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

still hope.”
I can’t explain what all this meant to Mom. She hovered somewhere between
hope and total despair. But she’s always said she’ll never forget Andy and the
long journey he and Kristina made to be with our family.
It began, I suppose, just as neighborly visits, interspersed with more
professional arrivals from SPECWARCOM. But it would turn into a vigil. No
one went home, they just stayed, day after day, night after night, all night,
praying to God that I was still alive.
When I think about it, these many months later, I’m kind of overwhelmed:
that much love, that much caring, that much kindness to my parents. And I think
about it, all of it, every day, and I still have no idea how to express my gratitude,
except to say I know the door of our home is open to each and every one of
them, no matter the hour or the circumstance, for all the days of my life.
Meantime, back up the goddamned mountain, unaware of the mighty gathering
still building at home, I was listening to the distant flow of water. Hanging on to
the tree, leaning out, wondering how to get down there without killing myself in
the process. That’s when the Taliban sniper shot me.
I felt the sting of the bullet ripping into the flesh high up at the back of my
left thigh. Christ, that hurt. Really hurt. And the impact of the AK bullet spun me
around, knocked me into a complete backflip clean off the fucking mountain.
When I hit, I hit hard, but facedown, which I guess didn’t do my busted nose a
lot of good and opened up the gash on my forehead.
Then I started rolling, sliding very fast down the steep gradient, unable to get
a grip, which may have been just as well. Because these Taliban bastards really
opened up on me. There were bullets flying everywhere, pinging and zinging
into the ground all around me, ricocheting off the rocks, slamming into the tree
trunks. Jesus Christ, this was Murphy’s Ridge all over again.
But it’s a lot harder to hit a moving target than you might think, especially
one traveling as quick as I was, out of control, racing between rocks and trees.
And they kept missing. Finally I came to a stop in a flatter area, and of course
my pursuers had not made the downward journey nearly as fast as I had. I had
had a decent start on them, and to my amazement I had come to little harm. I
guess I missed all the obstacles, and the earth beneath me was softish and loose
packed. Also, I still had my rifle, which to my mind was a bigger miracle than
Our Lady of Lourdes.
I began to crawl, going for cover behind a tree and trying to assess the enemy