Brady ran over to where his platoon sergeant, Sgt. It just didnt look good.. "Erik was just his own man. He asked Graham to repeat, unable to register what he had just heard. (Diversion Books image/Released). Back in the operations center, leaders were busy trying to figure out the SEALs last known location and calculating how many soldiers each helicopter could fly with. Many of the men suffered scorched hands from gripping the rope through gloves for such a long descent. As a pilot in the 160th, Brady was the air mission commander for the operation. Kristensen and his SEALs were waiting on the ramp, standing in a circle. Brady stood next to a SEAL commander both had to take command of their respective units when Reich and Kristensen were killed on Turbine 33. The task force commander denied the request and ordered Turbine 34 back to Jalalabad. They ascended back into orbit and remained there for an hour until the task force commander ordered them back to Jalalabad. As they were turning around, Graham saw five Black Hawks performing a star-cluster evasion. Each of the five Black Hawks was loaded with Marines and had flown out thinking they were the QRF for the SR team. Instance of. He walked back to the operations center to monitor the situation and provide support from Bagram. The C-17 sat on the runway with the ramp down, waiting to receive the 16 interment cases containing the fallen warriors. . "It gets tiring. Once on the ground, theyd have to pick up the rope, hook it to themselves, and get hoisted back up. One by one, the Rangers and SEALs loaded the fallen onto the Chinooks and headed back to Bagram with their brothers. Hoisting a man at that altitude on that kind of terrain at night is a dangerous operation. All the men were anxious, angry, and ready to retrieve their brothers in arms. Photo by Spc. The 160th SOAR (A) Night stalkers are the only unit in the world to operate this helicopter (Photo: U.S. Army) A source from the Navy's special operations community described the reaction as "Shock and disbelief. As the storm raged, the members of the task force haunted with thoughts of their brothers on the mountain tried to sleep. On battlefields throughout history, the combat engineer has proven time and again to be a decisive factor in victory and defeat. Graham made a stop at a Forward Arming and Refueling Point (FARP) just outside of Jalalabad. He and Eicher hurried back to the operations center. Cummings, Michael "Multiple Blogs on Operation Red Wings . Not really sure who they were, but there was more activity than I expected.. Marines in the area knew it was an extremely dangerous place filled with Taliban fighters. The rescue operation, known as Operation Red Wings II, continued for weeks. Brady knew that surveillance aircraft going off station without backup was supposed to result in aborting the mission. As the lead aircraft descended, it became clear the LZ was on a steep slope of the mountain, making descent difficult due to the front rotors approaching the mountainside faster than the rear of the aircraft. Brady said it seemed like the whole base turned out to give the fallen a proper sendoff. He would have been on that bird were it not for the last-minute change. Showing Editorial results for operation redwing. Nope, I want you to take my spot as the operations officer and monitor from here, Reich replied. As the cases were being loaded, a SEAL ran up to the new SEAL commander and placed a written note in his hand. Their war-weary faces were chiseled stone as they watched the task force solemnly load 16 flag-draped internment cases into the C-17. His vibrant personality appeared to live on as a powerful presence as his friends convened for the ninth time since 2005 on Saturday, shouting to be heard over the din of the downpour and laughing louder than the rain. They rode it all the way in that way.. The Night Stalkers would then circle back and pick up the remaining SEALs who offloaded at Jalalabad. It would take them until . The members of the task force said their final goodbyes. [2] [38] Brooks said he reached out to Luttrell for his inputs about how to handle the story, but that Luttrell declined to discuss the events of that day. I dont really care, Matt, he told Brady, just get your stuff and get off the airplane. The loss weighed heavy on the men. A photo of a Rangers gloved hand holding the dogtag imprinted with the Warrior Ethos sits framed in the Kristensens home, but until this month, his parents had never seen the rest of the crash site photos. Back in the operations center, leaders were busy trying to figure out the SEALs' last known location and calculating how many soldiers each helicopter could fly with. It doesnt make sense., But he knew and lived by the Night Stalkers promise to every customer: If we put you in, well stop at nothing to get you out even if its technically someone elses job.. It was a matter of seniority. The crash site of Turbine 33. 