But they have grown weary of the past decade's seemingly endless tributes and memorial services for those lost in Operation Red Wings and the brutally violent "Lone Survivor" movie, which they watched three times at special screenings for families of the fallen. An MH-47 Chinook with 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and a KC-130J Super Hercules with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 conduct aerial refueling during Exercise Yuma Horizon 19. This was a desolate part of the Hindu Kush, and at night, you wouldnt really expect to see much, Brady told Coffee or Die. Photo courtesy of Steven Smith. of 1 He was wickedly smart, but more on the creative side. They then used explosives to clear out a large enough area for Chinooks to land when they came back. The task force commander debriefed the men and then focused on planning their next steps. Not wanting to leave their brothers, the SEAL team commander hatched a plan with the Night Stalkers to insert higher up on the ridgeline and fight their way down to the crash site so Turbine 34 could fly back to Jalalabad, pick up as many SEALs as he could, and fly back to reinforce the eight SEALs. Three war-weary escorts one of them a SEAL and the other two Night Stalkers Daniel Bell and Chris Eicher sat off to the sides, grimly staring off into space. Standing 6' 4", he is remembered as gregarious and embraced a Jesuit ideal by being a "Man For Others," friends and family said. The extreme height of the trees made the full length of rope approximately 90 feet necessary. He would have been on that bird were it not for the last minute change. It can go from 100 degrees to 50 in an hour, Brooks said. The 160th had only lost helicopters during daylight missions at that point theyre called Night Stalkers for a reason. Drop us on the high ground, and well make our way to our swim buddies, Kristensen told Brady. Once on the ground, theyd have to pick up the rope, hook it to themselves, and get hoisted back up. Kristensen confronted him about the decision to cut the rope at the LZ and asked if the Night Stalkers would go back and retrieve it. Graham and his co-pilot whipped their Chinook around to look for survivors. Brady had no way of knowing at the time, but it would be the last time anyone at Bagram would ever see three of those four Americans alive. Robert Thaler, courtesy of DVIDS. : r/CombatFootage by GGdigger NSFW Rare footage of the disastrous Operation Red Wings from the Taliban PoV. He could say that. It was a gut-wrenching decision for everyone on the mission, as they knew the original SEALs on the SR team were fighting for their lives and one of their own aircraft and crew was burning on the side of a mountain. Follow @CoffeeOrDieMag on Twitter. 28, 2005 in Afghanistan. Hold your right and left; hold your front and rear, came the internal radio traffic from the flight engineer to Brady. They broke off and flew out of reach of the enemy fire. It wasnt an ideal insertion, but the Night Stalkers had accomplished their mission. Hoisting a man at that altitude on that kind of terrain at night is a dangerous operation. Weve got two military-aged males, possibly armed, on the northernmost LZ, the crew reported. The loss weighed heavy on the men. Chris, Turbine 33 has just been shot down, he told Eicher, who earned the nickname Iceman for his always cool demeanor. Eddie Rickenbacker, the ace of aces, may have broken the record for aerial victories in World War I, but that was hardly the most remarkable part of his extraordinary life. But seeing the site, even so long after, was helpful. Brady stood next to a SEAL commander both had to take command of their respective units when Reich and Kristensen were killed on Turbine 33. The order was given to again abort the mission and return to base. He and Eicher hurried back to the operations center. Guys gave him a lot of grief but he was witty about it," Redman, author of "The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader," said in an interview. The Burma Campaign is an often overlooked front Sign up for our newsletter and receive the mighty updates! This was our small part in Operation Red Wings II. They would have to offload eight SEALs from each helicopter before continuing. Our plan of action is for you to get us to the high ground as close to the troops in contact as you can, and were going to fight our way downhill, Brady recalled Kristensen saying. Believing the gunship could make it back on station in time for the insertion, Brady made the call to continue the mission. They rode it all the way in that way.. Photo by Cpl. He was liberal in his thinking. military operation during the War in Afghanistan. I will never leave a fallen comrade. The determination to not leave their fallen