WEBVTT 00:05.240 --> 00:07.560 uh huh . Uh 00:09.340 --> 00:11.960 The day the actions from the day that 00:11.960 --> 00:13.793 Earth has been all of honour was 00:13.793 --> 00:17.220 October 25 , 2007 . And it was the 5th 00:17.220 --> 00:20.310 day of a five day operation in the Corn 00:20.310 --> 00:22.950 Call Valley in Afghanistan . Um 00:24.040 --> 00:25.920 We were pulling security . We're 00:25.920 --> 00:29.110 pulling over watch for a second platoon 00:29.120 --> 00:31.120 which was down in the village today 00:31.120 --> 00:34.960 before uh second platoon of 00:35.840 --> 00:39.340 battle company was overran And we had 00:39.350 --> 00:42.500 soldiers die and wounded and they took 00:42.500 --> 00:44.722 weapons and night vision . So they were 00:44.722 --> 00:46.833 in there getting , trying to get that 00:46.833 --> 00:49.200 back . Our job was to cover 360 , make 00:49.200 --> 00:51.200 sure no one took the high ground on 00:51.200 --> 00:53.470 them . We went in before daybreak and 00:53.470 --> 00:55.526 we sat in that location probably for 00:55.526 --> 00:58.740 about 14 hours till the Sun set and the 00:58.740 --> 01:02.250 moon came up upon leaving that location . 01:02.740 --> 01:06.580 Re walk maybe 200 - 400 01:06.580 --> 01:10.540 m . And because of 01:10.540 --> 01:12.890 the way the train was and there was 01:12.890 --> 01:14.946 only one way back unless you want to 01:14.946 --> 01:16.946 jump off the side of the mountain , 01:16.946 --> 01:16.420 which no one was going to do . So we 01:16.420 --> 01:18.587 had to take the path back that we took 01:18.587 --> 01:22.100 there And after 200 400 m we ran into , 01:22.260 --> 01:25.460 we walked into an L-shaped ambush . Um 01:25.840 --> 01:28.062 It's pretty standard is very textbook . 01:28.062 --> 01:30.229 It was , it was , it was well , it was 01:30.229 --> 01:32.360 well played on their part . Um 01:33.940 --> 01:36.380 Within the first couple seconds , 01:36.940 --> 01:40.480 Probably six or 7 people got shot and 01:40.490 --> 01:42.490 some in several locations . Someone 01:42.490 --> 01:45.580 very serious locations . Um One of them 01:45.580 --> 01:47.691 was our medic specialist Hugo Mendoza 01:47.691 --> 01:50.260 who ended up bleeding out and dying 01:50.260 --> 01:52.371 there on the mountain side that day . 01:52.640 --> 01:56.090 My job at that time was bravo team 01:56.090 --> 01:59.830 leader and my first reaction 01:59.840 --> 02:02.480 is towards my guys . And this isn't the 02:02.480 --> 02:04.591 first time we've been shot . It's not 02:04.591 --> 02:06.591 the second time , it's probably the 02:06.591 --> 02:08.536 100th time . So we all know how to 02:08.536 --> 02:10.536 react and I don't need to tell them 02:10.536 --> 02:09.870 what to do . They did exactly what they 02:09.870 --> 02:13.160 need to . We returned fire . We got 02:13.160 --> 02:15.271 online return fire . We found as much 02:15.271 --> 02:17.940 cover as we could , which was pretty 02:17.940 --> 02:21.870 much none . Um and just tried to use 02:21.870 --> 02:23.814 our bullets as their own cover and 02:23.814 --> 02:27.450 keeping their heads down . I saw my 02:27.450 --> 02:29.394 squad leader , staff sergeant eric 02:29.394 --> 02:31.450 gallardo run forward to link up with 02:31.450 --> 02:35.120 alpha team and I in the area was just 02:35.130 --> 02:38.550 tracers and tracers and no one puts 02:38.560 --> 02:41.250 multiple tracers in a row . They put 02:41.260 --> 02:43.260 one tracer for every four . And the 02:43.260 --> 