No doubt he was a helluva runner when he was still in shape. If you're talking about the movie, yeah whatever, Hollywood's got a right to tell their own story. [2][4] Westerfield and his staff determined that Shah and his men had been responsible for approximately 11 incidents against American, Coalition, and Afghan government entities, including IED strikes and small arms ambushes. The 4 SEALS members that were inserted and the Quick Reaction Force that were killed in the helicopter attack were from SEAL TEAM 10. To claim that they didnt face 100 enemies because of the remote area is spoken like someone whos never been there. It is what we do, when we must fight only when we must! [62] The sculpture depicts Matthew Axelson and James Suh in full combat equipment. Military protocol, United States and international military doctrine, and rules of engagement strictly forbid harming unarmed non-combatant civilians, with one of the specific rules of engagement in effect at the time stating, "Civilians are not targets! After Axelsons death, Luttrell would say of Axelson that he fought the encroaching Taliban forces with a calm demeanor, methodically supplying suppressive fire and precise, surgical shots as required to defend their lives. He had to do this because the areas rocky structure blocked any transmission from his satellite phone. Within an hour, the SEAL Reconnaissance and Surveillance team was attacked by Shah and his men who were armed with RPK machine guns, AK-47s, RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades, and an 82mm mortar. I may earn a small part of the sale from links to any products or services on this site. Lone Survivor True Story vs Movie - Real Marcus Luttrell, Mike Murphy Entering a hot combat zone, attack helicopters are used initially to neutralize the enemy and make it safer for the lightly-armored, personnel-transport helicopter to insert. He then gave him the note Luttrell had written. You gotta give some, you gotta take some. I recommend you reconsider it! Luttrell's story is suspect at best. guns & Originally, Luttrell believed Axe must have died then and there because his head wounds were so devastating both his blue eyes had gone black with blood. This first appeared in The Havok Journal on March 23, 2014. We already have an account registered for email address That QRF included an MH-47 Chinook, radio call sign Turbine 33, containing eight SEALs and eight 160th Army Special Operations Aviators. My Nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. I suppose that is true of most film adaptations of books. It would be several days before a team of U.S. Army Rangers would arrive to extract Luttrell. Fact is, those soldiers died, and I'm sure if you could ask each of them, they'd want that movie made, 100% true or not. You cannot discuss Operation Red Wings without talking about the men of Turbine 33. If it pew-pews, its on. Al Blake must be filled with a terrible amount of hate. But no, they took a vote, like boy scouts, and it was up to our hero to make the call, which he then blames on CNN. Najmudeen's surrender, however, left a power vacuum in the region. I will never quit. By June 2005, 2/3 had relieved-in-place 3/3 and, using the Stars concept, had developed a comprehensive operation which they called Operation Red Wings. You see the 8 Taliban fighters that ambushed him were yelling over gun fire in Pashto and English for Murphy and his team to surrender and drop their guns. 11 SEALs, 8 Army Night Stalkers killed 15 years ago today in Operation Every single soldier of those 20 who lost their life would still step onboard of that MH-47, even when they knew it upfront or thought for split seccond that he made a mistake! Making it work meant sacrificing himself. [18], On September 14, 2006, Dietz and Axelson were posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for "undaunted courage" and heroism. To Mike Washburne, I was going to say something, and explain the difference between a soldier an a terrorist. Even if it was a choice instead of an command. [4] The team members were team leader Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1, based out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz from SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2, based out of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Petty Officer Second Class Matthew G. Axelson from SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1; and Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Marcus Luttrell, of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1. and extra gear. By the time of the book, that number had inflated to 200, and their target, who they never even laid eyes on, Ahmed Shah, was