real general dostum and mitch nelson

We were surprised at how good they were, says Captain Mark. When a local singer wrote a song about Dostum, the name stuck. Shattered, bearded men lie everywhere on stretchers, covered by thin blue sheets. Yes. Is Captain Mitch Nelson still alive? (Though in my opinion, much more time should have been given to family homecoming scenes!). In response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, the elite U.S. Special Forces unit, Operational Detachment-Alpha 595 (ODA 595 for short), was one of three teams of Special Forces soldiers sent into Afghanistan. "And to me, that was a plus when you got saddled with a mission that was going to be as complex as this one." Dostums first stop was the blue mosque at the tomb of Hazrat Ali, the revered son-in-law of the Prophet. It was September 12, 2003. A man who is said by some journalists to define violence and treachery. Here, the 12 Strong movie and the true story match up. 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. It also means a great deal to our families, who sacrifice so much, that what we accomplished is finally being brought more into public light. When war first came to Afghanistan, two decades ago, he built his first stronghold here to guard the village. However, with regard to making sure the movie didn't veer too far from the true story, only two members of the original ODA-595 detachment visited the set for a total of 2.5 days. The old creed is that we never leave a guy behind. The Regulators wanted to find the prisoners who had killed Spann and attacked a second CIA man who was questioning the Taliban. 12 Strong | JH Movie Collection Wiki | Fandom I am surprised, then, to see Dostum wrap his blue turban around his head and chin and stride into the village . CHRIS HEMSWORTH, left, as Captain Mitch Nelson and NAVID NEGAHBAN as General Dostum in "12 STRONG," (Warner Bros. Pictures) CHRIS HEMSWORTH as Captain Mitch Nelson in "12 STRONG." (David James) . Or maybe that scene in Star Wars: These sand people started jabbering in a language we had never heard. The Americans shouldered their hundred-pound rucksacks while the Afghans hefted the rest of the equipment. Then the morphine begins to kick in. Again he began integrating mujahideen into the political military ranks among them his number two against the Taliban Lal Kamadan. "My men are hungry. "Excellent." Dostum arrives that night, ducking to avoid banging his head as he strides through the guest-house door. 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. Some are in pieces; others have been flattened by tank treads. Until a group of 480 al Qaeda and talibs showed up at the gates of Mazar. 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. Their rooms are filled with green Army cots, dirty brown packs, and green flight bags. It wasnt done perfectly, but it will never be forgotten., Over 3200 prisoners were kept in Sheberghan Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. They also need blankets.". I screened the war drama 12 Strong with a group of military spouse bloggers recently in Hollywood. It seems that the brutal warlord has engineered the biggest peaceful surrender in recent Afghan historymore than 5,000 Afghan Taliban fighters and foreign volunteers laid down their arms. Once we hit Keshendeh-ye Bala, we picked up a road and followed it north in a truck Dostums men had captured from the Taliban. Since I was a guest of General Dostum it was a little difficult for the men to avoid me. Their home base is Fort Campbell, Kentucky, but they spend only a few months of the year there. They brought with them the courage of a whole army.. They were all quitting demanding to be sent to other units rather than put up with new commander ideas on what soldiering was. We begged, Mark says, but we were told to stay away. (In the end, the Regulators wouldnt get clearance to enter Qala Jangi until the uprising was over. -The Fayetteville Observer. When an American team finally recovered Spanns body, they discovered it had been booby-trapped with a live grenade (which they removed without incident). He never sacrificed his men. 21st Century Horse Soldiers - Special Operations Forces and Operation He described the building we were sitting on to a T. Finally, Air Force Steve guided the pilot to the correct building, and he dropped the ordnance: direct hit. However, it's hard to imagine that was the case with the 12 Strong movie, since Nutsch has become a fairly well-known public figure. Paul points to a misty, triangular peak that forms one side of the gap. Yes. In 2012, to honor their extraordinary heroism, a statue of a Horse Soldier was dedicated at the World Trade Center site." . Their closest call came toward the end of the campaign, before theyd reached the Tingi Pass; Id gotten an account of it last night from Mike, a big, bearded, soft-spoken soldier. Note that there is strong language throughout, as well as