Legion of Brothers

---

1

- When we first, you know,

walked into the country,

I mean, you had the weight of

the nation on your shoulders.

You know,

we were america's response

To the most catastrophic

terrorist attack on u.S. Soil.

- Ever.

- Ever.

- And for a lot of us,

You know, we felt that we

had a responsibility

To the people that died,

To set the stage that you just

don't do that to america

And not pay the price.

It was about--

not retribution,

But it was about justice.

- What's that saying

About, "who will go?"

"send me."

- You know--

- isaiah 6:
8.

- Sir?

- Isaiah 6:
8.

"whom will go,

and whom shall I send?"

- Yeah, "who will go,

and who shall I send?"

Send me, send me,

'cause I'm the dude

that wants to make somebody pay

For killing my brothers

and sisters.

- I think we have to assume

That there will be

more attacks.

- The United States military

has begun strikes.

- Coalition warplanes have

free rein over afghanistan.

- The public, though--

I think 94% of the public--

Wants us to go in somewhere

and do something.

- U.S. Army special forces,

known as the green berets...

- The green berets...

- Inside afghanistan.

Those reports first appeared

in pakistani newspapers...

- Known as

the quiet professionals...

So secretive,

we've agreed not to disclose

Even their first name.

- I never spoke out the way

I felt like I should have.

- It was an american green bert

raid in the dark of night.

- Guns starting to flail

back and forth.

pow-pow, pow, pow...

- This is another type

of warfare:

War by guerillas.

- Unconventional warfare.

- And to me,

it's like brotherhood.

- What is winning?

- You're just praying

You'll get to prove yourself

to your brothers.

- What began

as a 100-day mission...

- The longest u.S. War...

- It's been a long war...

- The longest war

in american history.

- We've been living it

for 15 years.

- Think I was 10.

Must have been 9 or 10,

about 1970, I guess.

I saw john wayne,

"the green berets,"

And I thought, "man, yeah..."

- They all seemed to think

that because my dad joined,

That it was natural

for me to join,

But that wasn't the case.

I went to go see a movie.

- Funny thing.

A fella takes one of these

into battle,

And he carries

a strange sense of guilt

All the rest of his life.

- I figured everything else

I'd done in the army

Hadn't been all that hard,

for me.

I figured,

how hard could it be?

It was pretty hard.

Pretty good, yeah.

- The taliban must turn over

osama bin laden

And must destroy

the terrorist camps.

Otherwise,

there will be a consequence.

- Spokesman for the taliban

denies afghanistan

Allowed bin laden to strike

from its territory.

- Good afternoon.

On my orders,

The United States military

has begun strikes

Against the taliban regime

in afghanistan.

- I'm as close to these people

as anyone in my own family,

And in some ways closer.

These are my 11 best friends

in the world.

That's how I feel.

- This is us in afghanistan.

I mean, we were in,

you know, some harsh...

- Probably is as extreme

a combat environment

As you can fathom.

It tested you in every way--

physically, mentally...

Emotionally.

- We are it.

And when you need the army,

We are the vanguard,

the spearhead, the praetorian.

- This has been happening

for, what, 15 years.

- Wow, since vietnam.

- Yeah.

- We're talking about people.

You know, as a unit,

we've been--

We've been deployed

doing some pretty crazy crap

For a while.

And you get

into a unit like this,

And that's what you do.

That's your game.

- I've been in the military

now 30 years.

That mission was the pinnacle

of my career,

Absolutely the finest thing

A team of green berets could do.

- Mark wasn't on the team

anymore at that time.

So I thought I was good to go.

I was 6 1/2 months pregnant.

And we got a call

while we were in a baby store,

Shopping for baby things.

I think mr. Paul called him

and said...

- "get your butt back here."

- "guess what,

you're back on the team."

And I was like, "oh..."

- We both realized

I was probably

not gonna be there

For the birth of our child.

On the drive back

from nashville, then,

We realized we'd

better pick a name.

Amy knew we were gonna go,

but she didn't know where.

Hell, I didn't know

where we were going exactly.

- Ramp runs down a big cloud

Of that fine

talcum powder dust.

We come piling

out of the back of that,

Haul all of our sh*t out in

this big, huge clump of stuff.

Helicopter takes off.

Dust kind of settles,

And out of the dust

comes the sand people.

- That's right.

- When you see a man with an ak

Who's dressed

just like your enemy,

And you've got to walk

over to him

And basically ask him,

"hey, how you doing?"

And you have no idea

whether he's gonna say--

You put out his hand

and shake it,

Or he's gonna shoot you.

- The taliban's army

of some 30,000 fighters...

Born from the crucible of war,

Captured kabul in 1996

and imposed draconian laws.

- Indiscriminate and brutal...

- Whipped in public for adultey

In front

of an all-male audience...

- We have a small group...

- The taliban

invited osama bin laden...

- Osama bin laden

would offer money

And his fighters to fight.

- The northern alliance

came together

In mutual opposition

to the taliban.

- General dostum

and his advance security party

Come riding up.

- General dostum,

who has a fierce reputation

For his treatment

of foreign prisoners.

- He jumps down

off the horse, and--

- Hell, the horse is still

moving, he jumps off.

- Yeah.

- He was like, "hey."

- General dostum agreed

to take my team members and I

Up to his forward command post.

"I can't guarantee

your safety."

He said, "there's some people

That may be upset

that the americans are here."

So we would mount horses

for the first time in combat.

- Mark knows horses.

He knew horses

when he got there.

We didn't.

Mark figured out real quick

That you go up to 400 dudes

on a horse and say,

"hey, somebody

get off their horse

And give it to an american,"

You ain't gonna get

a smooth horse.

- We got to general dostum's

headquarters.

My job at that point

Is to establish

and maintain rapport.

His plan

that he had briefed to us

Was that mazar-e sharif

was the key to the country,

And if we could liberate

mazar-e sharif,

The northern provinces

would be liberated.

If we liberated

the northern provinces,

Then kabul could be liberated.

And from there, herat,

kandahar, jalalabad.

We represented 5th group.

We represented america's

foreign policy--

At the point end, nasty, dirty,

bloody end of that fight--

That we went in

and helped enable

The possibility

of a brighter future

For the people of afghanistan.

- It was my first rodeo.

We got married in April;

he left in October.

He was a medic.

I thought it was safe.

Yeah, he lied to me, guys.

No, he didn't lie to me;

he was a medic.

- Is that what they're called?

- I don't know.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes