SEAL of Honor (2 page)

O
f the four Navy SEALs who inserted into the Hindu Kush Mountains, Kunar Province, Afghanistan, on that terrible day in June 2005, I personally knew three: Matt Axelson, Marcus Luttrell, and Danny Dietz. The one SEAL I did not know was Michael Murphy. Now, thanks to Gary Williams’ fine portrayal of Michael Murphy in
SEAL of Honor
, I know them all.

While I did not previously know Michael, my sense is that Gary’s assessment of this SEAL leader rings true. He seems very much like Tom Norris and Bob Kerrey, SEAL officers I do know well and who share that singular distinction as Medal of Honor recipients. Both Norris and Kerrey are humble, understated, introspective, and physically average. Both struggled in SEAL training, and once in the SEAL teams, took their duties seriously. Both came from families and communities who raised these future heroes with a strong sense of personal accountability and responsibility. And Tom Norris and Bob Kerry are both humble in light of their battlefield accomplishments, almost to the point of embarrassment, and invariably seek to deflect praise from themselves to others who served with them. Had he lived, I think Michael Murphy would have been much the same.

Michael Murphy also shares that quality of selfless devotion to his duty and to his brother SEALs as did two other “Mikes” who were awarded the Medal of Honor. Mike Thornton and Mike Monsoor both risked all in deadly combat to go to the aid of their teammates. In the case of Mike Monsoor, he too gave his life so that others would have a chance to live.

In the words of William Holden in the closing scenes in of the movie
The Bridges of Toko-Ri
, “Where do we find such men?” The great American poet Carl Sandburg once said, “Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure whether they have it till the test comes. And those having it in one test never know for sure if they will have it when the next test comes.”

Major Dick Winters, of
Band of Brothers
fame, when asked by his granddaughter if he was a hero, answered, “No, but I served in the company of heroes.” I also feel that I have known some heroes from my generation who fought in Vietnam to the current generation of special warriors in the field today. They come from a
variety of educational backgrounds and physical gifts; there is no prototype and no common trait save that of character. Like Robert Holden’s character in
Bridges
, I’ve often wondered where, indeed, do we find such men. SEAL training, so ably documented in this work, may refine the character of a hero. However, they don’t train men to be heroes, nor does SEAL training select men who are predisposed to heroic acts. It is my belief that those who perform such acts of valor are so inclined long before they enter military service or put on a uniform. With respect to Carl Sandberg, I believe this gift of valor is somehow imparted to our most gallant warriors by their families and their role models, and by the extended communities that help to raise them. Our military, and especially the Navy SEAL teams, have simply been blessed with young men who have been reared in an environment that stresses the Navy’s core values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment.

A combat leader lives, and sometimes dies, by his ability to balance two often mutually exclusive duties: he must accomplish his mission
and
he must take care of his men. A great deal has been written about Operation Red Wings, and exactly what took place in those mountains on that fateful day we may never know. But we do know this: Mike Murphy did all in his power to accomplish his mission. When that became impossible, he did all in his power to take care of his men. In the face of impossible odds and mortally wounded, he fought and led until the moment he was killed. For those of us who have since learned of Michael Murphy’s courage in those last terrible hours, we marvel at such gallantry. For the Murphy family and the small community of Patchogue, New York, their unimaginable grief aside, he was simply one of their own, doing his duty in a manner that was consistent with how he was raised.

 

—DICK COUCH
SEAL (BUD/S) CLASS45
UDT 22/SEAL TEAM ONE

A
project of this magnitude cannot be accomplished by a single individual; while my name may appear on the cover, there are literally hundreds of individuals who made this effort possible. While many are named below, there are those critical individuals who provided firsthand accounts of much of the operational details whose names cannot be revealed due to the secretive or classified nature of their work. They know who they are. Anytime you begin to thank people, you run the risk of unintentionally omitting someone; therefore, I ask for their forgiveness.

