The JOC had been in close communication with the High Angle Rescue Team and had passed along all the necessary instructions for the extraction, as well as stressing the time-sensitive nature of the operation. The quicker it was executed, the better. As Spanky flew top cover, Skinny swooped in toward the ravine. The PJs had the bodies prepped and ready at the LZ. Code-named Firebird HLZ, it was basically just a small clearing in the 40- to 50-foot-tall trees on the steep mountainside.
Even before reaching the LZ, the crew was already lowering the aircraft’s hoist, with a Stokes litter at the end of it. They timed the lowering and the approach so that the hoist was at full extension the moment the helicopter came to a hover.
The PJs on the ground were ready and waiting. As soon as the Stokes litter came down, they unhooked it and loaded both bodies into it. It had been decided that doing so would both reduce the weight the aircraft would have to fly with and reduce the time involved in loading the bodies. As soon as the remains were secured on the litter, the PJs hooked it back up to the hoist and signaled to Skinny that he was good to go. Skinny pulled off from the mountainside and started back to Bagram.
The helicopter had been in an actual hover for only about 1 minute and 15 seconds.
As the Pave Hawks flew away from the mountain and back toward Bagram, the crew raised the hoist and brought the bodies of the two SEALs aboard. One of the crew had thought to bring two American flags, which were draped over the bodies once they were secured inside the helicopter.
Once on the ground at Bagram, the helicopters were met by SOF personnel, including the CRO. The CRO helped carry both bodies, now in flag-draped body bags, to the Bagram morgue. It was the least he could do for two more brothers. However, there was still one left. Matthew Axelson still had to be found.
Shortly after returning to the JOC, the CRO was approached by a man he didn’t recognize. The man told him that the president wanted to know whether the body of Murphy or Dietz had been mutilated in any way. Doubtless the thought of the mutilated bodies of Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu in 1993 was on the president’s mind at the time.
The CRO was rather nonplussed at the question; he still had one more missing SEAL to find. He replied, “The injuries were consistent with normal combat operations.” The man went to the phone nearby in the JOC and made a phone call, relaying the CRO’s words. The CRO forgot about it and got back to work.
Day 13: July 10
The Rangers had been scouring the mountains for over a week. The heat and altitude had taken their toll, with more than one Ranger having to be medevaced as a heat casualty, and many more needing to use IVs to recover the fluids they had lost hiking over the mountains with full combat loads. One had been knocked unconscious by a branch broken off by a descending resupply bundle. No matter how bad the conditions were, and how worn out the men were, they kept up the search. That was the mission, and they’d stay until the mission was accomplished.
Having found expended 5.56 mm casings left over from the firefight with Ahmad Shah’s fighters, the Rangers knew they were in the right area. Still hoping that the SEALs might be alive, a platoon set up an overwatch in a stone house on the mountainside, looking for any sign of the missing SEALs. Others continued combing the mountainside.
Eventually, the Rangers were joined by members from SEAL Team 10. The Rangers hadn’t known the SEALs were out there, and in fact, the CRO had kept them back at Bagram while they chafed to go out and search for their brothers. He needed them on-site if and when the missing operators were found, to assist in the repatriation and recovery process. Having familiar faces nearby helps the mental recovery of a man who has been cut off and alone behind enemy lines. The CRO needed the SEALs to be ready to help their brothers make the transition back, even more so as the days continued to drag on. He did not know they were out in the AO and still does not know who gave them the go-ahead to launch to help the search. Even after that long, the lines of communication were still blurred.
The SEALs told the Rangers that they had been informed by a local that, for some money, he would show them where a body was. They needed the Rangers’ help to provide security and move the body to where it could be more readily recovered. The Rangers readily agreed, and half the platoon accompanied the SEALs, while the other half remained behind to hold security.
They moved down the mountain and found the body of Matthew Axelson. He had apparently moved some distance away from the fight before he died, in spite of his wounds. There’s been talk about Axelson being alive for a short duration after the initial firefight, and there is no doubt that he traveled some distance and was still alive for some time. One of the U.S. Army Ranger battalion medics who recovered the body commented on how amazed he was that Matthew had covered any ground at all. His head injuries were so extensive that, according to witnesses with a medical background, he wouldn’t have survived if he had landed on the operating table. While we can offer no substantial evidence as to the actual distance traveled by Matthew after he broke contact, nor can we speculate further about his injuries, one thing remains clear: It’s a testament to his character and his “never quit” mentality that he covered any ground at all.
