When the Vietnam war games started, Erasmo "Doc" Riojas was part of
the great UWSS Instructor Team stationed in Key West FL. Shore duty envied
by any U.S.Navy diver. An island paradise for my entire family whose home
on Fleming St was short lived when we moved to Sigsby Park Navy
housing. I forfeited some of my shore duty to go to ST-2.
On Saturday the 10th of November I attended the Navy UDT SEAL Museum Muster and met Marcus Luttrell for the first time. Like many in the community who had not had the fortune to work with Marcus Luttrell, I received my information by reading his book and thinking about his actions and those of his teammates on that deadly mountaintop in Afghanistan. At the Museum Muster banquet, Marcus received a standing ovation from the guests. He was the only guest to receive a standing ovation, which doesn’t diminish the accomplishments of the other guests, such as Rudy Boesh, Richard Marcinko, Patches Watson...however it spoke volumes about the NSW community perception of Marcus. I was curious if the success of his book, a movie deal and lavish attention from the press had taken a toll on him or penetrated his armor. I was pleased to see that Marcus was still the quiet professional, and was left with the impression that he would much rather be in the field with the SEALs than receiving accolades for a book he wrote to honor the memory of his fallen teammates. Events have a strange way of thrusting reluctant warriors into the spotlight.
Thus I was honored to meet Mr. Luttrell. The episode got me thinking about this man's historic role and what it meant for the SEAL community and the country.
My contemplation was punctuated by a timely Blog post from a compatriot in the Special Forces who took great pains to lambaste Marcus Luttrell and his book The Lone Survivor. This fellow warrior claimed that he read parts of the book to his teammates and they had a good laugh about it. He seemed to think the idea of Marcus’ team having a democratic “vote” about the fate of the Afghan goat-herders who stumbled upon them was absurd. In a military unit democratic discussions do not, and should not, take place. Further, merely the notion that killing the goat-herders was an option was akin to contemplating murder. Finally, this fellow was certain there were “at least 10” other options his team would have considered, none of which included killing the herders OR letting them go, which is what LT Murphy and his team did that day.
While I respect the constitutional right to state ones mind in public, I would urge my Special Forces friend to take a deep look into his heart and set aside his service parochialism. Special Operators are quiet professionals. Same goes for Green Berets and Rangers. Our missions and training are different, but we are all warriors in the service of a great country.
In the Teams, our thinking is much less rigid than any other SOF unit. Some of our best ideas come from the most junior enlisted man, whose mind has not become crusted with careerism and risk-mitigation. It is not unusual to seek input from junior teammates on important operational matters. As an officer I did this routinely and it got me out of some tight spots. At the same time, the final decision always rested with me. LT Murphy was no different. He sought input, then made a call. The way it happened may have appeared democratic to Marcus, but the bottom line is the LT Murphy had the final call. The guys knew this, and supported their leader.
Further, it is easy to second-guess what happens in the field. Unless you were there, however, it is best to be quiet about it. The ground-level truth will be different depending on the observer, and never will it find it's way to the media. SOF operators knows that compromise is a very real possibility, and surviving a compromise a dim prospect. We train hard and develop Standard Operating Procedures so that we don’t have to agonize over decisions, rather act immediately and with confidence. However, SOP’s fall short when the situation revolves around a serious ethical dilemma.
I have to believe that there were no good options for the team in Afghanistan. Like the classroom ethics exercise where you have to decide who to throw out of the boat to keep it from sinking, or all will die, they had a choice between two equally unacceptable options: kill the goat-herders, or let them go and face almost certain death. LT Murphy chose the latter after some discussion with his team. This is the “hard right” leaders talk about – doing things that are counter to your own needs or even survival because it is the right thing to do.
