Great episode!. We knew what we were coming for. An event of statement in a narrative that in miniature suggests a larger event that comes later. The most important reason why the Taliban didn't attack? Joe Rogan fans were left puzzled after a recent podcast episode with former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell ended abruptly when the war hero who inspired the movie "Lone Survivor . My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. Marcus Luttrell. But it was not long before we began to hear of an out?t called al Qaeda in Iraq, a malicious terrorist group trying to cause mayhem at every conceivable opportunity, led by the deranged Jordanian killer Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (now deceased). The horror and the heroism of that day will be recounted in the film version of a book by the one SEAL who made it out alive, Marcus Luttrells Lone Survivor, which opens Friday. They failed. Operation Red Wings (often incorrectly referred to as Operation Redwing or Operation Red Wing), informally referred to as the Battle of Abbas Ghar, was a joint military operation conducted by the United States in the Pech District of Kunar Province, Afghanistan.It was carried out from late-June to mid-July 2005 on the slopes of a mountain named Sawtalo Sar, situated approximately 20 miles (32 . So if you're feeling froggy, then you better jump, because this frogman's been there, done that and is going back for more. The accepted opinion was that Saddam had a mobile spinning program which could not easily be found, and in fact could be either lost and buried in the desert or alternatively driven across the border into Syria or even Jordan. Why did we have to put it that way instead of just shooting him once and being done with it? Fuck. When the team is spotted, it's a fight for survival as the four try to escape and make it home. Sign In. On the same day I arrived, U.S. Marines took Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, and a few hours later the Pentagon announced that major combat had concluded. So we jocked up and combed the deep, clear waters of that lake for about a week, every inch of it. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. If the public insists it has the right to know, which I very much doubt, perhaps the people should go and face for themselves armed terrorists hell-bent on killing every single American they can. Marcus was found by the villagers at this location. The politicians have chosen to send us into battle, and that's our trade. In battle, he held his own and didn't get ruffled, which was extremely invaluable since he handled the radio. As the primary communications operator, I had Shane as my number two. James Suh. That's what the army does, everything the same way. Many of those that start do not make it through and ring a bell to signal their departure. He was a super photographer and a skilled mechanic and engineer; he'd single-handedly restored and customized two old Volkswagen Bugs. Much has been made of the accuracy of Lone Survivor, which has been widely praised for its realism and even named one of the most realistic war movies of all time. To provide much of its authenticity, writer-director Peter Berg worked closely with Marcus Luttrell, the Navy SEAL played by Mark Wahlberg in the film, and the author of the memoir of the same name. A second operation recovered all 16 bodies, as well as those of Luttrells team bringing the body count to 19. The rugged part of the Omani coast I mentioned earlier is around the point of land at Ras Musandam, with its deep fjords. It was enormous, a big, cavernous hockey duffel bag, the kind carried by his favorite team, the New York Rangers. Joe Rogan. In the SEALs, it's always your teammates. Teachers and parents! Luttrell is saved at the last minute by the local villagers, who fire off their AK-47s to threaten the attackers. Saddam was deposed by the U.S. and its allies during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The other scene where Danny Dietz began to panic after seeing his shot hand was also powerful since it showed a warrior going into a state of shock despite being trained to overcome any mental obstacle. A Navy SEAL who fights in Iraq and Afghanistan, Luttrell is involved in Operation Redwing, the ill-fated SEAL mission in which Luttrell and read analysis of Marcus Luttrell. I never had to tell him anything. And that grade of intelligence is often hard-won. Tells the harrowing story of a soldier and his team out on a mission in which only one survives. Why? Marcus Luttrell was born in Houston, Texas, on November 7, 1975. In many ways Dan was tough on everyone. None of us were especially sad to leave Bahrain, which was the ?rst place in the Middle East where oil was discovered. No exceptions. But not for SEALs. This landlocked country is where the SEAL members were dropped off. But if the six of us were inserted into some hellhole of a battleground, soaking wet, freezing cold, wounded, trapped, outnumbered, ?ghting for our lives, you would not hear one solitary word of complaint. God alone understood those to whom that made sense. Business class this wasn't. Move it!" Luttrell may have been the firefight's lone survivor, but he hardly emerged unscathed. Cheers boys.". According to Victory Point author Ed Darack, Ahmad Shah was not a member of al Qaeda and had never met Osama bin Laden prior to Operation Red Wings. Despite writer-director Peter Bergs warning that the picture would be graphic, they have seen an advance screening. We always made certain the blast was aimed inward, just in case someone was waiting behind the door with an AK-47. The Iranian navy does its exercises down there, operating out of their main base at Bandar Abbas and also farther down the coast, at their increasingly active submarine base. So Luttrell began training under him when he was just 14. Excerpted from LONE SURVIVOR: . Luttrell told Rogan, I havent seen it, I havent watched it all the way through. Its an honor to do that, to be a part of that. