real general dostum and mitch nelson

The unexplained feeling of relief when you know your loved one is safe. All I see is grass growing beside abandoned trenches. When we got there, we were sitting on our asses. It was while they watched the drawn-out surrender that Mike Spann was attacked at Qala Jangi and the uprising began. Chris Hemsworth's character's real-life counterpart, Mark Nutsch, had worked on a cattle ranch when he was younger and was one of the few members of the 12-man team who had experience riding horses. "It's your city, general. When team leader Nelson presented Dostum with a gift of horse feed, Dostum was obviously offended. Dostum arrives that night, ducking to avoid banging his head as he strides through the guest-house door. Then the war began. He points out that the word "Tiangi" actually means gap, so when they refer to the "Tiangi gap" in the movie, they're actually saying the gap, gap.Pennington said that with regard to the enemy vehicle (BM-21) launching rockets in and around the Tiangi, it did happen, several times. It was right at dark. The info I had was that he was MIA, Mark says. Back in 2002 and 2003 the film and book industry were not interested in books or movies about Afghanistan. You felt the air leave. "Excellent." The post was in an uproar, says Paul. A typical meal at Dostums guesthouse. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. Based on history and dossiers full of Pakistani provided intelligence, theAgency wanted nothing to do with Dostum. How the 'Horse Soldiers' helped liberate Afghanistan from the Taliban The team set up on the roof of a building about 400 meters from the madrasah and called in a strike. 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. Dostum, a former Communist general, had a reputation for violence. Yes. Interestingly, actor Chris Hemsworth's real-life wife, Elsa Pataky, portrays his character's wife in the movie. I thought the guy was this ruthless warlord, one soldier says. Dostum is actually a nickname thatmeans my friend was born Abdul Rashid in 1954 in the desolate village of Khvajeh Do Kuh, about 90 miles west of Mazar. Dostums lieutenants would call him in Turkey and tell him how difficult life had become. In the last two semi-wars we have been in, every time American soldiers get killed we pull out. But I never travel without a few Mr. Its like a casting call for The Dirty Dozen. Again he began integrating mujahideen into the political military ranks among them his number two against the Taliban Lal Kamadan. Dostums first stop was the blue mosque at the tomb of Hazrat Ali, the revered son-in-law of the Prophet. They brought with them the courage of a whole army.. I tell the prisoner where he is and who hes talking to. A wife buried shoulders deep in her oven, scrubbing it out as if her life depends on it, as if it will make any sort of difference in whats coming (Angry cleaning, I call it.). A few minutes later, one of Dostums men runs up breathlessly, saying there is an American in the hospital. We get out of the jeep and stand in the rain and slick mud. A military man and his wife hold each other, knowing they will be separated in the morning, unsure of the future. "I don't need food for my horses," he said. He studied Arabic in Yemen and then enrolled in a madrasah, or religious school, in northern Pakistan. 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. First arrival on the Observation Post. We havent seen a TV or news in two months, one soldier says apologetically. I could see the horses blasting out the other side. Since I was a guest of General Dostum it was a little difficult for the men to avoid me. Not long before Im to leave, Dostum asks for help with a letter of condolence to the widow of Mike Spann. Compliance. -ABC News. The team was under orders not to talk to journalists. The 12 Strong true story reveals that they finally left Kentucky on October 5, 2001. 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. 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 was like that scene in Close Encounters where the aliens meet humans for the first time, one soldier says later. At first I thought, Why not let them rule? he says. Nutsch said that the movie leaves out a key river that the men often had to swim across in the freezing cold water with their horses, one of the bigger obstacles they faced on the mission. Capt. The credits claim that General Dostum and Captain Mitch Nelson have remained friends in real life . Whoever gets the high ground first wins the wars here. From their perch on the east side of the gorge, the Green Berets could shoot directly into the trenches of the Taliban. The whole team jelled.. I waited for it, that inevitable politicization of our troops presence in Afghanistan, but was happily surprised when it never came. I get off the horse and say, Screw this; Im walking.. Some huddle together to watch the gray pillars of smoke from the bombing runs. I asked him to describe it, just to be sure, says Will. Over the next few weeks I privately coin for him a nickname based on the medias fear and his in person good humor: I call him Heavy D, after the 1980s rapper. I suggest to Bill that we remove Walker from the hospital, where he might be killed by other patients, many of whom were fighting against him at the fortress. Dostum has not been home in five years to the village of Khvajeh Do Kuh. More hits: Tall, fat smoke plumes cast moving shadows on the grass. That he is known to be a deft alliance makerand breaker. Its a high, lonely place. Dostum, a former Communist general, had a reputation for violence. Once they hit the ground, the Regulators would be writing their own game plan. 