12 Strong Page #3

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Oh, is that how that works? Thank

you very much, Mr. Wizard.

Hey, look, Michaels. It's you.

Jesus Christ,

you guys are jealous.

What do you call that? Is it

like a coif or something?

- Guys. Guys, guys.

- I don't do bad hair.

Listen up!

All right, boys.

It's us, we're going in.

Yeah!

We beat out

the five other teams.

We're gonna drop in

behind enemy lines,

link up with a warlord

of the Northern Alliance,

General Abdul Dostum.

We'll assist him

in fighting the Taliban

and taking back the city

of Mazar-i-Sharif,

which happens to be

the stronghold and linchpin

for the entire

northern Taliban force.

Now if we don't take

that city,

the whole country

will turn into

a goddamn terrorist

training camp.

World Trade Center's

just the beginning.

They're not finished

with us yet.

The catch is,

we only have 21 days.

How many troops does he have?

He's got about

200 paid soldiers

and an undetermined number

of part-time militia.

What about

the other side?

The other side

has about 50,000

Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters.

Missiles, armor, rockets,

mortars, machine guns.

We're outnumbered.

Just 5,000 to one.

It's what I call

a target-rich environment.

I kind of like those odds,

to be honest.

Now, gentlemen,

once we land, we're about

nine hours away from help.

Which effectively means it doesn't exist.

We're on our own.

We all need to understand

that capture is not

an option here.

We've all seen the intel

on what the Taliban does

to their prisoners, correct?

Those motherfuckers

will make you suffer.

- Sh*t goes south, I'm dying with my boots on.

- Amen.

- As am I.

- Hear, hear.

We go in tonight.

Single ship, no backup.

So police your gear,

get some rest.

Had a successful test flight?

We are the test flight.

If you die,

that's a letter you and your

wife are gonna wish you wrote.

I just made her

a promise I'm coming home.

I ain't writing her a letter

that says I broke it.

We got one, two,

three, four,

five, six...

I guess that space suit

answers the question

about closing

the freaking doors.

What's your cruising altitude?

That's a good question.

Well, it must be

above 10,000 feet

if you're using O2.

Sh*t, the mountains we're

flying over are 10,000 feet.

The sandstorms would

ruin the engines

and missiles have been fired

from the peaks.

Well, that puts us at 20.

You can't fly a Chinook

at 20,000 feet.

We're not gonna.

Flight altitude's 25.

Oh.

Well,

how's this thing take it?

We'll find out.

Is there O2 for my team?

We got masks in the

back, but they don't work.

Hell, ours didn't work

last flight.

This dipshit started

seeing bogeymen.

Almost crashed into

the damn mountain.

Oh, sh*t.

We're gonna go hypoxic.

Not me.

Keeping my eyes

on that f***er right there.

We're going to the clouds,

gentlemen.

No one's ever flown a chopper

this high this far.

Strap in tight!

- I've never been hypoxic before.

- Really?

Oh, it's great.

All you do is faint.

Think of it as

a nine-hour nap.

It's not the going to sleep

that worries me.

It's the goddamn hangover

on the other side.

Yeah, baby!

- Well, you know why the Army uses Chinooks, right?

- Why?

So we'll be good and mad

when we get into battle.

I know, man!

I'm a laugh factory!

Mission equipment

is set. EOS, flare, chaff.

595, we are clear for takeoff.

Silver wings upon their chest

These are men

America's best

One hundred men

we'll test today

But only three win

the Green Beret

Hey, 595, this is 1213.

Visibility is deteriorating.

We're turning back,

blind alley.

Hang on! We're descending.

On purpose?

- On purpose?

- Roger that.

- Wheels down, two minutes.

- Two minutes!

- Two minutes!

- Wake up!

Jock up, NODs on!

Right gunner has

landing area in sight.

Going in hot.

Here we go!

Fifteen, ten, nine, eight.

Hold your forward.

Bring it down.

Cleared on left,

cleared on right.

On five, four, three.

Ramps cleared down.

Ramp, ramp, ramp.

Hey. There.

See those two fellas?

Yeah.

- Is this our escort?

- No, I don't think so.

We're supposed to be

meeting a squad.

I don't think

these are our guys.

Shut them up.

We got company.

Sh*t!

Put your f***ing

weapons down!

Drop your weapons!

No! No! No! Friendlies!

Friendlies! Stand down!

All right, weapons down!

Let them up.

That's your f***ing escort.

Let them up.

We're sorry.

Right. Okay.

If you could just tell him

we apologize?

You team leader?

Yeah, I am. You guys are late.

Well, we're here now.

You don't speak Dari?

- Not at all.

- How's your Uzbek?

So-so.

My Russian's decent.

All right. Well, Russian

will get you through.

We should move,

it's a long hike.

They dumped you in a bad spot.

Let's go, grab your gear.

Let's move.

Hey!

Back up! No! No!

Yo, yo, yo.

Yeah, thank you.

This is it.

They call it the Alamo.

Got you set up in here.

Why don't you guys

take first watch.

Rotate every two hours.

Head on a swivel.

- Roger that.

- On it.

You know everyone died

in the Alamo, right?

I think you should

keep that to yourself.

Oh, this is great.

Yeah, this is gonna go over

real well in a Muslim country.

It ain't our job to choose

the gifts, man. It's yours.

Come on in.

This is your new home.

Hey, feel free to eat

any of that.

The bread's good. I don't

know what this is,

but it's f***ing great.

Give me the lay of the land.

What kind of intel you got?

Well, here's what

I know, and it ain't much.

What's left

of the Northern Alliance

is essentially

three separate militias.

All right? That are all

enemies with each other.

General Dostum, General Atta,

and General Mohaqiq.

So you got a three-pronged

attack that doesn't communicate,

will not assist each other.

And if they meet

on the battlefield,

they'll probably stop fighting

the Taliban

and start killing each other.

What about our contact,

General Dostum?

General Abdul Rashid Dostum.

Okay, he's Uzbek.

Started fighting the Russians

when he was 16. He's 55 now.

Yeah, we have his bio.

What's he like?

What's he like?

Yeah, what's he like? His personality.

Angry, happy, sad?

He likes show tunes.

He likes show tunes.

Great.

Look, I read people

for a living,

and I can't get a bead

on this guy.

Okay? Only two things

I know for sure.

He hates the Taliban and they

hate the sh*t out of him.

How worried should we be

about any of these guys

trying to sell us

to the Taliban?

Uh, I'd be pretty f***ing

worried, if I was you.

Right.

- Does Dostum speak English?

- No.

He speaks Tajik.

He speaks Uzbek.

He speaks Dari.

He speaks Pashtun, which is

what the Taliban speak.

And he speaks Russian.

So you got that going for ya.

Are you with us through this?

No, I'm leaving

right now.

I got a 50 kilometer hike

to give a bag of money

to another warlord.

Who knows, maybe we'll see

each other on the battlefield.

If we do,

don't shoot the guy

in the backwards cap.

We'll keep that in mind.

God, that spook is cheery.

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