Lone Survivor_ The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 ( PDFDrive )

which was killing me was also the driving force keeping me on this long,
desperate march.
I recall thinking there was no water this high up, and I resolved to go back
down to slightly lower slopes where hopefully a stream might come cascading
out of the rocks, the way it does up here. Right then the sun was burning down
on me, really hot, and way above me, the high peaks were still snowcapped.
Something had to be melting, for Christ’s sake. And all that water had to be
going somewhere. I just had to find it.
Down in these lower areas, I found myself in the most beautiful green forest,
so beautiful I wondered whether it might be a mirage. There were soft ferns,
deep green grasses, and tall shady evergreens, a scene of verdant, lush mountain
growth. Jesus Christ, there had to be water down here somewhere.
I paused often, listening intently for the sound of a running stream. But there
was only silence, that shattering, merciless silence of the high country where no
roads carve into the landscape, where no machines disrupt and pollute the air.
Where there are no automobiles or tractors; no television, radio, or even
electricity. Nothing. Just nature, the way it’s been for thousands of years up here
in this land of truly terrible beauty and ravenous hatred.
Don’t get me wrong. The gradients were still very steep, and I was working
my way through the forest, through the gutters of the mountain. Much of the
time I was just crawling, hands and knees, trying to ease the pain in my left leg.
To be honest, I really thought I might be finished now. I was full of despair,
wondering if I might black out, begging my God to help me.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort
me . . .
That’s the Twenty-third Psalm, of course. We think of it as the Psalm of the
SEALs. It is repeated at all of our religious services, all funerals. Too many
funerals. I know it by heart. And I clung to its message, that even in death I
would not be abandoned.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou
anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will