Operation Red Wings

For the 1956 series of U.S. nuclear tests, see Operation Redwing.

Operation Red Wings
Part of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
Date June 28, 2005 Location Kunar Province, Afghanistan Result Taliban victory
Belligerents
United States	Taliban
Commanders and leaders
LCDR Erik S. Kristensen † LT Michael P. Murphy †	Ahmad Shah
Strength
12 Navy SEALs 8 Night Stalkers additional helicopter crews 2 MH-47 Chinook 2 UH-60 Black Hawk 2 AH-64D Apache helicopters	8-35 Insurgents
Casualties and losses
19 killed, 1 wounded, 1 Chinook helicopter shot down	Unknown

Operation Red Wings (also referred to as Operation Redwing and Operation Red Wing) was a failed counter-insurgent mission in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, involving four members of the United States Navy SEALs, which took place on June 28, 2005.

Three of the SEALs were killed during the initial operation, as were other American Special Operations soldiers (SEALs and Night Stalker pilots) whose helicopter was shot down while flying to provide support and rescue to the team.

Marcus Luttrell, the only surviving American SEAL, was protected by local villagers who sent an emissary to the closest military base allowing a rescue team to locate the wounded SEAL.

The firefight

The map given to the Navy SEALs detailing their mission.

The SEAL team, led by LT Michael P. Murphy and consisting of petty officers Matthew Axelson, Danny Dietz and Marcus Luttrell, were on a mission to kill or capture Ahmad Shah, a Taliban leader who commanded a group of insurgents known as the "Mountain Tigers," west of Asadabad.

After an initially successful infiltration, local goat herders stumbled upon the SEALs' hiding place. Unable to verify any hostile intent from the herders, Murphy put the decision as to what should be done with them up for a vote: Axelson voted to kill the Afghans, stating, "The military decision is obvious," in reference to the near-certainty that the herders would alert the Taliban. Dietz abstained, and Murphy allowed Luttrell the deciding vote, but warned him that the killings would have to be reported, and that they would be attacked by the "US liberal media" and would almost certainly face murder charges. Luttrell voted to release the herders. He would later state, "It was the stupidest, most southern-fried, lame brained decision I ever made in my life. I must have been out of my mind. I had actually cast a vote which I knew could sign our death warrant. I’d turned into a f--ing liberal, a half-assed, no-logic nitwit, all heart, no brain, and the judgment of a jackrabbit."

Shortly after the goat herders disappeared over the mountain ridge, the SEALs were confronted by a force of Afghan fighters, estimated between 8-35 strong, causing Luttrell to believe that the released herders had given away their position.

The insurgents set up a "well organized, three-sided attack", which forced the SEALs to begin running down the slope. After 45 minutes of fighting, Murphy moved into the open, after noting the team's radio transmitters weren't functioning properly in the mountains, and placed the emergency call for support from his cell phone. He was shot in the abdomen during the conversation. Nevertheless he returned to his cover after the call and continued to battle.

After two hours of fighting, only Luttrell remained alive, although he was lying unconscious behind a ridge where he had been knocked out by the blast of a rocket-propelled grenade.

Failed rescue

Matthew G. Axelson, Daniel R. Healy, James Suh, Marcus Luttrell, Shane E. Patton, and Michael P. Murphy prior to the battle.

File:Kunar-booty-from-Op Red Wing.OGG

Taliban video of captured American equipment being examined after the battle

One MH-47D helicopter, four UH-60 Black Hawk and two AH-64D Longbows attempted to come to their rescue to provide extraction in the mountains of Kunar. The MH-47 helicopter, carrying eight Navy SEALs and eight 160th Night Stalkers, was shot down by a rocket propelled grenade shot through the open rear ramp, causing the pilot to lose control of the craft. It hit a mountain ledge, and then fell to the bottom of a ravine, killing all sixteen on board - the largest single loss of life for Naval Special Warfare since World War II.

Shah, the original target of the SEAL team, later gave an interview where he claimed that his forces had set a trap for the American forces, "We certainly know that when the American army comes under pressure and they get hit, they will try to help their friends. It is the law of the battlefield."

Search and rescue

The only survivor of the attack, Luttrell tried to hide himself as he waited for rescue from the search helicopters flying overhead. Driven by thirst, shot in the leg and with three cracked vertabrae, he traversed 7 miles over the remainder of the day. He remained unnoticed until, falling from a ledge, he was discovered by an Afghan shepherd named Sarawa, who summoned his companions to help carry the wounded Luttrell to the village of Sabray-Minah. The villagers took care of Luttrell, providing food and medical attention, and protecting him from the Taliban that came to the village demanding that he be turned over to them.

Meanwhile, nearly two days after the initial confrontation, the military had 300 men searching for the team, and had located the downed helicopter and verified that all 16 aboard had been killed. A spokesman for the Taliban, Mofti Latifollah Hakimi, confirmed that the helicopter had been shot down by insurgent fire, and promised to deliver the video made during the assault to media outlets.

