Lone Survivor

LONE SURVIVOR

By Luttrell, Marcus

390 pgs. 6/12/07

The year was 2005 Marcus Luttrell the main character in the story, tells us his horrific experience. Marcus was stationed with his four-man Navy SEAL team in a training camp. The intense and vigorous training these men endured was unbelievable. The reason was to prepare the men for Operation Redwing, the most grueling disaster in Navy SEAL history. Marcus and his men were first taken to the mountains between the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The objective was a dangerous al Qaeda leader. Marcus ordered the men to sneak along a ridge to figure out the next plan of attack of finding the leader. Unknowingly they stumble upon a group of goat herders. They did not have orders to kill anyone unarmed; if they did it was a violation of the rules of engagement. If they didn't kill the goat herders they could risk having them inform al Qaeda and telling the whereabouts of the SEALS. Luttrell decided on letting them go and live. This became a decision that he would forever regret. Not long after 80-100 al Qaeda had surrounded them. Marcus, as being the squad leader ordered the men to stand their ground and fight to the death. The SEALS were vastly out numbered but not outgunned or trained. For this reason the firefights went on for hours. In desperate need of help, one squad member runs to a hilltop to get cell-phone reception to call for backup. Deciding his own fate, he calls for help amongst the chaos and politely says "thank you" as he hangs up the phone and was killed. Soon after every man was killed except for Marcus. Although being badly injured, he crawled 7 miles to a Pustan village where locals found him. The villagers were warned not to care for American soldiers to avoid being massacred by al Qaeda. Going against al Qaeda rules they were hospitable and nursed him back