Sean Glass: The Most Chaotic Op I've Ever Been On: Supporting Tier One off the Coast of Africa

About this video

Sean Glass, a former Navy SEAL, recounts his deployment as a troop commander during the Mosul clearance operation against ISIS in Iraq. Glass describes how his commanding officer secured the mission for their SEAL team, and how they deployed with five platoons to support Iraqi Special Operations Forces in retaking Mosul city block by city block. He details the operational challenges, including restrictive rules of engagement that initially required a one-star general’s approval for airstrikes, and how these restrictions were eventually loosened after a two-star general visited the ground and heard directly from Glass’s platoon commander about the tactical difficulties.

Key takeaways

• Glass explains that restrictive strike approval processes initially forced his platoon commander to use a direct phone line to a one-star general for strike authorization, significantly slowing response times against threats like ISIS suicide vehicles
• Glass recounts that the rules of engagement loosened dramatically within 24 hours after a two-star general visited Mosul and spoke with the platoon commander on the ground, and after the Trump administration took office during the deployment
• Glass’s team was credited with over 1,300 enemy kills during the six-month deployment, primarily through sniper overwatch, standoff munitions, and organic firepower like mortars and rockets
• Glass argues that the Iraq War was likely a strategic mistake, stating that dismantling the Ba’athist party created a power vacuum that enabled the insurgency and destabilized the region

Episode details: published June 4, 2026 · 26.9K views · 28:13 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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