Making “hard right” decisions, and how you respond to a situation gone-bad is what separates great leaders from those just in charge. LT Murphy made his choice. Then he, Marcus Luttrell, Matt Axelson and Danny Deitz dealt with the consequences as heroically as any warriors in the history of mankind. Marcus made it out alive through a combination of happenstance, his strong survival instinct and the support of the locals. He has healed physically, but not a day will pass without remembering the teammates he left behind…and wondering about the decision. He wrote The Lone Survivor so the memory of LT Murphy, Matt Axelson and Danny Deitz would survive with him.
This month, LT Murphy was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions trying to save his team. This was the first MOH for a Navy member since Vietnam, and only the third in the Global War on Terror. The MOH is an honor for Mike Murphy’s family, the SEALs, the Navy, the entire special operations community, and the country.
It would not have happened if Marcus had not survived to tell the tale and risked his reputation to write a book about it. I believe that Murphy would want this award to be shared with his teammates – they earned it together. It is no laughing matter.
God bless our heroes
My generation, a lively bunch best known as the baby boomers, grew-up in the shadow of some remarkable men and women. The veterans of World War II, like my dad Ray Perry, withstood the Great Depression then headed overseas in their late teens, to beat back forces of tyranny that plotted to enslave the world. Victorious, they returned over 60 years ago to pilot our country through the Cold War and into a massive economic expansion. They are our country's Greatest Generation.
Yet as these heroes of yesteryear grow frail in body, a new rank of heroes that embodies the same valor is stepping forward. I recently met one of these valiant men,a Navy SEAL named Marcus Luttrell, the son of a Texas rancher from Huntsville. Marcus and his twin brother, Morgan, both began their own SEAL training regimen at age 14. Now on active duty as SEALs, the brothers are committed to the point of tattooing respective halves of the Navy SEAL crest on their backs.
Marcus is the sole survivor of a fourman Navy SEALs team sent on a mission in northern Afghanistan to locate a Taliban official with ties to Osama bin Laden. Attacked by more than 200 Taliban fighters and hunted for days without water, he was eventually rescued by Army Rangers with the help of a local Afghan village in June 2005. Despite the dire odds, a SEAL never quits. Before being recovered,Marcus fell off numerous cliffs, including a 150-foot cliff, and dragged his shrapnel filled legs over seven miles of hostile ground to a water hole up in the mountains. There local Afghans found him, cleaned his wounds and carried him to their village where they put him under "lokhay warkawal," Afghan for under the protection of the villagers. These Afghans shielded Marcus against the Taliban that came to the village wanting the soldier's life.
"In the middle of everything evil, in an evil place, you can find goodness. Goodness. I'd even call it godliness," Marcus told The Washington Post.
If you want to read the first draft of history, read Luttrell's account of those deadly days in Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10.
Amidst the flurry of cynical articles published this year that report most men and women enlist for poor reasons, like a lack of ambition, Marcus' account of his teams' heroic deeds during Operation Red Wing rebuffs such speculation and reveals true patriots. Marcus received the Navy Cross. One of his' valiant teammates, Lieutenant Michael Murphy, was recently awarded (posthumously) our nation's highest award, the Medal of Honor.
I believe the acts of this newest generation of soldiers, like Marcus, will match the determination, valor and faith of such famed World War II combat groups as the Tuskegee Airmen, the Flying Tigers and the troops that stormed Normandy. Like the stories of our World War II veterans, this new breed of men and women will attain earthly glory as we retell their stories on the big screen, on the page and on every occasion to our children.
I am proud of my father and his many missions as a B-17 tailgunner in the skies over Europe. I am proud of all World War II veterans. And I am proud of our present day protectors: the more than one million Americans who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and continue to serve, to defend and protect our home.
This Veteran's Day, let us remember to thank those brave men and women for all they gave to protect our country, the weak and the ideals of democracy. And as we revere the heroes of wars past, let us remember the new rank of heroes that battle global terrorism and signify what's best about America.
God bless our troops. And God bless America.
Virtual
Team Compound (Discussion
Board)
