I’m from my daddy raised me he’s like
you get your butt kicked you heal up and
you go back after the guy who whipped
you until until you whip him and it’s
over and that was the one thing that was
really getting onto me is that I felt
that I had been beaten and I I did
everything I could surgeries and
everything to put myself back together
to go back over and to re-engage so I
went back over into Iraq you know six no
seven and when I’ll get my knees blown
out cause from my career so I totally
backfired but you know besides that
besides that the one lesson that I’ve
learned and it that runs you know is
predominant than SEAL Teams is our never
quit attitude it’s not that we’re better
than everybody else you know what I mean
it’s just you have to basically kill us
before we stop getting up and coming
after you that’s the way it is we’re
singing the SEAL Teams we’re not really
that good everybody else just sucks but
I’m not gonna say that yeah cuz that’s
not the truth but you know it’s just one
of those factors is just like nothing
should be able to stop you from doing
anything my whole life growing up as a
kid everyone always told me that I could
never and they were like you’d never be
a Navy SEAL you know until the time
until I graduate it’s like you won’t
make it you won’t ever make it and and
and the one thing I think about most is
like nobody knows me nobody knows you
know know anything about you you know
they see the outside what they see with
their eyes or anything but on the inside
is totally different no one can stop you
from doing anything ever if you’re
committed to yourself I got people
coming up to me sometimes and just like
you know what I could never do this or I
couldn’t do that and I just want to
you know because if you come out of the
gate telling yourself that you can’t do
something then you’re already you’re
already done all right you got to worry
about that there’s gonna be plenty of
people around everywhere telling you
can’t do something I don’t care how old
you are or what your gender is or
whatever it is it doesn’t matter if you
tell yourself you can do anything and no
matter how many times you get hit and
then wonder how many times you go down I
mean even if you’re shaking up you just
shake it off you get back up and you
come at it with everything you got
eventually you’re gonna pass it or
you’re gonna be dead if you did what’s
the big deal anyway right so that was
the one lesson I like that I learned
really well in my career was the fact
that no matter how hard I got hit just
long as I kept getting back up and going
at it that out eventually I would pass
what was throwing at me he was a Vietnam
veteran and he he just had a training
camp if you will out out on his property
and well before we got there I mean a
lot of all the older kids were going out
there he would get people ready to go
into the Special Forces so it was was it
you that was a unique experience that
was one of those things I wish I could
have quit as he didn’t when he first
started he he didn’t care about you he
didn’t like you you were more of a
nuisance to him when we first got out
there because you were behind everybody
else so you really had to I remember I
think it’s probably the first two and a
half three months I was there I was the
worst one in the bunch I was the weakest
I was the slowest
good lord he would I would pay the man I
mean he would he would lay into me he
left me to die twice that I remember and
told me he’s like I hope you die and
just walked off those 14 15 years old
when I started and then I did it all the
way till I finished you know I was 22
out of college and then even after I got
into the SEAL Teams when I would come
back off leave or something like that
I’d bring some of my teammates home with
me and we’d go over there and Billy
would work us out and try and get us
ready I mean my dad he was he was a
Yeller and a violent man and he kind of
threw it on me and my brother pretty
regularly so I can handle a whoopin yeah
and I can I can bleed just like anybody
else you know that doesn’t bother me but
it would got to a point to the to where
if I when I literally couldn’t do the
things he wanted me to do it was
affecting me mentally and emotionally
because I was just I just thought I was
weaker than everybody else I don’t like
that right I don’t like the fact that
and I’m not saying I’m a Superman or
anything like that but if I see somebody
stronger than me and something that I’m
trying to do I’m gonna work harder till
I’m stronger than they are and that
that’s what he taught us he’s like you
want to be here do you want what I have
you want this and you need to work and
you push yourself I mean there were days
where I literally would have to late
just completely sit down in the shower
just to wash my hair and I think my
mother tried to take me the hospital a
few times because I was just so beat
down and it’s like no I’m good I’ll heal
up I just got to get back in there and
and that’s what he preached you is just
every day is if you only have you’re
only here for a little while so I can
take full advantage of it
because when you just slide up to the
pearly we goes when you like when you
get up there and head and you’re
checking in he goes you can either walk
in there with a perfect pristine body
and and I’m sure they’re gonna look at
you go and you didn’t take advantage
anything I gave you he’s like my boys
Billy Wayne the opportunist it’s his
boys he goes we all get up there y’all
gonna slide in there sideways they’re
gonna go good lord
you took advantage of everything we gave
you bailing wire holding us together I
mean your parents are there to mold you
in guide you and if you don’t have that
or whatever
my brother and I molded our our
character and the way we would live our
lives as a direct opposite what my
father was so you can learn what not to
do right I don’t run a cop-out to people
as I go out my father beat me in this
job I’m a serial killer yeah my father
beat me every day and the first time I
ever got knocked down was by my dad so I
I don’t I don’t believe in that and I
don’t have anger issues
when I was working there’s different
story yeah like I’ve paid to do that but
anyway that I don’t put my I’ve never
even raised my voice my wife she’s never
seen me angry I’ve never cussed out or
anything of it she’s the most important
thing in my life sort of my kids great
and I don’t believe in that so I mean
they’re dealing with that is just to
stay focused and keep the course and
know that you’re better than that and I
mean sure anybody can cop out be like
well I had a bad I was dealt a bad hand
yeah so what everybody in his life stuff
suck it up that’s right and just you
know push forward
things that makes the training so tough
is just knowing that in the back your
head like any second now I can be gone
but whatever reason injury they don’t
like me they want whatever it is I’m out
of here and if you want something so bad
I mean you know you were literally put
on this planet to do that job and it’s
in the hands of somebody else
no matter how hard you took it I told it
first I mean I made a point to go up to
the instructors I said you’re gonna kill
me to get me out here I’m not going
anywhere they’re like well alright we’ll
try and get that done and they did so
they tried to kill me he told the
instructor that yeah I don’t know what I
was thinking I you know I was new I was
young
okay I’m beating on my chest yeah kill
me get me out of here I was a stupidest
thing I’ve ever done in my entire life I
had a lot of crosses to bear when I know
the thing about buzz training is that no
matter who you are or what kind of
athlete you are don’t they’ll find the
weakness they’ll find it and they’ll
exploit it I had plenty of them the only
thing I had going for what I got in
there is I can swim like a fish and now
where did you learn how to swim in East
Texas well my father was a collegiate
swimmer okay all that stuff so
apparently I don’t remember this but
when we were young my dad took my
brother and I by the back of our shirts
and threw us in this river slash pond
and my brother drowned and wound up in
the hospital and I somebody pulled me
out that was his way of saying sink or
swim kind of deal and look we we learned
how to swim and that’s what I was though
so you had how many people in your buds
class started the class how many people
started with buds and how many made it
164 started and ten
my brother had 254 I think and 16 made
it and you you broke your femur I did
how did that happen
it was after Hill week and we were doing
a this is evolution called the Monster
Mash it’s kind of a Huia type deal yeah
you you run six miles you come in you
jump in the ocean you swim a mile on
half you come back you write an O course
you do the 80-foot rope climb and
everything will something happened and
I’m trying to figure out what it was but
