Furthermore, as shown in the movie, they were grossly outnumbered. The money was hardly enough for feeding my horses, Dostum says. Was it ten thousand, five thousand, The actual number was around 3,500 who surrendered, another460 al Qaeda showed up at thegates of Mazar and around 250 300 died of their wounds, diseaseor suffocation during transport in the frigid weather. A clock sounds loudly. Not exactly. Abdul Rashid Dostum - Wikipedia Our commanders said they didnt know what to expect, but at least they were honest enough to admit it, the Green Beret continues. They are direct military descendants of the Devils Brigade, a joint Canadian-American unit that fought in Italy during the Second World War. Theyve just finished installing a satellite TV. Dostum arrives that night, ducking to avoid banging his head as he strides through the guest-house door. -Horse Soldiers book, Yes. This included using horses to navigate the mountainous region. Most of the fallen look as if they were killed instantly. Perhaps theyll convince any surviving prisoners to surrender. That I am kind and gentle? We thought Kunduz was [going to be] a full-scale attack, says Captain Mark. you die. We were focused on calling in an air strike to take out this truck that had rumbled into view, and now RPG rounds are flying over our heads. (Though in my opinion, much more time should have been given to family homecoming scenes!). You know: You better not show any weakness. Gradually shapes emerged out of the shadows - a small group of Afghan Northern Alliance soldiers together with four American advisers who had been in country for about two weeks. We grabbed our stuff and ran., The team knew that their story would be stolen, rewritten and misused as Rumsfeld and others seized the moment. Compliance. We accepted a huge amount of risk." No. The Regulators have served in the gulf war, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and in other places they cant talk about. The old creed is that we never leave a guy behind. The Regulators wanted to find the prisoners who had killed Spann and attacked a second CIA man who was questioning the Taliban. He described the building we were sitting on to a T. Finally, Air Force Steve guided the pilot to the correct building, and he dropped the ordnance: direct hit. "Very Good," replied Dostum. Mark Nutsch's team, ODA 595, was dropped in Dehi, roughly 100 miles from the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. real general dostum and mitch nelson Uncategorized September 20, 2021. Their home base is Fort Campbell, Kentucky, but they spend only a few months of the year there. "If they got in trouble, there was very little I could do and nothing I could do quickly. These are the soldiers I saw back at Qala Jangi preparing to go in and retrieve the body of the dead CIA agent, Mike Spann. Where you from? The man finally answers. What happened next was the first of many distortions and fictional retelling of their story. It never happened in real life, though Pennington says that he still suffers from back pain from riding the horse. "We knew nothing about these guys," retired Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland said. When he returns, the dark weariness has lifted. When a Marxist government came to power in a bloody coup in 1978, the new regimes radical reforms ignited a guerrilla war with the mujahidin who based themselves in the countrys remote mountain ranges. An event and a man I will never forget. The doctor yells in halting English, What your name? He jabs at the half-conscious mans face. It took a few hours for bombers to arrive from their carriers. "My men are hungry. The soldiers stay well away from the al Qaeda prisoners as I interview them. Because of this, Dostum was forced to flee . He also used to compete in collegiate rodeos. He points out that the word "Tiangi" actually means gap, so when they refer to the "Tiangi gap" in the movie, they're actually saying the gap, gap.Pennington said that with regard to the enemy vehicle (BM-21) launching rockets in and around the Tiangi, it did happen, several times. Initially eschewing interaction with Nelson due to his youth and the fact that he doesnt have killers eyes, they come to trust each other and eventually work in tandem along with their teams. Outmanned, the Green Berets decided to move out on horseback. is the manner in which military members tend to downplay their service or push aside thanks, rarely focusing on themselves, but on their team or country as a whole. -BUILD Series. The mystery of missing prisoners was never matched up to the careful medical records kept of each al Qaeda and Taliban detainee kept by doctors and local NGOs. Is Captain Mitch Nelson still alive? I suggest to Bill that we remove Walker from the hospital, where he might be killed by other patients, many of whom were fighting against him at the fortress. At the last minute the Agency was told by the SF ground commander that his men were going in with or without the Agency. Officials had been unaware that Dostum's army still used a horse cavalry. Dozens of dark-eyed men in turbans scramble into battered Toyota pickup trucks and assorted four-wheel-drive vehicles. He confesses that he had worried at first how the Americans would handle Afghan warfare: It was cold; the food was bad. Late in the afternoon, a convoy of mud-spattered off-road vehicles pulls up, and a dozen dusty Americans in tan chocolate chip camo climb out. A bizarre story called The Convoy of Death surfaced and painted Dostum and the team in a negative light. Military families cant escape the fact that weve now been at war nearly 17 years. The sound of canon firecontinues without a break but at a slower pace. The actions of the ODA 595 helped lay the groundwork for that victory. "And to me, that was a plus when you got saddled with a mission that was going to be as complex as this one." The morning after Heavy Ds return from Kunduz, he greets me with a deep, booming Howareyou? Today, he tells me, he is eager for me to meet his trophy mullahs. Drop a bomb on that grid. Pretty straightforward stuff.. The Regulators flew in from Uzbekistan at night on a blacked-out Chinook helicopter. The book is the inspiration behind the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced film called "12 Strong" that was released in 2018 and stars Chris Hemsworth as Capt. But the US Armed Forces were thin on the ground, and were potentially facing around 50,000 Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. In real life, Bob Pennington wasn't badly injured by a surrendering enemy fighter who blew himself up with his own grenade, an act that leaves Michael Shannon's character clinging to life as his fellow soldiers hurry to extract him. A crude videotape made by one of Dostums men shows a battle in the rolling hills of the Darra-e Suf, where the yellow grass contrasts with the deep blue sky. The problem is that the the Convoy of Death story is false. 