The SEALs insisted that they would carry Axe’s body. He was their brother; it was only fitting. They got him out of the more mountainous terrain to where a helicopter could come pick them up.
The Rangers suffered some loss of morale at that point, as the only one of the SEALs they had found was dead. Some of them did not know that Murphy’s and Dietz’s bodies had been picked up already, so they still held out some hope that all the SEALs were still alive and hiding in the mountains. Finding Axelson’s body took away some of that hope. Not long after, they were told about the earlier recoveries and informed that the mission was over.
The HH-60s departed Bagram at 1715Z and reached the LZ at 1845Z. This pickup was much simpler than the effort to extract Murphy’s and Dietz’s remains and went without incident. By 2015Z, the helos were back at Bagram.
The helicopter carrying Axelson’s body taxied to 100 yards from the Mortuary Affairs building on Bagram Airfield, as was standard. Again the CRO met the bird, and he lent a hand carrying Axelson’s body to the morgue, just as he had with Murphy and Dietz. The crew had once again brought an American flag to drape the body bag.
Because the base was still under threat from Taliban indirect fire, Bagram’s runway lights were kept dim, illuminating only a small area. As the CRO and the SEALs carried Axelson’s body to the morgue, figures loomed out of the dark.
SOF personnel had lined the 100 yards between the aircraft and the morgue. Most were invisible in the darkness until the bearers were right on top of them. As the body passed, each man came to attention and saluted, before disappearing back into the dark as the body moved toward Mortuary Affairs.
This show of respect hadn’t happened before. It only occurred when Axelson returned. In a way, it was a note of closure. The CRO would later say, “It almost made me feel as if a higher power was saying, ‘Welcome home, it’s over.’”
Author’s Note
This account is as accurate as I could make it, 7,000 miles away and eight years after the fact. Sources differed in their recollections, particularly about timelines. Not having been there, I have had to piece together the story as best I could.
There has been a great deal of controversy about Marcus Luttrell’s account in Lone Survivor. People who were not there have called his account into question, even calling him a liar. Some have even attempted to say, beyond all logic, that Ahmad Shah only had eight to ten fighters. This smacks of saying anything to puff up their own credentials and discredit the one man who lived to tell what happened on that mountain.
I found a few discrepancies in Marcus’s account, particularly when it came to dates and times. While this might be an indictment to some, there is a fact that needs to be considered.
I went through s
everal firefights as a Recon Marine, both in Iraq and Afghanistan. Afterward, there was a lengthy team debrief, where we attempted to piece together exactly what had happened. No two of us remembered it the same way; it was a process of putting together a puzzle made up of fragmented individual memories. Adrenaline has a way of scrambling short-term memory, and we were doing this the day after the fight, in which none of us had taken a scratch.
Now consider Marcus’s situation. He had been shot, fallen off a mountain, and seen three of his best friends die. That is a level of stress that most people never have to face. That some of the details may have become uncertain in his mind is not only to be expected, it is natural.
What is unconscionable is that those who were not there attempt to tear down the man who was, in order to promote themselves. They know no better than Marcus what happened on that mountain. Attacking him based on supposition or a couple of Taliban videos they watched later will not bring back the dead, but only heaps dishonor on themselves.
There is a long-held truth in the military, although it has often been ignored in this age of satellite communications and drone overwatch. That truth is “Always listen to the man on the ground.” Marcus was the man on the ground. While some of his timelines might be corrected by those who had better record-keeping capability at the time, we should follow that hard-won wisdom and listen to the man on the ground.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter Nealen stepped on the yellow footprints at MCRD San Diego in 2003. A year and a half later he began training to be a Reconnaissance Marine. After graduating the Basic Reconnaissance Course, he deployed twice to Iraq as a Recon Marine with Bravo Company, 1st Recon Battalion, before moving on to what was to become the reconstituted Force Recon Company, I Marine Expeditionary Force. By the time he finished his active service, he had qualified as a Combatant Diver, Navy/Marine Corps Parachutist, Marine Scout/Sniper, Scout/Sniper Team Leader, and Combat Tracker. He is now a Tactical Tracking Instructor, a freelance writer and contributor for SOFREP.com, and the author of the thrillers Task Force Desperate and Hunting in the Shadows.
OPERATION RED WINGS. Copyright © 2013 by SOFREP, INC. Foreword copyright © 2013 by Brandon Webb. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover art by Lisa Marie Pompilio
e-ISBN 9781466855533
First Edition: December 2013
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