Despite multiple attempts, the search helicopters were unable to locate the wounded Navy SEAL. On July 2, the village elder, armed with a note from Luttrell, went down to seek help from Camp Blessing, a Marine outpost several miles away, and approached First Lieutenant Matt Bartels with his information.

With this news, the U.S. forces drew up extraction plans which according to Lt. Col. Steve Butow were "one of the largest combat search-and-rescue operations since Vietnam". As the rescue teams closed in upon the village they ran into Luttrell and some of the villagers who were moving him from one hiding place to another.

Six days after the operation, an American search team located Murphy's body as well as the body of Dietz. For the next four days, they held out hopes that Axelson might be found alive.

American casualties

LT Michael P. Murphy, Medal of Honor Recipient.

Name	Age	Action	Hometown
SEALs
LT Michael P. Murphy	29	Part of 4-Man Seal Team killed in an ambush	Patchogue, New York
STG2 Matthew Axelson	29	Part of 4-Man Seal Team killed in an ambush	Cupertino, CA
GM2 Danny Dietz	25	Part of 4-Man Seal Team killed in an ambush	Littleton, Colorado
FCC Jacques J. Fontan	36	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	New Orleans, Louisiana
ITCS Daniel R. Healy	36	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Exeter, New Hampshire
LCDR Erik S. Kristensen	33	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	San Diego, California
ET1 Jeffery A. Lucas	33	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Corbett, Oregon
LT Michael M. McGreevy, Jr.	30	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Portville, New York
QM2 James E. Suh	28	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Deerfield Beach, Florida
HM1 Jeffrey S. Taylor	30	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Midway, West Virginia
MM2 Shane E. Patton	22	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Boulder City, Nevada
160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment
SSgt. Shamus O. Goare	29	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Danville, Ohio
CWO3 Corey J. Goodnature	35	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Clarks Grove, Minnesota.
Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby	21	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Pompano Beach, Florida
SFC Marcus V. Muralles	33	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Shelbyville, Indiana
MSgt. James W. Ponder III	36	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Franklin, Tennessee
Maj. Stephen C. Reich	34	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Washington Depot, Connecticut.
SFC Michael L. Russell	31	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Stafford, Virginia
CWO4 Chris J. Scherkenbach	40	Killed aboard the helicopter when it was shot down	Jacksonville, Florida

Army plaque in memory of the fallen Night Stalkers

Aftermath

On September 14, 2006, Dietz and Axelson were posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for "undaunted courage" and heroism. Luttrell was also awarded the Navy Cross in a ceremony at the White House. In 2007, Lieutenant Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle.

In April 2008, Ahmad Shah, who was the target of Operation Red Wings, was killed during a shootout with Pakistani police in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

On June 28, 2008, Luttrell and the family members of soldiers killed overseas were honored at a San Diego Padres game. In addition, the United States Navy Parachute Team, the Leap Frogs, brought in the American flag, the POW/MIA flag and the San Diego Padres flag. The attendees were given a standing ovation by the more than 25,000 there to watch the game.

A statue entitled The Guardians stands in the Cupertino Veterans Memorial Park, in Cupertino, California. The statue depicts both Matthew Axelson and James Suh, natives of the region, standing back-to-back.

Controversy

The unofficial but publicly-accepted account of Operation Red Wings is almost entirely based on the book "Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10" by Marcus Luttrell. Many in the SOF community, including SEALs, Army Special Forces, and others, have charged that Luttrell's account of the events is widely embellished and even accused him of lying and trying to profit from the deaths of the men killed in the operation. Other accounts exist which paint a very different picture than the one portrayed by Luttrell and his book. For example, Ed Darack, a military journalist published by the Marine Corps' Gazette and author of "Victory Point: Operations Red Wings and Whalers - the Marine Corps' Battle for Freedom in Afghanistan", describes the strength of the Taliban force at only 8-10, compared to the 200+ claimed by Luttrell in his book. In Luttrell's own official after-action report filed with his superiors after his rescue, he estimated the size of the Taliban force to be around 20-35.

A Naval Special Warfare Command spokesman, when asked whether putting an important decision to a vote is normal or accepted practice in the SEAL community, Ruh replied: “This is the first time I’ve ever heard of anything put to a vote like that. In my 14 years of Navy experience, I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that.” Luttrell stated in his book “If you put me back in the same situation, I’d probably do the same thing again, if I didn’t know the outcome."

Books

• Darack, Ed (2009). Victory Point: Operations Red Wings and Whalers - the Marine Corps' Battle for Freedom in Afghanistan. Berkley Hardcover. ISBN 0425226190. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Luttrell, Marcus (2007). Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10. Back Bay Books. ISBN 0316067598. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Williams, Gary (2010). Seal of Honor: Operation Redwing and the Life of LT. Michael P. Murphy, USN. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1591149576. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)