"[The translator] was like my eyes and mouth." Miraculously, Luttrell survived the firefight that left his fellow SEALs dead, and was rescued when he was near the end of his rope. (Photo Credit: Handout / Getty Images)Luttrell then attended Army jump school and SEAL Qualification Training. ", We pull up to Nora, a trendy restaurant that boasts a "taste of Afghan culture," along with signature cocktails such as the Kabul Mule. I wasn't sure how he would react to it, he explains. Luttrell also receives tremendous support from his wife Melanie. In the winter of 2014, Gulab was forced to make an agonizing decision: Flee with half his family or wait and risk another attack. In late Septemberabout nine months after he arrived in Indiathe U.S. government approved his visa and that of his wife and seven children. "He pretty much called it that week when he said, 'I'm going to marry you.' That's happened more times than I can even count. ***MORE LONG READS:The Battle For The Internet's FutureKenneth Anger: Where The Bodies Are BuriedFacebook At 10: The Case For The Defence***. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Wahlberg's care package to a Navy SEAL would include Mark Wahlberg and U.S. Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell discuss 'Lone Survivor,' the movie that Wahlberg portrays Luttrell's life as a SEAL and some of the hazing that happened on set. (Both the State Department and Department of Homeland Security declined to comment, citing privacy concerns. Gulab was excited. The operation then became known as Red Wings II and lasted approximately three more weeks, during which time the bodies of the deceased SEALs and Army Special Operations aviators were recovered and the only surviving member of the initial team, Marcus Luttrell, was rescued. We had photos from their interview, which Yousafzai recorded, and copies of Gulab's visas. "I was 100 percent sure the U.S. government would give me a green card," he says. He still hadn't heard from Luttrell and wanted to fly to Houston to hash things out. He has stated in various interviews that there were multiple variables that influenced his vote. Gulab felt betrayed. On a brisk night in January, I meet Gulab for the first time, in the parking lot of a Best Western in suburban Fort Worth. Marcus Luttrell's Savior, Mohammad Gulab, Claims 'Lone I could tell [DASY] tried to get away because there was a blood trail, Luttrell told the Houston Chronicle. The U.S. military and those who support it are becoming increasingly aware of the concept of moral crisis -- some service members returning home are finding it difficult to understand and accept the actions they took while on active duty. Hernandez chose to stand trial, was found guilty and received the maximum sentence of two years in state prison. More than anything, we need the resources to help those identified with significant need, Payne said. Others are more significant: The target, Ahmad Shah, wasn't an international terrorist or a close bin Laden associate. ", Gulab shrugs. Gulab also maintains that Luttrell promised him a 50-50 split on whatever he made from the movie. (A Navy spokesman declined to comment on the matter.) For the next two weeks, the Lone Survivor Foundation paid for Gulab to travel around the country with Fairchild and an interpreter. At night, he left his family and went to a secret location. A sniper and a medic, Luttrell packed a scoped military assault rifle and 11 magazinesthree more than usual, he wrote in Lone Survivor. Special Operations Forces are the elite commandos of the U.S. military. After Action airs on TheBlaze. Not far from his home, he noticed a suspicious vehicle parked along the side of the road, which he suspected held those responsible. While seeking out treatment for his traumatic brain injury, he learned about the Center for BrainHealth, part of the UTD's School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, a research institute that combined brain research with clinical intervention. However, he was killed in April 2008 during a firefight with Pakistani police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. So as he stood in his yard, watching the sun slowly rise, Gulab finally lost something the Taliban hadn't been able to take from him in nearly a decade of attackshe lost hope. During the section of his book in which he describes his SEAL training, which includes Hell Week five days of no sleep and rigorous 20 hour days Luttrell quotes one of his superiors, who tells him that the human body can withstand almost anything it's the mind that needs to be conquered. (The interpreter declined to comment for this story. As he stood near the doorway, two men on motorcycles pulled up and fired at him with pistols. Gulab had little more than the money in his pocketand now his life was in greater danger than ever. As we park, I see a police car near the entrance. Alfonso Hernandez and Michael Edmonds were charged with cruelty to a non-livestock animal, while the cars driver was cited for not having a valid license. "If you had brought Marcus back to the mountain, we would have traded him for money and prisoners, and you could have kept the ransom. I crashed so hard once I got back.". How to Market Your Business with Webinars. "We could have spared your life," the caller added. You can see it in his facefrom the wrinkles on his forehead to the dark circles under his eyes. Here is the first obstacle of the USMC Obstacle Course. Marcus Luttrell says part of himself died on the Afghanistan mountain where his three Navy SEAL comrades perished in the ill-fated 2005 mission Operation Red But Gulab did it to himself.". WebApril 22, 2023. Marcus Luttrell He also I ask him how his experience with them changed the way he saw the world. "I agonized over my decision," the Afghan says in the book. Among her accomplishments are being the Founder of the true crime blog, Stories of the Unsolved, which garners between 400,000 and 500,000 views annually, and a contributor for John Lordans Seriously Mysterious podcast. The SEALs were dropped in the "bad and barren" mountains to hunt for a Taliban leader "known to be one of Osama bin Laden's closest associates," Luttrell wrote. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. They attempted to radio for advice, but comms were down. How Can Black Mirror Stay Fresh in Season 6? When he came to, the SEAL realized the blast had blown his pants off, and he was badly injured: His back and nose were broken, and his face was busted up, he wrote. Marcus Capone to Marcus Luttrell: I was the first person you saw [in Germany after your Operation Red Wing injuries]. Kinsler, 30, suffered a severe traumatic brain injury during a 2015 collision involving his car and a semi-tractor trailer truck in Ormond Beach. His savings were gone. Despite the security risk they presented, executing them would be, in Luttrell's mind, an act of murder. The question of honor has nothing to do with his religion.". Although they could not establish consistent communication, they communicated for a period long enough to indicate that they were under attack. People are dying waiting in line. But his friend advised against it. As the three huddled, Gulab claims they hashed out a verbal agreement: Luttrell promised to link him up with Robinson, his co-author, so he could tell his version of how they met, and the Afghan could keep the profits from the book. When the helicopter exploded, the force blew him down onto another deck. He murdered more than 150 people and won the Silver Star, four Bronze Star Medals with three Gold Stars, and a V device. I hope the suicide bombers or the Taliban brothers will fulfill my order. In place of serving through the U.S. military, Luttrell formed the Lone Survivor Foundation, which aims to assist veterans enduring PTSD. Gulab says Luttrell asked him to give $13,000 to the other villagers, which he says he did. When Luttrell started on his masters degree, Hart told him to think of it as academic boot camp. Gulab's lawyer, Michael Wildes, with another client, Mohammed al-Khilewi, a Saudi diplomat who sought asylum in the U.S., in 1994. But as Robinson went through Luttrell's version of what happened in Afghanistan, Gulab thought many parts of the story were not the way he remembered them. When darkness fell, the SEAL started walking. Luttrell was left unconscious, suffering a broken back, several fractures and shrapnel wounds. He even visited Las Vegas. He was hurt no doubt, but his injuries were not anywhere near what he claimed. My SEAL training was the best thing that had happened to me. The executive producer of the show is Glenn Beck. He succeeded, but it cost him his life. Gulab, in his apartment in Fort Worth, Texas, holds a photo of Luttrell taken during their confrontation with a Taliban-linked militia. Special Recon, Direct Action. Joshua Appel and Technical Sergeant Christopher Piercecchi of the United States Air Force Pararescue. In a suicidal bid to get back-up, Murphy moved himself to open ground, sitting on a rock to get satellite phone reception and call the Quick Reaction Force two mountain ranges away in Asadabad. "We must have killed 50 or more of them," Luttrell wrote. But yes sir, I have a great understanding now, and I try to tell people a lot of people think we're at war with Afghanistan, but we're not, we're at war with the Taliban. "This is the most rigorous review on the face of the planet," Johnson says. Bad day at the office is how Luttrell sums it up. We exit the highway and head toward a trendy, gentrified neighborhood in east Dallas. Navy SEALs operating in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom: [L-R] Sonar Technician (Surface) 2nd Class Matthew G. Axelson; Senior Chief Information Systems Technician Daniel R. Healy; Quartermaster 2nd Class James Suh; Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell; Machinists Mate 2nd Class Eric S. Patton; and Lt. Michael P. Murphy. Over the clangor of forks and knives, I start asking Gulab questions. Today, as Gulab struggles to adjust to life in America, his harrowing journeyfrom the snowy peaks of the Hindu Kush to the drab strip malls of Fort Worthis an inspiring story of hope and survival and a grim tale of betrayal and despair. His wife was clinically depressed, but with Fazilhaq's assistance, he found a doctor to treat her. His left leg was full of shrapnel, and his shoulder ached. Gulab was asleep in his room when a bomb exploded by the front gate of his home. Gulab says they continued paying him, but he was no longer allowed on the base. "Some people laugh at me, but some people like it. He gave Luttrell water and helped carry him back to their village. On April 9, 2014, while I was working at a website called Vocativ, I received an email from Sami Yousafzai, a Pashto-speaking colleague in Islamabad, Pakistan. