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

California has been strictly sheltered in the SPECWARCOM compound. But in
my opinion, that nearly weeklong vigil carried out in an entirely impromptu
manner by the people of Texas says a huge amount about them, their
compassion, their generosity, and their love for their stricken neighbors.
Mom and Dad did not know all of them by any means, but no one will ever
forget the single-minded purpose of their visits. They just wanted to help in any
way they could, just wanted to be there, because one of their own was lost on the
battlefield far, far away.
And as the weekend wore on, no Stars and Stripes were flying. I guess they
were not sure whether to raise them to half-mast or not. My dad says it was
obvious people were becoming disheartened — the sheer regularity of the signal
by phone from Coronado: “No news.” The grimness of the media announcing
stuff like: “Hope is fading for the missing Navy SEALs...seems like those early
reports of the death of all four will be proved accurate...Texas family mourns
their loss...Navy still refusing to confirm SEALs deaths . . .”
It beats the hell out of me. In the military, if we don’t know something, we
say we don’t know and proceed to shut up until we do. Some highly paid
charlatans in the media think it’s absolutely fine to take a wild guess at the truth
and then tell a couple of million people it’s cast-iron fact, just in case they might
be right.
Well, I hope they’re proud of themselves, because they nearly broke my
mom’s heart, and if it had not been for the stern authority of Senior Chief Petty
Officer Chris Gothro, I think she might have had a nervous breakdown.
That morning he found her in the house, privately crying, and right then
Senior Chief Gothro stepped in. He stood her up, turned her around, and ordered
her to look him straight in the eye. “Listen, Holly,” he said, “Marcus is missing
in action. That’s MIA in our language. That’s all. Missing means what it says. It
means we cannot at present locate him. It does not mean he’s dead. And he’s not
dead until I tell you he’s dead, understand?
“We do not have a body. But we do have movement on the ground. We
cannot tell right now who it is, or how many there are. But no one, repeat, no
one in SPECWARCOM believes he is dead. I want you to understand that,
clearly.”
The austere words of a professional must have hit home. Mom rallied after
that, aided and comforted by Morgan, who still claimed he was in contact with
me and that whatever else was happening, I was not dead.
There were now thirty-five SEALs on the property, including Commander