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 I ride in the warlords communications truck, a white Land Cruiser. Mitch Miller died on July 31, 2010 of natural causes. Dostums father talks to his son as though he were a child, telling him that he and the teacher have been praying for his success. The men know their story and I wrote it down. He studied Arabic in Yemen and then enrolled in a madrasah, or religious school, in northern Pakistan. The unexplained feeling of relief when you know your loved one is safe. Dostum and the Green Berets drove by them as they headed for Kunduz. The radio crackles with call signs and traffic broadcast between bombardiers and the American soldiers. Shattered, bearded men lie everywhere on stretchers, covered by thin blue sheets. Dostum proves to be significantly more expansive in conversation than his scant press clippings would suggest, and hes happy to fill me in on his background. During the press conference with filmmakers and cast members after the movie screening, all expressed their pride in relaying the story of true-life heroes that had been classified until recently. They are direct military descendants of the Devils Brigade, a joint Canadian-American unit that fought in Italy during the Second World War. This is where Alexander ruled, where Zoroaster was born, where Buddhists came on pilgrimages, a center of art, poetry, and study where lions were hunted and where Genghis Khan came to conquer. We pass the twisted, stripped wrecks of trucks and Toyotas. If he goes off the deep end and starts whacking people, advise higher up and maybe pull out. This was the most incredibly open mission we have ever done., Before heading in-country, the soldiers had been briefed only vaguely about Dostum. It is rated R for violence and language throughout. The general climbs out of the tiny black car and tucks his hands into his belt. But the story gradually emerges. The crumpled bodies of prisoners, frozen in agony, are scattered everywhere. Then, here is Dostum, says Will, a guy trained in tanks whos using tactics developed in Genghis Khans time.. People demanded that I do something, says Dostum. 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. The soldiers stay well away from the al Qaeda prisoners as I interview them. Also, there was hardly any assurance that the team would be safe with the Afghan fighters they were working alongside. Support Dostum. They moved and attacked mostly at night, riding small, wiry Afghan horses that are well suited to steep slopes and long desert walks. We thought he was wounded. Here, the 12 Strong movie and the true story match up. The team cleared him for immediate re-attack, but the pilot radioed back that he had hung a bomba bomb had not released. The Green Berets call it the Gap of Doom. We were at the right place at the right time, says Steve. As they began unloading their gear, they were met by Afghans in turbans, their faces wrapped. The estimated 30 Alliance soldiers who died have already been taken away by their friends. Mark Nutsch's team, ODA 595, was dropped in Dehi, roughly 100 miles from the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. They also had two boys, then ages 4 and 3 (in the movie, they have a little girl). Fifty tents later, they told us to pack our shit again.. In seconds, 250 men on horseback were thundering toward the Taliban position a mere 1,500 meters away. Here Spann interviews Lindh but Lindh remains silent. The first thing we wanted to do was to say to Dostum, The Americans are here, Paul explains, and to make it a fearsome prospect to mess with us. The Americans set up their gear at Dostums command postwhich overlooked Taliban positions about six miles awayand immediately began the process of calling in close air support, or CAS. Abdul Rashid Dostum - Wikipedia Submit an Article He takes me to the hilltop above the village. Around eight oclock on Saturday night, while Im talking with the Green Berets, one of Dostums men comes into the house and asks us to follow him outside. Yes. 21st Century Horse Soldiers - Special Operations Forces and Operation We fought with nothing but hope.. Nelson and five of his men set off behind General Dostum and his forces, leaving Cal Spencer, Pat Essex, Charles Jones, Scott Black, Ben Milo, and Fred Falls behind to coordinate logistics and . This time I had less worries with just a few hours waiting for Uzbek guards to look the other way while we hustled our kit over the blockade Friendship Bridge at night. Families back home monitor the news, not wanting to look but more afraid to turn it off. You felt the air leave. Nelson commits to leading 595 into Afghanistan as word of the disastrous terrorist attacks that day breaks. It was the finest sight I ever saw. Mullah Faizel, commander of the Taliban Army in the North. Now three weeks later the war was supposed to be over. Later, one is shown penning a goodbye letter to his family. John, he says. At the same moment he was trying to flee Mazar from the Taliban assault. Our warhad been big footed by Iraq. Soldiers run up to the bite in the wall, shoot into the fort, and then scurry back down. Ka-RUMPH! Beyond the high steel gates is a confusion of trucks, headlights, and guns, and the sound of men moaning in pain. Same thing: We identity it and boom! Astoundingly, after two days of bombardment, the prisoners still control the fort. He freely admits that in two decades of war, abuses have been committed by the troops of every commander. A story of how 12 Americansand a Afghan warlord won the war on terror, if only for a brief time still remains to be told. My memorable experience as cast member of 12 Story Dostums men had finally flooded them out by sluicing frigid water into the subterranean room. The crowd of men follows Dostum into his fathers compound. And we were going to oblige them.. Staying off the roads and in the wilds, they could swoop down andattackthe Taliban but could not hold the ground. The entrance to the bunker was pierced by cannon shots and is blackened from explosions. It is also rumored that there are many dead and at least two live prisoners holed up in the subterranean bomb shelter. There are twelve Green Berets here and two Air Force forward air controllers. -The Fayetteville Observer. Beyond