violence. The Turks, long staunch enemies of Islamic extremism, contributed a small sum as well, and, on April 22, 2001, General Dostum and 30 men were ferried into northern Afghanistan on Massouds aging Soviet helicopters. Here Spann interviews Lindh but Lindh remains silent. He is a kingmaker who works the ethnic minority to choose who will rule and who will fail. I saw this look in Fakirs eyes, says Mark, like, Why didnt you help?, Dostum, triumphant on a return to the simple village of his brith. Down below, small Afghan horses are nipping the dry grass on the safe side of the hill, their riders chatting while awaiting the order to charge. We are alive thanks to you. As Dostum stands on the porch, looking at the place of his birth, he chokes up. In the movie, another team member arrives to pick them up and tells them about the attacks. 12 Strong tells the story of the first Special Forces team deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11; under the leadership of a new captain, the team must work with an Afghan warlord to take down the Taliban. We fought for an idea, says Nuri. Some American soldiers are billeted upstairs in the guest houses; men in camo pants run up and down the stairs. They were setting up fixed positionsbunkers with Y-shaped fighting trencheson the northern side of the gap. His lack of combat experience is pointed out in the movie. So, I'm playing my old boss in the movie." Later, one is shown penning a goodbye letter to his family. We only had the time it takes 250 horses to travel 1,500 meters, so I told the pilot to step on it, Will says. He says it was an area sympathetic to the Taliban and that his heart went out to them. So we haven't even taken the southern part of the country and we're still working with the Northern Alliance. Newsletter A crude videotape made by one of Dostums men shows a battle in the rolling hills of the Darra-e Suf, where the yellow grass contrasts with the deep blue sky. The Battle of Bescham wwas fought on 23 October 2001 at the Taliban-occupied village of Bescham during the Invasion of Afghanistan. 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme. The deadline is noon. -BUILD Series. He told them his name was Abdul Hamid. It turned out that 900 Pakistani Taliban had been left behind in a madrasah in the center of a compound about the size of a city block, and they were ready to fight to the death. Images of them doing this can be seen below and in Alex Quade's short documentary Horse Soldiers of 9/11. Its like a casting call for The Dirty Dozen. At night we sit around talking over stainless steel cups of coffee. (Within a week, he will be named deputy minister of defense for the new interim government of Afghanistan.) In a tiny, sparse room are his father, Dostums former teacher, and a village elder. Next door, in Dostums pink house, Mullah Faizal and Mullah Nuri sit on pillows in a small room. Our mission was simple, another soldier says. He was later shot in the leg when the makeshift prison he was in became the scene of a violent Taliban uprising. What else do you expect my enemies to say? he asks. He brings the mullahs along, to show them the havoc incited by their foreign volunteers. At the end of the Soviet period Dostum had 45,000 troops with about half of them as village reserves. Perhaps theyll convince any surviving prisoners to surrender. At first, their mission was one of personnel recovery, tasked with rescuing any pilots shot down during the air war in Afghanistan. He studied Arabic in Yemen and then enrolled in a madrasah, or religious school, in northern Pakistan. 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. Our Team What happened next was the first of many distortions and fictional retelling of their story. -Horse Soldiers book, Yes. He ended up in the Takhar Province, in the northeastern part of the country. I talk to an Iraqi, as well as to Pakistanis and Saudisall of whom speak English. I head downstairs and discover a group of soldiers bantering cheerfully, mostly in southern accents. More hits: Tall, fat smoke plumes cast moving shadows on the grass. Over the ensuing days, I take every opportunity to spend time in these makeshift barracks, particularly once I discover that this is the very unit of Green Berets that Id been hearing rumors aboutthis is Dostums covert support team. They chose not bullets or grenades but ordnance that ranged from Maverick missiles to laser-guided bombs. I'm playing Lieutenant Colonel Max Bowers in the movie. we discovered that all but one of the 12 Horse Soldiers depicted in the movie were married and 10 of them had at least two kids. In 1996, when the Taliban rolled into Kabul, Dostum was forced to retreat to his stronghold in Mazar as the mullahs instituted their version of a pure Islamic state. The men in the room try to act formally, but as Dostum starts to leave, some begin to cry. The crowds quickly grew; people threw money in the air for good