Original subtitles

what's up? Need me, sir?

yeah, we're good To fly in.

I started originally working At abercrombie & fitch,

As weird as that is.

-hey, we got room back here? -yeah.

So it's kind of interesting That I decided to make

The choice for the military.

But I like going On adventures,

Doing new things, being crazy.

Hey, let's go.

We were brand-new, Out of the gate,

Don't know anything.

a lot of these guys Were so young.

Like, it's the youngest group Of privates I'd ever had.

we were here In the middle of nowhere.

And I'm kind of like, "This is the lion's den.

And I kind of feel Like a lamb right now."

So we're heading Out west I believe,

Driving down the road We drove down

Darn near every single day.

I'm scanning the road Like I always do,

Sitting up front.

I'm looking for I.E.D.S.

Everything's a normal day.

Um...

God, the smells -- Dirt with blood mixed in

And then the smell of death.

go! Go!

in may 2010,

A small unit from The legendary 101st airborne

Is among those deployed

In an attempt to defeat The taliban.

it is in Our vital national interest

To send an additional 30,000 U.S. Troops to afghanistan.

pick it up! Go, go, go!

the korangal valley

Is frequently described As the valley of death.

hurry up! Hurry up! Get up there!

we knew that It was gonna be the deployment

That people Would write books about.

I figured I wanted to be able To document that.

What is that? Is that a camera or something?

their mission --

To intercept weapons And fighters

Pouring through the valley

From the taliban's safe havens In neighboring pakistan.

Among them, rookies Like private j.J. Mccool

And private kyle boucher...

Hi, mom.

I was a troublemaker.

I think it's that type of guy That joins the army.

...Combat veterans

Like sergeant first class Ken shriver...

- let her rip!

...And newly recruited Medic doc shreeve.

I need to show these guys

That I am a member Of their team.

You know, "If you're getting smoked,

I'm gonna get smoked, too."

we were already Taking fire from everywhere.

It was just baptism by fire.

It is kind of that journey From boyhood to manhood.

Aah!

you!

It's a brotherhood, man. You can't let your brothers die.

I don't really think There's anything

That could bond you more.

These are my brothers. This is my family.

-- captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

charlie company, Suppressing from the rear.

initially, I didn't know what to think.

And as the dust was settling...

You could see the truck Was on its side.

how you doing, kyle? You doing all right, brother?

I had doc with me. Doc shreeve went to work.

-how? -my heart dropped.

High, who was the driver, It was very obvious that...

He was no longer with us.

2-7.

chisholm was pinned In the vehicle,

And when I...

Assessed his pulse, I knew he was gone.

Petry had A very severe spinal injury.

And one wrong move, and I can Unintentionally kill him.

-wheels up, but that's it. -I really like shreeve.

He was also from the northwest.

And there aren't A lot of guys in the military

From the northwest.

He was a young medic.

I mean, he wasn't a veteran like A lot of the guys were.

So it was His first deployment, too.

in the background, We had our dead friends.

And I was here trying To make sure we didn't have

A third dead friend.

I got two k.I.A.

To not bring somebody home,

That hurts, you know?

Chisholm had a wife. High has a family.

It wasn't like I got there Too late.

It's -- there was no chance -- Absolutely no chance.

And I don't know If that hurts more or any less,

But it certainly hurts.

It absolutely hurts.

But when it's your buddy, It's your friend,

It totally changes the game.

the number-one priority Is to stabilize kyle,

And, get him out of there.

I will not move him in an matv.

they were debating On whether or not

To throw me in the back Of these matvs.

And there's bumps in the road. It's all these things.

One of these little things Could've been

What moved my spine -- My jelly spine so far

To where it snapped it.

you do get mad.

Everyone was angry.

And sergeant shriver Was angry and for good reason.

I had a lot of emotions Going on at that time,

But anger's The only one I can show.

Anger's acceptable.

He was the only one That had enough rank

To make anything happen.

I told 'em, "Fly the birds Right next to me

In the open field."

It's one hell of a roar

From a black hawk Medevac helicopter.

It's basically Angels coming down

To pick up the fallen.

When we brought him To that bird,

It was such a relief.

I knew At that moment right there

That it was over for me...

That my war was done.

I wish in everything in my heart

That I would've seen something, Wires or something.

Sometimes, I lay in bed, And I scan in my head

To try to think of, "Did I see a wire?"

But you feel like a failure.

I got those guys killed.

Is that the case? Probably not.

But do I still feel that way? Yeah.