First and foremost, I would like to thank my parents, Richard and Charlene Williams, who instilled the virtues of hard work, patience, and persistence, as well as a near-sacred respect for our military personnel and veterans. To my wife, Tracy, and my children, Aaron, Lisa, Bryan, David, Daniel, and Stephen, and grandchildren, Chantress and Caden, thank you for allowing me time and freedom to both research and write this story and, most important, for keeping me grounded. Your sacrifices are no less important or appreciated. I hope my efforts make you as proud of me as I am of each of you. A special thank you to my stepson Stephen, our resident computer expert, for easing my frequent frustrations with a few keystrokes or a click of the mouse.

The following individuals contributed in varying degrees to the success of this book. Whatever level of detail about and insight into the man Michael Murphy was that I may have brought to these pages would not have been possible without their contributions and support. They are the true authors.

Family of Lieutenant Michael Murphy: Father Dan, mother Maureen and brother John ... it is very evident why and how Michael became the man he was. Thank you for your service, sacrifice, and willingness to share the most painful of life’s events with me and the world.

Operation Red Wings: The families of Petty Officer Matthew Axelson, Petty Officer Danny Dietz, Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell, Senior Chief Dan Healy, Lieutenant Commander Erik Kristensen, Petty Officer James Suh, Petty Officer Shane Patton, Petty Officer Jeffrey Taylor, Petty Officer Jeffrey Lucas, Major Stephen
Reich, Lieutenant Michael McGreevy, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Chris Scherkenbach, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Cory Goodnature, Master Sergeant James W. “Tre” Ponder, Sergeant First Class Marcus Muralles, Staff Sergeant Shamus Goare, and Sergeant Kip Jacoby.

United States Navy: Vice Admiral Eric Olson, Rear Admiral Joseph D. Kernan, Rear Admiral Edward Kristensen (ret.) and Mrs. Suzanne Kristensen, Lieutenant Jeff Widenhofer, Lieutenant Commander Tamsen Reese, and Lieutenant Leslie Lykins.

Naval Special Warfare: Rear Admiral Edward Winters III, Rear Admiral Garry J. Bonelli, Captain Larry Lasky (ret.), Commander Gregory Geisen, Commander Todd DeGhetto, Commander Chad Muse, Lieutenant Commander Michael Martin (ret.), Lieutenant Andy Haffele (ret.), Lieutenant Nathan Potter, Ensign Chris Reed, and former Gunner’s Mate First Class Luke Barker. To all those individuals who must remain anonymous as they continue to defend freedom around the world, thank you, gentlemen, and Godspeed.

United States Army, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment: Kimberly Tiscone, Major Myron Bradley, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Chad Easter, and those heroic individuals who must remain anonymous as they continue to defend freedom around the world. Again, thank you, and Godspeed.

Michael Murphy’s closest friends: The O’Callaghan family—Owen, Jimmie, Kerri, and Sean—Jimmy Emmerich, and Jay Keenan. Everyone should have the honor of friends like you.

Other individuals were invaluable in this effort. They include Captain Andrew “Drew” Bisset (ret.), who was the first to sign on in this effort back on May 7, 2008, and served as an excellent mentor and technical expert working tirelessly to bring me up to speed on the Navy and the SEALs in very short order. I want to extend a very special thank you to Captain Kent Paro. His tireless efforts in reviewing this manuscript and his near-photographic recall of details contributed immensely to the clarity of this work. Most appreciated was his demonstrated patience of Job when it came to working with me, a nonmilitary individual who possessed only the utmost respect for those in uniform and the deep desire to learn. Thank you seems so inadequate.

Roger Froehlich, a staunch advocate for those who wear this nation’s uniforms, was and remains willing to do anything to advance this project; his belief, encouragement, and facility in putting me in contact with the right people at the right time saved time and frustration. At a time when he is increasingly consumed with family concerns, he remains a source of encouragement and strength.

I would also like to thank former secretary of the navy Donald C. Winter, Vice Admiral Joseph Maguire, and Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations, whose staff provided support and encouragement that was extremely helpful in
keeping this entire project within the Navy family, as well as Rick Russell and the staff at the Naval Institute Press, who demonstrated great patience while ushering an unknown author through the sometimes intimidating waters of the publishing world. Finally, a special thank you to legendary Hollywood actor Jon Voight for his tireless advocacy of and undying respect for our nation’s veterans and his words of encouragement and support.