luck. The conflict began with several hundred Taliban troops moving into positions on an adjacent hill. Mitch Miller died on July 31, 2010 of natural causes. There are tanks. Ironically, it was this sort of diplomatic triumphthe surrender at Kunduz just before my arrivaland not a battle that gave the Regulators their most bitter experience of the war. . What made working with him particularly dangerous was that he was known for switching sides during several conflicts with Afghanistan. All I see is grass growing beside abandoned trenches. Then theres Steve, a well-mannered southern medic; Pete, the burly chaw spitter; Mark, their blond, midwestern captain; and so on. We pass the twisted, stripped wrecks of trucks and Toyotas. "They weirdly are a formidable force that will continue to fight, no matter what.". How the 'Horse Soldiers' helped liberate Afghanistan from the Taliban An event and a man I will never forget. Mitch Nelson, a U.S. Army captain with Green Berets Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 595, . Twenty Urgan missiles point toward the village. My memorable experience as cast member of 12 Story They send off steam in the cold night, their brown skin white with dust. I waited for it, that inevitable politicization of our troops presence in Afghanistan, but was happily surprised when it never came. As we approach the village, the men and boys are lined up in a perfect row a hundred yards long, waiting to greet Dostum. "When I went to Afghanistan, I reported to Lieutenant Colonel Max Bowers. The team had been working together for two years and the average age was 32 years old. Mullah Faizal and Mullah Nuri refuse: They claim they dont know these people. Now, in a scene that has been repeated over and over for the past 2,000 years, a warlord is arriving. The Taliban had dug-in, trench-line bunkers shooting machine guns, heavy ma-chine guns, and RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades]. The money was hardly enough for feeding my horses, Dostum says. When the two aircraft were on location, the Green Berets radioed Alliance commanders to evacuate civilians from the area. He is a thick man with a pug nose, bad skin, tiny teeth, and a cruel stare. With assistance from US special forces soldiers from the US 5th Special Forces Group, Abdul Rashid Dostum's Northern Alliance forces were able to call in close air support against the Taliban fighters in Bescham and drive them out of the village. The problem is that the the Convoy of Death story is false. In the back, a doctor leans over a man with a smoke-blackened face, wild black hair, and an unkempt beard. At a full gallop, its a smooth ride. Toward the end of September, the word came down: Pack your shit., Fifteen days later, the team boarded a C-5 Galaxy with a secret flight plan. In the words of director Nicolai Fuglsig: This is a movie where you can rally around both the Americans and the Afghans because, together, they took an epic ride into the mouth of hell. Paul picks up the story, raindrops dotting his gold-rimmed, government-issue glasses. 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.. The old men are frail, with deeply lined faces. Initially eschewing interaction with Nelson due to his youth and the fact that he doesnt have killers eyes, they come to trust each other and eventually work in tandem along with their teams. The doctors huddle around a steel-drum stove, smiling and talking, oblivious to the pain and suffering around them. We jumped in the back of a truck and drove up to Dostums HQ here in this house.. Dostum chuckles and denies the allegation. -The Fayetteville Observer, ODA 595 was an experienced, mature team of Green Berets that had recently worked with special operations forces in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan's northern neighbor. We could see a bunch of Taliban come out of another bunker complex off to the south and disappear behind a hill. After the bombs hit, I peeked over the side of the bunker; our horses were gone. Dont I know you? one of them says. Three hours later, I am awakened by a massive explosion a few yards from the houseanother near miss by a rocket fired from inside the fort. Some cry out in pain, some are weeping, and others lie still, their faces frozen in deathly grimaces. And I believe it will mean a lot to the Afghan people because it shows their service in that conflict.. Like in the 12 Strong movie, Nutsch helped teach the other team members how to ride. Planning a one-day live-ammo training exercise can require six months of paperwork. Back in 2002 and 2003 the film and book industry were not interested in books or movies about Afghanistan. An odd case of alack of evidence being brought forward as the evidence. You raise your flag," Nelson says. The men were thrilled; they were so happy. "All of these guys have blood on their hands. The real-life Special Forces officer he represents is Mark Nutsch, who asked that his name be fictionalized in the movie. 