I'm always gonna feel like that

No matter What people tell me that,

"It doesn't matter." It does matter.

That's the way I'm gonna feel forever

'cause at the end of the day, They were my responsibility.

Now, they're not here anymore.

hey, mccool, Stay away from there.

Move. There's still wires in there.

Watch out.

Move. Hey!

Mad dog base, Mad dog 2-7.

We got reports that there was Some chatter on the,

You know, taliban Handheld radios

That, um, they were Gonna ambush us.

Hey, prepare For a counterattack.

Icom traffic.

We were about to be ambushed By a large group

Who thinks That they can finish us off.

L.T.!

All right, let's go! Come on!

it's almost like you Wanted something to happen --

Or I did.

Because it would've given you A chance to fight back.

- go! - Hurry the up!

Hurry up! Run!

Out of nowhere, They open fire on us.

The best way to grieve Your friend...

- Spread the out! - Spread the out!

...Is to go out there And kill these bastards.

Come on!

- All right, let's go! - Hurry the up!

roger. Confirm.

We were extremely exposed.

If the taliban's coming To fight

With something more Than small arms,

It'll be A very hairy situation.

There was so much that was out Of your control at that point.

I wasn't sure which direction It was gonna come from.

Mad dog 2-7, roger.

Let them come, you know?

Give me something to shoot. Give me somebody to hurt.

Bring it on. We got bigger guns than you.

I guarantee it.

All right?

We're looking at the ridgeline.

Hold.

We're looking everywhere To see what we can see.

one thing that we knew We weren't gonna do

Is move away.

We would never leave our heroes.

I mean...

Mccool, man, help me up.

Just keep your head down.

Good.

Then, we, we -- We recovered ben and charlie...

So they could have Their hero flight.

I took a few minutes For myself,

To kind of collect myself up

And, try to process

What had just happened.

ben was A salt-of-the-earth guy,

Someone you could talk to About anything, super-nice.

Charles -- Kind of a little goofy.

We definitely liked That about him.

And he was really funny.

they were my men.

It angered me a lot.

I didn't deal with it Very well for many years,

You know, survivor's guilt --

It wasn't till, recently That I started getting

The help that I needed, A lot of counseling.

It's still difficult.

I don't think there was Anybody it didn't affect.

everyone kind of went Into their own space

And just kind of...

Solemnly contemplated What happened.

Not a lot of us reached out

And talked To each other initially.

We just kind of sat there In shock like,

"What just happened?"

A few hours ago, we were whole. Now we're not.

It felt like you were A broken family.

There was obviously pieces That were missing.

there is no training For losing a brother in arms.

Can't really train Somebody for it.

It's just How you deal with it.

-a little turquoise crush? -yeah, turquoise crush.

It was just like somebody Squeezing the life out of you.

You become so desensitized To everything, you know,

To emotion, to pain, to fear.

But now, I realize the best way To grieve your friend is

To go out there and hunt And kill these bastards.

two weeks after The fatal I.E.D. Attack,

Sergeant shriver's platoon Receives orders

To clear an emerging Taliban stronghold

In the village of omar.

all the intelligence We were getting was saying,

"The taliban's headquarters Element had moved to omar."

Hey, l.T.

The idea was to go in there,

Gain a foothold, and clear out A lot of the weapons

That were being used against us On literally a daily basis.

after the 17th Of august, I think --

I think a lot of us got angry.

And we knew we were preparing For more than just patrol.

We were preparing For a true fight.

we established ourself In one of the buildings.

there was no other Friendly element

That was more south than us.

So anybody that was Out there was taliban.

And we were trying to kill them.

it's quiet.

I was on the lower Terrace of this mud hut.

We were going to see an enemy We haven't seen yet

And in numbers We haven't seen yet.

I was anticipating multiple Casualties within my platoon.

You were always on guard.

So I was looking Down in the valley.

All right, What are they doing?

Coming up With some kind of plan.

I scanned with my thermals.

I could see a lot Of military-age males looking,

Trying to figure out What we were doing.

You know, there was a sniper Somewhere down there.

Watch out!

Out of nowhere, They opened fire on us.

we hit the ground And tried to figure out

What was even happening.

It seemed like two or three Different positions

At the same time, And it was accurate.

They know where we're at.

-it impacted right there. -hit that ridgeline

I was shooting at.

We wanted you to shoot at us.

You shoot at us, We're gonna kill you.

I'm a very religious person.

But these people are trying To kill you and your men,

So you kill them.

What?

stop, man! Somebody else is hit!

we hear yelling.

