We wind through the tight pass alongside a swollen mountain river, go over the pass, then head a kilometer down the south side of the divide and stop at a freshly mudded house. Then the radios are jammed with Dostums men shouting and celebrating. The Uzbeks and Hazara took to the mountains to escape the mechanized columns of the Taliban, Those among Dostums men who had remained in Afghanistan now became guerrilla fighters, moving on horseback holed up in the mountains under the command of his former number two La. Captain Nelson was determined to get the mission done in a timely fashion because of the promise he made to his superiors. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved, The scene at the hospital is ugly. Our commanders said they didnt know what to expect, but at least they were honest enough to admit it, the Green Beret continues. The men were thrilled; they were so happy. How the 'Horse Soldiers' helped liberate Afghanistan from the Taliban -The Fayetteville Observer, Yes. This included using horses to navigate the mountainous region. His father is old. They huddle in brown blankets, trying to avoid the soaking rain. After all, can Hollywood do this topic justice? My memorable experience as cast member of 12 Story First, a soft gray cloud of smoke rises in a lazy ring. And that he became the first Afghan commander to take over a major city when he entered Mazar-e Sharif on November 10. It's a miracle of sorts given what they faced, a feat that the movie does a good job conveying. After that hit, all of them took off on foot to Mazar. Despite knowledge of the mission being available to the public, it had remained largely unheard of until the book. After a final check of their gear, they head into the fortress. I whip my horse, it takes three steps, and stops. When SFC Bill Bennett invited me over to jointhe teamSCUD hunting before the war he did not like that war. What happened to General Dostum in Afghanistan? Dating at least to the days of Genghis Khan, the violent game is not so much about scoring as it is about using every dirty trick possiblebeating, whipping, kickingto prevent the opposing team from scoring. He did have trouble getting off his horse, and like in the movie, the medic gave him something for the pain. In the courtyard, a soft-eyed cow tries to eat spilled oats just beyond its reach. Instead, 12 Strong simply tells a storya true one. Military families cant escape the fact that weve now been at war nearly 17 years. Washington, D.C.. When a local singer wrote a song about Dostum, the name stuck. It seems that the brutal warlord has engineered the biggest peaceful surrender in recent Afghan historymore than 5,000 Afghan Taliban fighters and foreign volunteers laid down their arms. His men rounded up vehicles that the Taliban had left behind, and Heavy D entered the city as a conquering hero, standing through the sunroof of a Toyota Land Cruiser. An odd case of alack of evidence being brought forward as the evidence. They spend every day training for war, teaching other armies about war, and waiting for the call to fight in the next war. At least two Red Cross workers who descend into the bunker are shot and wounded. He also used to compete in collegiate rodeos. Their captors brought them here en route to the Sheberghan prison. The team set up on the roof of a building about 400 meters from the madrasah and called in a strike. Dozens of dark-eyed men in turbans scramble into battered Toyota pickup trucks and assorted four-wheel-drive vehicles. There is an emotional landscape here I cannot see. Horse Soldiers Analysis - eNotes.com Marco Polo App Improves Communication for Military Families. Since he cant speak Urdu, he was assigned to the Arab-speaking branch of Ansar (the helpers), a faction that Walker claims is sponsored by Osama bin Ladenwhom Walker says he saw many times in the training camps and on the front lines. Later, I find out that theyve come hoping to retrieve the body of Central Intelligence Agency officer Johnny Micheal Spann, who was killed by Taliban prisonersthe first American combat casualty in Afghanistan. An NGO insisted that thousands of corpses were dumped at a graveyard calledDasht-i-Leili outside of Shiberghan but refused to actual exhume them. The two Green Berets are solemn; they insist on driving through the gap so they can tell their story from the right perspective. Newsletter He is a thick man with a pug nose, bad skin, tiny teeth, and a cruel stare. The team was ordered to exile to meet Donald Rumsfeld and be interviewed by Robin Moore. That heavy reliance on tanks and trucks meant the Taliban wound up fighting a defensive, Russian-style war. The heavy shooting, the worried soldiers, the rapid radio chatterall signal that something ugly is going on over there. At the end of the Soviet period Dostum had 45,000 troops with about half of them as village reserves. A local mullah sings a prayer of deliverance and thanks to Dostum. It took a few hours for bombers to arrive from their carriers. Every time the plane would circle, the Taliban would run behind their bunker. show Dostum the chapter in Rashids book that includes the account of the gruesome execution of the thief. As for team leader Mark Nutsch, the real-life counterpart to the film's main character portrayed by Chris Hemsworth, he had no actual combat experience prior to the mission. 