Lone Survivor

By Marcus Luttrell

10-7-21

About the Author:

Marcus Luttrell is a retired Navy SEAL who received the Navy Cross and Purple Heart for his actions in June 2005 against Taliban fighters during Operation Red Wings, and had to fight alone in a struggle to survive.

How I found this book

I usually don't read books about war because it never really interested me. Recently, I found this book lying around in my attic and decided to try something different. When I started reading, I didn't know what to expect, but I learned a lot about the NAVY SEALs and how intensely trained these individuals are. I have even more respect for what they are doing for this country. The book is laid out into 2 different parts: The first 100-ish pages of the book focuses on Marcus Luttrell's training in boot camp and BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) and also covers Hell Week (More on that later). The second half of the book discusses Marcus's mission in Afghanistan, Operation Red Wings. The original intent of the mission was to kill Ahmad Shah, a Taliban leader who controlled local militias in the area, but SEAL Team 10 underestimated the sheer number of Taliban fighters and Axe, Danny, and Mikey perished in the Afghan mountains, leaving Marcus alone to escape and find his way back home. There is also a movie based on Operation Red Wings, but I haven't seen it yet. It would be interesting to see the main differences in comparison to the book.

The Crew Marcus was joined with 3 other SEALs on the mission; they were Matthew Axelson (Axe), Daniel R. Healy (Danny), and Michael P. Murphy (Mikey).

Training

To become a Navy SEAL, you first must attend boot camp, and for Marcus, this was at the Navy Recruit Training Command. in Great Lakes, Illinois. He states that it was the most miserable eight weeks of his entire life, because when he arrived, it was in the middle of the worst blizzard that the boot camp had seen in eleven years. In the first week of training, they instilled three words in the recruits, Honor, Courage, Commitment, the motto of the United States Navy. There was hands on training, teamwork, weaponry, and shipboard damage-control. After these 8 weeks of boot camp, Marcus headed to Coronado Island for Indoc (a two-week course where SEALs prepare you for whats coming next), and the seven month long course, called BUD/S. A good description of BUD/S is as follows: The first three weeks are meant to tear down an individual physically. The goal is complete physical fatigue. The fourth week, affectionately known as "Hell Week", is designed to rid the class of any who were on the verge of quitting by the end of the first three weeks.
A scan from the book... Hell Week begins with an activity known as Breakout, where gunmen come charging in and start firing machine guns at the trainees (with blanks), designed to cause utter maihem, with screaming, whistle's blowing, and deafening gunfire. During Hell Week, candidates sleep at most four hours, run more than 200 miles, and physical "activities" for more than 20 hours per day. After the week passes, there is Phase 2 of BUD/S (Combat diving) and Phase 3: (Land warfare). After BUD/S there are still a couple more training courses, but what I covered here is the main grueling portion.

Operation Red Wings

Note:
Keep in mind this book was written in 2007, before the fall of the democratic government to the Taliban in 2021, so this map is outdated. It was very interesting to read this quote by Marcus: "Right now these very same guys, the remnants of the Taliban and the last few tribal warriors of al Qaeda, were preparing to start over, trying to fight their way through the mountain passes, intent on setting up new training camps and military headquarters and, eventually, their own government in place of the democratically elected one."
- Marcus Luttrell

I'll set the stage, June 27th, 2005, Ahmad Shah has been located in a nearby village, with an estimated eighty-two hundred warriors keeping a lookout. Marcus, Axe, Danny, and Mikey took off on the Chinook 47 and the four jumped out of the heli into the lawless rebel-held territory of the Hindu Kush Mountains, one and a half miles away from the village. After getting a great vantage point over the village several hours later, they were discovered by local goat herders. They had two decisions, shoo them off, or kill them because of the risk that the goat headers will give away their location to the Taliban. The group took a vote, and Marcus decided to let them go. "It was the stupidest, most southern-fried, lamebrained decision I ever made in my life... No night passes when I don’t wake in a cold sweat thinking of those moments on that mountain. I’ll never get over it. I cannot get over it. The deciding vote was mine, and it will haunt me till they rest me in an East Texas grave." Within the hour, they were ambushed by Shah and his men. The intensity of the incoming fire pushed the SEAL team down the mountain and this is where Axe, Danny, and Mikey died, leaving only Marcus alive with very little options left.

Marcus kept falling back down the mountain, this time alone, and eventually stumbled upon the local Pashtun villagers. The Pashtuns have a rule, called lokhay warkawal. It means "giving of a pot" and implies protection of an individual where the tribe might be weaker from enemies. When a tribe accepts lokhay, that will defend that individual at all costs, even if the entire village is wiped out. The village made a decision and took Marcus under their wing and provided lokhay. The Taliban were obviously not happy, but not wanting to threaten the village, they camped out, surrounding the place where Marcus was staying. He met Mohammad Gulab, one of the village elders, who helped him on his journey to the village of Monagee, where the U.S. military had some kind of an outpost. As they started their expedition to Monagee, two U.S. Army Rangers, in combat uniform, bursted through the undergrowth on the trail and yelled, "It’s Marcus, guys! We got him — we got him!” The next day a Chinook 47 landed in a nearby field and took Marcus to Asadabad, where a U.S. military base was stationed and was successfully rescued, after surviving for 6 days and four hours. Marcus is incredibly grateful for the Pashtuns saving him, because he would have died in the Afghan desert.

Influence of the media on decisions

During his retelling of the story, Marcus discusses how the liberal media persuaded his choice that fateful day when the team had to make a choice about the goat herders. The decision was weighted with fear that he would have been charged with murder for not following the "rules of war". The rule is the enemy has to instigate a fight first, so no civilians will get hurt. Marcus's view on this rule is opinionated; "Let the liberals go to hell... take with them all of their fucking know-nothing rules of etiquette in war and human rights..." To say he disproves of this rule is a grave understatement. He doesn't like the idea of having the government/media telling him how to do his job, and is limiting him from performing hist best. Mikey, Danny, and Axe might still be alive today if they picked the option of killing the three afghans in order to remain concealed. He mentions that war is not a clean operation, and innocent civilians are going to get hurt, no matter what, and if you don't like this idea, then don't participate in war. I agree with him on this point, because it gives the enemy an unfair advantage since they don't care about the "rules of war." and do what they please. But hey, I'm only in high school and what do I know about war, the geopolitical climate, and the in depth lore of the Genova Conventions.

My thoughts

I didn't really expect this book to captivate me as much as I thought. At some points while reading, I felt sad at what happened; Marcus hearing Mikey scream in agony while he was shot, Axe, sitting unresponsive in the Afghan mountains, and Danny, dying in Marcus's arms. When it comes to decision making, I find it a challenge to even pick something off of a menu at a restaurant, let alone make a decision that would seal the fate of my closest friends. I could never see myself as a SEAL, probably wouldn't be able to make it through boot camp if I was honest with myself. I'm not planning on going into the military or anything, going to just stick with civilian jobs. That concludes my thoughts about this book, Lone Survivor.

Peculiar Words

List of words that were new to me:

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