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. An estimated 35 Taliban were also dead. Luttrell was understandably apprehensive about what Hollywood might do with his story, and spent substantial time sizing up Berg, initially meeting him back in 2007. Marcus started training for the U.S. Navy SEALs with U.S. Army veteran Billy Shelton at the age of 14. Mr Luttrell extolled the virtues of Navy SEALs, the best of the best, and Marcus wanted to be one from the age of 12. In 2007, Marcus returned to the U.S. and co-authored the New York Times bestseller titled Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10. But it's different for me, obviously. "We didn't talk about it in the book, you don't see it in the movie, and it's kind of crazy that you picked up on that. Russell Brand Peaked in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, ESQUIRE, PART OF THE HEARST UK FASHION & BEAUTY NETWORK. He loved his nephew and felt guilty about his death. As I said to him, I hope to train him to become a great neuroscientist, and no one will ever know he was a Navy SEAL.. They would shelter him, feed him and protect him. Lone Survivor was published a mere two years after his ordeal, and he sees the film as the end of that particular mission. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. He underwent cognitive testing and received training on how to improve his ability to think abstractly, synthesize information and filter out distractions common problems for patients with brain injuries. Saving Luttrell was an extraordinary act of courage, and it destroyed Gulab's life. By the end of his eight-year career in the United States Navy, Marcus became an SO1. I had to have my hand reconstructed. Half-dead, forced into trusting these people, let alone the Taliban surrounding the village and threatening them all, one can only imagine that extra layer of stress, not knowing what was around the corner at any given moment, or who might do what. The next day, their mission unraveled. In 2008, in a rare display of bipartisanship, Congress created a system to bring over Iraqi and Afghan translators, office workers and other American allies. Yet on May 30, Gulab's benefits will expire. But thanks to the lawyer and one of his contacts, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul sent a recommendation to the State Department, saying it was in the U.S. national interest to settle Gulab in America. "This letter is from the brave fighters and the mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate," it read. It was about this time when Luttrell decided to pursue an advanced degree in cognitive science, with the long-term goal of finding treatments that could help the estimated half-million recent-war veterans suffering from PTSD, traumatic brain injuries or both. Marcus had been shot six times with a .45-caliber pistol. It's the best thing that ever happened to me.". In the fall of 2014, while I was living on assignment in Tel Aviv, Israel, my phone rang in the middle of the night. "He was full of sadness and anger and confusion over everything that had happened on that mountain," one of his friends told The Daily Beast. But miraculously, as the film Lone Survivor (opening limited Wednesday, wide Jan. 10) depicts, an unconscious Luttrell was saved by an Afghan villager after crawling miles to safety. In the 2013 American biographical war film titled Lone Survivor, actor Mark Wahlberg portrayed Marcus.The movie is based on the eponymous 2007 nonfiction book by Marcus. Not covered in the book or film is Luttrell's headstate during those four days in the village (Sabray). Luttrell took a sideways step, attempting to zigzag, but fell headlong, flipping in the air, hurtling down as he tried and failed to grab branches and get a foothold. Around noon, as the Americans hid among rocks and fallen trees, a goat herder stumbled across Luttrell as two other herders, one of them a teenage boy, trailed behind with roughly 100 goats. It is curious that Gulab's allegations and the financial requests came in the same time frame." You stay alive, Marcus. A security guard greets us at the gate and lets us pass. The U.S has stopped accepting Iraqi applications, and Afghans now face stiffer requirements. So he stops, reflects, prays and pays his respects to the guys that died that day and the families they left.". Following the war and the incident with DASY, Luttrell dedicated his life to working with US Army veterans. That, says Luttrell, was his breaking point. Mohammad Ismail alias Ahmad Shah, the target of Operation Red Wings survived the American operation. He has a lot of added stress, the Taliban weren't trying to kill him before I walked in there, and they are now, there's a bounty on his head. Needless to say, hes never had a student quite like Luttrell. "You said you would get me a green card," he recalls saying. "Yes sir," he says. In his book, To Be a Friend Is Fatal, Kirk Johnson, a former U.S. Agency for International Development worker in Fallujah, describes the wishful thinking and twisted logic that left so many U.S. allies stranded in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Luttrell, all team members voted on whether to execute the men or let them go. As we bump over the road, I see signs advertising Tiger Cabaret, a local gentleman's club, and "an evening with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis." He was also shot in the back the following day, which is not shown in the movie (The Daily Beast).. The couple married each other on November 27, 2010, in Texas. Luttrell was medically discharged from the Navy and now resides in the U.S. with his wife. He had also received permission from his superiors to publish his memoir, which he worked on with Patrick Robinson, a British novelist. I mean, I owe him a life debt. The State Department funneled his case to a local relief agency, which paid his rent and gave him thousands of dollars in cash assistance over eight monthsall on the condition he continued looking for work and attended free English classes. "Without Marcus promoting it, it went nowhere. "I told