As "NO EASY DAY" Publishes, New Account Says Book Written When Author Was "Slighted" By Other SEALS

Despite ongoing controversy and the threat of a government lawsuit (and Navy SEALS being pulled off active duty as a consequence), Dutton is publishing No Easy Day by "Mark Owen" (the pen name for the retired SEAL Mark Bissonnette) today as scheduled. 

But things got weirder over the weekend when a group of former Special Operations veterans released a short ebook of their own, "No Easy Op: The Unclassified Analysis of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden, as a $4.99 KDP exclusive. 

It claims Bissonnette (the Times, and the ebook, use his real name throughout) was "willing to break the code of silence honored by many commandos because of 'bad blood' with his former unit, the elite SEAL Team 6," according to the NYT.

The discord began when Bissonnette expressed a desire to leave the SEALS after more than 14 years to start a consulting business. "How was he repaid for his honesty and 14 years of service?...He was ostracized from his unit with no notice and handed a plane ticket back to Virginia from a training operation." 

The ebook authors didn't say whether Bissonnette provided information for NO EASY OP, though the ebook's account is apparently sympathetic to him and said it was "highly unlikely that Mr. Bissonnette released any vital information about SEAL tactics and procedures," though they also criticized him for not submitting "No Easy Days" for review by government agencies.

"No Easy Days"  also warns: "Members of the Special Operations community are well known for eating their own...If Bissonnette's relationship with special ops was in danger when he left the unit, it's dead now. It is likely that Bissonnette will be not only ridiculed and criticized, but ostracized from the military completely: Some of these authors are considered personae non grata by their former units: members are instructed to never talk to the author and the author is never to be allowed to participate in unit functions again."

(Source: Publishers Lunch 9/4/2012)