12 Strong Page #2

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They don't.

Don't wish for what

you don't want.

You were on a flight

to New York two months ago.

You don't have

to justify it to me.

I'm a soldier's wife.

And I've been lucky.

All I've had

to worry about so far

is malaria

and chopper crashes.

Most dangerous part's

the ride in and out.

Not anymore.

I don't care

how long you're gone

as long as you come back.

You understand?

Yeah, I do.

Then say you're coming home.

I can't, baby.

It's bad luck.

I need to hear you say it.

I'm comin' home.

Hey, ODA 595.

Where do we bunk?

Uh, you see

those Quonset huts?

Those are for the teams.

ODA numbers

are on the door, sir.

Don't salute in country.

Are you trying to get

our captain killed, bro?

These are all friendlies.

Oh, yeah?

Who, that guy?

That's not my friend.

And that guy's

definitely not my friend.

F***ing Diller, bro.

I could be their friend.

He looks nice.

That guy?

Yeah.

Heads up. Heads up.

What's up, guys? Looks like

Christmas came early, huh?

Oh, yeah. Ho, ho, ho.

Where have you guys been?

Oh, we went to

a f***ing Nickelback concert.

How was it?

Throw your panties on stage?

Nah, nah, nah, we got stuck

in a holding position

- till the weather broke.

- From what I hear,

the weather here

doesn't change until June.

Snowed last night.

So get used to it.

- What? Really?

- Yeah.

Hey, what's all this?

Someone gave the quartermaster

a Gold Card.

Now, the only unit

with any cold weather tac-gear is the

10th Mountain. They ain't sharing.

Make sure

everyone carries a GPS.

I couldn't find one topo map

of this place.

- Copy that, Captain.

- Hey, look what 515 left outside their tents.

- -Hey, guys, quiet down.

Oh, it's Britney Spears!

Five months in country,

this hair is what

you're getting, man.

Hey, man. Is that a wig?

Can I touch it? Just one time.

Ask Coffers' wife, man.

She loves it.

Oh!

Cap said grow it out, guys.

What happened? What happened?

Whoa! Whoa! Be careful!

Vern knows Krav Maga!

Don't even think about...

All right, pencils down.

The other five teams

have been interviewed.

And, Cap, we're all countin'

on you, so, you know,

- no pressure.

- Thanks, buddy.

See you soon, boys.

Yep. Give 'em hell, Cap.

Bin Laden has been financing

the Taliban and Al-Qaeda,

setting up terrorist training

camps all over Afghanistan.

He's had one big win

on U.S. soil.

He wants another.

And if we don't stop him,

there will be more.

Bin Laden might be the brains,

but make no mistake about it,

in Afghanistan,

the Taliban is the muscle.

If we remove them

from power,

he can't use them

to make his attacks.

Mazar-i-Sharif.

Whoever controls that city,

controls Afghanistan.

If we take Mazar

from the Taliban,

then we cripple Bin Laden.

Well, that's half-right.

If you're gonna interrupt me,

you should probably

be entirely right.

No, we aren't taking anything.

The man who's gonna take Mazar

is named General Dostum.

He's an Afghan warlord

with the Northern Alliance.

He has the troops, he has the

intel, he knows the cliffs.

He knows every cave

and most importantly,

he does not care

for the Taliban.

So this is about airstrikes?

Sorry, sir.

No, you nailed that one.

Dostum cannot take out

the Taliban by himself.

Here's the plan.

We're gonna drop you into

Northern Afghanistan.

There, you will meet up

with a CIA operative

who will take you to Dostum.

Your mission,

earn Dostum's trust,

embed with his militia,

you fight alongside him while he makes

his way to Taliban strongholds.

When you get there, you call in

for close air support strikes.

Dostum will do the rest.

One by one,

stronghold by stronghold,

until he takes Mazar,

and the Taliban falls.

You got six weeks.

I'd say three weeks, sir.

- God damn it.

- No, no.

All right, I'll bite.

Why three?

The Russians have been here before, right?

They've done this.

And they wrote about it.

They said the snow

was shutting down

all the mountain passes

by mid-November.

Every year, without fail.

Now, if the Russians are

talking about a bad winter,

it's usually worth

paying attention to, isn't it?

After three weeks,

we will not get into Mazar.

That snow will hit, the Taliban will

dig in, and my men won't come home.

Your air support comes

from B-52s at 35,000 feet.

How do you think you're gonna

get close enough to be accurate

without parking a bomb

in your lap?

I'll have to get

out of the way, sir.

The extra three weeks

is cushion for your f***-ups.

There won't be any f***-ups.

Three weeks is all we need.

Pretty confident for a guy

who's never done this before.

Never been to war.

I don't see that

as a disadvantage, sir.

Well, maybe you should

explain that.

We're teaming up with a warlord

that we know nothing about.

We're not gonna be able to tell

our enemies from our allies.

Every step we take is gonna be on a

minefield from a hundred different wars.

And no one's ever called in a

smart bomb airstrike from a B-52.

So anyone who tells you

they've done this before

or has experience in this

is lying, sir.

There's no playbook here. We're

gonna have to write it ourselves.

I briefed five potential

captains for this mission.

About a hundred years of military

experience between them.

But you're the only one

that sees it the way it is.

I choose you.

You and 11 men.

Task Force Dagger.

I would be remiss

if I did not say to you,

even in success

the odds of you coming home...

They're 100%, sir,

with all due respect.

See, I kind of made

a promise, too.

You know better

than that, Nelson.

- What'd she get you to?

- Christmas.

Hmm.

It's a hell of a thing

we do, isn't it?

How do you love your family

and leave them to go to war?

You're wheels up at 2200.

Dismissed.

No, no. Knock that off. Go.

Captain.

The most important thing a man can

take into combat is a reason why.

This is from the towers.

You carry that with you.

Five weeks ago,

19 men attacked our country.

The 12 of you will be the

first ones to fight back.

Go win this thing.

Thank you, sir.

Yeah!

Son of a b*tch.

We're the first ones in!

Yeah, it's kind of like

the Apollo program.

You know what they sent

into space first, right?

- What?

- A monkey.

Great.

But, listen, brother.

If it's six weeks,

it's six weeks, okay?

We can't rush this.

We're in harm's way

no matter what the weather.

If your only goal

is trying to keep us alive,

we're dead men for sure.

I ain't losing one man

on this team, Hal.

The only way home is winning.

Well, sh*t, I believe you.

Come on, let's tell the boys

we're up.

Oh, my God!

This woman

was stoned to death

for being pregnant

out of wedlock.

This is what the Taliban

does to women in Afghanistan.

Oh, God,

just shut that sh*t off.

It's what they gave us

for intel.

But that's not intel,

that's motivation.

And I got two towers

full of that.

Ah, you don't need

to study, Falls.

You just shoot the guy

shooting at you.

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