12 Strong tells the story of the first Special Forces team deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11; under the leadership of a new captain, the team must work with an Afghan warlord to take down the Taliban. As we drive, Paul tells me that, back in the U.S., even the Regulators are subject to a military culture of rules and red tape. "They weirdly are a formidable force that will continue to fight, no matter what.". The movie isn't revealing anything new. They just cant figure it out. Paul picks up the story, raindrops dotting his gold-rimmed, government-issue glasses. "I created the face without the use of models or photos," said artist Douwe Blumberg, who designed the statue in collaboration with Mark Nutsch. As portrayed by actor Chris Hemsworth in the major motion picture, 12 Strong, Mark Nutsch (aka Mitch Nelson in the film) shares lessons learned in the now-declassified saga of a U.S. Special Forces team that overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to help achieve a historic military victory. The 12 Strong true story reveals that they finally left Kentucky on October 5, 2001. July 22, 2018. This included Detachment Commander Mark Nutsch (Chris Hemsworth onscreen) and Assistant Detachment Commander Bob Pennington (Michael Shannon in the movie). Compliance. -KTLA 5 Riggle, now an actor known for his comedic performances, gave 23 years of total service to the military. The wholesale conversion of talibs to the government side during theKunduz surrender had created confusion in how many Taliban existed in the North. The moments of shockIs this really happening? He knew that he had to put in his time shuffling papers in order to move up in rank. Mitch Miller died on July 31, 2010 of natural causes. Later on he had a dark premonition. With the help of his troops and Muslim counterparts in Afghanistan, he not only captured the strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif, but also topple the Taliban. So I approach a war movie set in the days after 9/11 with a certain amount of skepticism. Both are awake, both unwilling to break the silence as their young child sleeps nearby. The soldiers stay well away from the al Qaeda prisoners as I interview them. And that is a story worth telling. We pass the twisted, stripped wrecks of trucks and Toyotas. When the pilot radioed that he needed to return to base, the other pilot swung into action. Accordingly, on 25 May 1997, Malik arrested Khan, handed him over and let the Taliban enter Mazar-e-Sharif, giving them control over most of northern Afghanistan. On September 11, 2001, Mitch Nelson, a U.S. Army captain with Green Berets Operational Detachment Alpha 595, moves into a new home with his wife and daughter after receiving an assignment to staff duty under Lieutenant Colonel Bowers. "We knew nothing about these guys," retired Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland said. We had hardened fighters holed up in the middle of an urban area who wanted to die, says Will. It turned out that 900 Pakistani Taliban had been left behind in a madrasah in the center of a compound about the size of a city block, and they were ready to fight to the death. It took about an hour to get the aircraft. Were not lifting our heads up!, When we turn around and notice whats going on, we see our Afghans have split., The team decided to call in a B-52 strike practically on their own positiona drastic move considering the planes were flying above 15,000 feet. "If they got in trouble, there was very little I could do and nothing I could do quickly. It feels more than a bit odd to be recognized for my books and TV showas someone who specializes in traveling to the worlds hot spotswhile poking around a war in Afghanistan. They use simple wooden saddles covered with a piece of carpet, and short stirrups that put our knees up by our heads. Dostum and troops bid farewell to US special forces. - YouTube He has two weeks of beard, beetling eyebrows, and a graying brush cut. He was quick to defend the