Lone Survivor provided you just a small portion of the operation. There were so many acts of valor and mind-blowing courage that day its impossible to list them all here. And we're to believe Murphy was so flabbergasted by what happens, never having considered the possibility of running into goatherds in a country where f@cking goats is the national pass time, that he just breaks down and has to take a vote on how to proceed. Those Marines found no bodies at all, btw, pretty surprising for a supposed company sized Tali unit that had just suffered at least 50% casualties. Absolutely an amazing article, well written and timely. 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. [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. [30] These operations, all of which included Navy SEALs, were conceived and planned by the battalion, with the specifics of those phases involving Navy SEALs being planned by the SEALs. purchase helps support my work in bringing you more awesome gun and gear articles. Red Wings' goal was disrupting ACM activity, with an emphasis on disrupting Ahmad Shah's activities, which were based near the summit of Sawtalo Sar. 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. Using imagery intelligence taken from an unmanned aerial vehicle on June 17, 2005, Westerfield identified likely structures used for housing his team, IED making, and overwatch of the area below for IED strikes. Luttrell's claim that the mission was to hunt down a key ally of. [39][failed verification], Further intelligence, including human intelligence and signals intelligence, indicated that Shah based his operations out of some small structures outside of the village of Chichal, high on the slopes of Sawtalo Sar mountain in the upper Korangal Valley, approximately 20 miles (32km) to the west of Kunar's provincial capital Asadabad. After refusing to open fire on civilians who discovered his SEAL team, Murphy and his unit found themselves confronted by many Taliban and al-Qaeda infantry who were determined to wipe out the small force. He calls himself a coward. That QRF included an MH-47 Chinook, radio call sign Turbine 33, containing eight SEALs and eight 160th Army Special Operations Aviators. So before you write anything again in that context, or in general before you ever say again that you did something well! But the reality is that mission was a shit show from the beginning. As with the specifics of the planning of this phase, 2/3 played no direct role in command and control, as this was the "SOF supported" portion of the operation. Ever hear of Bravo 2-0? There's no way such a remote area in the Korengal could support a third that many fighters. It has become known for the heavy loss suffered by U.S. Navy SEALs. You gotta give some, you gotta take some. It felt so artificial and contrived. Several weeks later, Shah's group was attacked in Kunar Province and disabled while Shah was later seriously wounded during Operation Whalers in August 2005. The attendees were given a standing ovation by the more than 25,000 there to watch the game. 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. anything extra and your Weve got a dedicated section for the AR-15 here. As a result, Ahmad Shah and his men left the region and regrouped in Pakistan. It appeared Axe, who must have been in unspeakable agony, had continued fighting for approximately 30 more rounds. U.S. Navy SEALs from SEAL Team 10 and SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1 expressed interest.[1][2]. For election results to be seen as legitimate by the citizens of Afghanistan and the world at large, all elections throughout the country would need to proceed "unencumbered" (without external influence, by either American and coalition forces or Taliban and anti-American and coalition forces), including those in Kunar.[2][7]. The movie is based on Marcus. Contents Maj. Stephen C. Reich, 34, of Washington Depot, Conn. Sgt. While one of the aircraft performed a number of "decoy drops" to mislead any enemy observers, the other inserted a four-man Navy SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team via fast rope in a saddle between Sawtalo Sar and Gatigal Sar, a peak just to the south of Sawtalo Sar. So instead of reading and discrediting someone who obviously has seen combat and is living with his whole team being killed. When the helicopter got close and attempted to insert the SEALs into the firefight, Shahs men fired an RPG-7 at the Chinook and took it down, killing all sixteen men. Search for jobs related to Operation red wings autopsy or hire on the world's largest freelancing marketplace with 22m+ jobs. Even in the face of the Taliban threatening Gulab, his family, and his village the Pashtunwali villagers refused to capitulate. Due to his helping an American, Gulab was marked for death by the Taliban. The MH-47 Chinook was escorted by heavily-armored Army attack helicopters. Axelson was shot not once but twice in the head and kept on fighting. The Navy's summary of action of Operation Red Wings states that an MH-47 Chinook helicopter, with eight additional SEALs and eight Army Night Stalkers aboard, was dispatched as part of an extraction mission to pull out the four embattled SEALs. It would be six days before he was rescued by American forces. One major difference between the film and the book is depicting the death of Luttrells leader and best friend, LT Michael Murphy. "Operation Red Wings" Navy SEAL "Matthew Axelson" recovery 92,724 views Jan 21, 2016 460 Dislike Share Save Downrange Film 29K subscribers Anyone who claims Matthew