Operation Red Wings was a U.S. operation in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, in June 2005 against the militia of Ahmad Shah on Sawtalo Sar. Late on 27 June a four-man Navy SEAL reconnaissance team was inserted near the summit. Goatherds found the team the next day, and soon afterward it was attacked from higher ground by Shah's fighters. Their numbers are disputed: official accounts give 30 to 40 or more than 50, while Ed Darack's analysis gives about 8 to 10. Lt. Michael P. Murphy, Petty Officer Matthew G. Axelson and Petty Officer Danny P. Dietz were killed fighting down the north-east gulch. An MH-47 Chinook, Turbine 33, flying to their aid was shot down near the summit, killing all 16 aboard, so 19 Americans died in all. Villagers of Salar Ban sheltered the wounded survivor, Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell, until U.S. forces rescued him on 2–3 July. Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, and Axelson, Dietz and Luttrell the Navy Cross.
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Operation Red Wings was planned by the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines to disrupt the anti-coalition militia of Ahmad Shah, a local insurgent leader on Sawtalo Sar, the ridge between the Korangal and Shuryek valleys in Kunar Province. Naval Special Warfare provided a four-man special reconnaissance team for the opening phase: Lt. Michael P. Murphy and Petty Officers Matthew G. Axelson, Danny P. Dietz and Marcus Luttrell. Late on 27 June two MH-47 Chinooks of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment approach the mountain; one makes decoy drops while the other fast-ropes the team into a saddle between Sawtalo Sar (about 2,850 m) and Gatigal Sar. Shah's group is believed to be based near the village of Chichal.
The team climbs about a mile north, past the summit, to an observation post overlooking the villages below, and later shifts to a second site after fog closes in. Around midday three goatherds and their flock walk onto the position. Under the rules of engagement the team detains and then releases them, by every official account. Herders were usually civilians, and the official accounts say these men likely alerted the militia.
Within about an hour, by Ed Darack's account, or two, by another, the team is attacked from higher ground on several sides with rifles, PKM machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, possibly with a mortar too. How many fighters there were is disputed. Murphy's Medal of Honor citation says 30 to 40, and the Navy's summary of action says more than 50. Luttrell's after-action report gave 20 to 35. Darack, writing in the Marine Corps Gazette and Victory Point, cites later intelligence analysis, including Shah's own videos of the ambush, that put the group at about 8 to 10.
Outflanked, the team falls back down the north-east gulch toward the Shuryek valley, over steep slopes and drops, in a running gunfight that the Navy says lasted about two hours. Their radios cannot reach headquarters from the gulch. The Navy says Murphy moved into the open, though already wounded, to make a call that reached the quick reaction force at Bagram, then returned to the fight. Murphy, Axelson and Dietz were killed. Luttrell, wounded and knocked unconscious by a grenade blast, was the only survivor.
The quick reaction force, held for hours by higher headquarters, finally flies from Jalalabad: two MH-47s, Turbine 32 and Turbine 33, escorted by Black Hawks and AH-64 Apaches. The Navy says the Chinooks pulled ahead of the slower attack helicopters. As Turbine 33 slows near the summit to put eight SEALs on the mountain, a rocket-propelled grenade strikes it. It crashes on the Shuryek side, and all 16 aboard are killed: eight SEALs and eight soldiers of the 160th SOAR. Storms turn back a second attempt that night.
The Navy says Luttrell evaded capture for nearly a day before villagers found him and carried him to their village. Darack names it as Salar Ban, about 0.7 mile down the gulch, while Mohammad Gulab's memoir and other accounts call it Sabray. Gulab and the villagers shelter him under the Pashtun code of protecting a guest, refusing militia demands to hand him over. A villager carries Luttrell's note to the Marines at Camp Blessing near Nangalam. Meanwhile Rangers, Special Forces and Marines search the mountain in bad weather.
Once the note is verified, Rangers of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, a Special Forces team and Afghan troops move on the village and reach Luttrell. That night two HH-60 Pave Hawks of the 920th Rescue Wing (Halo 43) land in darkness and blowing dust near the village and lift him out, with Apaches, A-10s and an AC-130 overhead. He goes to Asadabad, then Jalalabad and Bagram, and Gulab flies out with him as far as Asadabad. The Defense Department reported him found alive on 3 July.
A Ranger patrol finds the bodies of Murphy and Dietz in a ravine on the mountain on 4 July, and pararescuemen help bring them off. Axelson's remains are found on 10 July, and officials said the evidence showed he died fighting on or about 28 June. Nineteen Americans died in all: eleven SEALs and eight Night Stalkers. The SEALs lost aboard Turbine 33 were Erik S. Kristensen, Michael M. McGreevy Jr., Daniel R. Healy, Jacques J. Fontan, Jeffrey A. Lucas, Jeffrey S. Taylor, James E. Suh and Shane E. Patton. The soldiers of the 160th SOAR were Stephen C. Reich, Chris J. Scherkenbach, Corey J. Goodnature, James W. Ponder III, Marcus V. Muralles, Michael L. Russell, Shamus O. Goare and Kip A. Jacoby. Murphy received the Medal of Honor posthumously on 22 October 2007, and Axelson, Dietz and Luttrell the Navy Cross. In August, 2/3 Marines' Operation Whalers largely broke up Shah's group.
