are the marines because i want to be a sniper and he said the best snipers in the world with no further. we have snipers in the navy. you need to become a seal first but no big deal. [laughter] she kind of glossed over that. it's a 19-year-old kid from montana that didn't know how to swim. not a lot of swimming going on. it's cold. so i look at him like i'm 19,

kind of naïve. this guy is a professional recruiter why is he going to lie to me. i signed up that day and we watched a recruiting video after we signed the paperwork and i was like i'm in a pickle here i don't know how to swim and i just signed up with the government. it then okay i found out about the training and at least it is an adventure i will go and probably won't make it through training than four years later i will have good stories when i come back. i've learned quite 95% of the all volunteer military is there because of a girl. [laughter] then i went to seal training and they worked hard. then 17 years later i'm in bin laden's bedroom. it proves no matter where you're from or what you look like, work

hard, stay positive, never quit, and run away from a girl. [applause] you have to figure a lot of things out. [laughter] [applause] and that went out the door. the group probably wants to know so you didn't know how to swim. that might be something you need to learn how to do. >> i didn't know how but i figured how hard can it be a.

that was the plan going into the water. so two links not even 50 yards and i'm exhausted. a buddy of mine i went to high school with one of the few that did swim. he slammed for four years and came up to me and said don't get me wrong it's great to see you, but i've never seen you in the pool before today. i said i just joined the navy today. [laughter] i'm going to be a seal. [laughter] he said yeah, not like that you're not. he taught me the breast stroke &-and-sign stroke -- side stro

stroke. then i went to the navy. [laughter] so, fast forward to camp. southern california, talk about your first couple experiences. >> every seal goes through basic underwater demolition field training. 85% of the people don't make it. it's tough. it's in the books and the movies. it's essentially like a beat down for eight months. it gets so hard i remember seeing it like it was yesterday. [laughter]

we get this long-term goal done to wake up in the morning on time and make your bed the right way then brush your teeth make it to the 5 a.m. workout on time and then breakfast, think of getting to lunch and then dinner and everything you need to do regardless of how bad your day was you get a fresh start tomorrow. i had an instructor tony don't quit now, just click tomorrow. little victory and th then it's five years before graduation and i'm thinking i'm going to be a navy seal, what am i supposed to do. [laughter] little victories at a time.

and my seal training was you could thousand situps, push-ups a day, hundreds of pull-ups, all kinds of statistics there was a generalized spot where we would get tortured and it wa was on my own from there to the dinner hall so every day we were running 6 miles just to eat and that's not even working out, that's just to eat, and additional 14 miles. one of the traits is a sense of humor because it gets so bad if you can't laugh at yourself at what kind of horrible decision, why did she dump me, why am i here. it comes with a sense of humor. don't be afraid to enjoy ourselves every single day smi smile. because think about this none of us are getting out of it alive. [laughter] i don't believe in statistics but i'm sure ten out of ten

people died, so enjoy yourself. [laughter] you talk about sense of humor and clearly army guys have a much better one. [laughter] they have a lot of time to think about jokes when we are doing dishes. [laughter] but you talk about a sense of humor. why don't you share one or two of the stories where you first got introduced in the sense of humor. >> the first time i realized that aspect they had 220 of us to start out. ..

>> we're terrified. this guy is superman. he can kill us if he wants to. so he's the first seal we ever met that looks like a seal. camouflage pants. shiny boots, blue t-shirt. guy is ripped. that fews -- tattoos down to his muscles and is ridiculously good looking because he is a navy seal. and he stood on the stage, and like i said, we're staring at him in silence and he kind of

relished silence. and then he finally said, looking good today, jim. not you, me. i know what you're thinking. i look a little tired. i am. was up all night. i had to get my wife out of jail. she was arrested for shoplifting earlier that afternoon we were leaving the mall together. she had her arm around me. security thought she was trying to steal an anatomy chart. we're just sitting there like what is this psychopath talking about. so, what we later realized is he was messing with us. he was bored, and he had been there before and thought he would have fun at our expense youch realize, he might decapitate me. this guy is funny. a rough-edged, wry sense of humor.

