Down Range Part 5 (not final post)

Sorry for the confusion followers, or just Mr. Kramer, I thought I was finished with my blogs but I had to do one more before my final post so this is my last blog and my previous post is my final post. In the seventh chapter of Down Range it talks about the stories of downed pilots and forces stuck behind enemy lines. The portrayal, unlike other Hollywood portrayals of SEALs, that Special Ops personnel always leave no man behind is absolutely true. The SEALs feel that "the recovery of a brother warrior or a fellow citizen has a unique priority in our military culture."(197) The SEALs would drop what they are doing and go balls to the wall in order to rescue an American citizen in harms way. This is because of the fact that they value the lives of their country men and also because today they know all too well that the enemy will stop at nothing to torture these poor souls. For example, "we first saw this with the dragging of bodies through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia. Now we see videotaped beheadings of contractors, civilians and Iraqi security forces taken hostage."(198) To be caught by the enemy is the worst possible scenario, for some cases worse than dying. This is why the SEALs would spare their own lives just to save one life from being captured. Imagine your own brother or sister being surrounded by kidnappers that their only goal is to torture them in the worst way possible. This is exactly how each and every SEAL feels because when a group goes through that hard core training together they come out as brothers. However, this makes the commander wonder, "how many men do I put at how much risk to recover the remains for a fellow brother?"(198) This is the hardest question a commander can answer. For example, in Vietnam one airman went down deep behind enemy lines. There were multiple helicopters launched to drop in a group of Special Forces to find the pilot. However, just when the helo's crossed the DMZ they were berated with enemy Anti Aircraft Artillery fire. The AAA shot down and killed the troops in all of the Helicopters killing over 25 men. So the question is do you send more troops for this brother waiting for help behind enemy lines. In the end they sent out two SEALs to go up stream on a suicide mission posing as Vietnam fisherman. They ended up saving Tim Norris and created the plot for the famous movie BAT 21 starring Danny Glover and Gene Hackman. This story is similar but not as happy as the story of Neil Robert in Afghanistan. He was flung from a helicopter as it was shot down by an RPG and was surrounded by enemy insurgents. His fellow SEALs did all they could to get to him through the massive enemy forces, but they were simply too outnumbered. A few SEALs attempted a last ditch effort to "recover his remains, seven special operators died on that mountain in Afghanistan. The loss of these men sent a shock wave through the special operations community."(204) Total number 7 does not seem like a lot, but when you take into consideration that there are only 50 SEALs in an entire division and that the average number of SEALs that go out on a mission is 4 then you start to realize how big of a loss those 7 lives are. The 6 men could have ran down the mountain and called in an air strike to take out the enemy forces but they had to at least try to save a fellow brother. Death is one of the things that all military personnel have to deal with especially the SEALs. To die for one's country has always been the most honorable death a man can have. That is why so many SEALs feel that the danger of their life is worth every second they are on the ground in the Middle East. One SEAL wrote, "My time in the teams was special...I loved being a SEAL. I died doing what made me happy. Very few people have the luxury of that."(204) This to me is a perfect ending to the chapter and even the book. Life is worth nothing unless you live it doing something you are truly proud of.