hospital. oh, man. kevin, i was talking to a former navy seal a couple of days ago about the movie and he said the way they shot this was so authentic. he said that s exactly what it s like when you are pinned down and people are trying to kill you. that s the incredible thing. like peter berg and the actors said, these stunt men wanted to honor the seals so much that they were willing to hurt themselves to shoot this film. i had a very in-depth conversation with marcus luttrell. i asked him what was the hardest scene to watch? i saw your interview and that was a phenomenal interview. he said the hardest scene was the death sequence of matt axelsson because he was separated by an rpg blast and didn t get to see him pass away. it was an emotional interview. if you want to see the full interview, i ll put it up on my twitter. we understand that mark walburg, who plays marcus
these men went to that country for us. they went for our country. they would have gone for democratic president or republican president. they would go to protect you. they would go to protect me and these men gave their lives for that. and i believe it really is our responsibility as citizens of this country to at least acknowledge what these men and women are doing, to acknowledge the fact that there are bad people out there and there is a great need for people like matt axelsson, like marcus luttrell, like danny and michael murphy, men and women that are willing to put themselves in between us so that we can sit here and live our lives, and legitimate evil. these men deserve to be respected. we should understand how they lived and we should not be afraid to look at how they died so that as i would say to people, you re not criticizing the war in afghanistan enough. that s not really my goal with the film.
matt was badly wounded but latrell, the team medic, said there was nothing he could do. an rpg hit behind him and blew him on top of me. i just remember how loud it was and how wide it went. when i pushed him off of me it blew me one way blew him another. i never saw him again for the rest of my life. marcus latrell says he isn t sure how many hours they d been fighting. but as darkness fell he was all alone. how did you get through that night? it was rough. that was the longest night of my life. because the sun got down, it was dark, it was pitch black. you know, i d fall and knock myself out. i d come to, i d keep crawling. that s what i kept doing. the next day he was desperate, still pursued by enemy fighters he d been shot twice in his legs. he had three cracked vertebrae and was bleeding profusely. but he says his biggest concern was finding water to drink. people wouldn t consider thirst as being a big deal.
petty officer matt axelsson had been gravely wounded and was separated from latrell. lieutenant mike murphy had been killed after making a satellite phone call for help. retired vice admiral joe mcguire told us how much he admired murphy for making that call. they were in a life and death situation. he s been shot, matt s been shot, danny s been shot. he finished the call. at the end we said we could really use your help. we said help is on the way. mike finished the call with thank you. even though, i mean thank you. yeah. he went out there and gave above and beyond to do that. and he knew going out on that rock he probably wouldn t have come back. as a result of the call, two chinook helicopters like these with special operations forces on board raced to the mountainside where the four s.e.a.l.s had been fighting. the chinooks went in without the apache gun ships that usually provide cover. it was the pilots and the task unit commander that made a conscious decision
it. latrell was based at bagram air base outside kabul. he said his team had no idea how many fighters ahmed shaw had with him. so, i remember telling the guys, you know, grab some extra rounds, we might need them. it was pitch black when marcus latrell, danny dietz, matt axelsson and the team leader were dropped by chopper a couple miles from where ahmed shaw was believed to be located. latrell says they hiked for hours between snowy, steep and treacherous terrain. as daylight came the four s.e.a.l.s lay down and conceived themselves in the mountainside so they wouldn t be detected. that s when everything went wrong. suddenly they were surprised, not by gunmen but by a goat herder. i was laying next to a tree probably 60 feet long. he came walking down it. when he jumped off it he jumped right over the top of my gun. he didn t see you at all? he had no idea i was there. i had no idea he was above me. did he say thinking?