we saw on the bin laden mission. i was in the helicopter that didn't crash. which is a good thing. and when we got hit we didn't know -- i don't mean to fast forward but be got inside the house and i didn't know it crash, guys in my helicopter didn't know it cashed, and one of the guys called the helicopter and said -- what helicopter crash? i think they sent other guys in that got shot down and we lost 30 friends. he said, bronx our helicopter crashed in the frontyard. you walked right past it. so i'm trying to calculate this in my head. one of the snipers that had our dog was running around the entire compound. just make sure that there was no out, and he went up to this famous spot where you could see the tail of the helicopter, right, and he came to that and didn't know it crashed either, as we're having this conversation he says over the radio, be on alert, they're ready for us. they have training mockup of our super

secret helicopter. in the front yard. [laughter] >> and this is the most important mission since normandie, and you hear the ground force commander go, no, you jackass, that's ours. we crashed. and he had this awkward pause, and he said, yeah, that makes a lot more sense than the shit i was just saying. [laughter] >> so we stayed funny the whole time. >> so obviously field training is relatively long. a lot ofs ups and downs throughout it. what's the one story probably related to not dying, but what is the one story about never -- >> never quit. there's a -- we would do tests every single day. to make sure you stick around. pass or fail or time, whatever

the test is, just to keep you in the program. the tested hard to understand. air not like an algorithm you'll type code. basically one of the tests is, it's simple. simple to understand, not simple to do. 50-meter underwater shim. jump the pool, do a flip underwater, swim half the distance of a football field fast. we had tests where they would tie our hand behind our back and feet together and throw is in the deep end of the pool for 45 minutes at a time, doing different drills like kale exhaling all the air outer lounges. throw masks and you had to grab them off the bottom with your teeth. the test there is introducing you thank you what it's like to not be able to breathe, but there's still this panic will not help so chill out. drown-proofing. found it relaxing. that's an hour a day no one could yell at me.

the tests we had was underwealth knot tying. tied a rope with a foot off the bottom, so 14 feet down is a rope, and then on the surface there will be a student and an instructor, one-on-one, and to student has an 18-inch rope of his own and we're in the navy so we know how to tie a bunch of knots so the test is go tie a series of knots and with this rope and that rope. so he would say tie a bowlen knot. the instructor will stay on the surface with a no,le and mask he is breathing and watching. you go untie your knot and back off, stay down there, he comes down slowly, and like looking at the knot and the student and act like he has never seen it before. this first one is always wrong so he goss back up for air and of course it's wrong so you untie it.

retie the same gnat. hands out. spends a minutes and 15 seconds, he comes down and looks at the knot and says, yeah, okay. you untie the knot and go to the surface, one breath of care and he tellsout about knot none two, tie a square knot. and you come up, one breath of air, knot number three. the testes simple tie five knots in a row and you pass. a friend of mine named john. doesn't get all the knots right, never be a navy seal. on hi fifth knot he drowns. so, the instructor came down to get him. not trying to kill him. so he grabbed john, swam him up and threw him over the side of the school rolled him over and yelling for the corpsman on the other side of the pool. gather his stuff and kind of rung around, the struck your realizes it's too much time so

he standard it decide a sternum run and started cpr and we could hear him yell, come back to the light. so john was out for a minute and a half. finally spit up all the water out of his lungs. this first word out of his mouth were, did i pass? so the instructor kind of sat back on him and you could see him getting the color back in his face because he gets to keep his job. he didn't kill anyone. and he goes, yeah, man, you passed. and john said, thank god, finally tied the fifth knot. and the instructor says, no, you didn't -- look, i mean, i'm in a great move ride now so i'm going to let you in on secret. i don't care how many nudities you know how to tie mitchell job is to see how far you'll push yourself. you just killed yourself. you passed the god damn test. [applause]

>> that's other never quit attitude. >> you graduate. what was first assignment. >> seal team two they're divided be number so the odd numbers are in san diego. 1, 3, 5, 7 and even numbers in virginia. >> went out there did some more training, year worth or training and then deployed. >> so fast forward, 9/11 happens. what is going through your head and, you had a major change, career change. >> 9/11 was -- we were all faked, some more than ooms because deployed already overseas and we saw it help. when the second plane hit the cell tower, didn't take a seconds for someone to say it's osama bin laden. my plan was to -- every found

out was a seal was, be in the knifey for four years go to butte, montana, and kill them. met the guys so reenlisted. didn't want to leave. i was young, and then reenlisted when 9/11 happened. my country trained me to fight and i need fight. so i found out about another seal team. we just knew we would get the assignment. it change from going to the uk to train with special forces, like the germans and the norwegians to we're going to afghanistan and fight the war on terror. >> you led a -- had an interesting career. so one of the main operations 0 missions you were part of was the rescue of captain richard phillips.