I did something to upset one of the
instructors I think and he made me carry
a car tire so I had this car tire around
my neck and I did the whole thing and I
tried to swim with it I swam out through
the surf and was swimming through the
ocean and I only made I didn’t make it
the whole whole mile I started to sink
so I towed that thing in and I came back
and I had to do the 80-foot road climb
so I put my tire back on and had water
in it and climbed to the top of the rope
with a tire yes sir when I reached up to
grab the you got to hit the top of the
i-beam that’s when you yes and I started
to slide and I fell I fell from the top
of the rope all the way down and I
landed in the sand on my feet and I
rolled over on that tire was kind of
propping me up and the instructor was
saying you want to quit you’re gonna
quit get out of here and I was like no
I’m not gonna quit and I got up on the
rope and I climbed back up well by the
time I got to the Rope because I was can
that everything was really the rostral
real slippery and wet sandy and I
crawled up again I got to the top I hit
the rope the the i-beam and I fell again
I started to slide I actually wrapped my
arm around it so I wouldn’t fall
straight down
and it just kind of degloved my forearm
and I my arm finally fell out of the
rope and I fell again when I hit the
ground I fractured my femur and my
pelvis
I just limped off on it I didn’t tell
him anything I felt that it felt like I
had pulled my groin yeah is what it felt
like and I said I’m okay you know they
surfed tortured me because I fell and
then I ran on it for another two weeks
we wouldn’t the second phase in the dive
phase and when our first four mile time
to run
i I was waiting in the back I was always
in the back but I was way back you know
yeah I think I had hit three miles at 45
minutes or something and I had it was it
was pitch black I couldn’t see and it
was still dark outside hot and also
these headlights come up no instructors
or who are you I was like it’s luttrell
yeah what are you doing back here I
think I pulled my groin and they were
like getting though an ambulance the
suburbs omelets they’re like wait a
minute
first go get wet and Sandy and I was
like all right side to go get wet sandy
down the ocean I get back in there and
take me in the hospital I get a bone
scan and I had a 13 inch vertical crack
down my femur and 11 stress fractures on
this leg seven on this one and I my my
pelvis had been cracked and they were
like we’re gonna have to roll you I was
like you can’t do that I can’t be rolled
I could handle it like no I’m sorry so
they double rolled me and when I was
there healing up I was on crutches I was
oh yeah
but I was still getting beat I mean I
would crutch up into the compound it
started be like go get in the surf so I
was laying out in the ocean and the surf
my crutches up like this it was just but
they they finally said when it was time
for me to class up again they’re like
we’re gonna send you to the hospital get
another bone scan if your femurs not
healed up then we’re gonna drop you I
said no it’s fine I’m good and some of
the instructors they had started to take
a liking to me
right I was like no I’m good and I
collect passed my class up run and I got
back into the class started and we we
got all the way to around third phase
and it got to a point to where at night
I would take a straps and frozen peas
and my bed was elevated at the foot and
I would put frozen peas from my ankles
to my to my hips and a strap and when
I’d sleep like that and then I was just
chewing the 800 milligram motrin and
they would have to my sweet mate would
have to wake me up 35 to 40 minutes
earlier for everybody else just to pick
me up so to start walking so my legs
would work and then they would carry me
up to the compound and when we do runs
they would actually push me or they one
time they tied a rope to my my belt it
pulled me through the run and I just I
would fall down and they would pick me
up the whole team think we were a small
class now so I got through it but it
wasn’t because I did it I did it as a
teammate we did it as a team if they
wouldn’t help me I couldn’t mate
I was my legs are too badly damaged I
kept showing I mean I’ve almost died in
training more times than I died
so really yes sir I just didn’t
they don’t think about it try just be
laying in the hospital and get me out of
here he’ll love me stronger every time
he held up you’re stronger
that’s what he you can just feel
yourself getting stronger when you’re
when you’ve been hurt and you’re laying
there and you’re healing up you can
actually feel your body getting stronger
and I don’t know I just kind of takes on
that super human form was like okay I’m
back let’s go
this time works talk to me about when
you were wounded in how you made it out
to crawling and all just a little bit
about that you tell us I just I wasn’t
dead horrible fight everybody’s been
killed your closest friends yeah like I
said I wasn’t dead so I wasn’t just
gonna lay there and to get out of there
keep fighting that’s what I did I just
started crawling out of there and then
they’d find me and we get into a fight
and I won I just keep crawling I’d fall
down these mountain sides and whatnot
and then get back up
crawl back on the other side and there
was a point where you could even feel
anything right from the chest down for a
while or I’ve been shot in the back and
for the second time and I rolled down
this hill and it was everything was
pretty much gone from the chest down my
arm still worked so you crawl the crawl
and then you were you were taken you
were taken and these people to the best
of their ability helped you and then we
we sent 16 people in a helicopter to
rescue you is that exactly am i correct
and then they were shot down
twelve-year-old boy shot an RPG in the
back of it blew down this guy
twelve-year-old boy
then you made it home through a long
crazy turn of events
so the injuries Marcus that you had
after Operation Red Wings not only like
I cannot imagine emotionally using
losing your family members losing people
that you were so close to words can’t
describe it but you physically what what
did you have to deal with physically
after Operation Red Wings as far as you
were shot in the back why had multiple
injures out of 11 through and throughs
through my calves and closet shrapnel
hanging out of me everywhere had broken
my back in multiple places my shoulder
been torn my knees were damaged
maxillofacial damage had bitten my
tongue in half and swallowed it on top
of everything else but I once I got back
like I said I was they had taken me down
to bare bones to nothing I was
physically weak and I had been broken so
I just laid there and Hospital healing
and I healed up had surgeries they did
the Taliban kind of destroyed this hand
so I haven’t reconstructed and then once
they put me back together I went back
over we’ve got some more and it was the
it was the coldest water and we’re most
refreshing drink of water I’d ever had
my entire life once I got into that
village but I’m still paying for it to
this day yeah but it’s such a it’s a
part of my life now I don’t even just
yeah think about it
marcasite I’m gonna talk about
commitment and and this never quit
mentality not that we’re perfect I mean
I I mess up every day so do you sirs
everybody but I believe we serve a God
who is all about commitment even though
we’ve screwed up even though we’re
fallen infallible that he is all about
commitment any honors commitment I think
in fact I don’t think I know Marcus
there are incredible benefits to never
quitting one time you said it can be
even humor looking back and going you
know I have a funny story well what
would you say are the benefits of never
quitting not just where you’ve been as a
Navy SEAL this hero but it mean just in
life to pedestrians normal people
looking at you like wow I mean I’ll
never be this guy but what don’t you
think that goes back to what you’re
saying and I’m never quitting for it
I mean I’m nobody special I don’t have
some gift that you don’t have that’s
right so never quitting something allows
you to
I guess the best way to put it in the
way to say it’s because I know what I’ve
done in my past I have a pretty good
idea what can’t stop me in the future if
something does hit me that I haven’t
experienced before then I’ll just go
down to that little gear until I
overcome
and then I just tucked that one down for
me so most of the obstacles niversity of
that face of day-to-day life was it was
just something I just I don’t even know
this another shrug off there’s something
really hard hits me then I have to go
down without a little gear to get
through it and I do it Charlie Mike
continued mission benefits as you
mentioned about commitment would be
discipline endurance vision creativity
you talk about character all day long