1st Class Mike Russell, was sleeping and updated him on what had unfolded. The men of the task force saying their final goodbyes to the fallen before they are flown home to their final resting place. Search instead in Creative? Smiling as he looked over the crowd and placing his hand on the shoulder of a first-time E-Day guest, his father Ed said, "He's amongst us all, right here. Brooks said he felt inspired to record his first-hand account of the mission to rescue Luttrell because most war stories are about the fighting and the glorious victory of battle, but I think this kind of tells another side of war that kind of really doesnt get much attention., This was ugly, this was an ugly event, Brooks added. "The complexity of who he is, to me, is bigger than his being a SEAL. Al and Kip were on the ramp when the RPG impacted, Smith, who witnessed the horrific event, recalled. (Dr. Tony Books photo/Released) Luttrell wrote of his own experience surviving through Operation Red Wings, a 2005 special operations mission in Afghanistan to stop Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. Eicher looked at Brady and said, Nah, they probably put down for maintenance.. Photo courtesy of Steven Smith. They broke off and flew out of reach of the enemy fire. SEALs: Who's Had More Impact in the War on Terror? Graham watched from Turbine 34 as Turbine 33s ramp lowered and the crewman walked onto it to observe the landing zone below. When Turbine 33 was shot down, they received orders to fly back along with Turbine 34 and the Apache gunships until the next phase of the mission was developed. Good, Brady recalled Reich saying. The Night Stalkers flew back to their newly forged landing zone the following night. Increasing the size of the enemy that . It can go from 100 degrees to 50 in an hour, Brooks said. You hope they could. This is my mission.. He and some of his fellow Night Stalkers felt the SEALs plan was too risky. He asked Graham to repeat, unable to register what he had just heard. The fallen warriors were now on their way home. But seeing the site, even so long after, was helpful. Approaching the insertion point, the pilots flared the Chinook and came into a hover. A lot of guys really wanted to stay on the mission, recalled Chief Warrant Officer 3 Tim Graham, one of the pilots on Turbine 34. Eddie Rickenbacker, the ace of aces, may have broken the record for aerial victories in World War I, but that was hardly the most remarkable part of his extraordinary life. Almost every variety of special operations troops in the U.S. military inventory participated in a coordinated effort through some of Afghanistans most dangerous and austere terrain during the search for their brothers both alive and fallen. — -- When Ed and Suzanne Kristensen first heard about a Chinook helicopter being shot down in eastern Afghanistan on June 28, 2005, at first they feared for their Navy SEAL son Erik, who was deployed there at the time, but were reassured by a Navy friend that he likely wouldn't have been aboard. I could see the grass being blown by the rotor wash and all the remains bags being lined up in a row 16 of them, Rogie recalled. Brady rushed to the operations center where Chief Warrant Officer 4 Chris Eicher was telling the task force commander that they should wait until dark before sending the QRF because going in during daylight would subject them to more danger. After refueling, he continued on to Jalalabad and off-loaded. The note said that Marcus Luttrell was alive at a nearby village. The 2007 book Lone Survivor was later adapted into a movie of the same name in 2013. He had a look of competence and professionalism like he was ready to live out the Night Stalker creed, Brady said. On April 6, 15 U.S. service members and three American civilians were killed when their chopper went down in a sandstorm. Brady said he pleaded with Reich to at least let him come with and act as an extra gun and set of eyes. We reverence the ultimate sacrifice they made while engaged in that fierce firefight on the global war's front lines on terrorism (GWOT). As the Night Stalkers approached Bagram they could see what looked like everyone on base standing outside, showing their respect for the fallen. The extreme height of the trees made the full length of rope approximately 90 feet necessary. Like any deployed troops, Russian soldiers make calls back home to reconnect with family, friends and other loved ones. The projectile flew through the open ramp of the Chinook and exploded inside. Their war-weary faces were chiseled stone as they watched the task force solemnly load 16 flag-draped interment cases into the C-17. Joshua is married with two children. "There are some things you just don't delegate," Ed Kristensen said of his sons fateful action, at times welling up with emotion. Kristensen Family. Arriving on site, the task force members fast-roped in. They would have to offload eight SEALs from each helicopter before continuing. However unusual a personality he had, those who knew him agree that he fell in battle personifying the words stamped into that dogtag picked up by the paratrooper in the grime of Turbine 33's wreckage ten years ago. Erik Kristensen in the command operations center. Flight line view of U.S. Army UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters. It means you cant drift any direction without crashing.. When the ramp lowered, the Night Stalkers on the Chinooks stood tall and proud for their fallen brethren as task force members boarded and began solemnly moving each remains bag to the mortuary affairs building. Troops searching for the KIA and survivors. Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, and other Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) personnel loaded onto five Chinooks. Since the SEALs werent sure where exactly the compromised team was located, Kristensen believed inserting at a position of tactical advantage was the best option. Brooks was an incoming freshman at the University of Arizona when Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four airliners to carry out the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Brooks said all of those events, happening within a matter of months, had been the momentum changer that inspired him to join the Army Rangers. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. The lone C-17 aircraft lumbered through the sky after departing Germany, a necessary stop on the way back to the United States. Photo provided by Brooks. There was still some smoldering from the crash site, and I could see the glow from the heat through my night vision.. Arriving on site, the task force members fast-roped in. My finger . When we landed, we just saw a row of Night Stalkers and Rangers and SEALs for as far as I could see, lined up and ready to help transport the remains off and take them to the mortuary affairs section, Brady recalled. battle. They only discussed his SEAL career once -- when he told her he was going to Afghanistan. Steven Smith, the flight engineer in the rear of Turbine 34, saw a smoke trail emerge from the tree line directly toward Turbine 33. They ascended and flew back to Jalalabad to link up with another group of SEALs and stand by as a quick-reaction force (QRF) in case the SR team was compromised. It was a gut-wrenching decision for everyone on the mission, as they knew the original SEALs on the SR team were fighting for their lives and one of their own aircraft and crew was burning on the side of a mountain. 45. All the men were anxious, angry, and ready to retrieve their brothers in arms. "Next year, I'm giving him up," Sam Kristensen said, half joking, of future tributes for her son. So the enemy is one factor, but the terrain and weather are now a huge factor, and theyre starting to overtake the enemy in terms of danger to the force, Brady said. Kent Paro, who led SEAL Team 10 at the time and was Kristensen and Murphy's commander in Afghanistan, told ABC News last week. In January 2003, Brooks quit college and within a few months, he joined the Army. Rare footage of the disastrous Operation Red Wings from the Taliban PoV. Photo courtesy of Matt Rogie. Robert Thaler, courtesy of DVIDS. Steven K. Young, courtesy of DVIDS. As the next night approached, the task force went to work, planning another insertion onto the deadly ridgeline. We've hated to say no because people are very kind, Sam said. Tasked with inserting the SEAL special reconnaissance (SR) team deep into enemy territory in unforgiving terrain, Brady knew the SEALs Lieutenant Michael Murphy, Petty Officer 2nd Class Danny Dietz, Petty Officer 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Axelson had a difficult mission ahead. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Matt Rogie arrived in Bagram just before the Night Stalkers came back after dropping off the recovery force. They ascended back into orbit and remained there for an hour until the task force commander ordered them back to Jalalabad. The commandos would have to descend from a rope fast-rope while the helos hovered high above the trees. The three-phase plan called for inserting a four-man SR team the first night, then inserting the second element of SEALs the following night to establish an isolation zone around Shah. Soldiers sit on the rear deck of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter while flying over southern Afghanistan Oct. 19, 2010. During the flight, the Night Stalkers passed two Apache gunships whose pilots asked if they wanted to slow down so they could provide surveillance and support for the operation. In his book, Brooks wrote, I got my first real look at Afghanistan from the side of the mountain after offloading from a helicopter onto the Sawalto Sar, a mountain in Afghanistans Kunar Province. As he watched the two Chinooks taxiing onto the runway, he