Today, we remember the valor and sacrifice of those brave Navy SEALs and Army aviators who lost their lives during Operation Red Wings, in 2005, Afghanistan. The night of the 27th of June, 4 Navy SEALs were inserted via Night Stalker helos between Sawtalo Sar and Gatigal Sar. Soon after, the mission was compromised when a group of locals inadvertently stumbled upon the SEALs' position. After determining that the locals were civilians and not combatants, the goatherders were allowed to live and the SEALs moved onward to their primary surveillance position. After close to an hour, the operators were surrounded and ambushed by their original target (Ahmad Shah) and a large group of his men. As the fire increased in volume and intensity, the operators were forced to continually fall back. Eventually, every single one of the men had been either shot, or injured terribly, but they still kept fighting on. Danny Dietz was shot multiple times in the torso area and once in the neck, Matt Axelson was also wounded similarly, but took a round to the side of his head as well, Marcus Luttrell had broken a number of bones and Mike Murphy had taken a bullet to the stomach. Nevertheless, they fought back with the ferocity expected of these elite warriors.
Outgunned and surrounded, with one operator succumbing to his injuries, Lt. Murphy made a heroic decision to use his last-resort Iridium sat-phone to attempt to place a call to base, alerting the QRF. He moved onto higher ground, so as to get a signal for the phone and exposed himself to enemy fire from all sides. He was able to get through to his CO and quickly explain the situation, then sign off. During all of this, Murphy was shot a few more times, but finally managed to drag himself back to a covered position. He was later surrounded and brutally executed by Taliban fighters in the area, and the remaining two members of the reconnaissance team, Luttrell and Axelson, both seriously wounded were hit by an RPG. Luttrell was flung out of the covered spot where he and Axe were pinned down, and tossed into a gully. He later extracted himself and was eventually recovered by locals, tortured by the Taliban, then rescued. Axe's fate was unknown till after the operation ended and recovery efforts were fully underway. Luttrell had notified the recovery team that Axe had around 3 full magazines remaining when they were separated by the RPG blast, but when the team found him, he had a single magazine left and his body was a few hundred yards away from where the RPG hit, indicating that the man continued to fight back, even after all his injuries.
Sadly, the loss of life wasn't limited to these 3 brave SEALs of the SRT. The QRF lead by LCDR Erik Kristensen, flown by Army Night Stalkers was shot down, all hands lost, when an RPG hit their Chinook.
- LT Michael P. Murphy
- STG2 (SEAL) Matthew Axelson
- GM2 (SEAL) Danny Dietz
- FCC (SEAL/SW) Jacques J. Fontan
- ITCS (SEAL) Daniel R. Healy
- LCDR Erik S. Kristensen
- ET1 (SEAL) Jeffery A. Lucas
- LT Michael M. McGreevy Jr.
- QM2 (SEAL) James E. Suh
- HM1 (SEAL) Jeffrey S. Taylor
- MM2 (SEAL) Shane E. Patton
- SSG Shamus O. Goare
- CWO3 Corey J. Goodnature
- SGT Kip A. Jacoby
- SFC Marcus V. Muralles
- MSG James W. Ponder III
- MAJ Stephen C. Reich
- SFC Michael L. Russell
- CWO4 Chris J. Scherkenbach
Gentlemen, your sacrifice will live on forever.
Thank you.
Iceman out.
