Navy SEAL Tells of Tragedy and Triumph in Afghanistan

Human Events, Nov 24, 2008 by Roberts, James C

Amazing Story Will Make Great Movie Navy SEAL Tells of Tragedy and Triumph in Afghanistan Lone Survivor By Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson Little Brown 390 Pp. $24.99

BY JAMES C. ROBERTS

The American military's legacy of valor and sacrifice lives on in the ranks of our active duty personnel today. In fact the quality of the all-volunteer forces that protect America today is probably the best in our country's history. Examples of heroism abound among those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The bad news is that most of the American people don't know this. With some notable exceptions, the "mainstream" media have largely ignored the stories of valor and self-sacrifice that have come out of the war against terrorism in the last seven years.

One of the heroes of that war is Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, a recipient of the Navy Cross, the nation's second-highest award for valor, In Lone Survivor, Luttrell has written a riveting account of his experiences.

The title reflects the fact that Luttrell was the only member of his four-man SEAL team to survive a battle with Taliban forces in the mountains of Afghanistan.

The first half of the book, which details Luttrell's upbringing and SEAL training, is almost as compelling as the description of the battle and its aftermath. The Navy SEALs are universally considered the toughest of all the military's special forces, and Luttrell's account of the weeks of relentless training is stunning. The trainees were made to swim and pilot rubber boats in the cold waters of the Pacific for hours and to crawl for miles wet and frozen through the sand. The dry-land training in the mountains and deserts of California was equally rigorous.

The SEALs also had to become the functional equivalent of medics, learning 315 medical terms and becoming proficient in first aid and able to master simple surgical procedures. Luttrell also went through intensive language training, learning to speak Pashtun, the predominant dialect in Afghanistan.

Hypothermia, sleep deprivation, dehydration, exhaustion and even disorientation were constant companions. (In one case, Luttrell lost consciousness and had to be hospitalized). Given all this, it is a wonder that anyone survived the SEAL training and, in truth, most volunteers (all of whom were in excellent shape) did not make it through. Of the 180 who began training with Luttrell, only 30 endured to become SEALs.

Once on active duty, Luttrell saw combat during a deployment to Iraq and was then ordered with his unit to Afghanistan. On June 27, 2005, Luttrell and the three other men of SEAL Team 10 were dropped by helicopter high in the mountains of Southern Afghanistan to locate the position of a powerful Taliban leader named Ben Shar- mak. Almost immediately, the team came across a group of goat herders whom they apprehended. A debate ensued about whether to kill the goat herders or to let them go, with the virtual certainty that they would inform the Taliban.

Their fateful decision was to let them go-a decision based partly on the fear that if the American media discovered that the SEALs had killed unarmed goat herders, the military would be pressured to prosecute the U.S. troops involved.

As the men feared, they were soon attacked by the Taliban. Facing a force of about 200, the SEAL team took refuge in a boulder-strewn pine grove. A fierce battle took place, lasting several hours. The SEALs killed several dozen enemy fighters, but in the end they were overwhelmed by superior numbers and all three of Luttrell's teammates were killed. Luttrell's commanding officer. Navy Lt. Michael Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his leadership in the battle.

Seriously wounded, Luttrell escaped by tumbling down a steep mountainside to the valley below and then crawling several miles before being rescued by Pashtun tribesmen. Speaking Pashtun, Luttrell convinced the tribesmen that he was a doctor. They resolved to protect him and did so for a week, despite being encircled by increasingly threatening Taliban forces.

Then, under cover of darkness, the villagers helped Luttrell to escape and he was rescued by American forces. Luttrell's is a harrowing, inspiring story and he has sold the movie rights to the book to a major Hollywood studio. Luttrell retained the right to select the producer, director and leading actors, and is determined that the film will portray a positive image of American troops and our mission in the war against terrorism.

If he succeeds, this will be a first. Although there have been a number of antiwar movies made-all of them dismal box office failures-remarkably, there has not yet been a pro-mission, pro-troops film about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This incredible situation has led to speculation that Lone Survivor will be one of the biggest box office successes of 2009. Speculation about the movie aside, there is no doubt that the book is one of the best accounts of its kind ever written.

Mr. Roberts, President of Radio America, was executive director of the American Conservative Union from 1974 to 1977.