Published Aug 12, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT
Veterans of ‘Black Hawk Down,’ Bin Laden Raid Tell Their Stories in New Series
Firsthand SEAL, Ranger and Green Beret accounts peel back Hollywood gloss with raw true stories of special operations.
For millions of Americans, the Battle of Mogadishu looks like Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down. The first Green Berets sent into Afghanistan after 9/11 ride into battle with the faces of Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon. The raid that killed Osama bin Laden has been reconstructed repeatedly on film and television.
A new Paramount+ documentary series, Special Ops: True, which began streaming Aug. 4, features firsthand accounts from Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Green Berets and other veterans involved in U.S. special operations stretching from Panama to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. All 20 episodes across two seasons are available now. Several episodes return to battles and raids that have already been turned into some of the best major Hollywood war movies, including the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, the post-9/11 “Horse Soldiers” mission in Afghanistan and Operation Neptune Spear, the 2011 raid that killed bin Laden.