hardcore AQ and promoted to an OBL top lieutenant, lies no one but Luttrell has ever even tried to defend. R A Serna USAF. [27] To mitigate these problems, 3/3's staff developed an operational model which integrated special operations forces units into their operations, allowing the sharing of intelligence between the battalion and special operations forces as well as maintaining solid operational control of operations with integrated special operations assets and units by the battalion. They would have gone anyway. We'll only use the information provided according to our privacy policy. Personalize your experience. Erik Samsel Kristensen (March 15, 1972 - June 28, 2005) was a Lieutenant commander of the United States Navy SEALs who was killed in action during Operation Red Wings. [72] In his book, Victory Point: Operations Red Wings and Whalers the Marine Corps' Battle for Freedom in Afghanistan, military journalist Ed Darack cites a military intelligence report stating the strength of the Taliban force to be 810. He and several other SEALs set off as part of a search and rescue mission, hoping to assist a four-man SEAL team that was engaged in a firefight with Taliban fighters. The last man standing was Marcus Luttrell and although hes the only one left to talk about it, this isnt only his story. I have researched this well. During the following weeks of Red Wings II, ground units of 2/3 undertook a number of patrols, as did members of the Afghan National Army, Army Special Operations units, and Navy Special Operations units. SO2 Danny Dietz. Phase 1 - Shaping: A U.S. Navy SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team is tasked to insert in the region of the suspected safe buildings of Ahmad Shah, observe and identify Shah and his men and specific locations, and guide a direct action team of phase two to structures in which Shah and his men are observed to be staying. Finding blood pools and body parts are usually what post battle assessment comes up with unless you are the ones conducting the raid. [24], 2/3 eventually abandoned this naming convention out of sensitivity to the local population, instead opting for using Dari names for animals,[2] including "Pil" (elephant)[25] and "Sorkh Khar" (red donkey). He regained consciousness and was rescued by local Pashtun, who ultimately saved his life. This act ultimately led to the rescue of Luttrell and the recovery of the remains of the three who were killed in the battle. Operation Red Wings was a combined/joint military operation conducted in the Pech District of Kunar Province, Afghanistan. The insert point was roughly one and one half miles from the nearest Named Area of Interest. I watched a portion of one of his paid speeches where he claimed his back was broken and he had 11 through and throughs as he referred to them. [2][7] 2/3 continued the use of hockey team names for large operations. Maybe learn a little deeper about the area. The purpose of Operation Red Wings, which began on June 28, 2005, was first to identify Ahmad Shah, a key Taliban loyalist and leader believed to be hiding on the slopes of a mountain named Sawtalo Sar, located in the Pech District of Afghanistan's Kunar Province. For days, Gulab and his village sheltered the wounded Luttrell. You do not pay The film covers only a fraction of what was written and only part of Operation Red Wings. I'd rather the story be told with a few white lies than never having known about it at all. On June 28, 2008, Luttrell and the family members of soldiers killed overseas were honored at a San Diego Padres game. [47][48], In the years following Operation Red Wings more details emerged about the circumstances surrounding Luttrell survival, including that he was given sanctuary by local villagers. Dietz embodied what it means to be courageous under fire and to keep a clear head even in the face of sure death. Being struck by the bullet caused him to drop both the phone and his rifle. Theres a movie, too, and its fairly well done but the book is much better and Marcus Luttrell himself wrote it with established author Patrick Robinson. They tended his wounds, fed him, clothed him, sent a runner to the closest American base with a letter from Luttrell, and protected him from the Taliban. While Murph made that final call the call that ultimately saved Luttrells life because it gave the military the situation and the last known location he was shot in the back. Because it makes a hell if a lot of difference. Murphy, intent on making contact with headquarters but realizing this would be impossible in the extreme terrain where they were fighting, unhesitatingly and with complete disregard for his own life, moved into the open, where he could gain a better position to transmit a call to get help for his men. The objective of the operation was to kill or capture Ahmad Shah (code name Ben Sharmak), a known terrorist and head of the "Mountain Tigers" militia group. There was practically zero chance that such a poorly-planned operation could have succeeded. Lt. Cmdr. Murphy picked it back up, completed the call, and continued firing at the enemy closing in. 