W
hy would a highly successful graduate from a prestigious university, having been accepted into law school, forgo a lucrative law career? What causes a twenty-two-year-old college graduate to work as a lifeguard and plumber’s assistant while waiting on an opportunity that may never materialize? How does one decide to ignore the advice of loving parents and set a course so demanding that less than 1 percent succeed? Who volunteers to put oneself through months of physical and mental pain and abuse for a position that only a few achieve? What is the source of the internal strength and moral courage that says, “I would rather die than quit”? Why would one deliberately step into a hail of gunfire?

Although I never had the opportunity to meet Michael Patrick Murphy, it has been the privilege of a lifetime during the past months to get to know him through his parents, family, relatives, friends, teammates, and acquaintances, whose lives were made better for having known the young man known as “Murph” or “Mikey.”

When this project started in March 2008, I believed then, and even more so today, that it is a compelling story of an all-American boy from a small town on New York’s Long Island who rose from obscurity to become one of this nation’s most revered heroes, whose actions are now memorialized for all time in our nation’s Hall of Heroes. The world came to know twenty-nine-year-old Navy SEAL lieutenant Michael P. Murphy for his legendary actions in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan on June 28, 2005, which resulted in his receiving posthumously the Medal of Honor from President George W. Bush on October 22, 2007.

However, there is much more to his story. On those two dates, the world became aware of what family and friends had known for twenty-nine years: that Michael Patrick Murphy was an ordinary man with an extraordinary sense of duty, responsibility, and moral clarity. Such moral clarity and sense of duty had its roots in a God-fearing set of parents who sowed within him the seeds of greatness that granted him the wisdom and strength to answer a call that few will ever receive.

It was this call to service that drove him to study and work and prepare himself for that moment in time when character met circumstance in the eternal struggle of good versus evil in the world’s most forbidding terrain. While some may say that Michael chose to walk a path that he could have avoided, I suggest that he could no more have avoided his chosen path than deny the source of his moral clarity and courage. History is replete with those rare individuals who when called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice do so willingly.

Inscribed in a Wheaton College classroom are the words “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Despite our modern culture’s obsession with winning and the rhetoric of subversion, was Michael Murphy’s young life wasted, or did he know and understand something that we haven’t yet figured out? Herein lies the real story. It is my sincere hope that my efforts have done justice to a calling faithfully answered, a duty justly upheld, and a life, while all too short, very well lived. Michael Patrick Murphy clearly had it figured out. He voluntarily gave up an earthly life he could not keep in exchange for an eternal life he cannot lose—demonstrating the wisdom many never achieve.

CHAPTER ONE

—MAJOR STEVE BECK, Casualty Assistance Calls Officer (CACO), United States Marine Corps, quoted in Jim Sheeler,
Final Salute

P
hase one of Operation Red Wings was only hours old as midday approached. (Note: the operation has been referred to by others as Red Wing or Redwing, but the official military name is Red Wings.) High in the rugged Hindu Kush region in the Kunar province of Afghanistan, the twenty-nine-year-old team leader, Lieutenant Michael Murphy, USN, and three other members of SEAL Team Ten spent the morning taking turns maintaining a vigilant watch on the village complex situated just west of Asadabad, in the Korangal Valley—a hotbed of Taliban and al-Qaeda activity. It was also the known hideout of Mullah Ahmad Shah, a Taliban fighter who aspired for greater recognition and leader of a group of insurgents known as the Mountain Tigers. Under his direction, they were responsible for inflicting numerous casualties on American forces operating in the area. The latest intelligence reports confirmed that as many as two hundred militants were in the valley ready to fight under the direction of Shah. Murphy and his teammates, Petty Officer Second Class Matthew Axelson, Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz, and Petty Officer Second Class Marcus Luttrell, had clear orders: observe the settlement in an effort to confirm the location of Shah, then call in a surgical strike to eliminate him. Things, however, began to go wrong very quickly. Around noon, three goat herders stumbled upon the team’s concealed location. They were quickly captured, but their presence resulted in a dilemma for Murphy and the others, whose options were limited. They could kill the goat herders and compromise
the mission, or they could let them go and hope they did not give away their location. They chose to let them go, abandoned their original positions, and continued their mission.