weak and if negotiations failed he had no shortage of armed men that would stand beside him. Faizal has his prosthetic leg off. Soldiers run up to the bite in the wall, shoot into the fort, and then scurry back down. He refused to talk to his parents and he was takenback to our guesthouse for his protection. Paul, Andy, and I drive past villages of round, domed huts, past a checkpoint manned by Dostums men, and up along the winding road to the Tingi Pass. A cavalry charge is an amazing thing, Will says. The Regulators were joined by at least three CIA officers kitted in full combat gear, including a 32-year-old ex-Marine named Mike Spann. Then the war began. However, with regard to making sure the movie didn't veer too far from the true story, only two members of the original ODA-595 detachment visited the set for a total of 2.5 days. In real life, they learned of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center over the truck's radio on their way back to the base. Mitch Nelson, a U.S. Army captain with Green Berets Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 595, is moving into a new home with his wife and daughter on September 11, 2001, after receiving an assignment to staff duty under Lieutenant Colonel Bowers. Others begin the work of the day without even paying attention to the nearby fighting. "We knew nothing about these guys," retired Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland said. Families back home monitor the news, not wanting to look but more afraid to turn it off. Now, on most mornings, Dostum emerges from his house, squinting into a crowd of turbaned men waiting for an audience. Some were angry then, some had been through enough wars to see what was coming. John Walker Lindh was among those who surrendered in the battle for Mazar-i-Sharif and his story is included in the Horse Soldiers book but not in the movie. He takes me to the hilltop above the village. War drama directed by Nicolai Fuglsig which is inspired by true events and is set days following 9/11 when a U.S. Special Forces team, led by their new Captain, Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth), is chosen to be the first U.S. troops sent into Afghanistan for an extremely dangerous mission. Like in the film (available to watch here), at first they tried giving him horse feed but General Dostum wasn't impressed. I screened the war drama 12 Strong with a group of military spouse bloggers recently in Hollywood. The Taliban had dug-in, trench-line bunkers shooting machine guns, heavy ma-chine guns, and RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades]. The 12 Strong true story confirms that he had been given an administrative staff position in the Fifth Group Headquarters. The team cleared him for immediate re-attack, but the pilot radioed back that he had hung a bomba bomb had not released. Shannon's character is wounded in the movie for dramatic effect. Note that there is strong language throughout, as well as violence. Instead of the expected handful of holdouts, no fewer than 86 foreign Taliban emerged after a week in the agonizing dark and coldstarved, deaf, hypothermic, wounded, and exhausted. 12 Strong | JH Movie Collection Wiki | Fandom We roll past weathered villages unchanged in two millennia. Initially eschewing interaction with Nelson due to his youth and the fact that he doesnt have killers eyes, they come to trust each other and eventually work in tandem along with their teams. Because of this, Dostum was forced to flee . Today the government of President Ghani has welcomed the fighters ofHekmatyar from exile in Pakistan and is looking to bring the Taliban into the government. At its core, 12 Strong is not just a war movie; its a story about learning to respect the differences that separate us but also to embrace the qualities that unite us., Terms of Use We only had the time it takes 250 horses to travel 1,500 meters, so I told the pilot to step on it, Will says. (In his book Taliban, author Ahmed Rashid reports a tale he heard that Dostum once ordered his men to drag a thief behind a tank until all that was left was a bloody pulp of gore. Down below, small Afghan horses are nipping the dry grass on the safe side of the hill, their riders chatting while awaiting the order to charge. The trapped Taliban volunteers, it seems, remain hungry for martyrdom. On the morning of September 11, the team was returning to base after an all-night training exercise. Theres one time Ill never forget, he says. I get off the horse and say, Screw this; Im walking.. After four times or so, they didnt get bombed, so they just stayed there. We must honor their truth not the fiction that creates more wars. Then, here