A Former FBI HRT Agent on Embedding With JSOC in Iraq

In a video from Mike Ritland, a former FBI Hostage Rescue Team operator walks through how he ended up embedded with JSOC on Tier 1 raids in Iraq, starting with his first deployment to Mosul in 2005. He explains how HRT agents had to earn trust on the ground even after the idea got buy-in from the FBI Deputy Director and General McChrystal, and how that trust was built mission by mission.

Key points

• Selection and role: The operator wanted to be an assaulter but was assigned sniper, training at the Marine Corps Scout Sniper School before later being chosen with a fellow agent to pioneer full HRT-JSOC embeds.
• Proving value: JSOC was skeptical of outside badges, so the pair spent roughly three weeks off target before being allowed to join raids, leaning on tactical proficiency and a portable fingerprint ID tool that could match suspects to terror networks in minutes.
• First contact: On his first daytime raid in Mosul, he took incoming fire and described forcing himself to accept the risk rather than freeze, a mindset he says got easier with repetition.
• Dark realities: He recalls JSOC members telling him to save one round for himself after the Nick Berg beheading video, a grim precaution against capture that he says he seriously weighed.
• Air power: He credits overhead air support, including hearing a 105mm strike called in on a target, with cutting fear and tipping confidence heavily in their favor.

Quick take

This is a firsthand account of how interagency trust gets built under fire, not in a classroom, and it's worth hearing straight from someone who lived the handoff between federal law enforcement and special operations.

Watch the full video: Mike Ritland