Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Feb. 11 for a lecture by Rob O’Neill, the Butte native and former SEAL Team Six member credited with killing al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who will speak at Montana State University at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 11, in MSU’s Strand Union Ballrooms. A question and answer session will follow O’Neill’s lecture, which is titled “Never Quit: The Story of a Life Built on Successful Missions.”
O’Neill was born in Butte. In 1995, a year after graduating from Butte Central High School, he enlisted in the Navy. While in the Navy, O’Neill was a team leader with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group and rose up the chain of command to Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator. He was deployed more than a dozen times. He held combat leadership roles in more than 400 missions in four different theaters of war. He received 52 decorations, including two Silver Star Medals, four Bronze Stars with Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, three Presidential Unit citations and two Navy/Marine Corps Commendations with Valor.
O’Neill was a member of the SEAL Team Six that rescued Captain Richard Phillips during the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates, the rescue portrayed in the movie “Captain Phillips,” as well as the team that rescued Marcus Luttrell during Operation Red Wings portrayed in the film “The Lone Survivor.”
O’Neill has been identified as the shooter who killed bin Laden during Operation Neptune Spear, the code name for the mission. O’Neill left the Navy in 2012 and is now a public speaker. Also, O’Neill and Kodak CEO Jeffrey J. Clarke co-founded the nonprofit organization Your Grateful Nation, which supports United States Special Operations veterans in their transition into the civilian workplace. O’Neill is also a contributor for FOX News and was honored with a lifetime membership to University College Dublin Law Society in November.
O’Neill’s lecture is hosted by the MSU Leadership Institute. Other MSU Leadership Institute speakers coming this semester include Muslim reformist Irshad Manji on Feb. 22 and attorney and human rights activist Kelly Matheson on March 8.
“We hope to provide something for everyone with this broad range of excellent speakers,” said Carmen McSpadden, director of the MSU Leadership Institute.
O’Neill’s lecture is sponsored by MSU Veteran Services/Veteran Support Center, Office of the President, Office of the Provost, ASMSU, Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Murdoch’s and KGLT.
Tickets are $10 for students and $20 for the public. They are available at local Tickets West locations and at ticketswest.com. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. For more information, call the MSU Leadership Institute at (406) 994-7275 or visit www.montana.edu/leadership or facebook.com/MSULeadershipInstitute.