locked eyes with Russell, his platoon sergeant. archive.org 244 140 comments Best Add a Comment Im glad youre a thinking air mission commander and not simply one that takes a black-and-white view of the situation.. Drop us on the high ground, and well make our way to our swim buddies, Kristensen told Brady. Believing the gunship could make it back on station in time for the insertion, Brady made the call to continue the mission. They then used explosives to clear out a large enough area for Chinooks to land when they came back. With that, they retired to their rooms to rest for phase two of the operation the following night. Looking over the grim images for the first time, after an ABC News reporter provided them, Sam Kristensen said if conditions were ever safe enough and she had the opportunity to walk the ground where her son and his fellow warriors perished, "I'd be on the next plane -- a mother wants to know everything. They rolled out with a convoy and with some vengeance, and they fought their way up that mountainside, all the way up to the crash site.. I get that hes got some guilt that his friends were killed, but the fact that he got out alive, he should be celebrating, Brooks said. Children of varying ages ran around the coffins, playing and yelling, not yet old enough to understand the sacrifices these warriors made. The distinctive black MH-47G Chinook special operations helicopter. Russell went to work right away getting the crews together to prep the aircraft for the mission. Brady told his operations NCO to give him a minute to gather more information to get the next plan of action in place. "With my experience with TWA 800, I knew what an aircraft crash does to people. The only SEAL to make it out of the Red Wings incident alive, Navy Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell, went on to write the bestseller "Lone Survivor," which became a major motion picture of the same title last year. "Leave No Man Behind" begins with Brooks' decision to enlist and his life as a young Ranger, the good and the bad. Marines in the area knew it was an extremely dangerous place filled with Taliban fighters. When the crew chief tried to pull the rope up, they found it was entangled below. They were exhausted and angry with the mistake the US Air Force had made when they allowed Space-A seating to be filled on this leg of the flight home. Kristensen agreed with Bradys evaluation, and after the SR team radioed that they would be lying down for the day in their hide site, Brady and Kristensen called it a night. Brady said he estimated the AC-130 would only be off station briefly and that the crew had reported no hostile activity on the LZ. There were 100-foot-tall trees on all sides of the Chinook, and they were so close the pilots had no room to sway as they descended. The Navy's summary of action of Operation Red Wings states that an MH-47 Chinook helicopter, with eight additional SEALs and eight Army Night Stalkers aboard, was dispatched as part of an extraction mission to pull out the four embattled SEALs. He asked the AC-130 crew for one final report on the four potential landing zones the Night Stalkers had identified for the mission. Al and Kip were on the ramp when the RPG impacted, Smith, who witnessed the horrific event, recalled. The Chinooks took off toward the mountains once again, but as they climbed in elevation, severe weather rolled in. The back of the aircraft contained the flag-draped coffins of 16 great Americans: the fallen Night Stalkers and SEALs from Turbine 33. Hovering for that long over the same spot would burn the LZ and likely alert the enemy to the SR teams presence.. The sun was fading behind Afghanistans Hindu Kush mountains the evening of June 27, 2005, as a team of four US Navy SEALs walked up the ramp and into the back of US Army Capt. They rolled out with a convoy and with some vengeance, and they fought their way up that mountainside, all the way up to the crash site.. Nope, I want you to take my spot as the operations officer and monitor from here, Reich replied. Kind of like SEALs.. Nolan Peterson, a senior editor at Coffee or Die who has lived in Kyiv for eight years, spoke at a DC think tank conference on his front-line reporting on Russias invasion. Frustrated and angry, Graham followed the order. The flight back was pure silence. davenport, fl crime rate P.O. As the cases were being loaded, a SEAL ran up to the new SEAL commander and placed a written note in his hand. Brady knew that surveillance aircraft going off station without backup was supposed to result in aborting the mission. But we think about it all the time.". Approaching the insertion point, the pilots flared the Chinook and came into a hover. The Night Stalkers job was to insert the SEALs on a ridgeline where the terrain left few options for landing zones. Joshua Skovlund has covered the 75th anniversary of D-Day in France, multinational military exercises in