U.S. strength is exact for the ground and air elements that fought: a four-man SEAL team, then a quick reaction force of two MH-47s with escorts. How many fighters Ahmad Shah had is disputed, from about 8–10 (Darack, citing later intelligence) to more than 50 (Navy summary of action).
| Engaged (official accounts)Murphy's Medal of Honor citation says 30 to 40 fighters besieged the team; the Navy's summary of action says more than 50 anti-coalition militia. White House, Medal of Honor citation (2007); Navy Summary of Action (Murph Foundation) | 30–40 (30 to more than 50) |
| Engaged (later analysis)Ed Darack (Victory Point; Marine Corps Gazette, January 2011) cites later signals and human intelligence and two videos of the ambush; he gives pre-operation intelligence as up to about 20 and Luttrell's after-action report as 20–35. SOFREP summary of Ed Darack's analysis | about 8–10 |
| Reconnaissance team on the groundLt. Michael P. Murphy and Petty Officers Matthew G. Axelson, Danny P. Dietz and Marcus Luttrell. DoD 'Heroes' profile of Lt. Murphy (archived) | 4 |
| Quick reaction force aircraftTurbine 32 and Turbine 33 with two Black Hawks and two Apaches (SOFREP); Zimmerman and Gresham give two MH-47Ds, four MH-60s and two AH-64Ds. SOFREP, Operation Red Wings Day 1; Zimmerman & Gresham, Uncommon Valor (excerpt) | 2 MH-47s, with UH-60 and AH-64 escorts |
Nineteen Americans were killed (three of the reconnaissance team and all 16 aboard Turbine 33) and one was wounded. U.S. losses are certain; militia losses are unknown: the Navy claimed 35 killed, a figure Ed Darack doubts. Certainty: fair.
| Killed (claimed)The Navy's summary of action and Murphy's Medal of Honor materials say an estimated 35 Taliban were killed; Ed Darack says the true number will likely never be known, and notes it would mean very heavy losses for a group he puts at about 8 to 10 fighters. U.S. Navy, Medal of Honor Recipient Michael P. Murphy; Navy Summary of Action (Murph Foundation); SOFREP summary of Ed Darack's analysis | 35 (U.S. Navy claim) (unknown) |
| KilledThree of the four-man SEAL reconnaissance team (Lt. Michael P. Murphy, Petty Officers Matthew G. Axelson and Danny P. Dietz) and all 16 aboard MH-47 Turbine 33 (8 SEALs and 8 soldiers of the 160th SOAR): 11 SEALs and 8 Night Stalkers in all. DoD 'Heroes' profile of Lt. Murphy (archived); U.S. Navy, Medal of Honor Recipient Michael P. Murphy | 19 |
| Killed in the MH-47 shootdownEight Navy SEALs and eight Army aviators and crew of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. U.S. Navy, Medal of Honor Recipient Michael P. Murphy; SOFREP, Operation Red Wings Day 1 | 16 |
| WoundedPetty Officer Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of the reconnaissance team, rescued on 2–3 July 2005. DoD 'Heroes' profile of Lt. Murphy (archived); American Forces Press Service, 'Final Missing SEAL Team Member Found' | 1 |
| Helicopters lost (U.S.)Hit by a rocket-propelled grenade near the summit of Sawtalo Sar while trying to insert the quick reaction force. U.S. Navy, Medal of Honor Recipient Michael P. Murphy; SOFREP summary of Ed Darack's analysis | 1 MH-47 Chinook (Turbine 33) |
| Equipment captured (U.S.)Darack reports that Shah's men took the reconnaissance team's equipment and picked over the crash and ambush sites; a Ranger patrol found the bodies of Murphy and Dietz stripped of weapons and equipment. SOFREP summary of Ed Darack's analysis; SOFREP, Operation Red Wings Day 5 | the team's weapons, radio and other gear |
Sawtalo Sar's ridges, gullies and villages are still in the same places as in 2005; no sources record mappable changes on the mountain since. The main changes recorded are continuing loss of forest to logging across Kunar, and the U.S. bases of the period, which were built and abandoned.
At Operation Red Wings: Kalashnikov rifles.
Mikhail Kalashnikov's AK-47 became the world's most widespread military rifle thanks to its simplicity and reliability in mud, heat and rain. North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops carried both Soviet AKs and the Chinese-made copy, the Type 56.
At Operation Red Wings: An RPG brought down the MH-47 Turbine 33.
The most widespread anti-armor weapon in the world: cheap, simple and effective against light vehicles and buildings. Iraqi soldiers, Fedayeen and later insurgents and militias fired it in volleys from rooftops and alleys in every battle here.
At Operation Red Wings: The reconnaissance team's carbines.
A shortened, lighter M16 that became the standard weapon of U.S. Army infantry and special operations forces in Iraq and Afghanistan; Marine infantry in 2003–04 still mostly carried the full-length M16A4.
At Operation Red Wings: Apache escorts with the quick reaction force.
The Army's attack helicopter, built to kill tanks at night. In 1991 Apache battalions struck Iraqi armor ahead of the ground divisions, including the Medina Division's positions on 27 February.
Links go to the official records: the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and, where they exist, the service's own pages.
Free for everyone every year on its anniversary: June 28.
Navy Medal of Honor citation and summary of action, DoD releases, 920th Rescue Wing history, Ed Darack and the Marine Corps Gazette.
Sawtalo Sar summit, the insertion saddle and Salar Ban from peak and gazetteer data; observation post and crash site placed from distances in the accounts.
The fight down the gulch and the crash site are schematic.
Enemy strength is disputed between official accounts and later analyses.
