The odds of enemy fighters hearing the echo of the dual-rotor helicopter increased every second it remained in a hover. Paratroopers held up a pair of Oakley mirrored sunglasses with one lens missing, a flight crew helmet torn open, a bent and flattened tactical flashlight and the lining of a SEAL's helmet they found on the ground. By Joshua Skovlund. The men of the task force saying their final goodbyes to the fallen before they are flown home to their final resting place. SFC Muralles died June 28, 2005, in eastern Afghanistan when his MH-47E Chinook Helicopter was shot down by enemy fire during combat rescue operations, since come to be known by 'Operation Red Wings.' 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. He walked back to the operations center to monitor the situation and provide support from Bagram. Ten years doesn't make any difference.". As the Night Stalkers approached Bagram they could see what looked like everyone on base standing outside, showing their respect for the fallen. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. As he approached the insertion site, Brady could see lights dotting the mountains below through his night-vision goggles. 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. The SEAL commander broke down and cried at the desperately needed positive news. 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.. As Brady approached the Chinook hed be flying, he noticed the tail number: 1-4-6. On April 6, 15 U.S. service members and three American civilians were killed when their chopper went down in a sandstorm. Their war-weary faces were chiseled stone as they watched the task force solemnly load 16 flag-draped internment cases into the C-17. Steven Smith, the flight engineer in the rear of Turbine 34, saw a smoke trail emerge from the tree line directly toward Turbine 33. Not wanting to leave their brothers, the SEAL team commander hatched a plan with the Night Stalkers to insert higher up on the ridgeline and fight their way down to the crash site so Turbine 34 could fly back to Jalalabad, pick up as many SEALs as he could, and fly back to reinforce the eight SEALs. As the Night Stalkers slept, the SR team was discovered by a numerically superior force of enemy fighters. As he watched the two Chinooks taxiing onto the runway, he locked eyes with Russell, his platoon sergeant. At Jalalabad, Brady was approached by SEAL Commander Erik Kristensen in the command operations center. Bradys maintenance officer woke him and said the SR team was in trouble and the Night Stalkers had orders to spin up and pull the team out. 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. The 2007 book Lone Survivor was later adapted into a movie of the same name in 2013. One by one, the Rangers and SEALs loaded the fallen onto the Chinooks and headed back to Bagram with their brothers. As torrential rains in Maryland saturated a softball field and playground on Saturday, the friends of Erik retreated into an open air pavilion, where drenched children darted in the mud between adults laughing over "that one time" Erik had done this or joked about that, while the admiral donned an apron and flipped burgers on a grill. Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell was the only survivor from the initial four-man SEAL reconnaissance element. Ammunition magazines for M4 rifles, springs and un-fired cartridges litter the sooted ground. They engaged in a fierce firefight, and at some point the task force lost contact with them. It just didnt look good.. Increasing the size of the enemy that . And if we just glamorize war all the time, I think thats a problem. He was well-read and intelligent, into music and literature. At the Bagram operations center, Maj. Stephen Reich approached Brady urgently, asking why he didnt follow abort criteria and fly back with the SR team after the AC-130 had to leave the airspace. Tim Graham standing by in Bagram. Al and Kip were on the ramp when the RPG impacted, Smith, who witnessed the horrific event, recalled. Grahams aircraft pulled off to the right to circle around and insert their payload of SEALs after Turbine 33 moved off to allow their entrance. The fallen Night Stalkers of the 160th SOAR included: Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature, Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach. When I met him there on the ground in Jalalabad, Graham was fairly shaken to say the least, Brady recalled. Weve got two military-aged males, possibly armed, on the northernmost LZ, the crew reported. Grahams aircraft pulled off to the right to circle around and insert their payload of SEALs after Turbine 33 moved off to allow their entrance. He was such a total goofball," remembered his friend Ismay, who graduated the academy a few years later and whose older brother served as a SEAL with Kristensen. It didnt look like there was any way anybody could have survived, Graham said. With that, they retired to their rooms to rest for phase two of the operation the following night. All of us were pretty broken up at that point, Rogie said. Seth Rosenberg, courtesy of DVIDS. July 1, 2015, 6:11 AM. As the pilots climbed the last 1,000 feet of elevation, the AC-130 crew providing overwatch on their destination radioed to say they had to leave their position due to a mechanical issue. Having walked that ground, it blows my mind that he got out of there alive. Photo courtesy of Daniel Bell. 