'Lone Survivor' uncovered: The ambush at Sawtalo Sar | SOFREP [55] When Shina reached the base in Nangalam in the middle of the night, he met with the commander and related the story about a wounded American soldier in their village. Severely wounded, Lt. Michael Murphy returned to his cover position with his men and continued the battle. Click below for a FREE LESSON! Luttrell, after being shot multiple times and crawling for a day and a half, would eventually run into, as he put it, his first real friend, Mohammad Gulab.. Approximately 45 minutes into the fight, pinned down by overwhelming forces, Danny Dietz, the communications petty officer, sought open air to place a distress call back to the base. PDF OPERATION RED WINGS - The (Mis)Information Aftermath - Darack So instead of reading and discrediting someone who obviously has seen combat and is living with his whole team being killed. Lt. (SEAL) Michael P. Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y. Sonar Technician (Surface) 2nd Class (SEAL) Matthew G. Axelson, 29, of Cupertino, Calif. Machinist Mate 2nd Class (SEAL) Eric S. Patton, 22, of Boulder City, Nev. Senior Chief Information Systems Technician (SEAL) Daniel R. Healy, 36, of Exeter, N.H. Quartermaster 2nd Class (SEAL) James Suh, 28, of Deerfield Beach, Fla. Gunners Mate 2nd Class (SEAL) Danny P. Dietz, 25, of Littleton, Colo. Chief Fire Controlman (SEAL) Jacques J. Fontan, 36, of New Orleans, La. The MH-47 Chinook was escorted by heavily-armored Army attack helicopters. Rescue in Afghanistan | The American Legion Erik S. Kristensen - Wikipedia Side note: if youre not familiar with the book Lone Survivor, go get it. [56], Ahmad Shah and his group recovered a large amount of weapons, ammunition, and other materials, including three SOPMOD M4 Carbines fitted with M203 40mm grenade launchers, a ruggedized laptop with an intact hard drive containing maps of embassies in Kabul, night-vision devices, and a sniper spotting scope, among other items from the Navy SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team,[58] items which they could then use against American, Coalition, and Afghan government entities. On the side of that mountain, with his teammates under fire, he refused to falter. The intelligence staff identified four named areas of interest containing specific structures which Shah might be using. At the time of this writing its been almost 15 years since June 28, 2005, when four US Navy SEALs carried out an op to put eyes on known terrorist Ahmad Shah. 2nd Lieutenant Turner also gathered a number of photographs of Shah. The worst conditions in four police stations be passed away from pursuing complaints with red wings: operation red wings. Knowing it would violate the rules of engagement to simply shoot the goatherders they let them go, and within a matter of hours found themselves in a battle for their lives. Upon reaching Sawtalo Sar, the two MH-47s received small arms fire. The scene ends with Murphy successfully making the call and then falling dead after being shot in the back multiple times while perched upon a rock out in the open. Doesn't matter anyway, cuz the Talis already knew where they were: they heard their infil bird, found the fast rope the SEALs kicked under a bush at the LZ, and followed their big Salomon boot prints up the mountain. Luttrell became a SO1 by the end of his eight-year career in the United States Navy.. Luttrell co-hosts After Action, a TV show in which former special . Wanting to do something more tangible with the events of June 28, 2005 Luttrell decided to start the Lone Survivor Foundation in 2010. W. Stanley Proctor sculpted a work for the Veteran's Memorial Park in Cupertino, California, called The Guardians, which commemorates the SEALS killed in the operation. Due to his helping an American, Gulab was marked for death by the Taliban. [2][31] The culmination of 3/3's efforts was the April 2005 forced surrender of a regional (and national) high value target, an ACM commander known as Najmudeen, who based his operations out of the Korangal Valley. Although Shah was a relatively unknown entity in the region, he apparently held regional aspirations and possibly had the assistance of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
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