is Dostum, says Will, a guy trained in tanks whos using tactics developed in Genghis Khans time.. The rest of the time they travel. Under intense pressure, the Regulators had called in a perfect surgical strikea bomb drop in a crowded urban area without a single civilian casualty. Yes, and that's why Gen. Dostum kept the American soldiers back from the front lines at first. After days of killing as many Taliban as they could they were accused of murdering prisonersin shipping containers. Yes. I had first tried to meet the General in May of 1997. Dostums strategy was now their strategy: to ride roughshod over Taliban positions up the Darra-e Suf Valley, roll north over the Tingi Pass in the Alborz Range, then sweep north across the plains and liberate Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistans second largest city. I convince the staff to move him to an upstairs bed, where Bill inserts an IV of Hespan into the mans dehydrated body to increase blood circulation. In the last two semi-wars we have been in, every time American soldiers get killed we pull out. Mitch Nelson | Historica Wiki | Fandom They were setting up fixed positionsbunkers with Y-shaped fighting trencheson the northern side of the gap. Dostum chuckles and denies the allegation. At 3:30 a.m., I go to bed. Three years of drought have broken: A cold rain pours down in gray sheets. Pennington is portrayed by Michael Shannon in the movie. Once the ODA 595 linked up with Dostum, they were to "render the area unsafe for the Taliban and terrorist activity," says Green Beret Mark Nutsch, portrayed by Chris Hemsworth in the movie. ), Commander Abdul Karim Fakir, who was in charge of the fortress while Dostum was in Kunduz, had worked with the Green Berets since they landed in Afghanistan. Was it ten thousand, five thousand, The actual number was around 3,500 who surrendered, another460 al Qaeda showed up at thegates of Mazar and around 250 300 died of their wounds, diseaseor suffocation during transport in the frigid weather. Sidelined, and in exile in Turkey, In 2009, Dostum was begged by President Karzai to come back from exile to reelect him and again in 2014 Dostum engineered the victory ofPresidentGhani.only to go back into exile. In an effort to trim Dostums control the CIA would insist that rival commander Ustad Atta Mohammed get his own Green Beret escort several weeks later as he raced Dostum to claim Mazar. The actions of the ODA 595 helped lay the groundwork for that victory. He would say he is going to attack at about 2 p.m., says Air Force Steve. Some hide their faces, others convulse and shiver. There are 86 al Qaeda fighter in the basement, including John Walker Lindh. 12 Strong (2018) - IMDb real general dostum and mitch nelson Uncategorized September 20, 2021. This story needed to be shared with the rest of the country. If the Taliban can rule successfully, let them. A year later, betrayed by his second in command, who had defected to the Taliban, Dostum fled to Turkey. What happened next was the first of many distortions and fictional retelling of their story. That he is known to be a deft alliance makerand breaker. Rifles, night-vision gear, and boots are strewn everywhere. He freely admits that in two decades of war, abuses have been committed by the troops of every commander. So, I'm playing my old boss in the movie." Then came September 11. The men who first defended this post with me are all dead now. Dostums men load RPGs and check their ammo drums. That I am kind and gentle? Dostums men had finally flooded them out by sluicing frigid water into the subterranean room. Based on history and dossiers full of Pakistani provided intelligence, theAgency wanted nothing to do with Dostum. It took just a few months for American and Afghan forces to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan; thus ousting them from power. John, he says. Ill admit, my guard was up, as I dont expect even-handed treatment of military-heavy stories these days. It was then that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld showed the press an image of a bearded Green Beret on a horse and explained that the man was directing air strikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in northern Afghanistan. Infiltrate the 12 Strong true story further by watching the documentary and videos below. First arrival on the Observation Post. It is rated R for violence and language throughout. If you drive west from Mazar, past Qala Jangi, past Khoda Barq, past the ancient, crumbling city of Balkh, and head south toward a ridge of snow-dusted mountains called the Alborz Range, you will see a gapthe Tingi Pass.
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