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. It served as Pauls command post. (19 Dec 2001) 1. The Regulators final destination turned out to be Uzbekistan, where they spent a week building a tent city and waiting for a mission. Where you from? The man finally answers. Chris Hemsworth plays Special Forces leader in '12 Strong' At first he is hostile, like a kitten baring its claws. He ended up in the Takhar Province, in the northeastern part of the country. After that hit, all of them took off on foot to Mazar. By the time they come up and look, you are on them. The latter approach was well suited to Dostums style of attack. At first, the planes wouldnt fly below 15,000 feetthe brass was worried about surface-to-air missilesso targeting was sketchy. He has ended the bloody battle for Kunduz by negotiating with Mullah Faizal and Mullah Nuri, the two most senior Taliban leaders in the north. They send off steam in the cold night, their brown skin white with dust. Like in the film (available to watch here), at first they tried giving him horse feed but General Dostum wasn't impressed. How do you love your family and leave them to go to war? That I am kind and gentle? What else do you expect my enemies to say? he asks. At 16, he started working as a laborer in the government-owned gas refinery in nearby Sheberghan, where he dabbled in union politics. Nuri has the black look of a Pashtun who has endured a lifetime of war. They reach out to shake his hand, to embrace him. Instead, 12 Strong simply tells a storya true one. Some are in pieces; others have been flattened by tank treads. 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. When a Marxist government came to power in a bloody coup in 1978, the new regimes radical reforms ignited a guerrilla war with the mujahidin who based themselves in the countrys remote mountain ranges. The warm smell of gangrene and human waste hits me as I open the door to the triage room. So, I'm playing my old boss in the movie." But 9/11 changed all that. The Afghans shoot from horseback, but there is no aiming in this country. As the Hespan drips into his veins, I fire up the video camera, and the man begins to tell his story. How Accurate is 12 Strong? The True Story of the Real Horse Soldiers vs Hemsworth and Negahban convey the tension between the two men brilliantly, and Negahban had this to say: This was the first film that truly shows what Afghans went through and how we united with them to achieve our goal.. In real-life, Dostum became the Vice President of Afghanistan, as stated prior to the movie's end credits. What we are doing now has not occurred since Vietnam. It was September 12, 2003. General Abul Rashid Dostum Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. The real-life Special Forces officer he represents is Mark Nutsch, who asked that his name be fictionalized in the movie. It was at K2 that their team received new orders, after which it was no longer a mission about personnel recovery. The general gets out of the car and goes down the line, trying to embrace and talk to each person, but it is getting dark. It feels like a scene out of a bad Mexican movie. 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. 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. "We knew nothing about these guys," retired Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland said. He never sacrificed his men. We kept moving north on horseback, but at that point, no one could tell where the front line was anymore. The rocket howls over the roof of General Dostums house in Khoda Barq at about 10 p.m. Its November 26, my second day in Afghanistan, and already Im in the middle of a hellacious firefight. On another truck are the seriously wounded. What your name? Later that week, Dostum casually mentions that 3,000 other foreign fighters from the surrender at Kunduz are in a Soviet-era prison in the city of Sheberghan, 80 miles west. It was the finest sight I ever saw. And waited. Only Paul and Andy are able to appreciate what happened here. 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 . 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. A local mullah sings a prayer of deliverance and thanks to Dostum. He is a kingmaker who works the ethnic minority to choose who will rule and who will fail. His father is old. Rashid later admitted that not only did he not witness it but it the event wasfictional. As he leans into the Afghan wind, the light falls, and a moment in history fades. I dont think I will make it through this one he wrote me in an email just hours before he was gunned down on a raid in Ramadi. 2018 Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved, Copyright 2013 DPx Gear, All Rights Reserved, ious article:Finding Bergdahl The Final Chapter, article:Erik Prince An American Commando In Exile, The Hack Part Two: The Hunt for Clinton Dirt, The Hack Part Three: Deception and Deceit, The Hack Part One The Attack On America, The Story of How Robert Young Pelton Created DPx Gear, Erik Prince An American Commando In Exile, General Dostum and 12 Strong: THE LEGEND OF HEAVY D AND THE BOYS.

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