If you haven't heard about Abbottabad, where have you been? This city in Pakistan became world famous not because of being the location of Pakistan's version of West Point, but because it is where Osama Bin Laden was taken down by DEVGRU/SEAL Team 6 in one of the most daring raids that will be spoken in reverence by followers of military history.

The New Yorker Magazine has come out with a more definitive account of the Raid On Abbottabad. Written by Nicholas Schmidle, "Getting Bin Laden" describes how the US developed intelligence to locate Bin Laden, and how the DEVGRU planned for the mission in cooperation with the CIA. It also details how determined President Obama was in getting Bin Laden wherever he is, as part of his campaign promise before getting elected.

With the DEVGRU's legend got even bigger with this successful mission, many followers of the Team, especially in the airsoft community would want to emulate the loadout that was used by the team members during the raid, especially the weapons that were used. As written before, the Heckler & Koch HK416 was mentioned as the rifle that was used to take down the world's most wanted terrorist. With this, the HK416 airsoft replicas are now on top of the list of airsoft players. However, there were also other weapons that were used during the raid:

"[...] James, a broad-chested man in his late thirties, does not have the lithe swimmer’s frame that one might expect of a SEAL—he is built more like a discus thrower. That night, he wore a shirt and trousers in Desert Digital Camouflage, and carried a silenced Sig Sauer P226 pistol, along with extra ammunition; a CamelBak, for hydration; and gel shots, for endurance. He held a short-barrel, silenced M4 rifle. (Others SEALs had chosen the Heckler & Koch MP7.) [...] "

Thus, we get more details on the loadout of the raiding team, the AOR1 (desert digital camo), the Camelbak Hydration kit, with the P226, another Heckler & Koch gun in the form of the MP7, and most probaly an M4 SOPMOD CQB-R. But there's no mention of the HK416 in the story. Some would assume that the write may have mistaken the HK416 for an M4 given their similarities at first glance, but the writer is writing about the accounts of his sources who know their weapons, and thus, there is no mistake. Thus, the account of others of the HK416 used in the raid may not have been true. Nevertheless, no one will actually care which gun was used in taking down Bin Laden, they just want him taken down, period.

(Sig Sauer P226 with Silencer. Photo Source: Silencertalk.com)

The raid didn't go in accordance to what the team have practiced, since one of the Blackhawk choppers crashlanded, and they had to work their way up. The opposition was minimum with 4 dead, including Bin Laden, among the terrorists in the compound.

Bin Laden's body was then carried by the raiders and brought to Bagram base in Afghanistan, then brought to USS Carl Vinzon after the Saudi's declined to take his body, as he was a Saudi Citizen. From there, in accordance to Islamic rituals, Bin Laden was quickly buried at sea.

(Illustration Source: Daily Mail "How a 40-minute raid ended ten years of defiance, as American troops' head cameras relayed every detail to the President")

President Obama visited the raiding team after they got back from Afghanistan to give his congratulations and presented them the Presidential Unit Citation to all those involved. He got to pose with each member of the team:

"[...] Before the President returned to Washington, he posed for photographs with each team member and spoke with many of them, but he left one thing unsaid. He never asked who fired the kill shot, and the SEALs never volunteered to tell him."

Perhaps we will never know, or until such information will be declassified. By then, the story will already have been the stuff of legend, and Bin Laden a very distant, but still painful memory for the Americans.

(Teaser Photo Source: AR15.com)