comrades was true of all 16 in Turbine 33 -- and was a promise fulfilled by their Jesuit-taught commander, Kristensen. It doesnt make sense., But he knew and lived by the Night Stalkers promise to every customer: If we put you in, well stop at nothing to get you out even if its technically someone elses job.. Eicher looked at Brady and said, Nah, they probably put down for maintenance.. We would have to drop a man down with a hoist in that hole of an LZ, Brady explained. Im glad youre a thinking air mission commander and not simply one that takes a black-and-white view of the situation.. Kristensen agreed with Bradys evaluation, and after the SR team radioed that they would be laying down for the day in their hide site, Brady and Kristensen called it a night. The new mission, dubbed Operation Red Wings II, was to recover the fallen heroes and the lone survivor Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell. The Armys elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) is known for having some of the most skilled aviators in the world, who fly the most elite special operators into some of the most austere environments on earth using the most advanced aircraft in the U.S. military inventory. Brady said it seemed like the whole base turned out to give the fallen a proper sendoff. "He was just a wonderful person. Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell was the only survivor from the initial four-man SEAL reconnaissance element. The flight crew kicked out the ropes, and the SEALs fast-roped down. The SEALs did their best to hide the rope and keep their presence on the ridgeline hidden from enemy fighters. Brady ran over to where his platoon sergeant, Sgt. Its not glamorous. Each of the five Black Hawks was loaded with Marines and had flown out thinking they were the QRF for the SR team. Kristensen and his SEALs were waiting on the ramp, standing in a circle. I don't know if I want to do this the rest of my life. Join our brand new verified AMN Telegram channel and get important news uncensored. Turbine 33s nose dipped down, and the aircraft slid to the left, appearing to almost recover. Since the SEALs werent sure where exactly the compromised team was located, Kristensen believed inserting at a position of tactical advantage was the best option. Not wanting to leave their brothers, the SEAL team commander hatched a plan with the Night Stalkers to insert higher up on the ridgeline and fight their way down to the crash site so Turbine 34 could fly back to Jalalabad, pick up as many SEALs as he could, and fly back to reinforce the eight SEALs. Turbine 34 started taking heavy gunfire from unseen fighters below. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. The Night Stalkers flew back to their newly forged landing zone the following night. The weather was turning bad again as they offloaded Marines to assist with security. Doc's platoon was alerted . Assigned to replace Eicher as senior flight lead, he was trying to learn as much as he could before hopping into an aircraft and joining the mission. The JSOC troops, along with their newly arrived reinforcements, went to work recovering those killed in action as well as sensitive equipment that could not fall into enemy hands. Smith said he saw a line of armored vehicles full of troops. Im glad youre here because I am spent, Eicher told him. The fallen Night Stalkers of the 160th SOAR included: Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature, Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach. Drop us on the high ground, and well make our way to our swim buddies, Kristensen told Brady. When I met him there on the ground in Jalalabad, Graham was fairly shaken to say the least, Brady recalled. It means you cant drift any direction without crashing.. Eric Bana plays Erik Kristensen in "Lone Survivor," 2013. The two Apaches had arrived on station, drawing heavy gunfire, but nonetheless giving Turbine 34s crew back in the operations center a good look at the crash site. So the enemy is one factor, but the terrain and weather are now a huge factor, and theyre starting to overtake the enemy in terms of danger to the force, Brady said. He would have been on that bird were it not for the last-minute change. When Turbine 33 was shot down, they received orders to fly back along with Turbine 34 and the Apache gunships until the next phase of the mission was developed. Receiving the transmission, Brady couldnt believe it. One by one, the Rangers and SEALs loaded the fallen onto the Chinooks and headed back to Bagram with their brothers. They shared a laugh as they loaded up for the flight back to Bagram. He told Reich pushing the mission back would allow Shah to continue his terrorist activities, likely leading to the death of locals