This year Navy SEALs are celebrating their 50th anniversary as part of the U.S. military -- but as one former SEAL tells Channel 2, the release of the book "No Easy Day," an autobiographical account of the May 2010 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, is hindering the excitement.
Barnes and Nobles off Northern Lights Boulevard sold out before 1 p.m. While store officials would only say the number of books they received and sold was a large quantity, Laddie Shaw didn't rush out to buy the book as many other people in Anchorage did.
"We kind of lost our quiet-warrior persona," Shaw said. "Even though everybody knows the SEALs exist, it's kind of blown, well, out of proportion and it's really more than we need to see."
Shaw says this isn't the first time a book has revealed stories about what the famed special operators do, but it's certainly gained the most notoriety. Pentagon officials have commented about their growing concern that the book will provide enemies with too much information.
"It is the height of irresponsibility not to have this kind of material checked for the possible disclosure of classified information," said Pentagon spokesperson George Little.
So far the U.S. government has not taken action against the writer. The pseudonym "Mark Owen" is used on the cover of the book, but multiple news sources have identified the author as Matt Bissonnette of Alaska.
Bissonnette's teachers say he graduated from Aniak High School in 1994, before making a career in the SEALs.
"He’s another great Alaskan," said Mike Miller, one of the people who bought Bissonnette's book Tuesday.
Others feel they’ve lost something important with the tell-all book.
"You know, we like that quiet-warrior mentality," Shaw said. "Having that John Wayne persona doesn't really fit very well."
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