02:45.149 fact that the air was filled with 02:45.149 --> 02:47.540 tracers , I can't even imagine how many 02:47.540 --> 02:51.340 bullets that was . I it's not worth 02:51.340 --> 02:55.320 imagining really . It's a lot . Um and 02:55.320 --> 02:58.990 I saw he moved forward and realizing 02:58.990 --> 03:00.990 that he couldn't go through that he 03:00.990 --> 03:03.212 started to come back towards us when he 03:03.212 --> 03:05.212 came back towards us . Um I saw his 03:05.212 --> 03:09.010 head , yes , snapper , you know , 03:09.010 --> 03:12.920 an irregular movement that weren't 03:12.920 --> 03:14.976 probably a bullet to the head and he 03:14.976 --> 03:18.430 fell down and uh I just 03:18.430 --> 03:20.430 reacted . It's better for him to be 03:20.430 --> 03:22.486 back here with us than up there . He 03:22.486 --> 03:24.597 was kind of in a little no man's land 03:24.597 --> 03:26.541 because he was all alone . We were 03:26.541 --> 03:28.708 space probably 10-15 m apart . We were 03:28.708 --> 03:30.819 walking in a column . It was the only 03:30.819 --> 03:33.041 way we could go . That that's how we're 03:33.041 --> 03:35.041 going to do it . I ran up to go and 03:35.041 --> 03:37.374 grab saffron gallardo and I grabbed him . 03:37.374 --> 03:39.550 Um , and as I was grabbing him , he 03:39.550 --> 03:41.383 wasn't shot in the head . He was 03:41.383 --> 03:43.606 actually just hitting the helmet and he 03:43.606 --> 03:45.772 was moving with me and pulled him back 03:45.772 --> 03:48.750 a little bit . Um , after that happened , 03:49.740 --> 03:51.907 we're just going to throw your needs . 03:51.907 --> 03:54.490 I mean they're within 20 m of us will 03:54.490 --> 03:56.601 hopefully throw grenades a little bit 03:56.601 --> 03:58.712 further . So none of us get messed up 03:58.712 --> 04:00.434 by our own grenades . We won't 04:00.434 --> 04:02.546 hopefully we will and will the chiefs 04:02.546 --> 04:04.657 fire superiority and push through the 04:04.657 --> 04:06.601 ambush . After he started throwing 04:06.601 --> 04:08.900 grenades , we threw grenades and 04:08.900 --> 04:10.678 bounded for once we're throwing 04:10.678 --> 04:12.678 grenades . The bullets were slowing 04:12.678 --> 04:15.580 down . Um , when I went out to grab 04:15.590 --> 04:18.360 franco Lardo , I was shot in the front , 04:18.840 --> 04:21.240 right plate . Uh , but it didn't go 04:21.240 --> 04:23.407 through . I mean that's why we're body 04:23.407 --> 04:25.462 armor no harm , no foul . But it was 04:25.462 --> 04:27.518 something to think about that , that 04:27.518 --> 04:29.740 that bullet came from more the northern 04:29.740 --> 04:31.907 direction than the western direction . 04:31.907 --> 04:34.018 And at that point it just seemed like 04:34.018 --> 04:33.730 the whole world was exploding to the 04:33.730 --> 04:35.786 west . So it must be the west . When 04:36.120 --> 04:38.342 that shot kind of came from the north , 04:38.342 --> 04:40.850 it seemed to at the time , uh 04:42.240 --> 04:44.440 we pushed through , we moved up with 04:44.440 --> 04:46.662 the grenades were throwing grenades and 04:46.662 --> 04:48.551 running and throwing grenades and 04:48.551 --> 04:51.120 running and we probably moved up maybe 04:51.120 --> 04:54.950 30 m or maybe 40 m . And uh we ran a 04:54.950 --> 04:57.283 special secret and he was on the ground . 