Germany, and civil unrest during the 2020 riots in Minneapolis that followed the death of George Floyd. Smith said he saw a line of armored vehicles full of troops. Smith said he saw a line of armored vehicles full of troops. The C-17 closed its ramp and taxied down the runway and took flight. The new mission, dubbed Operation Red Wings II, was to recover the fallen heroes and the lone survivor Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell. These are the first photos released by the military of the crash that killed 38 on board, including 22 Navy SEALS. The weather was turning bad again as they offloaded Marines to assist with security. An MH-47 Chinook with 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and a KC-130J Super Hercules with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 conduct aerial refueling during Exercise Yuma Horizon 19. The flight crew kicked out the ropes, and the SEALs fast-roped down. Its a necessary evil and we should know the good and the bad., Front cover of "Leave No Man Behind" by Dr. Tony Brooks with Bob Welch. After refueling, he continued on to Jalalabad and offloaded. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. All of us were pretty broken up at that point, Rogie said. A Taliban high-value target sat tucked into the corner away from them all, guarded by other soldiers. The Armys elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) is known for having some of the most skilled aviators in the world, who fly the most elite special operators into some of the most austere environments on earth using the most advanced aircraft in the U.S. military inventory. You are giving solace to someone other than yourself, and yet you are helping yourself," she said. After landing, Graham saw the same five Black Hawks that had peeled off earlier parked on the runway. Thunder boomed as lightning struck all around them. For the Night Stalkers of the famed 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the war on terror continued. This was our small part in Operation Red Wings II. Our plan of action is for you to get us to the high ground as close to the troops in contact as you can, and were going to fight our way downhill, Brady recalled Kristensen saying. 8 to 12 estimated Taliban walked up the mountain and capitalised on every poor decision the seals made. It doesnt make sense., But he knew and lived by the Night Stalkers promise to every customer: If we put you in, well stop at nothing to get you out even if its technically someone elses job.. The news about the chopper crash came while the Kristensens were, coincidentally, attending the retirement of a Navy diver in Norfolk who had served under Ed during the recovery of the passenger jet in the ocean. Kind of like SEALs.. . "Erik was funny as hell, always one of the boys," Marcus Luttrell wrote in his book "Lone Survivor.. Smith and the others in Turbine 34 watched helplessly as the Chinook full of their fellow aviators their friends crashed into the mountain and erupted in a ball of flames. Coffee or Die Magazine | Operation Red Wings Through the Eyes of the Night Stalkers Features Operation Red Wings Through the Eyes of the Night Stalkers July 26, 2020 Joshua Skovlund The memorial service display in Bagram, Afghanistan. As the Night Stalkers slept, the SR team was discovered by a numerically superior force of enemy fighters. The SEALs did their best to hide the rope and keep their presence on the ridgeline hidden from enemy fighters. The weather was turning bad again as they offloaded Marines to assist with security. As the Night Stalkers flew back to Bagram, the JSOC ground force that had convoyed to the crash radioed to the task force that they had secured the site. Its extremely rare to have something that high-profile as your first mission, I recognize that, Brooks said. ", "But he wasn't a non-conformist just to be a non-conformist," Ismay explained. Weve got two military-aged males, possibly armed, on the northernmost LZ, the crew reported. Kristensen attended Washington's Gonzaga College High School. Tasked with inserting the SEAL special reconnaissance (SR) team deep into enemy territory in unforgiving terrain, Brady knew the SEALs Lt. Michael Murphy, Petty Officer 2nd Class Danny Dietz, Petty Officer 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Axelson had a difficult mission ahead. But Reich cut the debate short. Luttrell wrote of his own experience surviving through Operation Red Wings, a 2005 special operations mission in Afghanistan to stop Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. Jarret Roth, a Naval Academy buddy, said Kristensen was excited about joining his girlfriend in Paris in 2006 after his Afghanistan deployment for an Olmsted Foundation Scholarship to attend the Institute for Political Studies and was thinking beyond his time in the SEAL teams. When you hear all four directions, everyone gets pretty tense, Brady said.