the commander the man I saved was a human being. The next day, Gulab met one of his contacts, who handed him his plane tickets and several hundred dollars. Clare Fitzgerald is a Writer and Editor with eight years of experience in the online content sphere. A born and bred Texan, this medically-retired Navy SEAL is over in the sunshine state for a three-week stint in physical therapy, and has just wrapped up. ", Robinson's book paints a heroic portrait of Gulab, but the more I read, the more details he disputes. Since they'd last seen each other, the former SEAL had become an entrepreneur, launching his own clothing line (and later his own brand of ammunition called Team Never Quit). When Gulab landed at the Houston airport in September 2010, Luttrell was waiting for him, a watch in his handa reminder of their emotional parting five years before. The militants responded with a barrage of bullets. 1 What injuries did Marcus Luttrell suffer? However, a fractured femur delayed his completion of the program, meaning he graduated with Class 228 on April 21, 2000. Thank you," as two rounds were fired into his torso. And his newfound fame proved to be lucrative. He grabbed his rifle as one of them yelled at him, and he flicked off the safety catch. Melanie says the man she knows is a "teddy bear" who reads to the kids each night and leaves random romantic notes around the house for her. Murphy was shot in the stomach, Dietz in the hand. The center has worked with veterans for several years. Director Peter Berg had turned Lone Survivor into a movie, and Universal planned to release it in late December. He said goodbye to the mosques and government ministries, goodbye to the streets and alleyways, goodbye to the mountains and valleys. I play it all over in my head a million times, going through it in real life," he says. So you're always on your guard. As a recipient of both the Navy Cross (an award for valor in "The allegations that the Luttrells mistreated Gulab in any way are absolutely false," the lawyer said. They medically discharged Marcus from the Navy in the same year. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. I have seen this one stop some of the Stew Smith discusses some tips that will help when running in sand. ' His beloved pet had been given to him by Americas VetDogs to help him emotionally recover from his experiences in the Middle East. In his statement from Buzbee, the former SEAL disputes this, saying he encouraged Gulab to stay but that he left on his own accord. They had something important to discuss. He uncovered a bevy of discrepancies in Luttrell's account. He says he's never threatened the Luttrells but was afraid the U.S. would send him back to the Taliban. That's probably going to be the next surgery.". "The Luttrells believe that Gulab has come under the influence of one or more handlers in Afghanistan, who are manipulating Gulab for their own financial gain. All he could do now was belly crawl. It all seemed remarkable for a man still learning to steer a shopping cart. This podcast has become a beacon of hope and resilience to those who are facing the impossible. (Feb. 17) Copyright 2023 Military.com. 'It's good to be back to a regular farm boy. Marcus doesn't just kiss ass and give you his trust and his blessing. Luttrell, 38, is in the constant presence of his white Labrador service dog Mr. Rigby, who helps to calm him. ), On the ride to the airport, Gulab spoke to Luttrell on the phone, and the American apologized for not being there, explaining that he was busy promoting the movie. He graduated with a B.S in International Business in 1998. All Rights Reserved. He put together a group of five to seven guys that he knew that were all very tight with the soldiers who were killed, says Berg. Over the next few days, I try to change the subject, to talk about his life in India, the Taliban's threats, his job prospects, but the conversation keeps coming back to Luttrell. Theres nothing heroic about suicide bombers. Rick Perry with his brother Marcus, left, at Perrys announcement of his ill-fated 2016 presidential run. The good Afghani people are caught up in the middle of it. The SEALs used PRC-148 MBITR (Multi Band Inter/Intra Team Radio) to make a number of attempts to contact their combat operations center. How long does Operation Red Wings usually last? His twin brother Morgan is also a former Navy SEAL. "The reason I had that animosity toward the Afghani people is because I just trained that way, and war changes your perspective. With Sami Yousafzai in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Ed Darack in Fort Collins, Colorado. Later, he had his knees blown out and fractured his spine again. After 22 days, Gulab's wife asked to return home with her daughters. The four of us are going to eat at an Afghan restaurant on the other side of town. Also, they used an Iridium satellite phone. "I'm a member of that village, and I'm a member of that family just like he's a member of my family now. As he looked at the tears in her eyes, he felt a deep sadness. "Absolutely, yes sir," he says. "No Taliban!" They treated him well, he says, but the interpreter was rarely around. Some of the other patrons stare. There were one or two frightening occasions when I heard it in broad daylight and found myself pressed against a wall, my hands covering my ears. "In the book, they say Gulab thought [Luttrell] looked like Fidel Castro. Mohammad Gulab, in his apartment in Fort Worth, Texas, is struggling to support his family but is relieved that he no longer has to worry about being ambushed by the Taliban. It's pretty funny.". He wanted to be part of the solution.