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. Believing the gunship could make it back on station in time for the insertion, Brady made the call to continue the mission. Photo by Spc. We've hated to say no because people are very kind, Sam said. That's who Erik really was," said Jason Redman, who served in SEAL Team 10 as an officer with Kristensen at the time of the Operation Red Wings disaster and had once been in Murphy's platoon. "But he was on the helo," his mother told ABC News, as the family marked the tenth anniversary of Erik's death in Operation Red Wings last weekend. Graham and his co-pilot whipped their Chinook around to look for survivors. ", "But he wasn't a non-conformist just to be a non-conformist," Ismay explained. Marcus Luttrell, to get out of that thing alive, its a miracle, I mean I dont know how, Brooks said. Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, and other Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) personnel loaded onto five Chinooks. He would have been on that bird were it not for the last-minute change. The back of the aircraft contained the flag-draped coffins of 16 great Americans: the fallen Night Stalkers and SEALs from Turbine 33. Navy SEALs Conduct an Impressive Capabilities Exercise Here's Rangers vs. Receiving the transmission, Brady couldnt believe it. It means you cant drift any direction without crashing.. Kristensens cousins led the Pledge of Allegiance and a former SEAL who served with the mourned guest of honor strummed a guitar in sing-alongs. WARNING: NSFW footage of dead Navy SEALS and gore. Finally, 150 U.S. Marines would come in to establish blocking positions for the SEALs assault on Shahs compound. As Brady climbed into Turbine 33 and started strapping in, Reich tapped his shoulder and asked what the plan was. Assigned to replace Eicher as senior flight lead, he was trying to learn as much as he could before hopping into an aircraft and joining the mission. The projectile flew through the open ramp of the Chinook and exploded inside. 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. As the task unit commander for SEAL Team 10, in which Murphy served, Kristensen decided to personally lead an assault force by helicopter to his last known location, where the younger officer had been tasked with finding a militia leader named Ahmad Shah. The sun was fading behind Afghanistans Hindu Kush mountains the evening of June 27, 2005, as a team of four U.S. Navy SEALs walked up the ramp and into the back of U.S. Army Captain Matt Bradys MH-47 Chinook helicopter on Bagram Air Base. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. He walked out of the operations center and found Eicher. Three of the 160ths MH-47D Chinooks on the flight line in Bagram, Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of Steven Smith. They are famous for the roles they played in both the Battle of Mogadishu and the mission to kill Usama Bin Laden but are revered throughout the special operations community for acts of valor that often never see the light of day due to the classified nature of their work. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. Some of the Night Stalkers hanging out in the B huts they slept in, enjoying much needed down time. Thats when Staff Sergeant Steven Smith, the flight engineer in the rear of Turbine 34, saw a smoke trail emerge from the tree line directly toward Turbine 33. The weather was turning bad again as they offloaded Marines to assist with security. Walking toward the flight line, the SEAL commander quipped, What made you want to fly such ugly helicopters?, Theyre not much to look at, but they get the job done, Brady fired back. Reich, who had been designated mission commander for phase two of the operation, felt the QRF was his responsibility. Marines in the area knew it was an extremely dangerous place filled with Taliban fighters. Frustrated and angry, Graham followed the order. 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. The C-17 closed its ramp and taxied down the runway and took flight. That meant if the SEALs got into trouble, extraction would potentially require the use of a hoist to pull the SEALs out, which was a time-consuming and dangerous option. Soldiers and Sailors from the Task Force saying their final goodbyes. They would have to offload eight SEALs from each helicopter before continuing. The order was given to again abort the mission and return to base. Later, militants would display captured U.S. weapons and laptop computers in a video. It didnt look like there was any way anybody could have survived, Graham said. There were no survivors. A Taliban high-value target (HVT) sat tucked into the corner away from them