Mike Day: Perfectly Wounded

The story of Mike Day is one of the most remarkable in modern Special Operations Forces history. On the night of April 6, 2007, things changed for the Senior Chief Petty Officer Mike Day, a very experienced veteran who proudly served twenty-one years and three months as a U.S. Navy SEAL. On that night, he was shot for the first time in his career. He survived 27 shots from blank-point range to tell the story.

His new book ‘Mike Day: Perfectly Wounded’ will for sure become a new bestseller from the Special Operations Forces topic.

The night of amazing survival

Mike Day speaks out about the events that happened on April 6, 2007, in Iraq’s Anbar Province. The mission was like the one he did hundreds of times before. Night raid and the hunt for a high-level al-Qaeda cell. Alongside the team of Navy SEALs, there was also a group of Iraqi scouts. Mike Day was the first operator to enter a 12×12 room after breaching were terrorist fighters waiting in ambush.

The gunfight was short and intense. When the gunfire stopped, the only man standing was Mike Day; four terrorists were dead, but not before they shot Mike Day twenty-seven times and hit him with grenade shrapnel. Miraculously, Mike Day cleared the rest of the house and rescued six women and children before walking out on his own to an awaiting helicopter, which flew him to safety. He survived multiple bullets to the legs, arms, and abdomen.

The recovery was long and painful; it took almost two years for Mike to recover from his injuries physically. In the first two weeks after being shot, the Navy SEAL lost fifty-five pounds. Today, he still deals with the pain and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Like so many veterans, he has PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury – the invisible wounds of war.

Day, who describes the incident as “a single gunfight on an ordinary day at the office”, lists his injuries matter-of-factly on his personal website: “I was shot in both legs, both arms, my left thumb was almost amputated, I was shot in the abdomen and had a colostomy bag for a year, my right scapula was shattered, I was shot twice in the buttocks, once in the scrotum and my body armour was hit multiple times which caused fractured ribs and contusions on my lungs.”

Carrer and recommendations

Senior Chief Petty Officer Mike Day proudly served twenty-one years and three months as a U.S. Navy SEAL. His military awards include the Navy Cross; two Bronze Stars, Valor; a Purple Heart; and several other accommodations. The day continues to lead and train other military Special Operations personnel and law enforcement professionals as a tactical training instructor. Additionally, he is the founder of Warrior Tribe, a non-profit organization that provides resiliency programming for young people, veterans, and trauma survivors.