This movie is based on the book by the same name co-written by Patrick Robinson and Marcus Luttrell’s and his experiences in Afghanistan. The book is a fictional account of Operation Red Wings in Kunar Province Afghanistan in 2005.  Luttrell and three other Navy Seals from Seal Team 10 were on a mission to capture or kill a high value Al-Qaida operative, Ahmad Shah, that goes terrible wrong. Luttrell played (and produced) by Mark Wahlberg, Michael P. Murphy played by Taylor Kitsch, Danny Dietz played by Emile Hirsch and Matthew Axelson played by Ben Foster are caught in a moral dilemma soon after arriving between killing three Afghanis’ and completing the mission or letting them go and aborting.  Lt (Army Captain) Murphy, the team leader, lets them go and the team tries to extract.

Those of us that have served in combat know that no mission goes as planned once the mission starts, SNAFU (Situation Normal All F’ed Up).  Operation Red Wings is no exception starting with poor radio contact then being discovered and ending with the loss of one MH-47 Chinook helicopter, 8 Navy Seals and 8 Special Operations aviators on the helicopter and 3 Seal’s out of 4 on the mission, Luttrell being the only one that lived and that was just barely. Although the move doesn’t portray exactly what happened on that mountain in Kunar Province it’s close enough to being true (Google Operation Red Wings pick the Wikipedia link) that it just doesn’t matter one bit.

The heart of the movie is when Luttrell and the other three Seal’s are found by the Taliban and an intense running fire fight ensues.  The lack of radio communications means the Seal Team 10 commanded Lt Commanded Erik S Kristensen played by Eric Bana doesn’t know what happened to his Seals, and from personal experience that is one-hell-of-a-bad feeling.  After the fire fight starts Lt Murphy fights his way to high ground where he is killed but he does make contact with Kristensen who then loads a rescue mission on a Chinook helicopter and tries to save the team, he doesn’t get gunship support, in part because of command conflicts, and after reaching the site he is shot down by an PPG rocket and he and more seals and the air crew are all killed.

While Kristensen is trying to save his Seals Luttrell, Murphy, Dietz and Axelson are fighting their way down the mountain where they are picked off one by one in a very intense running battle that is one of the best acted and realistic portrayal of combat that I have seen — it was very close to what I experienced in Vietnam at a Green Beret in 1967. This is a must see move for anyone that wants to experience what Special Operation solders go through in combat. Like Luttrell I experienced a combat situation where I was the only one to survive and two others died and I can state unequivocally  that losing your comrades is something that you never forget and you will wonder why till the day you die why your were spared and they were not?