I watched Lone Survivor again yesterday, the movie taken from Marcus Luttell’s book of the same name, about Operation Red Wings, a Navy SEAL mission in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan. As well known by the members of this forum, a team of four Navy SEALs, were tasked with surveillance and reconnaissance of a group of structures known to be used by a Taliban leader from Nangarhar Province, Ahmad Shah and his men. They were ambushed by Shah and his group just hours after inserting into the area by fast-roping from an MH-47 Chinook helicopter.

I was again intrigued by the story of Mohammad Gulab, the Pashtun village leader who found Luttrell, the “lone survivor” of the 4-man SEAL team. As detailed in Wiki: “as the wounded Luttrell descended the gulch, he encountered a Pashtun named Mohammad Gulab Khan from the mountain village of Salar Ban. Known simply as Gulab, he took Luttrell into his home that first day in accordance with the Pashtunwali custom of Nanawatai, whereby asylum is given to a person to protect them from their enemies. Gulab then invoked the assistance of fellow villagers to help protect Luttrell until American forces could be contacted.”

Gulab and his family are in the United States pursuing citizenship. Here are a couple of interesting links I found.

The first a “60 Minutes” story with Anderson Cooper at Luttrell’s Texas ranch with Gulab.



The second, a post from 2021 from a law firm representing Gulab.

Link

This third link is kind of interesting. It seems that Gulab was a truck driver in Afghanistan. This page is from an organization called “Veterans in Trucking” who have adopted Gulab as a brother.

Veterans in Trucking link

Hope you find this interesting.

The 4-man SEAL team inserted for the surveillance mission were: team leader Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy (Patchogue, NY) of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1, based out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz (Littleton, CO) from SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2, based out of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Petty Officer Second Class Matthew G. Axelson (Cupertino, CA) from SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1; and Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Marcus Luttrell, of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1.

In addition to Murphy, Dietz, and Axelson, who died on Sawtalo Sar mountain, all eight 160th SOAR aviators and crew and all eight Navy SEALs on board a MH-47 Chinook were killed, when a member of Ahmad Shah’s Taliban force fired an RPG-7 into the transmission below the rear rotor assembly, causing it to immediately crash into the ground. The commander of the 160th, Major Stephen C. Reich, and ground commander LCDR Erik S. Kristensen, of SEAL Team 10 were among those killed in the Chinook.

I needed something like this to read/watch today. Thank you sir.

I also just rewatched Lone Survivor. That man's conviction and honor (as reenacted) was almost as hard to watch as the portrayal of the team dying one by one.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
I needed something like this to read/watch today.

Don't we all.

More thanks from me as well.

Marcus Latrell is a Hero’s Hero. His story is beyond belief! Mohammad Gulab is right there with him.
Thanks for posting this.