takes through how the alert and the -- >> yeah. for richard phillips, we were actually in virginia beach. it was good friday, april 10th , 2009. and that's my birthday. and it was -- i was in my daughter's easter tea party at her preschool. she was four. we set up a buffet line, getting our kid easter treats. a school where we have marine corps parents and navy parents and army parents and going through the buffet line to get them cookies and stuff, and as i'm walking back to my daughter, got a message, and richard phillips has been taken by somali pirateds so we have to good them no. i looked my daughter in the eye, kissed her and said goodbye, and i always meant to do that -- the hardest part of combat, getting shot at and having stuff blow up next to you is easy, looking your kid in the eye and realize this could be the last time you see each ice hard. and it's huge difference between kissing your kid again and

kissing your kid goodbye. we had a set amount of time to get there. we had been saying we could rescue anyone maritime at certain amount of time. i i i had a set -- never done it before. 25 years. but i was ahead of schedule and there's a 7-eleven outside of the base where i worked and i stopped at the 7-eleven with a plan, i'm going to get as much can as i can out of the atm and a carton of cigarettes. we going to be jump nearing the east coast of africa today and might not end up where we want, and if we land in the semi permissive environment i might be able to buy my way to safety with the cash, might be able to barter with the tobacco. i might end on an east african beach with cash. so i'm in line at to 7-eleven to get my stuff and one guy in front of me who is in hurry. just finished the night shift and not a care in the world.

i'm trying to speed him up. one thing that you started buying is aasas today -- u.s.a. today and the head lean was about richard phillips, the mission we're trying to do. and slammed it down, and he kind of announced to the entire store, i sure wish someone would do something about this. [laughter] i'm right behind him. and i'm recognizing the irony, and i tap him on the shoulder and i say, buddy, you pay for that shit and we're going to do something about this now. he staring ate me and said i'm not kidding the national security timeline is squarely on your very broad shoulders. he moved out of the way. and i got to work on time, and 15 hours and 46 minutes later we were in the indian expose

rescued ripped phillips a day and a half label -- later because we we are prepared. the movie wasn't accurate. good movie. but it wasn't accurate. it's funny, i always get asked how accurate was the movie. i say depends on who is asking. right here, 70% accurate. happy hour, i'm talking to the laidy, 1 machine% accurate, i took all three shots. >> i'm serious. you got to figure, the sunshine -- that's wasn't the mission. we went in there 0 rescue the hostage. the snipers were in their own beds in virginia beach four days prior. they didn't need to be nighted but they were. they were prepared. even though we -- a long weekend, easter sunday, we hadn't done it in 25 years, could have been lazy but didn't take shortcuts. everybody took a shot. pretty cool. >> and so mission success. >> yes. >> so fast forward, 2011.

you end up on a pretty clandestine operation. >> yes. >> and talk everybody through saying goodbye to your family and the impact -- >> that was a tough one i mentioned saying goodbye to your kid. i have daughters and assad goodbye to them on the bin laden raid, which was the one we knew we weren't coming home from. this is -- what we were calling this was would one-way mission. going to get shot down, run out fuel, get captured by pakistans or something horrible. the guise we blow himself up. we're not coming back. took my kid to the chick-fil-a and i couldn't tell them this was the last time we could see each other. we were could convinced we weren't make -- we didn't have a set line of who is going where but the guy who brought me up to the bin laden's bedroom pulled me aside and said don't take

this the wrong way, i'm going. i'm going. but if we know we're going to die, why are we going? which is legit say. we're not going for fame and we're not going bravado. we're going for the single mom, who dropped her kids off at school on a tuesday morning, and then ha minutes later jumped to her death out of a skyscraper because that was a better alternative than burning inside alive. her last gesture of human decency was holding her skirt down so nobody could see her underwear. we're in the fight and that's why we're going. you talk about stuff like that and then i had to write a letter to my kids, and the one thing i mentioned, one that is four years old and she -- she was a one-year-old when we rescued the lone survivor. she has been throw everything. i'll tell you a story about her itch wrote her personal lay letter. didn't write a letter to the seven-year-old girl ill wrote a letter to the 27-year-old woman