but if you don’t have the commitment if
you’re not committed to it
you gonna happen right I mean you have
to you have to see where you’re starting
anybody everyone can see that and you
have to know what the end game is and
whatever it is it gets thrown at you in
the middle and it’s just
Marcus through the med school
it’s just how far when you fell off the
mountain the first time
did you fall I mean you haven’t you know
how many feet you felt probably 6,000
feet down the mountain and after I’d
been shot and I engaged these three guys
who engaged me and after I had
eliminated that threat
I didn’t know what to do so I were to
grabbed a rock and I reached out as far
as I could and under a line in the sand
I was like I’m gonna crawled with that
to my feet hit it if I’m still alive
them do it again that’s what I did so
you kept you reached out nothing was
really working reached out except your
arms here drew a line with a rock crawl
past the line and they drew another one
man I did that for seven miles and
that’s when I finally found that got to
water found a water
now inside his Mountain got what a
metaphor again no one will ever find
themselves in the situation that you’ve
found yourself in but what an
illustration Marcus about whether it’s
school whether it’s about marriage
career whatever in life hey you know I
feel like giving up this is a joke I
can’t do this or that draw that line it
could be five minutes it could be you
know a day I’m going to draw that line
if I get to there is in the next day
I’ll draw another one whether someone’s
battling with addiction drug addiction
alcohol whatever it is I mean it that’s
powerful because that waterfall is out
there I mean the stream of water is out
there life actually that’s right well I
was shot multiple frag not only from the
the RPG rounds themselves but from the
trees and the rocks which actually hurt
worse than the the RPG blast themselves
I fractured my spine in multiple places
my pelvis tore my rotator cuff out and
maxillofacial damage was very severe
didn’t show it in the movie but I had
actually broken my nose and I bit my
tongue in half and swallowed it I had 11
through and threes and my quads and
calves most of the skin off of my
backside and most of my front side was
um turned into hamburger but as far as
the pain tolerance and most seals have
high pain thresholds anyways and the
adrenaline that was flowing through me
I’m concentrating more on what I had to
deal with the task that was in front of
me and concentrating on my teammates is
as ultimately we got through me got me
through the initial gunfight I was
actually shot in the back the following
day it didn’t show that
and that one heard because I my
adrenaline wasn’t up and I wasn’t really
prepared for it but ultimately from the
time we were we check in to seal
training and become tadpoles and and
worked our way up through the community
it’s it’s a selection process that that
weeds out the weak are the ones that
can’t handle it and the ones that can
are the one that wants to make it
through it and they put us in situations
in our training that pretty much equate
to everything that transpired up on the
mountain that day I still have surgeries
to this very day
communications are you know just like
cell phones out here and driving down
the road or talking to somebody and then
all of a sudden the phone just goes down
you don’t you can’t explain why it just
just happens the terrain that we were in
believe it or not there’s a lot that
goes into dealing with communications
from the rotation of the earth the Sun
the clouds and rain and ultimately the
the position that we were in on to where
we could get the best vantage point at
our for our target location and didn’t
allow us to have stable communications
that’s why we had the backup with the
the satellite phone no I I don’t have
any regrets at all with anything that
I’ve ever done it was a situation that
we got put in that we obviously we had
to deal with we tried to radio back for
advice on how to deal with this
particular thread our target that we
were dealing with was very elusive and
we’ve been going after him for about two
years before they finally slid across
our desk and soft compromises are part
of what we do sometimes I mean working
out in that area it’s it’s bound to
happen it’s their backyard and we’re
just kind of trying to work our way
through it I mean it’s literally one of
the
if you go in and you take a rock and
you’ve moved from this area to this area
it’s probably the rock that this guy’s
great-great great-grandfather sat on to
go to the bathroom or something and it
was like hey where’s my rock obviously
there’s some there’s been somebody up
here he’s not supposed to be up here so
in order to dig in and find positions to
where we can get vantage points on what
we were dealing with it was very
difficult and that’s what came in with
the training and how long we’ve been out
there we’ve been doing this our team
would been together for a very very long
time so we were really good at what we
did the the overall decision to turn
them loose was was well above our pay
grade
I was speaking of rules of engagement
and stuff like that and there had been
situations in the past where the exact
same scenario had played out with other
forces some Green Berets and so forth so
on and you know there’s no there’s no
manual that they can hand us that we
wish we could look at every time
something like that goes down it’s and
it’s another thing it’s I’m the reason
that we train so hard and train so long
and that there’s so much time and money
invested into what we do is because you
allow us the the opportunity to make our
own decisions while we’re out there and
we it’s it’d be like laying on the
operating table while some guys working
on your heart and
you’re like hold on wait a minute let’s
call somebody else in here because I
don’t think you know what you’re doing
well we do know what we’re doing so
everything that we encountered out there
and all the situations that were right
there in front of us ultimately our
decision is what we had to deal with and
to turn them loose good bad or
indifferent the outcome obviously was
was bad but we’re we’re prepared for
that as well so I mean being in the SEAL
Teams were outside of the box thinkers I
mean we’re not idiots
most seals have their degrees and a lot
of them have their masters and we’ve
been in this game for a very very long
time so the thing that we asked that
when and not out loud and we just hope
and pray that the American public has
enough trust and faith in us to do and
make the right decision I’ve seen so
many and I’ve heard so many Monday
morning quarterbacks they’re just it’s
the funniest thing to me because I read
stuff not not too much online but this
you know you know people like I ought to
kill them just did right there and
they’re really happy what yeah I mean
you’ve been there absolutely not you
hadn’t been there and then the other
people are just like well you know I’m
you know you turned them loose and and
that was the right thing to do even
though everybody to everybody died so
how do you weigh human life it’s it’s a
conundrum that can never be answered
it’s it’s it’s war and there is no right
or wrong answer in combat and those
people who aren’t out there carrying the
rifle had no business dictating what and
how we doing Darren we don’t want to
thank you a pat on the back or anything
like that we just want you to enjoy your
life and because everybody’s made
different I mean in real life I was
unaware of that I didn’t know that that
had happened I was it was after – well
towards the end of the gun fight and I
had already crawled into the into a
crevice and buried myself
and just remember laying there praying
there was actually a helicopter that was
a I believe was an Apache that flew
overhead and I could see the pilot in
the cockpit and I and the the militia
and everybody were walking over the top
of me I mean I there was rocks falling
on my head I mean I could smell them
they’re right over the top of me and I
had this idea I couldn’t keep my radio
but battery was low and it was making
this there’s a low battery ping that
comes out once that happens and it give
away my position so every one I’d have
to turn it off and I the thought
actually crossed my mind to take a shot
at the helicopter then I figured well
that’s probably a bad idea because if
turn around you know piss him off and
come in here with guns blazing but all
of a sudden while I was there I was
praying I was like God please you know
give me something as I was paralyzed
from the waist down in the movie they
had me walking around I didn’t walk I
crawled for over seven miles that first
night and then and was a shot again well
while I was laying there praying it
started to rain and that’s and then I
remember going that’s not really what I
