Four Navy Seals set out on Operation Red Wings in June 2005 to neutralize a ranking al-Qaeda operative in the mountains of Afghanistan. Only one returned, saying no different training or equipment could have helped the day the team was ambushed by Taliban fighters.
“On the mountain that day, we didn’t do anything that would warrant a change in our training. It was bad…dynamic and difficult,” Marcus Luttrell told Defense Daily
in a recent interview. With the training they had,” we fought as hard as we could.”
The team was outnumbered, and despite having Multiband Inter/Intra Team Radio and satellite phone, communications were sporadic and poor.
Photo: U.S. Navy
True to the U.S. military belief that no one will be left behind, trying to get to the team in the immediate aftermath of the ambush a quick reaction force CH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying SEALS and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment “Nightstalkers” was shot down by an RPG and 19 were killed.
Severely wounded, Luttrell crawled some seven miles where he was found, taken in and protected by a Pashtun family and village. Luttrell was back in American hands six days later.
Luttrell sat down with Army Rangers and others to provide an After Action Report (AAR). He did make some recommendations that could have affected future SEAL teams and missions, but “whether they implemented all that into the Teams, I don’t have the answer,” he said.
Luttrell suffered a broken back, a gunshot and shrapnel wounds, and a number of fractures, injuries that caused multiple surgeries and still trouble him. A great help is a white Labrador service dog, “Mr. Rigby,” who is a steady and calming presence and today a member of the his family.
Trained as a hospital corpsman, Luttrell said “I keep up with it. I enjoy medicine.” He had aspirations to become a doctor, but said as he got older, got married and had children, his focus changed.
Recovering from Operation Red Wings, he joined SEAL Team 5 in Iraq for one more tour–six months in combat in Ramadi.
Medically retired in 2007, Luttrell wrote about Operation Red Wings, the story of the sacrifice of the SEAL Team 10 men and his ordeal in the book, “Lone Survivor.”
“I wanted to tell the story, the point was to immortalize my teammates–everything is still with me,” he said. He has said before he felt he died on the mountain with the team.
In 2013, the movie, Lone Survivor, based on the book and starring Mark Wahlberg, was released. Luttrell consulted and trained actors, and can be seen in some scenes.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment [CCZ] June 3 released the Blu-Ray/DVD pack.
While not offering specific advice to those who aspire to join the military, Luttrell said he’d advise joining the Air Force–and he wasn’t joking.
Becoming a SEAL is “not fun, it’s hard, you can get hurt, and it’s painful,” he said. You can be as strong as you want, be “an animal and push through anything,” but the mental capacity is key. SEAL training honed his ability to focus, he added.
Not one to sit idle, in 2010 Luttrell created the Houston-based Lone Survivor Foundation to find ways to optimize recovery and healing of American wounded service members and their families. He also wrote another book, Service: A Navy SEAL at War, in 2012.
Luttrell received the Navy Cross and Purple Heart after Operation Redwings. Teammates Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class (SEAL) Danny Dietz and Sonar Technician (Surface) 2nd Class (SEAL) Matthew Axelson received the Navy Cross posthumously. Team Leader Navy Lt. Michael Murphy received the Medal of Honor–the first Navy member to receive the award since Vietnam. He also received the Silver Star and Purple Heart.
The al Qaeda operative the team was after was killed in 2008 in a shootout with Pakistani police.
Luttrell currently is married, with a son named Axe–after Matthew Axelson–and a daughter.
The takeaway from Marcus Luttrell: “Never quit when things get tough–hard work and perseverance make it through.”