12 Strong Page #5

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That's the difference

between you and me.

You have many men over you.

Over me, only God.

God, that was, that was some

real bonding right there.

Yeah.

Sir, sitrep from Spencer.

He's requesting a supply drop

for Dostum's men.

Winter's coming, and they

need gear and provisions.

Yeah, ship it out.

Where's Nelson?

Not sure. Terrain's cutting

off radio reception.

He thinks that Nelson's

en route to Dostum's HQ.

Our best guess is here.

Cobaki.

All right, hold on. Why aren't

Nelson and Spencer together?

Nelson split the team.

He took six men

and left Spencer and

the others at the recon point.

Christ, why'd he do that?

Dostum only gave him

six horses.

Apparently, that's the only

way to cross the mountains.

According to Spencer,

the horses aren't

just transportation.

Spencer says Dostum

relies on them for combat.

Horses?

Yes, sir.

There. Mullah Razzan's men.

Wait, where?

You see

the pickup trucks?

Those are the Taliban forces

outside of Bescham.

Right. Okay, General,

let me explain how this works.

I need to be close enough to give the

exact coordinates and elevation.

It's too dangerous.

General, we're too far away.

I can't call in anything

from here.

500 of my men can die

before one American gets

a scratch. You know why?

No, why, sir?

Because if one American die,

your government leaves,

and then we lose the war.

Okay. I'm dropping these bombs

from 30,000 feet.

The plane doesn't guide

the bombs, I do.

If I can't get close enough, I

can't call in the exact location.

Give me your little map.

Give me your map.

There. See?

Here. Taliban.

Here. Taliban.

- Okay.

- And here, Taliban.

Now drop your bomb.

- He's not getting it.

- And we're still too far away.

- Drop bombs.

- How do I even know this is the Taliban?

Who else would it be?

There are a lot of armies

in these mountains, General,

and the U.S. is only at war

with one of them.

You call me a liar?

I'm not saying that.

I'm just saying

that we're so far away

I can't even tell

what we're shooting at,

what we're hittin'.

Christ, he's calling

the f***ing Taliban.

America, f*** you!

See? Drop bombs.

Badger 17, this is Alpha 595.

We need a drop

on enemy position.

8-4-7-2, 6-5-4-3.

How copy? Over.

Alpha 595, I copy.

8-4-7-2, 6-5-4-3, over.

Roger. Drop when ready.

You hit the green on this one,

boss, you're a goddamn wizard.

Yeah, no sh*t.

Come on.

Sh*t.

All right, someone explain

to these guys we missed.

Goddamn. Sh*t.

That was ridiculous. I didn't

come here to play around.

Check fire, we're way off.

Stay here,

I'll call back coordinates.

No, no, Nelson.

- Where's Cap going?

- I don't know. Coffers.

I'm getting closer.

Wasn't gonna let you have

all the fun.

You ready for new coordinates?

Yeah, we got some

anxious people up here.

8-3-9-6...

Bad element maneuvered

in on 'em.

Captain, there's an element

moving in on you.

All right, stay here.

Let's go!

I'll say again. 8-3-9...

6-4-5-7.

Clear and hot.

Bombs inbound, boys.

Let's move!

We're danger close, Cap!

Move back! Move!

Move! Move!

General.

Their forward position's

obliterated.

Why aren't we moving

on the village?

You will not

live long here

if you ignore

what I'm telling you.

You told me to bomb,

that's what I did.

Why aren't we attacking?

That wasn't the plan today.

You mind telling me the plan?

We attack tomorrow.

Tomorrow. Great.

So that was, uh, what?

Nice little dress rehearsal?

A rehearsal, yeah. Great.

I'm not gonna negotiate.

These are my boots.

You know, the ones you stole

from our drop?

I don't know what that means.

I bet you we haven't

even found half our sh*t.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah. That roof

looks familiar, doesn't it?

Hey, how much, huh?

What is that? $10? $9.50?

Huh?

They got 10% of our MREs,

a quarter of our blankets.

We're missing a lot.

What?

Guess they like

our chem suits.

Trs chic.

I'd like to tell you

it gets easier, but...

You know, every now and then,

you meet a guy

who doesn't feel anything.

He goes out there,

he kills people.

Falls asleep before his head

hits the pillow.

You know, I used to think that

that'd be better, right?

That maybe

I was just too weak.

Then I realized...

Nah.

That's the thing that

reminds us that we're humans.

Hey, here we go.

How'd you make out?

All kinds of goodies.

Good. Get most of it back?

It was like shopping

at Macy's.

- Hey, yo, Spence, bro.

- Yeah.

See that little kid

over there?

Yeah.

I can't even take a piss

without the kid

up in my business.

Well, it is

pretty fascinating.

No, not really. It's not.

No. He follows me around

like a little stray dog, bro.

Why don't you stop

giving him treats?

Bro, that's the thing. I don't

give him sh*t, all right?

He just follows me

around smiling

with his little 1910 gun, bro.

You don't get it, do you?

What, Spence?

These guys guard us.

Any one of us gets killed,

Dostum might execute the man

he thinks is responsible

and his whole family.

And this poor boy got you.

So be nice.

Be nice.

Hey, uh, Najeeb?

Here, bro,

I got you a little...

It's a little sucker.

Put it in your mouth.

No, no!

You take the thing off it.

And then you put it

in your mouth. Yeah.

Put it in your mouth. Yeah.

Don't even f***ing go there,

bro. Don't go there, bro.

- Give me my shoes.

- That's cute.

- Shut up.

- It's cute.

This is their

next objective, Bescham.

There's only one way in,

and the Taliban know it.

They're dug in hard

just outside of town

right here, heavily fortified.

The whole f***ing thing's

a buzzsaw, sir.

Yeah, then why the hell is

Nelson walking into it?

Sh*t.

Did I pick the wrong guy?

Sir, this one's not on Nelson.

It's geography.

Bescham is the only way

to Mazari.

Yeah, maybe so. But we can't

pin all our hopes on Nelson.

Let's get a second team

in the works.

If Dostum doesn't make it

to Bescham

by the time

the weather sets in,

it's gonna be a real shitshow.

General,

B-52s are in position.

You have any idea

what's going on?

Dostum need to find out if his

nephew still over there,

fighting along with Taliban.

Many switch sides.

For necessity, loyalty change.

Some every other week.

Why the hell

would they do that?

A lot of these guys

are farmers.

Taliban comes through,

they torture, murder,

force them to fight.

What choice do they have?

Is it just me

or does it feel like

these a**holes are counting their

money every time they look at us?

General.

His nephew left this morning.

We can proceed.

Oh. Great.

War's back on, guys.

General, we're minutes

from range.

Is there anything you can tell me

so I can better prepare my men

- to assist you?

- Very good.

I don't know if horses

were the best idea today.

The bombs are gonna

scare them bad.

The horses know

that these are American bombs.

They won't be afraid.

Oh, they know that

they're American bombs. Okay.

Makes sense.

Wookie-99, new grid.

8-3-4-2, break, 6-6-4-9.

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