At first, it seemed to help, but life in Delhi was harder than it was in Afghanistan, and their apartment now felt even more crowded. They named him Axe. Unable to make rent, he and his sons spent weeks living in the apartment or a tent, depending on what he could afford. Marcus Here is the first obstacle of the USMC Obstacle Course. He currently serves as the co-host of a podcast called Team Never Quit. He was also shot in the back the following day, which is not shown in the movie (The Daily Beast).. 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Peter Berg, whose father was a marine in the Korean War, grew up idolosing Navy SEALs, and fought hard to convince Luttrell that he was the director to make the film (there were many offers on the table). He was medically-retired from duty in 2009. But this is one of the last interviews he'll be doing for the forseeable future and he's glad for that. As they passed through a valley, the Taliban began firing at them with AK-47s. He had also received permission from his superiors to publish his memoir, which he worked on with Patrick Robinson, a British novelist. 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This article first appeared in .css-umdwtv{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#FF3A30;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:background 0.4s;transition:background 0.4s;background:linear-gradient(#ffffff, #ffffff 50%, #d5dbe3 50%, #d5dbe3);-webkit-background-size:100% 200%;background-size:100% 200%;}.css-umdwtv:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-position:100% 100%;background-position:100% 100%;}Esquire Weekly, our new iPad-only edition. This podcast has become a beacon of hope and resilience to those who are facing the impossible. When darkness fell, the SEAL started walking. ", He's happy to be finally done with it. In the meantime, he eagerly started exploring his new neighborhood, playing with his children in a nearby park and shopping at Goodwill. Marcus started training for the U.S. Navy SEALs with U.S. Army veteran Billy Shelton at the age of 14. When Gulab landed at the Houston airport in September 2010, Luttrell was waiting for him, a watch in his handa reminder of their emotional parting five years before. One of them, an Afghan friend, was shot by the Taliban for helping Gulab and still receives death threats. So you're always on your guard. The closure last summer of the U.S. base nearest to Gulabs home, part of the drawdown of U.S. combat forces in the country, added to the danger. Dietz was shot again, and continued firing as Luttrell dragged him to cover. Luttrell realized there was so much to learn about the brain, how it worked and how it was affected by injury. "It just feels wrong to continue with everyday life that week. Currently, Marcus and his family live in Houston, Texas, U.S. After graduating from Willis High School, Willis, Texas, Marcus proceeded to join Sam Houston State University. "I'm a member of that village, and I'm a member of that family just like he's a member of my family now. Containing 100 per cent new and original content, its published every Thursday on the Apple Newsstand. Concerned, Luttrell pulled over and saw whom he assumed to be their dog, injured and covered in blood. "Some people laugh at me, but some people like it. He would have to seek refuge at the U.S. Embassy and flee to another country. "Soon," one militant warned him by phone, "we will blow you to hell.". However, a fractured femur delayed his completion of the program, meaning he graduated with Class 228 on April 21, 2000. In 2010, he again tried to reach out to Luttrell. In March 2001, 29-year-old Lt. John Skop Jr. was the first SEAL candidate to lose his life during Hell Week while undergoing a swimming exercise. Each operation lasted between three and four weeks. The only time Berg requested that Luttrell stay away from the production was during some of the gorier scenes. Needless to say, hes never had a student quite like Luttrell. The Afghan pressed onhe bought another truck and hired workers to haul timber. His supplies, helmet and gear were ripped away from him as he backflipped, the others soon following suit in similar fashion, crashing through the boulders as Luttrell landed, breaking his back. The other two herders then appeared, followed by a hundred or so goats, bells jangling around their necks. As gunfire rained down on them, the SEALs blasted back before tumbling down the mountain, as their attackers followed, firing rocket propelled grenades. Change). I said, 'Sir really? The next day, he wrote, he stumbled upon a waterfall, where he drank a bit and cleaned his wounds. "When the Americans came to our country and they were fighting the Taliban, one of them [Marcus] came to my house," Gulab says. During the section of his book in which he describes his SEAL training, which includes Hell Week five days of no sleep and rigorous 20 hour days Luttrell quotes one of his superiors, who tells him that the human body can withstand almost anything it's the mind that needs to be conquered. They took fire from RPK machine guns, AK-47s, RPG-7s, as I hope the suicide bombers or the Taliban brothers will fulfill my order. This makes a lot of sense when you read of how Luttrell stayed alive on that mountain, crawling on his belly with a broken back, losing blood with a leg full of shrapnel. Lone Survivor: What Really Happened During Operation Red Wings. The region holds notoriously strong ties to the Taliban, and it was fully possible that the goat herders would contact enemy combatants and alert them to the team's position. But thanks to the lawyer and one of his contacts, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul sent a recommendation to the State Department, saying it was in the U.S. national interest to settle Gulab in America. He dropped his gun and covered his ears as Murphy screamed out to him. You stay alive, Marcus. In May 2010, months before he was supposed to fly to Houston, he stepped outside his home in Asadabad to get some fresh air. Dietz was shot in the neck, still firing as blood poured out. Thank you," as two rounds were fired into his torso. People are dying waiting in line. The militants responded with a barrage of bullets. It's 4:30pm in Florida when Marcus Luttrell calls. "At the same time, everyone back home wanted a piece of him.". "Ha!" Gulab decided against it. He recently completed his masters degree in applied cognition and neuroscience and is in his first year of a doctoral program in cognitive neuroscience that could take about five years. Due to bureaucratic logjams, "we have applicants who have waited for five years, coming up on six years," says Lara Finkbeiner, the deputy legal director at the International Refugee Assistance Project. I play it all over in my head a million times, going through it in real life," he says. Marcus had been shot six times with a .45-caliber pistol. In 2005, while on a reconnaissance mission in the Afghan mountains, 19 SEALs were ambushed and killed; Luttrell survived by sheer force of spirit, strength and luck, when, having been found half-dead by some Afghani villagers, he was taken in by them and protected from the Taliban. About 10 days after he got off the plane, he spoke to a friend in Kunar province. For the next two weeks, the Lone Survivor Foundation paid for Gulab to travel around the country with Fairchild and an interpreter. The Americans again tried to contact headquarters but couldn't get through. Luttrell had consulted on the film and wanted his friend to help with promotion. | He's had his house burnt down and a cousin killed. I've had Marines wounded there. 'Did it hurt when you got shot?' By the end of his eight-year career in the United States Navy, Marcus became an SO1. He chose the former, hoping the Taliban would leave his wife and children alone. Alfonso Hernandez and Michael Edmonds were charged with cruelty to a non-livestock animal, while the cars driver was cited for not having a valid license. "My heart dropped directly into my stomach," Luttrell wrote. He is wearing a navy Six Flags winter jacket over a white salwar kameez, which stops inches above his gray dress socks and black loafers. On June 24, Vocativ published the story, and it quickly went viral. He also suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and endured sharp headaches and dizziness for months. Luttrell was presumed to have been a 20th victim, but in spite of bullet wounds, a broken back and rocks and shrapnel protruding from his legs, the SEAL The militants, like many others in the area, heard the helicopter drop the Americans on the mountain, Gulab claims. Regardless of his buoyancy when he calls, I can't bring myself to have him go through it yet again, and I tell him so upfront. Gulab emerged unscathed, but a bullet hit his brother-in-law in the ribs. Gulab decided he had to flee Afghanistan, go to Europe or America. The Americans were in a deadly bind. For more than a decade, the Taliban's threats kept him awake at night. The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet identified the vessel as the Advantage Sweet. Because they can't be hidden." All but Luttrell were killed in the assault, including a helicopter crew that was shot down in an attempted rescue. Gulab and his son seem nervous. Static filled the line, and then Spies heard a man speaking in a foreign language as the second individual translated. Robinson says he interviewed Gulab extensively, took notes and double-checked details with the interpreter, but as with Lone Survivor, he didn't record the interviews.