Axelson was beheaded is a. Luttrells book was, what I believe to be, a spot-on first-hand account of the events and therefore accurate. [3] Three of the four team members were killed and the only survivor, Marcus Luttrell, was left unconscious with a number of fractures and other serious wounds. I thought he was a hero for a long time. Regaining consciousness sometime later, Luttrell managed to escape badly injured and slowly crawl away down the side of a cliff. The Taliban came to the village several times, demanding that Luttrell be turned over to them. [2][7], The name has been widely mis-stated as "Operation Redwing" and sometimes "Operation Red Wing". Operation Red Wings was a pyrrhic victory U.S. victory. [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. If you did, you would know where soldiers are coming from! More like 8-12 fighters according to multiple sources, including video shot by those Talis during the fight, Gulab and the other villagers who rescued Luttrell, and the Marine rescue team who were there a day later. This is my opinion. If you're talking about the movie, yeah whatever, Hollywood's got a right to tell their own story. I did not see that in Marcuss book. On a hunt a few years ago on his familys property out here in Texas we did a spot-and-stalk on Blackbuck and let me tell you, the man may have been injured and is most certainly still in pain, but he can move. He then gave him the note Luttrell had written. 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 . The men had positioned themselves on the shale mountainside in the Hindu Kush east of Asadabad when they were compromised by a trio of supposed goatherders. Members of SEAL Team 10, U.S. Marines, and aviators of the 160th SOAR were prepared to dispatch a quick reaction force, but approval for launch from higher special operations headquarters was delayed for several hours. Get Our Top Shooting Drills and Zeroing Targets ($47 value - but FREE for a limited time). Luttrell is a national treasure. [16] At the time, Taliban ACM activity in the region was carried out predominantly by a small group led by a local man from Nangarhar Province known as Ahmad Shah, who had aspirations of achieving regional prominence among Muslim fundamentalists. A new book released Tuesday tells the story of the efforts U.S. Army Rangers made in summer 2005 to recover the casualties of Operation Red Wings and to rescue the mission's lone survivor, U.S. Navy SEAL Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell. There is staggering power to the sacrifice of the brotherhood. 2/3's operations officer, Major Thomas Wood, began planning the five-phase Red Wings operation off the Operation Stars model. Shah had two videographers with him during the ambush and As-Sahab Media released their video of the ambush and images of the items recovered from the SEALs. And just like Pat Tillman, the DOD needed up a hero story to cover up a goatf@ck, except this time here's Luttrell already on the spot trying to cash in with a ghost written book so bad it can't even get the mission name right (it's Red Wings after the hockey team, not Redwing). [2], Significant international media attention was focused on the ambush and the MH-47 shootdown. [61] In addition, the United States Navy Parachute Team, the Leap Frogs, brought in the American flag, the POW/MIA flag and the San Diego Padres flag. A massive search began, at first from the ground, and then with aviation assets which was able to retrieve the bodies of the 16 killed in the MH-47 shootdown. 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! If you research operation red wings. Kat is heading into her second decade of concealed carry, has been an avid hunter for decades, and has never met a firearm she didnt want to run (she also has a penchant for big bores). I saw the movie first and then read the book after. [2][27] Operations that 3/3 conducted based on this model proved successful in disrupting ACM activity. Luttrell was inserted onto that mountain in the Hindu Kush at night on June 27, 2005 and on June 28, 2005 he found himself grievously injured and alone. No AARs from missions before and after Red Wings, no HUMINT, SIGINT, or any other kind of INT corroborates the number of hostiles in Luttrell's story. The man has skills borne of experiences that will never be replicated and guess what, they have practical applications. 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. The enemy had the SEALs outnumbered. Just another Texas blowhard like Chris "I shot looters from the roof of the Superdome and knocked out Jesse Ventura" Kyle, who's made a post service career getting paid to tell anyone who will listen, books films, interviews, podcasts, you name it, about his time as a "silent" professional. "[44], In the June 12, 2007 article "Survivor's book dishonors son's memory" by Michael Rothfeld in Newsday, Michael P. Murphy's father Dan claims that Lieutenant Murphy would never have considered executing unarmed civilians, let alone putting such a grave decision up for a vote (in reference to the purported vote of execution of unarmed locals). From running him off the road to planting a grenade outside his daughters bedroom, wounding his daughter, the Taliban didnt quit. [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. Lt. Murphy said he does not make war on children. Luttrell vividly recalls the blood pouring from Murphs abdomen after Murph was shot in the stomach near the beginning of the firefight. Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature, 35, of Clarks Grove, Minn. Sgt. Then I got shot again the next day. This reminds of of when Larry Wilson was killed. Remembering Operation Red Wings: What Happened? We dont hide or run for a fight we stand ground, run towards one when one of or own needs help! So if youre wondering what hes like in person, well, hes a guy. 1st Class Michael L. Russell, 31, of Stafford, Va. Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach, 40, of Jacksonville, Fla. HQ Company, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Ky. Master Sgt. [1], After the broken transmission from the SEAL team, their position and situation were unknown. Shah could not risk a fight at that stage as he was outnumbered. And I don't care how pious these guys were, a reinforced company-sized element that was mauled the way Luttrell claims (at least 50% casualties) does not bury 40 bodies in a few hours (graves no one ever finds) and then vanishes with all their wounded. The operation then became known as Red Wings II and lasted approximately three more weeks,[1][2] during which time the bodies of the killed SEALs and Army Special Operations aviators were recovered and the only surviving member of the initial SEAL team, Marcus Luttrell, was rescued. No way. Trying to reach safety, the four men, now each wounded, began bounding down the mountains steep sides, making leaps of 20 to 30 feet. You don't want to remember him that way, they said. Murphy's father said exactly this in a 2007 interview. Deep behind enemy lines, a very committed 4-man SEAL team had a vital task. Even if it was a choice instead of an command. [2], In May 2005, the advance party of 3/3's sister battalion, the 2/3, arrived in Regional Command East. Consequently, Shah and his group were one of the primary targets of the American military operation. [2][7] 2/3 continued the use of hockey team names for large operations. Same with the villagers who rescued Luttrell and all the videos those insurgents made themselves. Many of the details regarding the Afghans who aided Luttrell were reported incorrectly in the American press during the days after the events occurred. For the men who have seen the worst atrocities of combat and lost their brothers, surviving can take incredible will. [2] Seiffert's list[19] included ten teams,[20] and the battalion settled on the fourth name on the list, "Red Wings", since the first three, New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, and New Jersey Devils, each could be misconstrued as a reference to military units currently in Afghanistan at the time. The firefight continued relentlessly as the overwhelming insurgents forced the SEALs deeper into a ravine. [54] Luttrell was subsequently moved to different places until forces could arrive to extract him. On June 28, 2008, Luttrell and the family members of soldiers killed overseas were honored at a San Diego Padres game. When now-retired Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell saw MatthewAxelson alive for the last time the two men were hunkered down in a small hollow and Axelson was down to his handgun. Luttrell was also awarded the Navy Cross, in a ceremony at the White House. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I had to turn it off. Gulab would spend the next 10 years fighting for his life and the lives of his family. [28] Spurs utilized Navy SEALs for the opening two phases of the five-phase operation. In 2007, Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle. His overall intelligence picture of Shah took a substantial leap when 2nd Lieutenant Regan Turner, a platoon commander with 2/3's "Whiskey Company" a weapons company augmented to function like an infantry line company, gathered a wealth of human intelligence about Shah during a patrol including his full name: Ahmad Shah Dara-I-nur (Ahmad Shah of the Valley of the Enlightened ones); his birthplace, the Kuz Kunar District of Nangarhar Province; his primary alias: Ismael; his chief allegiance: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who was based out of the Shamshato Refugee Camp near Peshawar, Pakistan; his group's size: fifty to one hundred fighters; and his goals: to impede the upcoming elections and attempt to aid a resurgent Taliban in the region. Some survivors from the rescue mission, Operation Red Wings II, have reported suffering from PTSD. Lt. (SEAL) Michael P. Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y. Awards. In actuality, LT Murphy successfully made the call while taking gunfire. That there believes, there standards and their honor means more to them then any risk, or a whole lot of shit coming their way! I couldnt put it down. That's not the point. There are hopefully few among us unfamiliar with Operation Red Wings. As described in the book, the reality of the situation is significantly different and more disturbing. I dont think any seal post 911 has ever been mistaken as a quiet profesional! 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. These "presence operations" achieved the goal of disrupting ACM activity but at great cost, and upon the exfiltration of troops, Ahmad Shah and his reinforced cell were able to return to the area weeks later. Meanwhile, Marcus Luttrell had been taken in by a local Afghan, Gulab, from the village of Salar Ban, roughly 0.7 miles (1.1km) down the northeast gulch of Sawtalo Sar[4] from the location of the ambush. He began the foundation to help service members and their families who were and are recovering from combat trauma. Marcus Luttrell (born November 7, 1975) is a retired United States Navy SEAL who received the Navy Cross and Purple Heart for his actions in June 2005 against Taliban fighters during Operation Red Wings in which he was the lone survivor. 