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. It was gut wrenching to hear Marcus Luttrell talk about it. For money. Sometimes, with a particularly valuable terrorist leader, we might go in and get him, trying to yank him out of there alive. Actually he accorded President Bush the highest accolade, the gold-plated Congressional Medal of Honor awarded by the surf gods: He's a real dude, man, a real dude. But that would have taken us over the dubious southern uplands of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we do not do that. We didn't mind this, but we didn't love it either. If they let the locals go, they could report the Americans to the Taliban or to the ACM. You want those guys in that house down the street." . Died while conducting combat operations, when the MH-47 helicopter he was aboard on a rescue mission to save four fellow embattled SEALs, crashed in eastern Afghanistan. We'd go into some house, grab the guy we believed was the ringleader, and march him outside into the street. Scott: . The ___________ is a four-engine turboprop aircraft that is capable of taking off and landing from short runways. SEALs are masters of strategy, professional marksmen with ri?es, artists with machine guns, and, if necessary, pretty handy with knives. They live together in an apartment in Coronado, CA and have a close relationship. According to Luttrell, they decided to set the goat herders free. He was very intelligent and . In response to these killings, a United States Navy SEALs unit is ordered to execute a counter-insurgent mission to capture Shah. In Benicia, James older sister, Claudia Suh Bown, was on her way to work when she heard a news report about the crash of a special operations helicopter in Afghanistan, but she convinced herself it didnt involve her brother. Senior ______________ was a 37-year-old man who was married and had seven children. As a child, he already knew what he wanted - to become a Navy SEAL, a member of the elite special operations unit that was the cream of the US military. 2023 JustWatch - All external content remains the property of the rightful owner. However, one point was crystalline clear, at least to the six SEALs in that rumbling Hercules high above the Arabian desert. But these broad brushstrokes are designed to show that the rules of engagement are a clear and present danger, frightening young soldiers, who have been placed in harm's way by their government, into believing they may be charged with murder if they defend themselves too vigorously. LONE SURVIVOR: THE EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF OPERATION REDWING AND THE LOST HEROES OF SEAL TEAM. Sometimes names of other ringleaders. US sending bridge-launchers in next Ukraine aid package, Analysis: N. Koreas food shortage is about to get worse. "That went really well, didn't it?" As iCasualties.org shows, the U.S. did not lose 20 Marines in the week before Operation Red Wings. I remember him giving his very beautiful girlfriend Heather a gift-wrapped traf?c cone for her birthday. On May 1, 2003, President Bush announced the military phase of the war was over. Rental costs. Lone Survivor Vocabulary & Cast of Characters Learn with flashcards, games, and more for free. Even the president of the United States was a dude, according to him. The trouble was, the places often looked normal. Marcus Luttrell speeches afterLone Survivor: 200 fighters. It wasn't long before Ting was cast for the role of Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class, James Suh, in "Lone Survivor" (2014). Operation Red Wings became a deadly mission for four US Navy SEALs in Afghanistan. We usually solved that with a well-aimed hand grenade. But we never felt at home there, and somehow as we climbed into the dark skies, we felt we were leaving behind all that was god-awful in the northern reaches of the gulf and embarking on a brand-new mission, one that we understood. We do what's necessary. The Afghan spoke no English while Luttrells Pashtun was very basic, but he understood that Khan wanted to help. My sons in the Navy, she recalls. and he came straight toward me, hit me with the full force of his body, and the pair of us rolled into the middle of the street. This was payback time for the World Trade Center. In the film, Luttrell removes a bullet from his leg. According to Luttrells account dramatized in vivid, often bloody, detail in the movie in the early hours of the operation, he, Axelson, Dietz and Murphy were still waiting for daylight when three goat herders stumbled upon their location. If I told that story to any SEAL in our platoon, withheld the name, and then asked who