was asking for God because
you can ask any frog man even though our
job demands us to be wet and Sandy and
miserable we really don’t like to be wet
and Sandy and miserable so all of a
sudden all the militia left they kind of
just started pushing up the back side of
the mountain and I had no idea what it
would have gone down and then two days
later when I got rest when I the
villagers brought me in there I was in
this room I was like they had already
taken my clothes off of me they stopped
my bleeding as best they could banish me
up I’m starting to pull that frag out
and then they had left and then about an
hour later the door kicked open and the
Taliban flooded the room and that’s when
they the Taliban had me and that’s when
I found out that the helo had been shot
down and they were trying to tell me how
many bodies were there and they sent me
I didn’t believe it at first I mean
that’s how loud it was on our side of
the mountain that I couldn’t hear a
helicopter are getting blown out of the
sky and rolled down the hill so that’s
that’s when I found out a few days later
from the Taliban
obviously right after the the OP went
down and I was rescued they and they
pulled him away from we left him the
helicopter with me in real life and the
rescue was at night under gunfire and
when we loaded up in the helo it’s funny
one of the the guys arrested me one of
the PJs he’s out in the audience right
now he’s a heart surgeon he him was shot
me in the chest because I was dressed up
like an Afghani and I had a rifle and
Google I was with me and they were
having and caring me well I the only
thing that saved me because I came up at
the back side the wrong side of the helo
and the helo actually came in to crab
the rescue is is crazier than anything
you just stole on that on that TV the
Air Force came in to get me out of there
it was absolutely insane
well I’d come up on the wrong side of
the helo and all of a sudden there was
lasers on my chest and luckily I had
fallen I was a lot heavier back there
tonight I’ve
and the guy behind me was a green beret
and he had a American flag lint tape on
his chest and it pained and that’s the
reason he dropped his weapon and didn’t
shoot me and then they load gulab and I
up in the helo we banked off the
mountain it took us to where they think
it’s broke a vow to jada jada and then
they pulled pulled him away from me
which was a big deal I he was scared to
death to being that helo it went from
one of those things where he had been
protecting me for five days and when we
got in that helo he was wrapped around
my leg like a like a wet cat you know
and I was just doing just kind of and
then when they jerked him away from me I
didn’t have enough strength to figure
out what was going on and he pulled me
back into the helo and when they shut
the door I just remember them pulled him
away and then we flew to another base
where they offloaded me onto another
transport flew me to Bagram Air Force
Base and I am I was in the hospital and
had multiple surgeries to put myself
back together for about almost a year
and then we re deployed to Iraq no.6 and
no.7 and and redeployed yes ma’am and it
wasn’t it wasn’t a real popular idea in
the community but luckily some of the
head shed and Emeril’s and then some of
the other Admirals gave me the blessing
all I wanted to do was go back I mean
that’s what I was born to do and it’s
not that I I’m messed up mentally or
anything like that but they took
something from me they beat me and when
you beat a seal you better kill us
because if you don’t when we heal up
we’re going to come back after yeah and
the only place I need to go
I had to go back and I went back into
Ramadi Iraq outlined by prominence in Oh
607 which was pretty much the worst
place on the planet and I got my knees
blown out on a raid we were doing and my
spine fracture it again and it cost me
my career so after I’ve gotten after his
discharge I remember that was the
hardest thing that I’d ever had to face
in my entire life not budge training not
all the injuries or anything like that
the day they told me I couldn’t be a
seal and I and I was beating my head
against the wall for a few years
luckily my wife found me but um I
finally got in touch with the Gulag to
get back to your question I kind of got
off D’Angela but I a lot of my buddies
that were still going back over there
we’re keeping tabs on him and I can
communicate with him as much as I
possibly could and our community and in
the military we did as much as we
possibly could for their village I mean
it’s in the hornet’s nest so we would
build send money to build a school the
Taliban would would burn it down we
would built a road into their into their
village so they could have easier access
into some of the major cities but
overall I got gulab back over here just
to visit so I could see him again
he doesn’t I’ve tried and tried I’m like
hey come here I mean nobody deserves to
have an American citizen more than the
new you you fought for America and you
know
an American I mean you saved my life and
he’s such a proud Afghani he doesn’t
want anything he he wants to stay in
Afghanistan and then you know every now
and again come over here and see me and
it’s funny the first time I picked him
up he was telling the story he had been
after I had left
obviously the Taliban and everybody over
there are always trying to kill him so
they they had burned his house down and
they’ve killed multiple members of his
family
they blew his car up and he’d been shot
a few months before he came to see me
then I picked him up from the airport
and we were driving down the road and we
had to have it and he doesn’t speak
English and my posture is very limited
and he goes you know my first plan and
when I got here is I was going to burn
your house down blow your car I’m shoot
you in the head I mean that’s how
friendship a true friendship into true
teamwork is forged through pain and
blood and sweat and tears and and they
did that and they not one time did they
complain about it I mean they they
realized while they were out there and
who and what who they were representing
and it was it was really something to
watch them come together as a as a team
and through even through the movie and
never stopped I mean and every day sawed
up some down we were always together
with them and they were together and
like he said they’re still friends today
I mean if it came down to it the
training that we gave gave these guys I
mean I could throw Taylor a rifle right
now and he could very much handle
himself one last question to you Marcus
obviously your seat you’ve just sat
through this movie now tonight and
you’ve lived again you know it’s
obviously a there are changes of course
as you said from the reality to what
actually happened but still you’ve lived
through this intensity again tonight
what does it make you feel looking at
the movie tonight as a junior thinking
about that experience and seeing it on
the screen I just think that
[Music]
Pete and Taylor and mill and Mark and
and Ben and the cat rest of the cast and
the crew they did an absolutely
outstanding job of taking what happened
on the mountain that day and and putting
it into a film I mean even writing the
book I couldn’t put every detail that
ever happened on the mountain that day
down on paper because I just simply
can’t remember it but to really answer
your question is I live what through
that every day in my head from the time
I I lay down in bed through the night up
in the morning there’s not a moment that
goes by that I don’t think about it
and one of my curses is the fact that
every time you hear about Operation Red
Wing or lone survivor or anything like
that my name is synonymous with that
that event and any time anybody ever
walks up to me all they ever want to do
is talk about it
whatever wants to talk to me about
football or hunting or or anything like
that they just want to talk to me about
the worst week of my life
and so it’s it’s always with me and
that’s the reason I I stick the friends
that I’ve had since I was ten years old
and some of the guys I mean Taylor and I
are really close now Pete and I’ve I’ve
been real close to them for for many
years now because they understand it may
they’ve actually been through with me
now but to see it on screen and it’s
just one of those things when I was like
eh you missed something
and they looked like it was a miserable
one on that TV right there and that I
can tell you it was twice as bad in real
life I don’t know so I just wished it um
I always wished that some of my
teammates would have what I made it out
as well
to get their their side of the stories
and to make this thing tentative to
really open it up and find out just
everything that happened you guys my
like I said it’s coming for me and I
don’t remember everything I can possibly
put put it all down
you