all, guarded by other soldiers. "We're so over this. The remaining Night Stalkers prepared for a rescue operation. Brady said he pleaded with Reich to at least let him come with and act as an extra gun and set of eyes. They shared a laugh as they loaded up for the flight back to Bagram. It was a matter of seniority. Photo courtesy of Steven Smith. After leaving the service, he earned his CrossFit Level 1 certificate and worked as a personal trainer while earning his paramedic license. Navy SEAL Lt. Graham watched from Turbine 34 as Turbine 33s ramp lowered and the crewman walked onto it to observe the landing zone below. The League of Wives Memorial will be the first public memorial in the country to recognize military spouses, its planners say. Then the realization hit: He was now in charge. Ed Kristensen is a retired rear admiral who had led the Navy's 1996 recovery of TWA 800 which had crashed off New York with 230 souls lost. Matt Bradys MH-47 Chinook helicopter on Bagram Air Base. Photo courtesy of Matt Rogie. The rescue operation, known as Operation Red Wings II, continued for weeks. Once on the ground, they started their search for casualties, potential survivors, and sensitive equipment. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. Then the helos blades started hitting each other, and the aircraft rolled to the right before inverting as it descended to the mountainous terrain below. Kristensen's mother said swapping stories over beers and burgers is probably how the man his friends call the "gentle giant" would've preferred his life be celebrated, since he thought funerals were ridiculous and didn't even fill out the forms for his burial preferences, which most troops do. "It gets tiring. Before and after his presidency were some of the greatest contributions Jimmy Carter made to the world we know today. Photo courtesy of Daniel Bell. 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. We reverence the ultimate sacrifice they made while engaged in that fierce firefight on the global war's front lines on terrorism (GWOT). Each of the five Black Hawks was loaded with Marines and had flown out thinking they were the QRF for the SR team. Receiving the transmission, Brady couldnt believe it. Brady persisted with the details. Thunder boomed as lightning struck all around them. Brady had no way of knowing at the time, but it would be the last time anyone at Bagram would ever see three of those four Americans alive. The two Chinooks Turbine 33 and Turbine 34 were packed with 16 SEALs each, plus the Night Stalker pilots and crewman. It wasnt an ideal insertion, but the Night Stalkers had accomplished their mission. They engaged in a fierce firefight, and at some point the task force lost contact with them. I dont really care, Matt, he told Brady, just get your stuff and get off the airplane. The pilots descended to the point where the Chinooks front rotor was just a few feet away from the mountainside with tall trees all around the aircraft. military operation. 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. "The complexity of who he is, to me, is bigger than his being a SEAL. Search for jobs related to Operation red wings crash site photos or hire on the world's largest freelancing marketplace with 21m+ jobs. Three war-weary escorts one of them a SEAL and the other two Night Stalkers Daniel Bell and Chris Eicher sat off to the sides, grimly staring off into space. Rare footage of the disastrous Operation Red Wings from the Taliban PoV. He was wickedly smart, but more on the creative side. When the crew chief tried to pull the rope up, they found it was entangled below. — -- 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. Not wanting to leave their brothers, the SEAL team commander hatched a plan with the Night Stalkers to insert higher up on the ridgeline and fight their way down to the crash site so Turbine 34 could fly back to Jalalabad, pick up as many SEALs as he could, and fly back to reinforce the eight SEALs. That's how I remember him.". They would have to offload eight SEALs from each helicopter before continuing. Nope, I want you to take my spot as the operations officer and monitor from here, Reich replied. The Night Stalkers flew back to their newly forged landing zone the following night. The 2007 book "Lone Survivor" was later adapted into a movie of the same name in 2013. 