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

leave.
Our instructor told us to eat plenty, right through the weekend, but not to
worry about sleep gear on Sunday afternoon, during which time we would be
incarcerated in the classroom. “You’ll be too keyed up to sleep,” he added
brightly. “So just get in here and relax, watch movies, and get ready.”
On the notice board was the official doctrine of the U.S. Navy SEALs, week
five, first phase: “Students will demonstrate the qualities and personal
characteristics of determination, courage, self-sacrifice, teamwork, leadership,
and a never-quit attitude, under adverse environmental conditions, fatigue, and
stress throughout Hell Week.”
That’s laying it on the line, right? Almost. Hell Week turned out to be a lot
worse than that.
We spent the weekend organizing ourselves, and we assembled in the
classroom at noon on Sunday, July 18. Two dozen instructors from all over the
compound, guys we’d never even met before, were in attendance. It takes that
many to get a class through Hell Week, plus attending medics and support and
logistics guys. I guess you need a full staff to march men into the ultimate
physical tests of the navy’s warrior elite.
This is known as the Hell Week Lockdown. No one leaves; we sit and wait
all afternoon; we have our seabags; and the paper bags with our dry clothes are
lined up, our names written on the outside in black marker. They served us pizza,
a whole stack of it, in the late afternoon.
And outside you could sense it was quiet. No one passed by, no patrols, no
wandering students. Everyone on the base knew that Hell Week for 226 was
about to begin. It was not exactly respect for the dead, but I guess you
understand by now more or less what I mean.
I remember how hot it was, must have been ninety degrees in the room.
We’d all been goofing off, wearing Sunday casuals most of the day, and we all
knew something was going to happen as the evening wore on. Some movie was
running, and the hours ticked by. There was an atmosphere of heightened tension
as we waited for the starter’s pistol. Hell Week begins with a frenzy of activity
known as Breakout. And when it came for us, there were a lot more guns than
the starter’s.
I can’t remember the precise time, but it was after 2030 and before 2100.
Suddenly there was a loud shout, and someone literally kicked open the side
door. Bam! And a guy carrying a machine gun, followed by two others, came
charging in, firing from the hip. The lights went off, and then all three gunmen