I used to be puzzled about the essential point that enables a soldier to rescue their brothers, whatever the cost is. Having read over the Lone Survivor, I got the answer. The reason why I couldn't understand is that I’ve never been in a situation where lethal threats exist everywhere, while the situation is probably quite common for every single service man. And when things act like that, the only one to trust is their brothers in arm, because their brothers also believe in them. Check this out: “...I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight.”
The hilly landscape, which is quite ideal for the local Taliban to hide from continuous searches, makes Afghanistan the most horrible nightmare for every soldier, even for the elite warriors. However, securing this area is exactly the top priority of the United States Navy SEAL, a special warfare unit, highly-trained and armed to the teeth.
Marcus was on a Hunt&Kill mission, with him were three well-selected troopers from SEAL Team 10.They aimed to knock down the initiator of evil, one of the Taliban leaders who produced IEDs to cause heavy casualties to the U.S. Armed Forces. The task was quite smooth until the team accidentally encountered three shepherds. Local shepherds were generally considered a symbol of unfortunate as they were often proved to be closely connected to the Taliban. After a fierce debate on killing the shepherds or not, the Seals decided to let them go, which turned out to be the beginning of the tragedy. The four Seals found themselves surrounded by dozens of Taliban fighters about an hour later.
Having fought back waves of intense assaults in details carried out by the hostile forces, the Seals became as exhausted as it got. But they were “ignoring their wound and fighting like SEAL teams members should, uncompromising, steady, hard-eyed, and professional.” They demonstrated the highest degree of courage through their distinguished performance. One injured, one took care. One was out of ammo, one provided suppressing fire. However hard they fought, the team were still defeated by the nonstop enemy fire, and Marcus was the only survivor.
That’s not the end of the story. The U.S. Navy Special Operation Command spared no effort to find the possible survivors. To ensure the mission could be done, a joint search was launched by the 75th Ranger Regiments, Green Berets and Para jumpers in the ops area. Suffering in the muddy mountains for days, the search team successfully rescued Marcus, put a full stop to this tragedy.
Deeply impressed with the iron bond between soldiers who share the same trenches, I am obliged to recommend this non-fiction book to everyone who shares the common interest with me, feeling eager to learn about the true friendship under fire. It occurs to me that nothing is more suitable to end up this book review than a speech from King Henry V by Shakespeare:
“From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile.”
丑新练笔，文笔巨渣求各位轻喷