And we were trying To figure out what it was.

-what's up? -we got two hits!

Two casualties! -what?

two casualties!

Yeah, man! Somebody else is hit!

Down below.

Go. Two casualties.

Hey, not everybody. Not everybody.

in a gun fight, If we take a casualty,

Normally they're gonna be Yelling, "Medic,"

Or they're gonna be yelling, "Doc."

And they weren't yelling Either of them.

They were yelling for me.

-hey, sarge? -I'm the backup medic.

-in the crate. -someone gonna come help us,

Or what?

And I knew at that second,

When I heard my name,

I knew doc shreeve was A casualty.

what's up?

My arm!

Bullets could be Snapping over my head.

They'd be hitting the ground.

And I wasn't scared.

but when I was called To help doc shreeve,

That wasn't something That I was comfortable with.

all right. You guys got the miss on it?

No, we just Put the seal on it.

-where's the neck? -right on the side.

all right, Come here, doc.

Let me see it, brother.

Okay, okay, don't move. Don't move.

All right, you know what? Lay him down.

Lay on your -- Lay on your stomach.

When I saw the bullet wound In his neck,

It stopped me in my tracks.

I mean, you have everything From your airway

To your arteries And your spine.

You know, there's multiple, Multiple ways that you can die

From getting shot in the neck.

tell them To conserver their ammo!

92 over 58.

I'd been sent To a medical class

Before we deployed.

But my job was to shoot guns.

My job wasn't to be A platoon line medic.

We were his life line.

Normally, doc shreeve, He's our life line.

But now, my buddy's life is In my hands.

There's no scarier feeling Than the fear

Of not being able To save that person.

I need somebody to help take a look.

That fear of not being able To, you know, help him, um,

The best I could...

It opened my eyes.

I want to help people.

I want to be that person That somebody's looking at

When they're in danger Or when they're hurt.

So that whole mission Really kind of set the pace

For the rest of my life.

I had seen his exit wound On his back.

And I stuck a chest seal On him which does two things.

It's gonna stop the bleeding.

And it's gonna prevent any air To escape out of the back

In case his lung was punctured.

I'm gonna lay down.

I could feel The blood from my neck.

Um...

It was -- it was warm. It was --

I had dirt in my mouth.

I was struggling to breathe.

It felt like a hot knife had Just pierced through my body.

You're hanging on right here.

And you could tell He was scared --

And rightfully so.

Um, I could feel The tension building

In my jugular vein.

And I I knew What was happening to me.

I knew my lung Was going to collapse.

And if that was to happen, I knew it was

Only a matter of time Before I stopped breathing.

our other casualty, You know,

He was shot in the hand. He was gonna be fine.

Shreeve was shot in the neck.

I told sergeant shriver,

"We need to get The...Out of here."

I'm The radiotelephone operator.

And I now had to call in For a medevac

To get a helicopter to come out.

They need answers To questions.

And one of those is, "Is the l.Z. Secure?"

And in this case, it wasn't.

the area we were in was A non-stop gunfight.

And a medevac helicopter isn't Gonna land

In the middle of a gunfight.

So, now my buddy's life's In my hands.

who's got The writing?

Every breath I took, More pressure was on my lung.

Time is not on your side.

And it definitely scared me.

I had to coordinate With awt to do some gun runs.

It takes a lot of work To coordinate,

And it's pretty stressful.

doc shreeve was still In a lot of pain,

So I asked him if he wanted The last ampule of morphine.

And, he said, "No, keep it.

Someone else might get hit."

That's just The kind of guy he is.

So he stayed and suffered.

Okay, where's Your stethoscope at, brother?

Yep, that's What I'm doing right --

he's able to have The strength to stay conscious.

He was with it. He was treating himself.

It was just literally amazing.

all right.

Yeah, it's gonna suck ass, dude.

We got word that, you know,

A medevac bird was Finally coming in.

Omar was still hot.

But they had Finally gotten an escort --

Attack helicopters To come with the medevac birds.

We got him packaged up, And we started moving him.

we found a landing zone, And it wasn't ideal.

We would have To carry him 150 yards

To get him up these six- To eight-foot terraces

With fire coming in nonstop.

Hey, you guys ready?

What do you say? Bring him out?

all right. Legs down lower.

Legs lower. Let's go.

It wasn't a safe l.Z.

And we still were Receiving incoming.

It would kind of be Up to the pilot's discretion

At this point If they were going to land.

how you feeling, doc? Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop.

I kind of just became at peace

And accepted what I thought Was going to be my fate.