04:57.283 --> 04:59.450 He was saying that he was shot several 04:59.450 --> 05:01.672 times . He was still alive , he's still 05:01.672 --> 05:03.783 breathing . He's working on Somalia , 05:03.783 --> 05:05.950 the squad automatic weapon , the M 249 05:05.950 --> 05:08.620 in gallardo peeled off to to help back 05:08.620 --> 05:10.900 road . And that is our that's a mass 05:10.900 --> 05:13.060 casualty producing weapon for a team 05:14.540 --> 05:18.210 because gallardo had if gallardo has it , 05:18.210 --> 05:20.630 then no sense me being there to be an 05:20.630 --> 05:23.090 extra man , just just messing it up . 05:23.270 --> 05:25.437 So I push forward and I was gonna push 05:25.437 --> 05:29.240 forward to uh be 05:29.240 --> 05:30.907 next to Brendan , Brendan was 05:30.907 --> 05:33.073 appointment and alpha team leader as I 05:33.073 --> 05:35.240 pushed up , he wasn't in the area that 05:35.240 --> 05:37.240 I kind of expected that he would be 05:37.240 --> 05:39.351 just based off of the train and based 05:39.351 --> 05:41.260 off of our course of travel and 05:41.740 --> 05:44.850 everything because he wasn't there . I 05:45.640 --> 05:48.580 I made kind of a left hand turn towards 05:48.590 --> 05:52.080 the the ambush line . I guess 05:52.090 --> 05:54.920 not to not to burst through an ambush 05:54.920 --> 05:57.142 line by myself but to go and fight next 05:57.142 --> 05:58.142 to Brennan 06:02.340 --> 06:03.660 when I pushed through 06:07.640 --> 06:09.751 when when I , when I went left it was 06:09.751 --> 06:12.760 this in the Korengal valley in this 06:12.760 --> 06:14.927 area we were at we were on almost on a 06:14.927 --> 06:17.149 Ridgeline the military region line . So 06:17.149 --> 06:19.260 just off the ridge and it was flat in 06:19.260 --> 06:21.316 this location there wasn't very much 06:21.340 --> 06:23.396 shrubbery but because of the way the 06:23.396 --> 06:25.560 moon was and there's no other lights 06:25.560 --> 06:27.671 and your eyes are very susceptible to 06:27.671 --> 06:29.727 light that the moon produces . So it 06:29.727 --> 06:31.838 allows you to see fairly well . And I 06:31.838 --> 06:35.090 saw two guys carrying away one guy 06:35.840 --> 06:39.510 and I just kept on running towards the 06:39.510 --> 06:41.677 three of them not understanding really 06:41.677 --> 06:43.899 quite what I was seeing . And I thought 06:43.899 --> 06:45.843 someone I don't know why they were 06:45.843 --> 06:47.899 going that way and I couldn't figure 06:47.899 --> 06:50.121 out who had must have come around me to 06:50.121 --> 06:52.066 beat me because I mean all this is 06:52.066 --> 06:54.940 still within a very very very short 06:54.940 --> 06:58.930 period time . Um the whole time 06:58.930 --> 07:01.720 Casey and clear er not far behind me . 07:01.730 --> 07:04.810 Casey has the Mt 49 , he has my team 07:04.810 --> 07:06.921 saw and he was just laying waste . He 07:06.921 --> 07:10.630 was he was shooting Probably 700 rounds 07:10.630 --> 07:12.519 a minute , maybe even more . He's 07:12.519 --> 07:14.686 probably just once I click , I have no 07:14.686 --> 07:14.560 doubt in my mind . He was on site click . 07:14.940 --> 07:17.273 And he was creating himself as a target . 07:17.273 --> 07:19.440 But he was also uh keeping their heads 07:19.440 --> 07:21.496 down and keeping the fire right down 07:22.640 --> 07:24.696 clearly was a M . Two or three gun . 