you get your butt kicked you heal up and
you go back after the guy who whipped
you until until you whip him and it’s
over and that was the one thing that was
really getting onto me is that I felt
that I had been beaten and I I did
everything I could surgeries and
everything to put myself back together
to go back over and to re-engage so I
went back over into Iraq you know six no
seven and when I’ll get my knees blown
out cause from my career so I totally
backfired but you know besides that
besides that the one lesson that I’ve
learned and it that runs you know is
predominant than SEAL Teams is our never
quit attitude it’s not that we’re better
than everybody else you know what I mean
it’s just you have to basically kill us
before we stop getting up and coming
after you that’s the way it is we’re
singing the SEAL Teams we’re not really
that good everybody else just sucks but
I’m not gonna say that yeah cuz that’s
not the truth but you know it’s just one
of those factors is just like nothing
should be able to stop you from doing
anything my whole life growing up as a
kid everyone always told me that I could
never and they were like you’d never be
a Navy SEAL you know until the time
until I graduate it’s like you won’t
make it you won’t ever make it and and
and the one thing I think about most is
like nobody knows me nobody knows you
know know anything about you you know
they see the outside what they see with
their eyes or anything but on the inside
is totally different no one can stop you
from doing anything ever if you’re
committed to yourself I got people
coming up to me sometimes and just like
you know what I could never do this or I
couldn’t do that and I just want to
you know because if you come out of the
gate telling yourself that you can’t do
something then you’re already you’re
already done all right you got to worry
about that there’s gonna be plenty of
people around everywhere telling you
can’t do something I don’t care how old
you are or what your gender is or
whatever it is it doesn’t matter if you
tell yourself you can do anything and no
matter how many times you get hit and
then wonder how many times you go down I
mean even if you’re shaking up you just
shake it off you get back up and you
come at it with everything you got
eventually you’re gonna pass it or
you’re gonna be dead if you did what’s
the big deal anyway right so that was
the one lesson I like that I learned
really well in my career was the fact
that no matter how hard I got hit just
long as I kept getting back up and going
at it that out eventually I would pass
what was throwing at me he was a Vietnam
veteran and he he just had a training
camp if you will out out on his property
and well before we got there I mean a
lot of all the older kids were going out
there he would get people ready to go
into the Special Forces so it was was it
you that was a unique experience that
was one of those things I wish I could
have quit as he didn’t when he first
started he he didn’t care about you he
didn’t like you you were more of a
nuisance to him when we first got out
there because you were behind everybody
else so you really had to I remember I
think it’s probably the first two and a
half three months I was there I was the
worst one in the bunch I was the weakest
I was the slowest
good lord he would I would pay the man I
mean he would he would lay into me he
left me to die twice that I remember and
told me he’s like I hope you die and
just walked off those 14 15 years old
when I started and then I did it all the
way till I finished you know I was 22
out of college and then even after I got
into the SEAL Teams when I would come
back off leave or something like that
I’d bring some of my teammates home with
me and we’d go over there and Billy
would work us out and try and get us
ready I mean my dad he was he was a
Yeller and a violent man and he kind of
threw it on me and my brother pretty
regularly so I can handle a whoopin yeah
and I can I can bleed just like anybody
else you know that doesn’t bother me but
it would got to a point to the to where
if I when I literally couldn’t do the
things he wanted me to do it was
affecting me mentally and emotionally
because I was just I just thought I was
weaker than everybody else I don’t like
that right I don’t like the fact that
and I’m not saying I’m a Superman or
anything like that but if I see somebody
stronger than me and something that I’m
trying to do I’m gonna work harder till
I’m stronger than they are and that
that’s what he taught us he’s like you
want to be here do you want what I have
you want this and you need to work and
you push yourself I mean there were days
where I literally would have to late
just completely sit down in the shower
just to wash my hair and I think my
mother tried to take me the hospital a
few times because I was just so beat
down and it’s like no I’m good I’ll heal
up I just got to get back in there and
and that’s what he preached you is just
every day is if you only have you’re
only here for a little while so I can
take full advantage of it
because when you just slide up to the
pearly we goes when you like when you
get up there and head and you’re
checking in he goes you can either walk
in there with a perfect pristine body
and and I’m sure they’re gonna look at
you go and you didn’t take advantage
anything I gave you he’s like my boys
Billy Wayne the opportunist it’s his
boys he goes we all get up there y’all
gonna slide in there sideways they’re
gonna go good lord
you took advantage of everything we gave
you bailing wire holding us together I
mean your parents are there to mold you
in guide you and if you don’t have that
or whatever
my brother and I molded our our
character and the way we would live our
lives as a direct opposite what my
father was so you can learn what not to
do right I don’t run a cop-out to people
as I go out my father beat me in this
job I’m a serial killer yeah my father
beat me every day and the first time I
ever got knocked down was by my dad so I
I don’t I don’t believe in that and I
don’t have anger issues
when I was working there’s different
story yeah like I’ve paid to do that but
anyway that I don’t put my I’ve never
even raised my voice my wife she’s never
seen me angry I’ve never cussed out or
anything of it she’s the most important
thing in my life sort of my kids great
and I don’t believe in that so I mean
they’re dealing with that is just to
stay focused and keep the course and
know that you’re better than that and I
mean sure anybody can cop out be like
well I had a bad I was dealt a bad hand
yeah so what everybody in his life stuff
suck it up that’s right and just you
know push forward
things that makes the training so tough
is just knowing that in the back your
head like any second now I can be gone
but whatever reason injury they don’t
like me they want whatever it is I’m out
of here and if you want something so bad
I mean you know you were literally put
on this planet to do that job and it’s
in the hands of somebody else
no matter how hard you took it I told it
first I mean I made a point to go up to
the instructors I said you’re gonna kill
me to get me out here I’m not going
anywhere they’re like well alright we’ll
try and get that done and they did so
they tried to kill me he told the
instructor that yeah I don’t know what I
was thinking I you know I was new I was
young
okay I’m beating on my chest yeah kill
me get me out of here I was a stupidest
thing I’ve ever done in my entire life I
had a lot of crosses to bear when I know
the thing about buzz training is that no
matter who you are or what kind of
athlete you are don’t they’ll find the
weakness they’ll find it and they’ll
exploit it I had plenty of them the only
thing I had going for what I got in
there is I can swim like a fish and now
where did you learn how to swim in East
Texas well my father was a collegiate
swimmer okay all that stuff so
apparently I don’t remember this but
when we were young my dad took my
brother and I by the back of our shirts
and threw us in this river slash pond
and my brother drowned and wound up in
the hospital and I somebody pulled me
out that was his way of saying sink or
swim kind of deal and look we we learned
how to swim and that’s what I was though
so you had how many people in your buds
class started the class how many people
started with buds and how many made it
164 started and ten
my brother had 254 I think and 16 made
it and you you broke your femur I did
how did that happen
it was after Hill week and we were doing
a this is evolution called the Monster
Mash it’s kind of a Huia type deal yeah
you you run six miles you come in you
jump in the ocean you swim a mile on
half you come back you write an O course
you do the 80-foot rope climb and
everything will something happened and
I’m trying to figure out what it was but
I did something to upset one of the
