Special operations After graduating from the
University of Texas at Austin, McRaven was commissioned as an officer (
Ensign) in the
U.S. Navy and volunteered for
Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training (BUD/S). After six months of training, McRaven graduated with
BUD/S class 95 in January 1978. Following completion of a six-month probationary period, he received the 1130 designator as a Naval Special Warfare Officer, entitled to wear the
Special Warfare insignia. As a
Navy SEAL officer, McRaven was deployed to the Philippines with Naval Special Warfare Unit One in 1979 and 1981. In 1982, as a junior officer, McRaven received assignment to
SEAL Team Six in Dam Neck, Virginia under the command of CDR
Richard Marcinko and completed a specialized selection and training course. McRaven served as assault team leader of blue squadron but was relieved of duty in 1983 due to McRaven's concerns about military discipline, and difficulties in keeping his sailors in line at the command.
Richard Marcinko fired the 27-year-old McRaven in 1983. "He was a bright guy, but he didn't like my rude and crude way," Marcinko said. "If I was a loose cannon, he was too rigid. He took the special out of special warfare." McRaven was transferred to another east coast based SEAL team. McRaven served numerous staff and command assignments within the special operations community, including platoon commander at Underwater Demolition Team 21/SEAL Team Four, squadron commander at Naval Special Warfare Development Group, executive officer of SEAL Team ONE, task unit commander during the
Persian Gulf War, task group commander in the
CENTCOM area of responsibility, commanding officer of
SEAL Team THREE from 1994 to 1996, deputy commander for operations at JSOC, commanding officer of
Naval Special Warfare Group ONE from 1999 to 2001. In early 2001 McRaven suffered a broken
pelvis in a parachute accident during a training exercise. McRaven earned a
Master of Arts degree at the
Naval Postgraduate School in 1993. McRaven's thesis was titled "The Theory of Special Operations" (republished in 1995 as
Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice). McRaven later served as a staff officer with an interagency coordination concentration, including as the director for Strategic Planning in the Office of Combating Terrorism on the
National Security Council Staff, assessment director at U.S. Special Operations Command, on the Staff of the Chief of Naval Operations and the chief of staff at Naval Special Warfare Group 1. McRaven was the deputy to General
Stanley A. McChrystal and later leader of a battle group targeting
Al Qaeda in Iraq called 'Task Force 714', which proved to be innovative and highly successful. After McRaven took command of JSOC in 2008 he was prompted to request that a unit be stood up to deal with engaging female Afghans on different special operations in Afghanistan. These teams would be called Cultural Support Teams, or CSTs. affix Navy Adm. William H. McRaven's new rank as a four-Star admiral at a U.S. Special Operations Command ceremony at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida, August 8, 2011 , speaks with William McRaven, at a reception at the
LBJ Presidential Library, in the background, at center, is Carmel Fenves, wife of University of Texas at Austin president
Greg Fenves On April 6, 2011, McRaven was nominated by President
Barack Obama for promotion from the rank of
vice admiral to
admiral and appointed as the ninth commander of USSOCOM, of which JSOC is a component. In his confirmation hearings, McRaven "endorsed a steady manpower growth rate of 3% to 5% a year" and favored more resources for USSOCOM. After the
Armed Services committee hearings, in late June, McRaven was confirmed unanimously by the
Senate for his promotion to full
Admiral and assignment as commander of USSOCOM and took command August 8. The transfer ceremony was led by
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in Tampa, with ADM
Eric T. Olson also in attendance, two days after
the Wardak Province helicopter crash which cost 30 Americans, including 22 SEALs, their lives. With several hundred in attendance, Panetta spoke of sending "a strong message of American resolve [and] ... carry[ing] on the fight".
Operation Neptune Spear McRaven is credited for organizing and overseeing the execution of
Operation Neptune Spear, the special ops raid that led to the killing of
Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011. CIA Director
Leon Panetta delegated operational and execution decisions on the raid to McRaven, who had worked almost exclusively on counter-terrorism operations and strategy since 2001. A June 2013
Freedom of Information request revealed that on May 13, 2011, McRaven sent an email titled "OPSEC Guidance / Neptune Spear" that instructed redacted recipients that "all photos [of
UBL's remains] should have been turned over to the CIA; if you still have them destroy them immediately" or "get them to" a recipient whose identity was redacted. In December 2011, McRaven was runner-up for
Time Person of the Year for his role in the operation.
Retirement from the military In June 2014, it was announced that McRaven had his request for retirement approved after a 37-year career. McRaven retired from the U.S. Navy on September 1, 2014. During the last few years of his career he was also Bull Frog, the longest serving Navy SEAL still on duty, having succeeded his SOCOM predecessor
Eric T. Olson in the title. ==The University of Texas Chancellor==