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

fresh water and bread, which I consumed gratefully, and then I was instructed to
pack up and leave. By this time my leg was a little better, even though it hurt,
and with some assistance I was able to walk.
We made our way in the dark down to a different house and stepped off the
trail directly onto the roof. We had some kind of a sheet, and the three of us laid
down close together for warmth. It was very, very cold, but I guess they felt
there was some danger if I’d remained in my old spot. Maybe they had suspicion
of someone in the village, worry that someone had tipped off the Taliban as to
my precise whereabouts. But whatever, these guys were taking no chances. If
Taliban gunmen burst into my old house, they would not find me.
I was up here on the freakin’ roof, huddled with Gulab and his buddy,
freezing to death but safe. And once more I was amazed by the silence, that
mountain silence. There was not one single sound in the entire village of Sabray,
and for a Westerner that’s really hard to imagine.
Gulab and his pal made no sound. I could scarcely hear them breathing.
Whenever we did anything, they were always telling me shhhhh, when I had
thought I was being silent as the grave. It’s another world up here, so quiet it
defies the logic of Western ears. Maybe that’s why no one has ever conquered
these high lands of the Afghan tribesmen.
I slept on and off through the night, up there on the roof. Once I dared to
change position, and you’d have thought I’d set off a fire alarm from the reaction
of my new friends. “Shhhhh, Dr. Marcus...Quiet.” It just showed how jumpy
they were, how nervous of the hushed killers of the Taliban army.
At dawn we packed up and returned to the house. I wanted to sleep some
more, but there was a big tree right outside the window that had a view down the
mountain, and in that tree lived the world’s loudest rooster. That sucker could
have awakened a graveyard. And he did not give a damn about dawn, first light
and all that. He let it fly right after midnight and never let up. There were several
times when, if it had come to a straight coin toss between taking out Sharmak or
the rooster, I could easily have spared Sharmak.
The tribal chiefs came back again around 0700 to conduct their early
morning prayers in my room. Of course I joined them in reciting the bits I had
learned, and then, when the adults left, the door flew open and a whole bunch of
kids came charging through the door, shouting, “Hello, Dr. Marcus.”
They never knocked, just came tumbling in, grabbing me and hugging me.
And it went on intermittently throughout the day. Sarawa had left his medical
bag in my room, and I fixed up their cuts and scrapes, and they taught me bits of