920th rescuers saved 'Lone Survivor'
The commander of the 920th Rescue Wing was one of two helicopter pilots who rescued "Lone Survivor," Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, as portrayed in the movie opening this weekend.
920th rescuers saved 'Lone Survivor' The commander of the 920th Rescue Wing was one of two helicopter pilots who rescued "Lone Survivor," Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, as portrayed in the movie opening this weekend. Check out this story on floridatoday.com: http://on.flatoday.com/1i77Wdz
By R. Norman Moody;, FLORIDA TODAY; Published 12:00 a.m. ET Jan. 12, 2014 | Updated 4:32 p.m. ET Jan. 17, 2014
Col. Jeff Macrander of the 920th Rescue Wing was on hand for the rescue. (Photo: Tim Shortt, FLORIDA TODAY )Buy Photo
In the summer of 2005, four Navy SEALS dropped from a helicopter into the mountains of Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. Their mission — dubbed Operation Red Wings — was to capture or kill a notorious militia fighter believed to be hiding in the region.
But the team came under attack shortly afterward, and three of the men were killed. Another 16, including eight more Navy SEALs, died during a rescue operation when their helicopter was shot down.
By the end, only one man, SEAL Marcus Luttrell, was left alive.
He was the lone survivor.
And he was rescued by men from Patrick Air Force Base's 920th Rescue Wing, an Air Force Reserve unit.
The movie "Lone Survivor," which opened this weekend in theaters, tells the story of that operation.
Col. Jeffrey Macrander, commander of the 920th Rescue Wing, circled the northern Afghanistan village in his HH-60 Pave Hawk as a second helicopter piloted by Lt. Col Jeff Peterson rescued Luttrell. Both men at the time were with the 305th Rescue Squadron, part of the wing Macrander now heads.
"We put together one of the largest search, some say, since Vietnam," Macrander said.
Macrander planned to be among the first to see the movie this weekend in Brevard County.
Mark Wahlberg play Luttrell. Macrander said he did not know how much, if any, of the rescue operation will be depicted in the movie.
It recounts an almost impossible fight of the four Navy SEAL against some 150 al-Qaida and Taliban mountain fighters. The SEALs were discovered by local goatherders soon after landing. After determining the goatherds were not combatants, the SEALS let them go. The goatherds passed on word of the Americans and Ahmad Shah — the man the SEALs sought — and his forces surrounded and attacked the four-man team.
For nearly three hours, a brutal battle raged. Almost 100 enemy fighters were killed.
In the end only one of the four-man SEAL team —Luttrell — survived. Lt. Michael Murphy, Petty Officers Matthew Axelson and Danny Diets were killed.
Badly injured with a gunshot wound to the leg, the 6-foot-5-inch Luttrell made his way through the mountain with help from villagers.
In the meantime, Macrander and others in his unit were on the next-to-last day of their deployment to Afghanistan when the call for the rescue came.
"It was, 'Go search for this guy. Oh, by the way, they just shot down a helicopter,' " Macrander said.
Macrander and others in the unit had been part of numerous rescues. One of the unit's main tasks is conducting combat rescues. "These things I do, that others may live," the Pararescue Creed goes.
"Every time you go out and do a mission and save a life you remember it," Macrandersaid. "This one stands out because of the publicity. It was pure search and rescue. We had to use all our skills and our training."
As Macrander circled overhead a laser beam from an A-10 fighter jet shot through the clouds into the dark night, momentarily illuminating a narrow ledge near where Luttrell waited.Peterson managed to land his chopper on the ledge, pick up Luttrell and whisk himaway in 45 seconds.
"It was probably one of the most difficult," Peterson said of the landing and rescue. "This was truly a search and rescue."
Peterson — who currently is stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona — said landing on a ledge on the side of a mountain in pitch dark, with clouds of blinding sand and with an enemy nearby is something he never thought he would do. The ledge barely offered enough space for the helicopter to land.
Luttrell, who by then was being cared for by a villager, hidden from enemy fighters, was rescued. With Luttrell safe and ground reinforcements moving in, the crews returned July 4, 2005, to recover the bodies of Luttrell's comrades.
Luttrell said in an earlier interview with FLORIDA TODAY that he owed a lot to the men who rescued him.
"They saved my life," he said. "I will forever be in their debt."
Contact Moody at 321-242-3651 or nmoody@floridatoday.com Follow on facebook.com/floridatodaymilitary or Twitter @RNormanMoody
'Lone Survivor' in Brevard
"Lone Survivor" is playing at the following local theaters,
? Cobb Theaters Merritt Square 16
? CARMIKE Avenue 16, Viera
? Satellite Beach Cinemas
? Premiere Oaks 10, Melbourne
? Cinema World 16, West Melbourne
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