instructors I think and he made me carry
a car tire so I had this car tire around
my neck and I did the whole thing and I
tried to swim with it I swam out through
the surf and was swimming through the
ocean and I only made I didn’t make it
the whole whole mile I started to sink
so I towed that thing in and I came back
and I had to do the 80-foot road climb
so I put my tire back on and had water
in it and climbed to the top of the rope
with a tire yes sir when I reached up to
grab the you got to hit the top of the
i-beam that’s when you yes and I started
to slide and I fell I fell from the top
of the rope all the way down and I
landed in the sand on my feet and I
rolled over on that tire was kind of
propping me up and the instructor was
saying you want to quit you’re gonna
quit get out of here and I was like no
I’m not gonna quit and I got up on the
rope and I climbed back up well by the
time I got to the Rope because I was can
that everything was really the rostral
real slippery and wet sandy and I
crawled up again I got to the top I hit
the rope the the i-beam and I fell again
I started to slide I actually wrapped my
arm around it so I wouldn’t fall
straight down
and it just kind of degloved my forearm
and I my arm finally fell out of the
rope and I fell again when I hit the
ground I fractured my femur and my
pelvis
I just limped off on it I didn’t tell
him anything I felt that it felt like I
had pulled my groin yeah is what it felt
like and I said I’m okay you know they
surfed tortured me because I fell and
then I ran on it for another two weeks
we wouldn’t the second phase in the dive
phase and when our first four mile time
to run
i I was waiting in the back I was always
in the back but I was way back you know
yeah I think I had hit three miles at 45
minutes or something and I had it was it
was pitch black I couldn’t see and it
was still dark outside hot and also
these headlights come up no instructors
or who are you I was like it’s luttrell
yeah what are you doing back here I
think I pulled my groin and they were
like getting though an ambulance the
suburbs omelets they’re like wait a
minute
first go get wet and Sandy and I was
like all right side to go get wet sandy
down the ocean I get back in there and
take me in the hospital I get a bone
scan and I had a 13 inch vertical crack
down my femur and 11 stress fractures on
this leg seven on this one and I my my
pelvis had been cracked and they were
like we’re gonna have to roll you I was
like you can’t do that I can’t be rolled
I could handle it like no I’m sorry so
they double rolled me and when I was
there healing up I was on crutches I was
oh yeah
but I was still getting beat I mean I
would crutch up into the compound it
started be like go get in the surf so I
was laying out in the ocean and the surf
my crutches up like this it was just but
they they finally said when it was time
for me to class up again they’re like
we’re gonna send you to the hospital get
another bone scan if your femurs not
healed up then we’re gonna drop you I
said no it’s fine I’m good and some of
the instructors they had started to take
a liking to me
right I was like no I’m good and I
collect passed my class up run and I got
back into the class started and we we
got all the way to around third phase
and it got to a point to where at night
I would take a straps and frozen peas
and my bed was elevated at the foot and
I would put frozen peas from my ankles
to my to my hips and a strap and when
I’d sleep like that and then I was just
chewing the 800 milligram motrin and
they would have to my sweet mate would
have to wake me up 35 to 40 minutes
earlier for everybody else just to pick
me up so to start walking so my legs
would work and then they would carry me
up to the compound and when we do runs
they would actually push me or they one
time they tied a rope to my my belt it
pulled me through the run and I just I
would fall down and they would pick me
up the whole team think we were a small
class now so I got through it but it
wasn’t because I did it I did it as a
teammate we did it as a team if they
wouldn’t help me I couldn’t mate
I was my legs are too badly damaged I
kept showing I mean I’ve almost died in
training more times than I died
so really yes sir I just didn’t
they don’t think about it try just be
laying in the hospital and get me out of
here he’ll love me stronger every time
he held up you’re stronger
that’s what he you can just feel
yourself getting stronger when you’re
when you’ve been hurt and you’re laying
there and you’re healing up you can
actually feel your body getting stronger
and I don’t know I just kind of takes on
that super human form was like okay I’m
back let’s go
this time works talk to me about when
you were wounded in how you made it out
to crawling and all just a little bit
about that you tell us I just I wasn’t
dead horrible fight everybody’s been
killed your closest friends yeah like I
said I wasn’t dead so I wasn’t just
gonna lay there and to get out of there
keep fighting that’s what I did I just
started crawling out of there and then
they’d find me and we get into a fight
and I won I just keep crawling I’d fall
down these mountain sides and whatnot
and then get back up
crawl back on the other side and there
was a point where you could even feel
anything right from the chest down for a
while or I’ve been shot in the back and
for the second time and I rolled down
this hill and it was everything was
pretty much gone from the chest down my
arm still worked so you crawl the crawl
and then you were you were taken you
were taken and these people to the best
of their ability helped you and then we
we sent 16 people in a helicopter to
rescue you is that exactly am i correct
and then they were shot down
twelve-year-old boy shot an RPG in the
back of it blew down this guy
twelve-year-old boy
then you made it home through a long
crazy turn of events
so the injuries Marcus that you had
after Operation Red Wings not only like
I cannot imagine emotionally using
losing your family members losing people
that you were so close to words can’t
describe it but you physically what what
did you have to deal with physically
after Operation Red Wings as far as you
were shot in the back why had multiple
injures out of 11 through and throughs
through my calves and closet shrapnel
hanging out of me everywhere had broken
my back in multiple places my shoulder
been torn my knees were damaged
maxillofacial damage had bitten my
tongue in half and swallowed it on top
of everything else but I once I got back
like I said I was they had taken me down
to bare bones to nothing I was
physically weak and I had been broken so
I just laid there and Hospital healing
and I healed up had surgeries they did
the Taliban kind of destroyed this hand
so I haven’t reconstructed and then once
they put me back together I went back
over we’ve got some more and it was the
it was the coldest water and we’re most
refreshing drink of water I’d ever had
my entire life once I got into that
village but I’m still paying for it to
this day yeah but it’s such a it’s a
part of my life now I don’t even just
yeah think about it
marcasite I’m gonna talk about
commitment and and this never quit
mentality not that we’re perfect I mean
I I mess up every day so do you sirs
everybody but I believe we serve a God
who is all about commitment even though
we’ve screwed up even though we’re
fallen infallible that he is all about
commitment any honors commitment I think
in fact I don’t think I know Marcus
there are incredible benefits to never
quitting one time you said it can be
even humor looking back and going you
know I have a funny story well what
would you say are the benefits of never
quitting not just where you’ve been as a
Navy SEAL this hero but it mean just in
life to pedestrians normal people
looking at you like wow I mean I’ll
never be this guy but what don’t you
think that goes back to what you’re
saying and I’m never quitting for it
I mean I’m nobody special I don’t have
some gift that you don’t have that’s
right so never quitting something allows
you to
I guess the best way to put it in the
way to say it’s because I know what I’ve
done in my past I have a pretty good
idea what can’t stop me in the future if
something does hit me that I haven’t
experienced before then I’ll just go
down to that little gear until I
overcome
and then I just tucked that one down for
me so most of the obstacles niversity of
that face of day-to-day life was it was
just something I just I don’t even know
this another shrug off there’s something
really hard hits me then I have to go
down without a little gear to get
through it and I do it Charlie Mike
continued mission benefits as you
mentioned about commitment would be
discipline endurance vision creativity
you talk about character all day long
but if you don’t have the commitment if