07:24.696 --> 07:26.862 And he was shooting two or three is at 07:26.862 --> 07:29.270 this period at this point in time . So 07:29.270 --> 07:31.048 it wasn't my team and it wasn't 07:31.048 --> 07:33.159 gallardo and it wasn't a crowed and I 07:33.159 --> 07:35.381 couldn't quite figure it out . And as I 07:35.381 --> 07:37.760 was running closer , I realized uh , 07:40.740 --> 07:42.851 what I was seeing and it was , it was 07:43.240 --> 07:45.462 whatever you wanna call them , it's too 07:45.462 --> 07:49.270 bad guys carrying away ah Sorry 07:49.270 --> 07:51.381 Brennan who had already deployed with 07:51.381 --> 07:55.270 four a year previously , four months in 07:55.270 --> 07:57.490 that deployment , spent the last five 07:57.490 --> 07:59.760 years with them . Um , 08:01.440 --> 08:04.430 and I did what we do , I tried to 08:04.430 --> 08:06.319 destroy the enemies of the United 08:06.319 --> 08:08.700 States the best I could and I grab 08:08.700 --> 08:10.867 Brennan ice , ran back . I didn't know 08:10.867 --> 08:14.640 what to do . I felt , I don't 08:14.640 --> 08:16.862 know , I don't know what I felt at that 08:16.862 --> 08:18.973 point in time , I grabbed , ran and I 08:18.973 --> 08:21.029 ran back and uh , he didn't have his 08:21.029 --> 08:23.196 gun and he didn't have his helmet , he 08:23.196 --> 08:22.660 didn't have his rucksack and he didn't 08:22.660 --> 08:24.660 have any of his stuff and they were 08:24.660 --> 08:27.020 carrying his body And I started to work 08:27.020 --> 08:29.353 on him after I pulled him back maybe 15 , 08:29.353 --> 08:31.370 20 m , but the two guys that were 08:31.370 --> 08:34.560 carrying him , one was dead for sure 08:35.340 --> 08:37.562 and the other one , I don't know . Um , 08:39.930 --> 08:41.930 I worked on , I worked on being the 08:41.930 --> 08:44.041 best I could assess the situation . I 08:44.041 --> 08:46.041 assessed all the gunshot wounds and 08:46.041 --> 08:48.041 everything that was happening , but 08:48.041 --> 08:50.208 because there was a lot of RPGS in the 08:50.208 --> 08:52.541 air and most of them were above us . Uh , 08:53.540 --> 08:55.540 but Brennan was pretty pretty badly 08:55.540 --> 08:59.230 hurt . Um , and I did what we're 08:59.230 --> 09:02.600 supposed to do assessed and I called up 09:02.610 --> 09:06.580 and I called for help and gallardo 09:06.580 --> 09:09.430 showed up and clearly showed up and 09:09.430 --> 09:11.900 clearly set up a position to the 09:11.900 --> 09:14.760 northwest of me and , and created some 09:14.760 --> 09:18.760 sort of , at least he was scanning . I , 09:21.640 --> 09:22.660 I don't 09:27.140 --> 09:30.510 clearly was clearly was skinning and 09:30.520 --> 09:32.687 gallardo showed up and he called up on 09:32.687 --> 09:34.853 the radio and we got a medevac to come 09:34.853 --> 09:37.560 in or inbound to come to come for us to 09:37.560 --> 09:40.430 come pick up some people . Um , at that 09:40.430 --> 09:42.541 time we didn't know anything that had 09:42.541 --> 09:44.708 happened and we're calling for a medic 09:44.708 --> 09:46.708 and I don't know why windows is not 09:46.708 --> 09:49.041 showing up because we need Mendoza here . 09:49.041 --> 09:51.263 This is really bad . It was more than I 09:51.263 --> 09:53.152 could handle . It didn't uh , CLS 09:53.152 --> 09:55.374 doesn't cover some , some serious trial 09:55.374 --> 09:57.097 that covers , you know , first 09:57.097 --> 09:59.770 responders stuff . Okay . But not the 09:59.780 --> 10:02.610 track kind of stuff we needed to to 10:02.620 --> 10:06.590 keep burning and I worked on him 10:06.590 --> 10:09.410 and uh I don't know how much time 10:09.410 --> 10:12.930 passed . I don't know how much time 10:12.930 --> 10:15.170 passed . A lot of time past helicopter 10:15.170 --> 10:18.980 came in and the 10:18.980 --> 10:21.360 people came out of the helicopter and 10:24.140 --> 10:27.090 they assisted and uh stabilizing 10:27.090 --> 10:29.230 Brennan and because of the way the 10:29.230 --> 10:31.341 train was , they needed to hoist them 10:31.341 --> 10:33.563 out of the helicopter can come down and 10:33.563 --> 10:35.674 land . And as all this was going on , 10:35.674 --> 10:37.619 there was just poncho after poncho 10:37.619 --> 10:39.619 being brought up with people in the 10:39.619 --> 10:41.841 poncho , but we don't know who's in the 10:41.841 --> 10:41.640 ponchos and we don't know , you know 10:41.640 --> 10:43.807 what I mean . Some some of the ponchos 10:43.807 --> 10:45.973 people are sticking their heads out of 10:45.973 --> 10:46.973 in some ponchos 10:49.540 --> 10:52.250 harvest flat around the body 10:53.540 --> 10:57.250 and they took 10:57.260 --> 11:00.960 Brennan in Mendoza also who died . 11:01.560 --> 11:03.782 I believe there's five other people who 11:03.782 --> 11:06.760 were fairly seriously wounded and 11:07.540 --> 11:11.060 we separated their gear and and took 11:11.640 --> 11:13.807 what was left where we could find . We 11:13.807 --> 11:15.973 pulled 3 60 we had second platoon down 11:15.973 --> 11:18.029 below us and third platoon behind us 11:18.029 --> 11:20.196 and they were reinforcing our position 11:20.196 --> 11:22.196 and we're pulling 3 60 security and 11:24.130 --> 11:26.520 and we walked , you know , I think I 11:26.520 --> 11:30.150 took Brennan's I mean one of the guys , 11:31.340 --> 11:33.640 the guy that had Brennan's weapon on 11:33.640 --> 11:35.807 him . So we got the weapon back and we 11:35.807 --> 11:38.620 got some other stuff back and we walked 11:38.620 --> 11:41.090 an hour , hour and a half back to the 11:41.090 --> 11:45.000 Korengal outpost and then we 11:45.000 --> 11:48.840 were told , I don't know how long after 11:48.840 --> 11:50.951 we got back , you know , an hour , an 11:50.951 --> 11:52.840 hour and a half walk . And no one 11:52.840 --> 11:54.896 really knew because we only knew art 11:54.896 --> 11:56.951 piece . No one knew who was in those 11:56.951 --> 12:00.790 ponchos , no one knew uh totally uh 12:00.790 --> 12:03.770 huh what had happened in the entire 12:03.770 --> 12:06.130 ambush . And but that doesn't change 12:06.130 --> 12:08.297 anything . We have to make it back and 12:08.297 --> 12:10.408 nothing safe and even when we make it 12:10.408 --> 12:12.463 back it's not safe but we need to be 12:12.463 --> 12:14.574 vigilant , we need to be aware and we 12:14.574 --> 12:16.574 walked back , I don't know how long 12:16.574 --> 12:18.630 after we got back but they said that 12:18.940 --> 12:21.051 specialist windows and start bringing 12:21.051 --> 12:22.051 had died 12:24.140 --> 12:27.760 and uh the other guys were in surgery 12:27.760 --> 12:29.982 and most of them were going to come out 12:29.982 --> 12:32.149 just fine . You know , some would come 12:32.149 --> 12:34.371 back to a some wooden just based off of 12:34.371 --> 12:36.593 all where they were shot and how bad it 12:36.593 --> 12:38.860 was . And 12:42.540 --> 12:45.990 That was the night of October 25 for Me 12:45.990 --> 12:49.870 2007 mm . We 12:49.870 --> 12:53.410 had another 10 months left in the 12:53.410 --> 12:55.577 deployment or so , nine months left in 12:55.577 --> 12:57.632 the deployment . We have around a 15 12:57.632 --> 13:00.940 month deployment and uh we have a job 13:00.940 --> 13:02.950 to do . Mhm .