that, all I know is that Dostum, born a poor peasant, grew up to be a brilliant commander, a general, and a warlordone of the many regional leaders across Afghanistan whose power derives both from ethnic loyalties and from military strength. When SFC Bill Bennett invited me over to jointhe teamSCUD hunting before the war he did not like that war. A good reminder for all Americans are the scenes portraying the oppressive lives the Afghan people were subjected to under Taliban rule. At the last minute the Agency was told by the SF ground commander that his men were going in with or without the Agency. That group was disbanded and then re-formed in the early 1950s as Special Forces, which John F. Kennedy later nicknamed the Green Berets. In the afternoon, when I visit the 1985 fort called Qala i Jangi or Fort of the Soldiers, bullets sing over my head. If there is no enemy, then bureaucracy is the enemy, he says. They are known as the quiet professionals because their missions are covert and, for obvious reasons, they rarely publicize their exploits., Actor and producer Thad Luckinbill commented on the need to just be authentic and pay these guys the respect that they deserve and tell the story that should be told., One of the most fascinating threads throughout the movie is the forging of an uneasy partnership between Captain Mitch Nelson (Hemsworth) and Northern Alliance General Dostum (Navid Negahban). 12 Strong, from Warner Bros. Pictures, will release on January 19, 2018. It didnt seem to matter that there was no actual evidence. Its an irresistible story, made all the more so by a convincing rumor Ive been hearing since my arrival: that Dostum triumphed with a little help from his friendsspecifically, the Green Berets. 12 Strong - Navid Negahban "General Dostum" [On-Set Interview]Subscribe and click the notification bell HERE: http://goo.gl/SrrTlTSubscribe to Filmisnow Movi. 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. They use simple wooden saddles covered with a piece of carpet, and short stirrups that put our knees up by our heads. Now, in a scene that has been repeated over and over for the past 2,000 years, a warlord is arriving. 12 STRONG: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers Dostum implores the mullahs to call down to the bunker and tell the remaining men to surrender. I was at the prison in Sheberghan when they unloaded the trucks and watched the Red Cross medics count the dead and note the wounded. Again he began integrating mujahideen into the political military ranks among them his number two against the Taliban Lal Kamadan. 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. -SOFREP, In the movie, Chris Hemsworth's character's wife is not pregnant. to talk. One of the soldiers from the ODA 595 died later while serving in Iraq. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved, The scene at the hospital is ugly. This included using horses to navigate the mountainous region. Rashid later admitted that not only did he not witness it but it the event wasfictional. They also need blankets.". "When I went to Afghanistan, I reported to Lieutenant Colonel Max Bowers. The horses cast long shadows in the late afternoon. It took about an hour to get the aircraft. The riders mount their horses, check their weapons, and begin the one-kilometer sprint to the Taliban front lines. 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. Both are awake, both unwilling to break the silence as their young child sleeps nearby. Each member had an average of eight years experience and most had combat experience in either Desert Storm, Kosovo or Somalia. The lead horsemen disappeared behind the rocks, and the Regulators all held their breath, praying the bombs would reach the bunkers before the cavalry did. Privacy Policy In the bewildering matrix of Afghan politics, Dostum has frequentlyand nimblyswitched allegiances. Dostum tells me that he has fought on every inch of Afghan soil and can recite the names of his men who have died, describe each battle in detail, and tell you what he has learned from every encounter. 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. A few yards before the turnoff to Khvajeh Do Kuh, he gestures to a place where 180 of his men died fighting the Taliban. (19 Dec 2001) 1. Planning a one-day live-ammo training exercise can require six months of paperwork. Capt. 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. Then the radios are jammed with Dostums men shouting and celebrating. The dirty gray mushroom cloud slowly bends in the wind. The Real Story of General Dostum and 12 Strong Green Berets Then the concussion: ka-RUMPH! In real life, Bob Pennington wasn't badly injured by a surrendering enemy fighter who blew himself up with his own grenade, an act that leaves Michael Shannon's character clinging to life as his fellow soldiers hurry to extract him. However, the mission quickly changed and became about convincing ethnic leaders (some were more similar to warlords) to join forces with them to fight their common enemy: the Taliban and its Al Qaeda allies. It works against tanks, but its plain stupid in this terrain. Captain Mark Nutsch, Special Forces commander on the mission and Chief Warrant Officer Bob Pennington, the real-life counterparts to the roles played by Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon, were both on set to ensure accuracy in the movies portrayal. In the movie, Nelson and his men must link up with General Abdul Rashid Dostum and his small band of fightersa partnership as much diplomatic as military, according to 12 Strong's director. Airstrikes, AC130s and Hazara guards had killed all but 86 al Qaeda and Taliban fighters Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. We fought for an idea, says Nuri. General Abdul Rashid Dostum is a man who has rarely been interviewed but has often been typecast as a brutal warlordusually because of his reputation for winning. Then the morphine begins to kick in. And if they became overwhelmed by the enemy, little could be done to save them since they would be roughly nine hours away from help. In a village on the outskirts of Balkh, the convoy rumbles to a halt near an ancient castle that is now a rounded mound of tan mud.
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