and US military in the area. The lone C-17 aircraft lumbered through the sky after departing Germany, a necessary stop on the way back to the United States. Joshua Skovlund has covered the 75th anniversary of D-Day in France, multinational military exercises in Germany, and civil unrest during the 2020 riots in Minneapolis that followed the death of George Floyd. Based on the non-fiction book by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson, the acclaimed, 2013 American biographical military action movie Lone Survivor dramatizes the US Navy SEALs counter-insurgent mission Operation Red Wings which took place on Jun. He was such a total goofball," remembered his friend Ismay, who graduated the academy a few years later and whose older brother served as a SEAL with Kristensen. One of Bradys soldiers in the operations center was asking him a question, but Brady was momentarily frozen with shock. A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from 1-228th Aviation Regiment conducting hoist operations. Brooks also described the difficulty of navigating the mountain terrain and scrambles up hillsides covered in loose rocky scree as well as dramatic weather changes. 2023 Getty Images. "Leave No Man Behind" begins with Brooks' decision to enlist and his life as a young Ranger, the good and the bad. He didnt think much of it at the time, but many years later he found out a new platoon leader came into their company within the 160th and was responsible for those Black Hawks. . It just didnt look good.. Photo courtesy of Matt Rogie. "From a loyalty standpoint, he said he trained those guys and he was going.". He and Eicher hurried back to the operations center. Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell was the only survivor from the initial four-man SEAL reconnaissance element. Smith said everyone on the Chinook was angry. A lot of guys really wanted to stay on the mission, recalled Chief Warrant Officer 3 Tim Graham, one of the pilots on Turbine 34. Kristensen, 33, was portrayed in the film by Australian actor Eric Bana in a relatively small part. Even after a decade, his only child's loss "is still a very raw thing. Smith said he saw a line of armored vehicles full of troops. "Erik did what any SEAL would do: go help SEALs in trouble," Navy Capt. "With my experience with TWA 800, I knew what an aircraft crash does to people. For his actions, Kristensen, who was on his first major combat deployment in Afghanistan, earned the Bronze Star with "V" (Valor) device. Back in the operations center, leaders were busy trying to figure out the SEALs' last known location and calculating how many soldiers each helicopter could fly with. Grahams aircraft pulled off to the right to circle around and insert their payload of SEALs after Turbine 33 moved off to allow their entrance. At Jalalabad, Brady was approached by SEAL Commander Erik Kristensen in the command operations center. Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, Long Island, also was killed in action and received a posthumous Medal of Honor from President George W. Bush. Hoisting a man at that altitude on that kind of terrain at night is a dangerous operation. Explosives were used to chop down trees due to width of the trees being too big for chainsaws. They were exhausted and angry with the mistake the US Air Force had made when they allowed Space-A seating to be filled on this leg of the flight home. As the lead aircraft descended, it became clear the LZ was on a steep slope of the mountain, making descent difficult due to the front rotors approaching the mountainside faster than the rear of the aircraft. Upload media. The Night Stalkers job was to insert the SEALs on a ridgeline where the terrain left few options for landing zones. And that's what happened here. They ascended and flew back to Jalalabad to link up with another group of SEALs and stand by as a quick-reaction force (QRF) in case the SR team was compromised. Throughout the mission, as his unit patrolled along exposed mountainsides and ravines, Brooks described the feeling that he and his unit could be ambushed at any moment. The Afghanistan mountains and forest from the valley where soldiers searched for the remains of the three SEALs who were killed in action. The back of the aircraft contained the flag-draped coffins of 16 great Americans: the fallen Night Stalkers and SEALs from Turbine 33. The fact that the task unit commander had personally led the mission with seven other highly experienced SEAL operators in broad daylight to rescue Murphy's team and kill Shah -- the leader of the "Mountain Tigers" local militia who Murphy had been sent to locate on the Pakistan border -- didn't surprise those who knew Kristensen.
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