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 We jump in a Toyota off-road vehicle and set off. When we climbed up to the top of that hill, we could see the Taliban on the other side, regrouping for the final attempt to stop us. We havent seen a TV or news in two months, one soldier says apologetically. What happened to General Dostum in Afghanistan? The men know their story and I wrote it down. Two of the Green Berets Ive been chatting withAndy and Paul, the pair with the longest tenure in the companyhave decided that I need to see this place for myself, or maybe simply that they need to go see it again one last time. The men Im staying with have dubbed their unit the Regulators, after the 19th-century cowboys who were hired by cattle barons to guard their herds from rustlers. Theyve just finished installing a satellite TV. Furthermore, as shown in the movie, they were grossly outnumbered. As for why the names were changed, one article stated that the studio did not want to have to pay all of the real-life people for the rights to use their names. None of these guys are clean actors." In the last two semi-wars we have been in, every time American soldiers get killed we pull out. The team cleared him for immediate re-attack, but the pilot radioed back that he had hung a bomba bomb had not released. Dostum implores the mullahs to call down to the bunker and tell the remaining men to surrender. "We knew nothing about these guys," retired Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland said. Buzkashi is the way Afghan boys learn to rideand its the way Afghan politics is played: There are few rules and the toughest, meanest, and most brutal player takes the prize. That I am kind and gentle? However, the real Amy Nutsch, the wife of Mark Nutsch, was six months pregnant at the time of the September 11 attacks. It's true that Dostum said that he would rather see 500 of his own men killed than see a scratch on an American soldier. A typical meal at Dostums guesthouse. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. No one individual was the model for the statue. -The Fayetteville Observer, Yes. But back in 2001, Warlord Dostum who was head of the Jumbesh political party had simpler but identical goals: Align with the U.S. to return from exile in Turkey and bring the Taliban into the new government. Commanders, clergymen, womenthey would all tell me very bitter stories. 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 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. (In his book Taliban, author Ahmed Rashid reports a tale he heard that Dostum once ordered his men to drag a thief behind a tank until all that was left was a bloody pulp of gore. The trapped Taliban volunteers, it seems, remain hungry for martyrdom. The 12 Strong true story reveals that they finally left Kentucky on October 5, 2001. Meanwhile, Im hunkered down, waiting for Dostum. First arrival on the Observation Post. You could see horses falling. An outcrop obscured views of the last 250 meters to the target. "For all of our teams, the risk was extraordinary," Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland said. We thought Kunduz was [going to be] a full-scale attack, says Captain Mark. In between conflict there was time to celebrate. 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. In the bewildering matrix of Afghan politics, Dostum has frequentlyand nimblyswitched allegiances. '12 Strong' battles for hearts and minds - Boston Herald We will never end wars if we dont understand how to win them. About 200 men have taken up positions around the village, eyeing ragged locals, who stare back from a careful distance. 12 Strong (2018) - IMDb One Leadership Skill That Turned 12 'Horse Soldiers' Into An Elite Later on he had a dark premonition. Now the tiny group of Americans need to show General Dostum what they can do. Aside from the challenges of cultural differences and a sense of distrust on both sides, the Americans, with their state of the art technology and equipment, had to learn to navigate the treacherous mountains and desert landscape the same way the locals did: on horseback. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. The Real Story of General Dostum and 12 Strong Green Berets Accordingly, on 25 May 1997, Malik arrested Khan, handed him over and let the Taliban enter Mazar-e-Sharif, giving them control over most of northern Afghanistan. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. A bizarre story called The Convoy of Death surfaced and painted Dostum and the team in a negative light. Outmanned, the Green Berets decided to move out on horseback. You see this grid? The tape now shows Dostum, leaning against a mud wall, watching through large binoculars. What we are doing now has not occurred since Vietnam. Power is not given to anyone forever. I was full of emotions. As we explored the accuracy of 12 Strong, we discovered that a group of both currently-serving and retired U.S. special operators were involved in the making of the movie, mainly to make sure that the filmmakers represented soldiers and combat accurately. Dostums men load RPGs and check their ammo drums. When noon comes and goes, I expect the order to fire. 