12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers July 22, 2018. The lead horsemen disappeared behind the rocks, and the Regulators all held their breath, praying the bombs would reach the bunkers before the cavalry did. That heavy reliance on tanks and trucks meant the Taliban wound up fighting a defensive, Russian-style war. There were some deep unresolved internal conflicts because of the death of Mike Spann and why they over their protests had been sent to Kunduz. These soldiers, I soon realize, come from much the same background as Dostums: sons of miners, farmers, and factory workers; some are men whose only way out of poverty is the military. (Within a week, he will be named deputy minister of defense for the new interim government of Afghanistan.) All the while, we could see troops moving and disappearing. About 200 men have taken up positions around the village, eyeing ragged locals, who stare back from a careful distance. He went on to serve in the US Army, although he did not see combat until the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. A man whois said by some journalists to define violence and treachery. Submit an Article I watch a fighter go up to the top, then crumple into a black pile of rags. Note that there is strong language throughout, as well as violence. However, when the 2009 Horse Soldiers book was being written, Mark Nutsch had requested that his name be changed to protect his identity, as was the case with most of the other Horse Soldiers. The entrance to the bunker was pierced by cannon shots and is blackened from explosions. We fought with nothing but hope.. In the words of director Nicolai Fuglsig: This is a movie where you can rally around both the Americans and the Afghans because, together, they took an epic ride into the mouth of hell. This part of Afghanistan is ancient, arid, windblownand is the real cradle of its history and wealth. Paul, Andy, and I drive past villages of round, domed huts, past a checkpoint manned by Dostums men, and up along the winding road to the Tingi Pass. In between conflict there was time to celebrate. At the time, General Dostum did have a reputation for violence and turning on allies during battle. More than 400 prisoners are said to have died; I count only about 50 bodies in the courtyard. Mark Nutsch and his team had to gain Dostum's trust and convince him that 9/11 had changed things. Ironically, he actually served under the man he is portraying. What we didnt realize was that the Taliban who we saw coming out of the bunker had gone into the low ground and were sprinting up the hills at us in a flanking maneuver. -KTLA 5 Riggle, now an actor known for his comedic performances, gave 23 years of total service to the military. Theres one time Ill never forget, he says. There is aneed to never forget the sacrifices men make in war. They also had two boys, then ages 4 and 3 (in the movie, they have a little girl). Then theres Steve, a well-mannered southern medic; Pete, the burly chaw spitter; Mark, their blond, midwestern captain; and so on. Dostums real success was in negotiating enemy commanders to lay down their arms and to join him. Six months ago, he traveled to Kabul with some Pakistanis to join the Taliban. The doctors huddle around a steel-drum stove, smiling and talking, oblivious to the pain and suffering around them. On the next pass, three more bombs went through the hole in the roof made by the first bomb, killing most of the holdouts inside. The Taliban had dug-in, trench-line bunkers shooting machine guns, heavy ma-chine guns, and RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades]. Somehow I make it across the open area. Dostum, portrayed brilliantly by Navid Negahban, comes off as a kind of Obi Wan Kenobi, the ancient-wisdom-dispensing warrior. show Dostum the chapter in Rashids book that includes the account of the gruesome execution of the thief. He had been assigned to a Manhattan reserve unit at the time of 9/11 and spent part of September 2001 cleaning up debris from the World Trade Center. They are known as the quiet professionals because their missions are covert and, for obvious reasons, they rarely publicize their exploits., Actor and producer Thad Luckinbill commented on the need to just be authentic and pay these guys the respect that they deserve and tell the story that should be told., One of the most fascinating threads throughout the movie is the forging of an uneasy partnership between Captain Mitch Nelson (Hemsworth) and Northern Alliance General Dostum (Navid Negahban). Its an irresistible story, made all the more so by a convincing rumor Ive been hearing since my arrival: that Dostum triumphed with a little help from his friendsspecifically, the Green Berets. This is the back jacket of The Hunt for Bin Laden ghostwritten by the late Jack Idema and published as non fiction by Random House editor Bob Loomis. A few yards before the turnoff to Khvajeh Do Kuh, he gestures to a place where 180 of his men died fighting the Taliban. It was pretty painful, Paul says. Who were the 12 strong in real life? - JOUNIMARTIKAINEN Rifles, night-vision gear, and boots are strewn everywhere. Despite actively fighting the Taliban, it was not until Santos introducedDostum to JSOC that the United States might want to give him some help. Some were angry then, some had been through enough wars to see what was coming. We called in a couple of bomb strikes. Captain Mitch Nelson (played by Chris Hemsworth) refuses. One Leadership Skill That Turned 12 'Horse Soldiers' Into An Elite Dostums lieutenants would call him in Turkey and tell him how difficult life had become.

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real general dostum and mitch nelson

real general dostum and mitch nelson

real general dostum and mitch nelson