said it, everyone would guess Mikey. Gut wrenching scene in a heartbreaking, yet pride inducing film. Gulabs father went to the American base, which was how the SEAL entirely. Like a much younger Mike Murphy, he too was a virtuoso at the smart-a** remark and, as you would expect, an outstanding frogman. Shane was as good on a computer as anyone at the base. James Suh _____was 28-years-old. The SEALs fled into a gulch and tried to contact their base, first via radio, then with their satellite phone. Cut that in half and then slam the two pieces together by high explosive in a con?ned steel space, like a rocket or a bomb, and right there it's Hiroshima all over again. He loved reading and was an experienced soldier. In the book, the village elder walks to Asadabad to alert the military to Luttrells presence, but thats not how the military actually found him. I promise you, every insurgent, freedom ?ghter, and stray gunman in Iraq who we arrested knew the ropes, knew that the way out was to announce he had been tortured by the Americans, ill treated, or prevented from reading the Koran or eating his breakfast or watching the television. We were coming after the guys who did it. It all causes your senses to go up tenfold, as you move quietly, stealthily through the shadows, using the dead space, the areas into which your enemy cannot see. Even if we had not used the ?ash-crashes, they'd wake up real quick to face a group of big masked men, their machine guns leveled, shouting, daring anyone to make a move. No mistakes. A SEAL teammate described the intellectually curious and humorous sides of Suh: He was perpetually inquisitive and always had a question to ask, as well as a dry sense of humor that made everybody laugh. Suh volunteered for the mission to rescue four SEALs trapped by insurgent fire, including BUD/S classmate Matthew Axelson. Those guys couldn't even spell it. This first appeared in The Havok Journal on March 23, 2014. The most difficult moment, Donna says, came at the end, when images of the real men who fought and died that day appear on the screen, including video footage of Matthew Axelsons wedding. Leave him there till he does?". First of all, make him drop his gun and get his a** on the ground. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. They may not have been the precise same guys who planned 9/11. Axe was a tall (6'4"), quiet man who was very smart. As part of the mission, a four-man SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team is tasked with locating Shah. _______________ in charge of the training camp and the instructors during Hell Week. But the blasts grew bigger and the lumps of concrete from the building started to rain down on us. Those mountains up in the northeast, the western end of the mighty range of the Hindu Kush, were the very same mountains where the Taliban had sheltered the lunatics of al Qaeda, shielded the crazed followers of Osama bin Laden while they plotted the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11. Chinook Pilot #1. Never Do that, do this. In general terms, we believe there are very few of the world's problems we could not solve with high explosive or a well-aimed bullet. Thus we often found ourselves in what looked like respectable streets but which were in fact piles of rubble, perfect hiding places for insurgents or even Sunni Muslim terrorists still ?ghting for their erstwhile leader. In our platoon, James was right up there with Axe and Shane as a SEAL of high intelligence and supreme reliability under ?re. (This is when they settle down for tea. He used them in Halabja, right? The whole ordeal takes about six hours, Luttrell explains, and his life is never in danger. I'd still shoot the sonofabitch. This was payback time for the World Trade Center. American-supported Afghan president during much of the Bush Presidency. Soon, the movie Lone Survivor will be out and the stories of these men will be told again. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. If I ever rounded a mountainside in Afghanistan and came face to face with Osama bin Laden, the man who masterminded the vicious, unprovoked attack on my country, killing 2,752 innocent American civilians in New York on 9/11, I'd shoot him dead, in cold blood. Our primary mission was special surveillance and reconnaissance, photographing hot spots and danger areas using unbelievable photographic lenses. The way the team in the helicopter is getting so excited and the music is swelling and they arrive at the scene only to get blown up was particularly traumatizing. Pashtunwali is practiced by Pashtuns in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and by Pashtun refugees around the world. We loaded and stowed our essential equipment: heavy weaps (machine guns), M4 ri?es, SIG-Sauer 9mm pistols, pigstickers (combat knives), ammunition belts, grenades, medical and communication gear. That Iraqi president was one wily devil, ducking and diving between his thirteen palaces, evading capture, making tape recordings, urging the dregs of his armed forces to keep killing us, encouraging the insurgents to continue the war against the great Satan (that's us). No one ever thought he did. It had its history, and we often had fun in the local markets bargaining with local merchants for everything. I forget the character's name, the blond kid from