and i i'm sorry i missed her wedding. i know your beautiful. thank you for take caring of your daughter mom. what wed diwas noble, daddy loves you. tears staining the page. chen i win to dubai and she and her sisters -- i don't know what you buy young girls to daddy is never coming home present but i bought them and i'm walking out of the mall, getting ready to bin laden raid knowing we would die. and wasn't scared, i was focused, and i walked past a sun glasses hut, and one of those kiosks, and i looked over and there's a pair of sunglasses on sale. $240 and i'm looking at them, i'm a chief in the navy. i can't afford these. but i'm going to be dead next week and american express -- [laughter] >> so i was wearing these prada sun glaces then i start thinking, nothing ever works the way it is supposed to.

what if we do live through and need to steal a car and drive to is llama bad to embassy. we ever do that, the sun will be up. i carry a pair of practiced prada sun glasses into bin laden by's bedroom. didn't think about it at the time bit hat a lot of shi to going on. but we got back from a mission we're not supposed to live and getting chains i reached down you have be to kidding me. thought i'm not going to be in the navy forevership. get into marketing, why wine, picture of a billboard, navy seal, short sleeves, tattoo us, handsome as hell, and a gun, and really cool pair of sun glasses and all it says if you only have one day left to live, wear prada. [laughter]

>> so obviously mission success. >> yes. >> everyone came home. >> we did. >> and fast forward another year, year and a half. you make the decision to leave in the navy. talk -- talk to the group about that process and more importantly, what you experienced as you made that decision. >> when we finished the bin laden raid, it was a complete team effort. was worked with the great e team assembled. we were part of the coalition that rescued the loan survivor. we were on the base when we went to rescue him. one of my loving army brothers said i'm like the fourth -- i can't run and i'm not good with -- but we got to that point, i've done enough, been too close. we had helicopter get shot down august 6, 2011, shot down, lost 31 americansment one of our dogs.

and it was like, what happens now? going to get complacent. don't need to do this anymore. i want to see my kid get married so i decided to start the outprocessing, and realized i didn't know what i would do. wasn't 20 years, not going to against a pension, didn't know who would hire me. didn't know at the time there were certain skills that special operators goetz include problem solving, stress management, team building, loyalty. they will hire and then i got out, i was forced to find some people in the d.c. area, new york city, virginia, virginia beach and we realized we're employable weapon started a foundation called a grateful nation, and that's what we do now. we help special operators transition because people want to hire them and now they say we find out what the -- we individualize what the operator wants to do, find where he or she wants to live, the line of work ask then find the company

and get a mentor and a nine-month process. started out as let's help the veterans gets jobs and now it's a help your country and the economy get better. [applause] >> other than the wonderful nixon library, what brought you to california this week? >> i am -- i gave speech at -- up in san francisco, trying help a startup company, so i gave a speech motivational speech to a company called google. i think they'll be all right. it get to film friday morning, on on the jim jeffries show. if you haven't seen jim jeffries, great dude. very e very maim mouse antigun dude i'm taking him to the range to shoot ak-47s.

try to slap the liberalism out of him. it's fun to joke around. >> so, wrapping up, closing thoughts on your -- the life now, the experiences you have that, the book, anything you want to leave with the group. >> it's interesting because unfortunately -- last year, i gave i say between 250, 300 speech robbed the country and europe, and what is unique that mean is get to talk to people. i get to meet people, shake hands and i work for fox news, i'm on the news but it's refreshing to get away from it because the country is not as bad as we all think it is. the majority of -- it's pretty positive. and it's fun too even on tv -- i haven't been on the other networks, and they try to get statistic, 56% of the people

think trump will win the election, i say i talked to 10,000 last week and they disagree. >> what islander is the country is a lot more patriotic, a lot more positive than a lot of people thing and a lot of the news media doesn't report that because they want ratings. it's a great country. >> if people in the audience want to find out more about mentoring and employment opportunity order more about your grateful nation, what's the best way -- >> grateful nation.org is our web site. everything helps. again, it is helping the veterans, helping the economy. and anything from just awareness, like, checking it out and doing a link to a friend, a newsletter, seeing the veteran wes have out there dough

