The Chain Gang

The SEAL Who Shot Bin Laden Hit the Taco Bell Drive-Thru As Soon As He Got Home

For whom the bell tolls.
For whom the bell tolls. Photo: Compujeramy/Flickr

Last night, the heavily disguised NAVY SEAL–cum-exposé-author who shot Osama bin Laden in Pakistan appeared on 60 Minutes under the made-up name Mark Owen to detail the May 2011 raid in Abbottabad. It’s badass stuff, hearing how SEAL Team Six stormed the terrorist leader’s compound and took out public enemy number one in a little over 30 minutes. But Owen consistently says the team is not looking for any kind of a hero’s welcome, stressing that “we were just doing our jobs.” As if to prove his point, Owen didn’t celebrate the successful mission with some Champagne-and-caviar feast. Instead, he hit Taco Bell.

After landing back on U.S. soil to find that his top-secret mission was suddenly “the biggest news story ever,” Owen tells 60 Minutes he was given a couple of days off. He says the very first thing he did was jump in his truck and “hit Taco Bell on the way home, hit the drive-thru, a couple tacos. And, you know, ate it in my car right there and then drove home.”

60 Minutes host Scott Pelley logically wonders, “You were part of the team that killed Osama bin Laden and the first thing you do when you get back to the United States is go to Taco Bell?” Owen replies, “Two tacos and a bean burrito. It’s routine.”

Since just about every U.S. resident (save for the Pentagon’s top brass) wants to buy this guy a beer, hopefully Taco Bell was listening last night themselves and is immediately instituting a “Kill America’s Most Wanted Terrorist, Eat Free For Life” deal, on the double.

SEAL’s first-hand account of bin Laden killing [CBS]
Related:SEAL Shares Secrets New Details on Bin Laden’s Killing With 60 Minutes [Daily Intel]

The SEAL Who Shot Bin Laden Hit the Taco Bell Drive-Thru As Soon As He Got Home