The Hunger Games, all I could think of were his parents getting that call. Marcus Luttrell was born on November 7, 1975 in Houston, Texas. Why the hell don't you take a shower? There was SGT2 Matthew Gene Axelson, not yet thirty, a petty of?cer from California, married to Cindy, devoted to her and to his parents, Cordell and Donna, and to his brother, Jeff. It wasn't until the very end, when the photos of the real soldiers were shown that I felt genuine emotion. He was an incredible man. For example, Luttrell didnt flatline, Shah probably wasnt a member of al Qaeda, and the final battle depicted in the film never happened. However, from the standpoint of the U.S. combat soldier, Ranger, SEAL, Green Beret, or whatever, those ROE represent a very serious conundrum. The result was a special bond of friendship between two men from different worlds but one that wouldnt survive Hollywood. He was 29. We understand we must obey them because they happen to come under the laws of the country we are sworn to serve. If a reprimand was due, he accepted the blame. Fortunately, the SEALs found Shahs men. This kind of close-quarter recon is the most dangerous job of all. Sitting opposite me in the Hercules was Senior Chief Daniel Richard Healy, another awesome Navy SEAL, six foot three, thirty-seven, married to Norminda, father of seven children. As a gamer and a vet, that's a fantastic way to describe it. That included Solomon Suh, a single dad who raised his son James, then moved with him to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where James was stationed after joining the SEALs, the Navy's elite commando. Axelsons body was eventually found a mile from his comrades, and based on the number of ammunition magazines he carried, the after-action report by the Navy suggests he kept fighting after being wounded multiple times. Since childhood, he dreamed of becoming a SEAL, and at the age . Somewhere. Increasing the size of the enemy that day makes for a much better story. What can Chernobyls dogs teach us about survival? Despite all our efforts, the suicide bombers just continued, young Iraqis convinced by the teachings of the extremist ayatollahs that the murder of their perceived enemies would open the gateway to paradise for them - that the three trumpets would sound and they would cross the bridge into the arms of Allah and everlasting happiness. This site is where Mike and Jeff were buried. Forty-eight hours later, on April 17, U.S. forces captured Saddam's half brother the infamous Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti. Contact Bruce Newman at 408-920-5004. When word came on July 4, 2005, that the bodies of fellow SEALs Danny Dietz and Mike Murphy had been recovered, but that her son was still missing, Donna Axelson leaned on her strong religious faith to remain hopeful. For people wondering why the podcast cut off abruptly after Marcus went to take a leak we decided that perhaps he had consumed a little too much to continue talking., Rogan added, in retrospect, I believe that was the correct decision. aw. Especially for times like these, when Uncle Sam's velvet glove makes way for the iron ?st of SPECWARCOM (that's Special Forces Command). What can you do to hide a worn or frayed area of a garment? Sometimes we would get an address. Our insomnia was shared like our humor. Healy. Only one would live to tell the tale, and he survived only because a local risked everything to save a stranger in need. Shane, like a lot of those beach gods, was hugely laid back. This is for real. This was the central figure's best friend in the Afghan village. Mikey was once involved in a terrible and almost fatal accident, and one of the guys asked him to explain what happened. Although these city houses were mostly two-story, Iraqis tend to sleep downstairs, all of them crowded together in the living room. Dan Healy was one hell of a Navy SEAL, a role model for everything a senior chief should be, an iron man who became a strategist and who knew his job from A to Z. I talked face to face with big Dan almost every day of my life. Far from the garden path of his home, Navy SEAL Matthew Axelson had dropped from a helicopter by rope into the mountains of eastern Afghanistan a day earlier. You're dealing with a race car here.". We never give these guys one inch of latitude. Rogan has said Spotify doesnt give a f*** and lets him pick his guests. Astern of us lay the fevered cauldrons of loathing in Iraq and nearby Kuwait, places where I had previously served. I was standing astride a bomb, directly over it, and I never even saw it. Check out what time "This Week" airs in your area. I remember feeling very sad, and it would not be for the last time. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. So they just went right back at it. Although I admit in my ?rst week in Iraq we were subject to . Currently you are able to watch "Lone Survivor" streaming on HBO Max, HBO Max Amazon Channel, DIRECTV, Cinemax Amazon Channel. Submissions should be for the purpose of informing or initiating a discussion, not just to entertain readers. Lone Survivor movie hits home with two, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Los Gatos: Hundreds still without power as Black Road repair project finishes early, Lone Survivor movie hits home with two families with Bay Area ties. "You're always bringing up that old s**t. Looking back, during our long journey in the C-130 to Afghanistan, I was more acutely aware of a growing problem which faces U.S. forces on active duty in theaters of war all over the world. The way the content is organized, Marcus Luttrell is the protagonist, narrator, and hero of, The primary doctor for the tiny Pashtun village of Sabray, Sarawa is one of the key figures in the book, and arguably the person most responsible for saving, The official police chief for the village of Sabray and, along with, Lieutenant Michael Patrick Murphy is the best friend of. He guarded his ?ock assiduously, researched every mission with complete thoroughness, gathered the intel, checked the maps, charts, photographs, all reconnaissance. One time, he and I were on a two-mile training swim, and when I ?nally hit the beach I couldn't ?nd him. However, in the room downstairs, where the Iraqis were by now in surrender mode, we'd look for the ringleader, the guy who knew where the explosives were stored, the guy who had access to the bomb-making kit or the weapons that would be aimed straight at American soldiers. Petty Officer Second Class Shane Patton , Lone Survivor. You may remember the CIA believed they had uncovered critical evidence from the satellite pictures of those enormous government trucks rolling along Iraq's highways: four of them, usually in convoy, and all big enough to house two centrifuges. We talked a lot of s*** and drank a lot of whiskey, Rogan wrote on Instagram on March 26, two days after The Joe Rogan Experience episode was released on Spotify. We needed all our skill, moving up to the corner blocks, opening ?re out there in the night as we rounded these strange, dark, foreign street junctions. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. I am a patriot; I ?ght for the U.S.A. and for my home state of Texas. Jim loved his teammates and risked his life to save them.. I can say from ?rsthand experience that those rules of engagement cost the lives of three of the ?nest U.S. Navy SEALs who have ever served. That's what we believe. It happened all the time. How about when a bunch of guys wearing colored towels around their heads and brandishing AK-47s come charging over the horizon straight toward you? The guys called him Axe, and Marcus was close to him. Did Saddam actually own the completed article, a ?nely tuned atomic bomb or missile? Rogan revealed on Instagram why the conversation with the Texas native did not continue and why theres no second part listeners were hoping for. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. Our particular unit was situated on the south side of the capital city of Manama, way up in the northeast corner of the island. Anytime. But they represent a danger to us; they undermine our con?dence on the battle?eld in the ?ght against world terror. Marcus received his Trident on January 31, 2002, then went on to communication school then __________ at Camp Pendleton. He was a responsible, natural leader. We thought that was kind of stupid, because we weren't trying to occupy anything. The primary authority on Muslim belief and practice. When asked about his version, Gulab had a different story to tell. In the week before Operation Red Wings, only 2 soldiers died in the entire country. Jesus, the noise was unbelievable. That was Shane Patton. Shahan Russell is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE. The first true automatic assault weapon; manufactured in Russia during the Cold War; widely, often illegally, traded and used in conflicts throughout the world. That's kind of why I think it's the best war movie ever made. Petty Officer _____________ wasn't even 30 yet. The guys who traveled from Bahrain with me were remarkably diverse, even by SEAL standards. Every night before our mission, one of the senior petty of?cers would say, "C'mon now, guys. It always makes me laugh when I read about "the proud freedom ?ghters in Iraq." However, while the movie recreates many of the realities of war in painstaking detail, it also diverges significantly from the real-life Operation Red Wings. By the time it was over, June 28, 2005, would become the single worst day for Naval Special Warfare forces since D-Day. This is a shoulder-fired, anti-tank weapon system that fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. We planted our own explosives in the building and then deferred to our EOD guy (explosive ordnance disposal). Dead ahead, in Afghanistan, awaited an ancient battleground where we could match our enemy, strength for strength, stealth for stealth, steel for steel. Because of the secretive culture of the SEALs, Murphy never told his family what he was doing. It was one week after the U.S. forces launched their opening bombardment against the city, trying to nail Saddam before the war really started. If there's a ? To a man, they embodied the Navys core Honor, Courage and Commitment, and took care of their teammates to the end. And what they told us was very often extremely valuable. Former American soldier and Texas resident who trains the adolescent. My twin brother, Morgan, was his best friend. In an article on OnViolence.com, Michael and Eric Cummings detail many of the creative liberties the movie takes with its portrayal of the mission. Places, countries, their populations, principal industries.