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

ready for anything, bursting with friendship — well, it’s a feeling of the highest
possible elation. But I wouldn’t recommend the preparation for such a moment.
They moved into action immediately. An army captain ordered a team to get
me up out of the forest, onto higher ground. They carried me up the hill and sat
me down next to a goat pen. U.S. Corpsman Travis instantly set about fixing up
my wounds. He removed the old dressings which Sarawa had given me and
applied new antiseptic cream and fresh bandages. He gave me clean water and
antibiotics. By the time he’d finished I felt damn near human.
The atmosphere was unavoidably cheerful, because all the guys felt their
mission was accomplished. All Americans in combat understand that feeling of
celebration, reflecting, as we all do, that so much could have gone wrong, so
much we had evaded by our own battlefield know-how, so many times it could
have gone either way.
These Rangers and Green Berets were no different. Somehow, in hundreds of
square miles of mountainous terrain, they’d found me alive. But I knew they did
not really understand the extreme danger we were all in. I explained to them the
number of Taliban warriors there were out here, how many there had been
against us on Murphy’s Ridge, the presence of Sharmak and his entire army, so
close, maybe watching us...no, forget that. Most certainly watching us. We were
all together, and we would make a formidable fighting force if attacked, but we
would be badly outnumbered, and we were now all inside a Taliban
encirclement. Not just me.
I debriefed them as thoroughly as I could, first of all explaining that my guys
were all dead, Mikey, Axe, and Danny. I found that especially difficult, because I
had not told anyone before. There had been no one for me to report to, definitely
no one who would understand what those guys meant to me and the gaping
hollow they would leave in my life for the rest of my days.
I consulted my thighs, where I still had my clear notes of routes, distances,
and terrain. I showed them the areas where I knew the Taliban were encamped,
helped them mark up their maps. Here, here, and here, guys, that’s where they
are. The fact was, the bastards were everywhere, all around us, waiting for their
chance. I did have a feeling that Sharmak might have grown wary of facing
heavy American firepower head-on. He’d had half his army wiped out on the
ridge by just four of us. There were a lot more of us now, gathered around the
goat pens while Travis did his number.
I asked the Ranger captain how many guys he had. And he replied, “We’re
good. Twenty.”