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.. To the west of the Sawtalo Sar ridgeline is the Korangal Valley. [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. Thats some serious badassery; thats a level of practically inhuman strength. Surviving takes courage, too. The battalion agreed to this, believing, however, that this unconventional command structure defied a fundamental tenet of successful military operations "unity of command". Based on Luttrell's descriptions of the area, Appel and Piercecchi returned to the site of the battle two days later and retrieved the remains of Dietz, Murphy, and Axelson. In reply to Mike Washburne, Im afraid you did not research this quite as well as you said you did. James W. Ponder III, 36, of Franklin, Tenn. 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. Rescue helicopters were sent in, but he was too weak and injured to make contact. [2] One of the primary goals of the coalition by 2004 in Afghanistan was nation-building, that is, providing a security environment conducive to the establishment and growth of a democratically elected government, as well as infrastructure support. The intelligence staff identified four named areas of interest containing specific structures which Shah might be using. [2] These groups were collectively known as anti-coalition militia (ACM),[1][2] and the common thread among all was a strong resistance to the unification of the country and subsequent increasing presence of national government entities in the Kunar. Murphy kept crying out for help, and Luttrell set aside his weapon and put his fingers in his ears because he could not stand to hear his best friend die. All the obvious bs in his book, makes me wonder just how Luttrell managed to be the only one to make it off that mountain. Hand-Picked Daily GUN DEALS, and Exclusive Coupons Codes >>>. Between 2010 and 2018 the Lone Survivor Foundation provided more than 25,200 hours of therapeutic services in a military-friendly environment to vets and their families, all at no cost to those receiving it. . Gratefully, local nationals came to his aid, carrying him to a nearby village where they kept him for three days. Who invented chill? Reich played for the "Team USA" baseball team in 1993, and has more wins than any other pitcher . Basic Details: A four-person recon element comprised of LT Michael P Murphy, HM1 Marcus A Luttrell, STG2 Mathew G Axelson, and GM2 Danny P Dietz was Inserted (MGRS: 42S XD 78186 58123) via Fast-Rope at approximately 27170ZJUN05 to conduct a sensitive recon (SR) mission. SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2, Virginia Beach, Va. 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Adam Brown: The life and legacy of fearless Navy SEAL, The Day of the Rangers: An unforgettable moment in military history, ANA Commando: Afghanistans premier special operations unit, Examining the Differences in Training for SAS and Navy SEALs, Gunners Mate 2nd Class (SEAL) Danny Dietz, Comms, Sonar Technician 2nd Class (SEAL) Matthew Axelson, Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class (SEAL) Marcus Luttrell, Medic. SO2 Danny Dietz. Thank you Pew Pew for running this, lest we forget. Kip A. Jacoby, 21, of Pompano Beach, Fla. Sgt. The team discovered two young sheepherders. They were carless and paid for it. 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Hunter Army Air Field, Ga. On 22 October 2007, President George W. Bush presented the parents of Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy the Medal of Honor for his actions on 28 June 2005. 2nd Lieutenant Turner also gathered a number of photographs of Shah. That being said, I read the book first, then saw the movie. It is what we do, when we must fight only when we must! Through his undaunted courage, intrepid fighting spirit, and inspirational devotion to his men in the face of certain death, Lt. Murphy was able to relay his units position. Fact is, those Seals were pulled last minute from an SDV team,, and their hard infantry and recon skills had gotten a little soft. I have researched this well. 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. There was no signal at all where the men were positioned; Murph needed to find an open, high point, and so he went. And we're supposed to believe they stood around discussing what to do with the herders after the soft compromise, like no one ever considered the possibility? Marcus Luttrell writes the book Lone Survivor about Operation Red Wings. Thanks! He was in mental and physical agony but he refused to give up. His story falls apart under scrutiny. You would also have known that the 20 man who died trying to rescue them, did not care! In my opinion, calling those who tell the stories 'liars' is worse than making a white lie movie that makes you think about those who die to keep us free. The villagers refused. Might need to work on your research ability just a bit. 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. Shamus O. Goare, 29, of Danville, Ohio. Gulab then invoked the assistance of fellow villagers to help protect Luttrell until American forces could be contacted. 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. [59], The "sequel" to the original mission, Operation Red Wings, was Operation Whalers, which 2/3 planned and executed in August 2005. Spec Ops Magazine 2023 All Rights Reserved. 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. 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.