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. I looked at Lahl and said, Bombs away. We had 30 seconds till impact; meanwhile, the Afghan horde is screaming down this ridgeline. "I was on his command element and worked with him in November of 2001 in Afghanistan. We had hardened fighters holed up in the middle of an urban area who wanted to die, says Will. "The battle at the end was not depicted accurately," says the real Bob Pennington. 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 . He would take a village by getting the mounted guys up close. If he wants to take over the whole country, do it. SFC Bill Bennett RIP Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. Mark Nutsch shares the true-life story of helping lead what is considered the most successful . You could see machine gun fire from both positions. He couldnt expose his small force to Taliban missile strikes, explains Captain Mark, so they would hit and retreat. It was about this time that Abdul Rashid became Dostum. In Uzbek, dost means friend; dostum means my friend. It was a nickname that the young soldier was given for his habitual way of addressing people. Dostum and the Green Berets drove by them as they headed for Kunduz. It was the finest sight I ever saw. General Dostum knew the area and how to reach the goal faster by cutting through the mountains and finally communicated this when he felt more trusting of Captain Nelson. "I don't need food for my horses," he said. The Green Berets call it the Gap of Doom. While researching to answer the question, "How accurate is 12 Strong?" He wont tell me who to contact, or provide any information that would get him out of the crudely equipped hospital. General Abdul Rashid Dostum had arrived. Right next to where I am staying. 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. The Regulators final destination turned out to be Uzbekistan, where they spent a week building a tent city and waiting for a mission. The team set up on the roof of a building about 400 meters from the madrasah and called in a strike. Mitch Nelson (1963-) was a US Army captain during the Afghanistan War . The radio crackles with call signs and traffic broadcast between bombardiers and the American soldiers. He is a kingmaker who works the ethnic minority to choose who will rule and who will fail. Then came September 11. The team was under orders not to talk to journalists. They told us, If Dostum wants to go to Kabul, you are going with him. But coordination soon improved, and the improbable allies fell into a rhythm: The Americans would bomb; Dostums men would attack. Instead, 12 Strong simply tells a storya true one. -Legion of Brothers, No. I convince the staff to move him to an upstairs bed, where Bill inserts an IV of Hespan into the mans dehydrated body to increase blood circulation. Dostum, a former Communist general, had a reputation for violence. The steel gate to the guest house opens, and Dostum strolls out, hands in pockets, and is ushered into a black Audi Quattro with tinted windows. You know: You better not show any weakness. He waves the accomplishment aside with a shy smile even as he promises to introduce me to his new trophiesthe mullahs. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. The 12 Strong movie has Chris Hemsworth's character (Mark Nutsch in real life) being given the candy-bar-sized piece of metal by Colonel Mulholland. At 16, he started working as a laborer in the government-owned gas refinery in nearby Sheberghan, where he dabbled in union politics. Biography Mitch Nelson was born in Alma, Kansas, and he married a Hispanic woman and had a daughter. Santos pointed out that with Massoud dead, and no Pashtun resistance, Dostum was Americas only hope. I know because I counted the dead bodies. Its an important part of our countrys history and an amazing story of courage, brothers in arms, and the reasons we ended up in Afghanistan in the first place. What '12 Strong' Tells Us about Afghanistan - The National Interest The CIA had begun to work with Massouds people in October of 1999 hoping to pay him to kill Osama bin Laden. Abdul Rashid Dostum - Wikipedia After a while we soon got along. None of the 12 soldiers died during the 2001 Afghanistan mission. Each night, Dostum would sit down with the Americans and lay out the battle plan for the next day. However, at least 3 false starts delayed their deployment for almost a month. His name, he says, is John Walker. This included using horses to navigate the mountainous region. Over 5000 Taliban remained hidden in surrounding villages.

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