you’re not committed to it
you gonna happen right I mean you have
to you have to see where you’re starting
anybody everyone can see that and you
have to know what the end game is and
whatever it is it gets thrown at you in
the middle and it’s just
Marcus through the med school
it’s just how far when you fell off the
mountain the first time
did you fall I mean you haven’t you know
how many feet you felt probably 6,000
feet down the mountain and after I’d
been shot and I engaged these three guys
who engaged me and after I had
eliminated that threat
I didn’t know what to do so I were to
grabbed a rock and I reached out as far
as I could and under a line in the sand
I was like I’m gonna crawled with that
to my feet hit it if I’m still alive
them do it again that’s what I did so
you kept you reached out nothing was
really working reached out except your
arms here drew a line with a rock crawl
past the line and they drew another one
man I did that for seven miles and
that’s when I finally found that got to
water found a water
now inside his Mountain got what a
metaphor again no one will ever find
themselves in the situation that you’ve
found yourself in but what an
illustration Marcus about whether it’s
school whether it’s about marriage
career whatever in life hey you know I
feel like giving up this is a joke I
can’t do this or that draw that line it
could be five minutes it could be you
know a day I’m going to draw that line
if I get to there is in the next day
I’ll draw another one whether someone’s
battling with addiction drug addiction
alcohol whatever it is I mean it that’s
powerful because that waterfall is out
there I mean the stream of water is out
there life actually that’s right well I
was shot multiple frag not only from the
the RPG rounds themselves but from the
trees and the rocks which actually hurt
worse than the the RPG blast themselves
I fractured my spine in multiple places
my pelvis tore my rotator cuff out and
maxillofacial damage was very severe
didn’t show it in the movie but I had
actually broken my nose and I bit my
tongue in half and swallowed it I had 11
through and threes and my quads and
calves most of the skin off of my
backside and most of my front side was
um turned into hamburger but as far as
the pain tolerance and most seals have
high pain thresholds anyways and the
adrenaline that was flowing through me
I’m concentrating more on what I had to
deal with the task that was in front of
me and concentrating on my teammates is
as ultimately we got through me got me
through the initial gunfight I was
actually shot in the back the following
day it didn’t show that
and that one heard because I my
adrenaline wasn’t up and I wasn’t really
prepared for it but ultimately from the
time we were we check in to seal
training and become tadpoles and and
worked our way up through the community
it’s it’s a selection process that that
weeds out the weak are the ones that
can’t handle it and the ones that can
are the one that wants to make it
through it and they put us in situations
in our training that pretty much equate
to everything that transpired up on the
mountain that day I still have surgeries
to this very day
communications are you know just like
cell phones out here and driving down
the road or talking to somebody and then
all of a sudden the phone just goes down
you don’t you can’t explain why it just
just happens the terrain that we were in
believe it or not there’s a lot that
goes into dealing with communications
from the rotation of the earth the Sun
the clouds and rain and ultimately the
the position that we were in on to where
we could get the best vantage point at
our for our target location and didn’t
allow us to have stable communications
that’s why we had the backup with the
the satellite phone no I I don’t have
any regrets at all with anything that
I’ve ever done it was a situation that
we got put in that we obviously we had
to deal with we tried to radio back for
advice on how to deal with this
particular thread our target that we
were dealing with was very elusive and
we’ve been going after him for about two
years before they finally slid across
our desk and soft compromises are part
of what we do sometimes I mean working
out in that area it’s it’s bound to
happen it’s their backyard and we’re
just kind of trying to work our way
through it I mean it’s literally one of
the
if you go in and you take a rock and
you’ve moved from this area to this area
it’s probably the rock that this guy’s
great-great great-grandfather sat on to
go to the bathroom or something and it
was like hey where’s my rock obviously
there’s some there’s been somebody up
here he’s not supposed to be up here so
in order to dig in and find positions to
where we can get vantage points on what
we were dealing with it was very
difficult and that’s what came in with
the training and how long we’ve been out
there we’ve been doing this our team
would been together for a very very long
time so we were really good at what we
did the the overall decision to turn
them loose was was well above our pay
grade
I was speaking of rules of engagement
and stuff like that and there had been
situations in the past where the exact
same scenario had played out with other
forces some Green Berets and so forth so
on and you know there’s no there’s no
manual that they can hand us that we
wish we could look at every time
something like that goes down it’s and
it’s another thing it’s I’m the reason
that we train so hard and train so long
and that there’s so much time and money
invested into what we do is because you
allow us the the opportunity to make our
own decisions while we’re out there and
we it’s it’d be like laying on the
operating table while some guys working
on your heart and
you’re like hold on wait a minute let’s
call somebody else in here because I
don’t think you know what you’re doing
well we do know what we’re doing so
everything that we encountered out there
and all the situations that were right
there in front of us ultimately our
decision is what we had to deal with and
to turn them loose good bad or
indifferent the outcome obviously was
was bad but we’re we’re prepared for
that as well so I mean being in the SEAL
Teams were outside of the box thinkers I
mean we’re not idiots
most seals have their degrees and a lot
of them have their masters and we’ve
been in this game for a very very long
time so the thing that we asked that
when and not out loud and we just hope
and pray that the American public has
enough trust and faith in us to do and
make the right decision I’ve seen so
many and I’ve heard so many Monday
morning quarterbacks they’re just it’s
the funniest thing to me because I read
stuff not not too much online but this
you know you know people like I ought to
kill them just did right there and
they’re really happy what yeah I mean
you’ve been there absolutely not you
hadn’t been there and then the other
people are just like well you know I’m
you know you turned them loose and and
that was the right thing to do even
though everybody to everybody died so
how do you weigh human life it’s it’s a
conundrum that can never be answered
it’s it’s it’s war and there is no right
or wrong answer in combat and those
people who aren’t out there carrying the
rifle had no business dictating what and
how we doing Darren we don’t want to
thank you a pat on the back or anything
like that we just want you to enjoy your
life and because everybody’s made
different I mean in real life I was
unaware of that I didn’t know that that
had happened I was it was after – well
towards the end of the gun fight and I
had already crawled into the into a
crevice and buried myself
and just remember laying there praying
there was actually a helicopter that was
a I believe was an Apache that flew
overhead and I could see the pilot in
the cockpit and I and the the militia
and everybody were walking over the top
of me I mean I there was rocks falling
on my head I mean I could smell them
they’re right over the top of me and I
had this idea I couldn’t keep my radio
but battery was low and it was making
this there’s a low battery ping that
comes out once that happens and it give
away my position so every one I’d have
to turn it off and I the thought
actually crossed my mind to take a shot
at the helicopter then I figured well
that’s probably a bad idea because if
turn around you know piss him off and
come in here with guns blazing but all
of a sudden while I was there I was
praying I was like God please you know
give me something as I was paralyzed
from the waist down in the movie they
had me walking around I didn’t walk I
crawled for over seven miles that first
night and then and was a shot again well
while I was laying there praying it
started to rain and that’s and then I
remember going that’s not really what I
was asking for God because