graciouses are great or small business and want to hire someone, robert o'neill.com is a link to that. you can buy the operator five times and give it to your friends. spoiler alert. bin laden died in chapter 23. [applause] >> gentlemen, thank you. we are able to do just two quick questions because we are pressed for time. the first one is going to come from this gentleman here. >> so, county supervisor, i'm so proud to call you a friend. you're in the most patriotic region in the entire country. orange county, california. [applause] >> i want to thank you both for

you patriotism and your service to our country. we're forever indebted. you tell a great story. it's about how to turn a mistake into a positive and i think it has to do with door knock. if you'd share that story i'd appreciate it. >> a funny store -- thank you for bringing that up we. we're big believers that everybody failed. you accept failure you'll learn from it. a great learning tool. it's the quote of the day good, decisions come from experience, bad decisions come from -- an experience comes from bad decisions, something like that so there was a police we went on, we learned it's important to sneak up on house, don't land next to them in a helicopter. try to pick the lock and sneak . in one time we're sneaking up on a target in iraq, being quiet and all of a sudden people standard moving around in the house. they know someone is out there, and see this happening and they were like, okay this, ahigh value individual. we're not going leave.

now we have to put a bomb in the door, going to go and in hot. was the points man and had to call the breecher, the point of entry itch call him up to the dispore what he decided to do was he grabbed a seven foot charge of c6. you heard of c4, i'm assumement this is c6. so it's like a plus to of whatever c4 does and it looks like a fruit rollup. same collar and it's sticky and not as delicious. you do with the seven-footer you put it on the door and roll it down. imagine rolling a fruit roll up and then back away and walk to minimum safe distance and hit the magic button, big loud boom and the door opens so the door opened like dismiss the breecher is going to put that on this side because the hinges are there. he needs both hands and had a weapon. come on, now he needs to -- the

door opens here, i'm going to hold right here. there's a crack in the door. heat putting it on. we're doing thises a we're doing this, the lesson of failure, my boss, keep in mind this is one of the best seals with whom i have serve, 16 years. one of the best. he caulks walking up, not to micromanage, just to observe. watching what we're doing and put his elbow on the doorbell. so it's like, binge -- bing. and you can tell he doesn't want to move it. because it's going to go bong. so the breecher is right here, and that happens, and he can't yell at him because that's his boss, too. so he goes, -- now, being fiscally conserve it no wanting to waste the taxpayers money, starts to roll it back up. all nonchalant. i'm standing right here holding

the door, and i don't want to be here anymore. because when this stuff happens terrorists shoot through the doors and bullet goes through a lot of shit. so i'm stand hearing. the door opens and it's the god damn terrorist we're looking for so we share this awkward -- i grab him and i got cuffs on him. put my knee in the small of this bass and i look at my boss, shit, let's do that every night. but like the opinion -- point of the story is what we learned from that -- there are no doorbells in afghanistan. there are in iraq. [laughter] >> very simple lesson. >> so, our final question is from our guests in the simulcast. you got so big we had move into other venue. mr. opeel, you're story is full circumstance follower families

of 9/11. what would you say to those families? >> that is the reason that i told the story. i talked to family members pretty much every day. i live a lot of times in new york city and when i'm having an argument with my fiancee or whatever or i think the stress level is too high guy to the enemy enemy and kind of realize what is important. you hear thes from 9/11, people that made the calls from flight 39 or the north or south tower. they talk about how much i love you. and every time i talk to a surviving member, they just tell me that nothing will ever -- never be closure but helps the healing process. and people say why did you tell the story? aren't you afraid? i have assumed risk before and this is worth it. i'll die again. if -- i gave a speech to 30 survivors of 9/11, and having been -- i had a -- it's horrible -- i think it's -- everybody should watch it in

school. 15 minute's footage of 9/11 right before -- [applause] >> realism of the enemy out there. i've had -- over drinks haved a detectives tell me what it's like to watch 30 different people hit the ground. and he said, can sleep better at night because i nor there's a soldier. this is what happened to the most evil man on this planet. so, it's worth it. it's something that happened to us because of a really horrible version of a prehistoric religion and we need to realize that's what it is and just talking to the families and helping with that closure i don't have any regrets at all. i'm kind of basketballing here because it's kind of emotional for me. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, rob parker and rob o'neill. they'll be out in the front lobby to sign your books.

[cheers and applause] [inaudible discussion] [inaudible conversations] >> book tv is on twitter and facebook. we want to hear from you. >> next on book tv a "after words," as senator jeff flake discuss his book "conscience of a conservative" which calls or for a return to the core