12 Operation Redwing Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images EDITORIAL All Sports News Archival Browse 12 operation redwing stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. He could say that. ", "I would've hated it if anyone had been killed on that recovery mission," she said after viewing the grim scene the young paratroopers had to sift through in July 2005. We knew that we had lost him," the older Kristensen said. The task force commander denied the request and ordered Turbine 34 back to Jalalabad. The JSOC troops, along with their newly arrived reinforcements, went to work recovering those killed in action as well as sensitive equipment that could not fall into enemy hands. That meant if the SEALs got into trouble, extraction would potentially require the use of a hoist to pull the SEALs out, which was a time-consuming and dangerous option. : r/CombatFootage by GGdigger NSFW Rare footage of the disastrous Operation Red Wings from the Taliban PoV. The projectile flew through the open ramp of the Chinook and exploded inside. Join our brand new verified AMN Telegram channel and get important news uncensored. At the Bagram operations center, Major Stephen Reich approached Brady urgently, asking why he didnt follow abort criteria and fly back with the SR team after the AC-130 had to leave the airspace. The weather was turning bad again as they offloaded Marines to assist with security. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. The mission was to capture or kill Ahmad Shah, a Taliban commander. Kind of like SEALs.. The loss weighed heavy on the men. Throughout the mission, as his unit patrolled along exposed mountainsides and ravines, Brooks described the feeling that he and his unit could be ambushed at any moment. "That was the one part of the movie that I enjoyed. You hope they could. Ariann Harrison was an old friend in Washington who said he was sweetly absent-minded, once showing up for a swing dance class in flip-flops and yet "he made it work." Children of varying ages ran around the coffins, playing and yelling, not yet old enough to understand the sacrifices these warriors made. As Brady climbed into Turbine 33 and started strapping in, Reich tapped his shoulder and asked what the plan was. Kristensen and his SEALs were waiting on the ramp, standing in a circle. The 160th had only lost helicopters during daylight missions at that point theyre called Night Stalkers for a reason. Operation Red Wings (often incorrectly referred to as Operation Redwing or Operation Red Wing ), [13] informally referred to as the Battle of Abbas Ghar, was a joint military operation conducted by the United States in the Pech District of Kunar Province, Afghanistan. And that's what happened here. In one passage, he wrote, At any moment, I expected the crack of a rifle. Cummings, Michael "Multiple Blogs on Operation Red Wings . He told Reich pushing the mission back would allow Shah to continue his terrorist activities, likely leading to the death of locals and US military in the area. 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. He could relate to the most junior guy and to a general or admiral," Paro said. They shared a laugh as they loaded up for the flight back to Bagram. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, MIGHTY NETWORKS, 2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, 5 lessons the Army teaches from the movie We Were Soldiers, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Operation Red Wings Through the Eyes of the Night Stalkers. "It is very redeeming thing. That weather out there is unbelievable. . 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 US military inventory. He had a look of competence and professionalism like he was ready to live out the Night Stalker creed, Brady said. Search instead in. 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. As the next night approached, the task force went to work, planning another insertion onto the deadly ridgeline. The extreme height of the trees made the full length of rope approximately 90 feet necessary. The Chinooks took off toward the mountains once again, but as they climbed in elevation, severe weather rolled in. 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. rested on the cold magazine well of my M4 carbine. A Taliban high-value target sat tucked into the corner away from them all, guarded by other soldiers. Family, friends remember SEAL Erik Kristensen, 10 years after doomed mission. 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. Were completely separate commands. Box 4666, Ventura, CA 93007 Request a Quote: taurus 1911 45 acp extended magazine CSDA Santa Barbara County Chapter's General Contractor of the Year 2014! Hold your right and left; hold your front and rear, came the internal radio traffic from the flight engineer to Brady. He asked Graham to repeat, unable to register what he had just heard. 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. For the Night Stalkers of the famed 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the war on terror continued. Chris, Turbine 33 has just been shot down, he told Eicher, whod earned the nickname Iceman for his always cool demeanor. Kristensen was the one who organized a rescue mission after a SEAL reconnaissance team's leader, Lt. Michael Murphy, called for help well into a firefight in Kunar province's soaring mountains. Graham made a stop at a Forward Arming and Refueling Point (FARP) just outside of Jalalabad. The odds of enemy fighters hearing the echo of the dual-rotor helicopter increased every second it remained in a hover. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Matt Rogie arrived in Bagram just before the Night Stalkers came back after dropping off the recovery force.