you can ask any frog man even though our
job demands us to be wet and Sandy and
miserable we really don’t like to be wet
and Sandy and miserable so all of a
sudden all the militia left they kind of
just started pushing up the back side of
the mountain and I had no idea what it
would have gone down and then two days
later when I got rest when I the
villagers brought me in there I was in
this room I was like they had already
taken my clothes off of me they stopped
my bleeding as best they could banish me
up I’m starting to pull that frag out
and then they had left and then about an
hour later the door kicked open and the
Taliban flooded the room and that’s when
they the Taliban had me and that’s when
I found out that the helo had been shot
down and they were trying to tell me how
many bodies were there and they sent me
I didn’t believe it at first I mean
that’s how loud it was on our side of
the mountain that I couldn’t hear a
helicopter are getting blown out of the
sky and rolled down the hill so that’s
that’s when I found out a few days later
from the Taliban
obviously right after the the OP went
down and I was rescued they and they
pulled him away from we left him the
helicopter with me in real life and the
rescue was at night under gunfire and
when we loaded up in the helo it’s funny
one of the the guys arrested me one of
the PJs he’s out in the audience right
now he’s a heart surgeon he him was shot
me in the chest because I was dressed up
like an Afghani and I had a rifle and
Google I was with me and they were
having and caring me well I the only
thing that saved me because I came up at
the back side the wrong side of the helo
and the helo actually came in to crab
the rescue is is crazier than anything
you just stole on that on that TV the
Air Force came in to get me out of there
it was absolutely insane
well I’d come up on the wrong side of
the helo and all of a sudden there was
lasers on my chest and luckily I had
fallen I was a lot heavier back there
tonight I’ve
and the guy behind me was a green beret
and he had a American flag lint tape on
his chest and it pained and that’s the
reason he dropped his weapon and didn’t
shoot me and then they load gulab and I
up in the helo we banked off the
mountain it took us to where they think
it’s broke a vow to jada jada and then
they pulled pulled him away from me
which was a big deal I he was scared to
death to being that helo it went from
one of those things where he had been
protecting me for five days and when we
got in that helo he was wrapped around
my leg like a like a wet cat you know
and I was just doing just kind of and
then when they jerked him away from me I
didn’t have enough strength to figure
out what was going on and he pulled me
back into the helo and when they shut
the door I just remember them pulled him
away and then we flew to another base
where they offloaded me onto another
transport flew me to Bagram Air Force
Base and I am I was in the hospital and
had multiple surgeries to put myself
back together for about almost a year
and then we re deployed to Iraq no.6 and
no.7 and and redeployed yes ma’am and it
wasn’t it wasn’t a real popular idea in
the community but luckily some of the
head shed and Emeril’s and then some of
the other Admirals gave me the blessing
all I wanted to do was go back I mean
that’s what I was born to do and it’s
not that I I’m messed up mentally or
anything like that but they took
something from me they beat me and when
you beat a seal you better kill us
because if you don’t when we heal up
we’re going to come back after yeah and
the only place I need to go
I had to go back and I went back into
Ramadi Iraq outlined by prominence in Oh
607 which was pretty much the worst
place on the planet and I got my knees
blown out on a raid we were doing and my
spine fracture it again and it cost me
my career so after I’ve gotten after his
discharge I remember that was the
hardest thing that I’d ever had to face
in my entire life not budge training not
all the injuries or anything like that
the day they told me I couldn’t be a
seal and I and I was beating my head
against the wall for a few years
luckily my wife found me but um I
finally got in touch with the Gulag to
get back to your question I kind of got
off D’Angela but I a lot of my buddies
that were still going back over there
we’re keeping tabs on him and I can
communicate with him as much as I
possibly could and our community and in
the military we did as much as we
possibly could for their village I mean
it’s in the hornet’s nest so we would
build send money to build a school the
Taliban would would burn it down we
would built a road into their into their
village so they could have easier access
into some of the major cities but
overall I got gulab back over here just
to visit so I could see him again
he doesn’t I’ve tried and tried I’m like
hey come here I mean nobody deserves to
have an American citizen more than the
new you you fought for America and you
know
an American I mean you saved my life and
he’s such a proud Afghani he doesn’t
want anything he he wants to stay in
Afghanistan and then you know every now
and again come over here and see me and
it’s funny the first time I picked him
up he was telling the story he had been
after I had left
obviously the Taliban and everybody over
there are always trying to kill him so
they they had burned his house down and
they’ve killed multiple members of his
family
they blew his car up and he’d been shot
a few months before he came to see me
then I picked him up from the airport
and we were driving down the road and we
had to have it and he doesn’t speak
English and my posture is very limited
and he goes you know my first plan and
when I got here is I was going to burn
your house down blow your car I’m shoot
you in the head I mean that’s how
friendship a true friendship into true
teamwork is forged through pain and
blood and sweat and tears and and they
did that and they not one time did they
complain about it I mean they they
realized while they were out there and
who and what who they were representing
and it was it was really something to
watch them come together as a as a team
and through even through the movie and
never stopped I mean and every day sawed
up some down we were always together
with them and they were together and
like he said they’re still friends today
I mean if it came down to it the
training that we gave gave these guys I
mean I could throw Taylor a rifle right
now and he could very much handle
himself one last question to you Marcus
obviously your seat you’ve just sat
through this movie now tonight and
you’ve lived again you know it’s
obviously a there are changes of course
as you said from the reality to what
actually happened but still you’ve lived
through this intensity again tonight
what does it make you feel looking at
the movie tonight as a junior thinking
about that experience and seeing it on
the screen I just think that
[Music]
Pete and Taylor and mill and Mark and
and Ben and the cat rest of the cast and
the crew they did an absolutely
outstanding job of taking what happened
on the mountain that day and and putting
it into a film I mean even writing the
book I couldn’t put every detail that
ever happened on the mountain that day
down on paper because I just simply
can’t remember it but to really answer
your question is I live what through
that every day in my head from the time
I I lay down in bed through the night up
in the morning there’s not a moment that
goes by that I don’t think about it
and one of my curses is the fact that
every time you hear about Operation Red
Wing or lone survivor or anything like
that my name is synonymous with that
that event and any time anybody ever
walks up to me all they ever want to do
is talk about it
whatever wants to talk to me about
football or hunting or or anything like
that they just want to talk to me about
the worst week of my life
and so it’s it’s always with me and
that’s the reason I I stick the friends
that I’ve had since I was ten years old
and some of the guys I mean Taylor and I
are really close now Pete and I’ve I’ve
been real close to them for for many
years now because they understand it may
they’ve actually been through with me
now but to see it on screen and it’s
just one of those things when I was like
eh you missed something
and they looked like it was a miserable
one on that TV right there and that I
can tell you it was twice as bad in real
life I don’t know so I just wished it um
I always wished that some of my
teammates would have what I made it out
as well
to get their their side of the stories
and to make this thing tentative to
really open it up and find out just
everything that happened you guys my
like I said it’s coming for me and I
don’t remember everything I can possibly
put put it all down
you
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