I thought that I probably Was gonna die.

You got it?

You sure?

whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy, easy, easy.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Who's at my head? Back off.

somebody grab his Other side.

Grab it while I jump down.

I just was Kind of, like, looking up.

And all I could see was Just the bright sky.

-let him down just a bit. -just do it.

Somebody grab His head too, dude.

Those experiences happened To me, and, you know,

They still give me Some heartache.

You see old war movies And, you know,

The guys get shot up.

They don't call for mom. They call for the medic.

And I wanted to know If I was capable of that.

I'm trying really hard To, you know,

Accept what happened And to be able to move on

And not to forget --

Definitely never forget.

When I was shot,

I felt really sorry For myself for a long time.

I was always angry. I, um, hated the world.

I was such a shut-in.

No, we got To have his head up.

Rotate his legs this way.

there's a small Part of you that's scared.

But that fear is What drives you

To function as a platoon.

-keep moving down this way. -get the other side.

-come on. Keep moving. -hurry up. Let's go.

Not for a second would Any of those guys question

Carrying a brother Who's been wounded.

That's the bond of brothers. That's the bond that's shared.

-whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. -don't let his feet down.

Lift up! -lift his head up!

Hey!

- come on, guys, work in here.

I got him.

I'm good, dude. I'm good now.

We get word from one Of the escort helicopters.

There's a fighter in the corn Who's in the prone.

He has a weapon.

He's 100 meters from the l.Z.

100 meters south.

You guys tracking? -what?

there's a dude In the prone 100 meters

To the south of here.

-in the prone 100 meters south? -yeah.

the taliban knew Where we were.

They had zeroed in on us.

hey!

Come on, guys! Work in here! - hurry the up. Let's go.

Hey, guys, take that.

shreeve's neck was Swelling so bad,

We were worried It was gonna close his airway.

If his airway closed...

I don't know.

I would've had To cut his neck open

And stick a tube in his throat.

-go down a little bit. -you know, I had seen it

In a slide show --

Nothing I ever practiced.

It scared the out of me.

all right, we set? We'll hand him up there.

Hold on a second. -we're taking one more air.

There's a fighter in the corn Who's in the prone.

He has a weapon.

He's 100 meters from the l.Z.

So I pick up a mark 46.

Hey, you guys, get down!

Get down! Get down!

That guy should move If he's alive.

He should move. He should roll. He should do something.

He didn't move.

He didn't move at all.

We're good!

All right. Ready?

one, two, three.

Sorry, doc.

-whoa!

Watch out.

get down! Get down!

- Spread the out! - Spread the out!

you got an acog?

hey, we just confirmed With dust off.

this whole time, We're still getting shot at.

You know, We're still returning fire.

you, taliban.

We had to make it work

Because otherwise He wasn't getting out.

this mad dog 2-7, roger. We're gonna pop a smoke.

Time now -- red smoke.

Pick him up.

At the top of that terrace --

Absolutely no cover, zero cover.

We know that There's enemy in the corn.

that helicopter is A sitting duck.

one of the flight medics Got off and started firing

Because it wasn't a safe area.

Once I was in the helicopter,

I could let go.

I felt the safest I had felt In a very, very long time.

cease fire! Cease fire!

Whether you're religious or not, They're flying angels for sure.

I've lost quite a bit Of motor function

And strength in my hand.

Being told That I was no longer able

To do the job I love -- You know, I was a medic.

That was me, and I kind of had To totally rearrange

Every hope and dream I had had

Since pretty -- You know, pretty early on.

-whoosh! -here we go!

He's an interesting Individual.

starting a family Was never something

I thought I was gonna be Able to do afterwards.

--having my little girl

Has given me something To look forward to.

I have a future now, Where, for the longest time,

I didn't feel I had a future.

She's given me, again,

Another opportunity To care for somebody.

I don't think I'll ever do anything

that was as meaningful Than that mission.

Because when doc shreeve Was hit,

It was definitely A turning point in my life.

Because, in the future, If another person is hurt,

I didn't want to have that fear Of not being able to help 'em.

So when I got out of the army,

I went to school to be An emergency medical technician,

And I went on to become A fire fighter.

It's probably the most Important thing in life

Is helping somebody At a time of need.

The enemy were becoming More aggressive.

Got it!

You literally felt like The fish in the barrel.

people start to get cocky And feel that little sense of,

"I'm invincible," you know,

"They can't take me out" And stuff."

I was gonna go to the next cave And not even think about it.

we're only eight people on The ground with one machine gun.