The Regulators have served in the gulf war, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and in other places they cant talk about. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved, The scene at the hospital is ugly. At night we sit around talking over stainless steel cups of coffee. Mark Nutsch, portrayed by Chris Hemsworth in the movie, had recently been promoted out of the job he loved, serving in the field as a Special Forces team captain. 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. 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. real general dostum and mitch nelson Uncategorized September 20, 2021. The credits claim that General Dostum and Captain Mitch Nelson have remained friends in real life . A bizarre story called The Convoy of Death surfaced and painted Dostum and the team in a negative light. Interestingly, actor Chris Hemsworth's real-life wife, Elsa Pataky, portrays his character's wife in the movie. But coordination soon improved, and the improbable allies fell into a rhythm: The Americans would bomb; Dostums men would attack. The dirty gray mushroom cloud slowly bends in the wind. This included using horses to navigate the mountainous region. The book is the inspiration behind the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced film called "12 Strong" that was released in 2018 and stars Chris Hemsworth as Capt. Next door, in Dostums pink house, Mullah Faizal and Mullah Nuri sit on pillows in a small room. They landed near a mud-walled compound in the remote Darra-e Suf valley in northern Afghanistan. Headstrong and known to get into fights,was adept at the game of buzkashi, in which horsemen attempt to toss the headless carcass of a calf into a circle. The conflict we expected to be over in months inexplicably continues on. He freely admits that in two decades of war, abuses have been committed by the troops of every commander. My attempts to convince the Afghans took place in a building in which men with dark beards sat in from of Tony Montana style palm tree sunset wall paper murals. "And to me, that was a plus when you got saddled with a mission that was going to be as complex as this one." Under intense pressure, the Regulators had called in a perfect surgical strikea bomb drop in a crowded urban area without a single civilian casualty. Mullah Nuri insists he doesnt know them and they refuse to come up. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. We had hardened fighters holed up in the middle of an urban area who wanted to die, says Will. Two Soldiers Tell the Real Story Behind 12 Strong | Paul Asay At the end of the Soviet period Dostum had 45,000 troops with about half of them as village reserves. 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. 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. Dostum and his commanders wanted to negotiate, but the foreign Taliban shot and killed their peace envoys, which left Al-liance leaders with little choice. About 200 men have taken up positions around the village, eyeing ragged locals, who stare back from a careful distance. 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. Rob Riggle, who portrays Lieutenant Colonel Max Bowers in the movie (the commander of the 3rd Battalion 5th Special Forces Group) served in Afghanistan as a Marine in 2001. That is one of the premises Osama bin Laden operates under. Dostum wasnt about to let an American casualty put a premature end to his battle plan. The whole team jelled.. In an effort to trim Dostums control the CIA would insist that rival commander Ustad Atta Mohammed get his own Green Beret escort several weeks later as he raced Dostum to claim Mazar. Compliance. When the council broke up, Dostum stood and motioned toward the horses. Not exactly. And that he became the first Afghan commander to take over a major city when he entered Mazar-e Sharif on November 10. Yes, Bob Pennington, portrayed by Michael Shannon in the movie, had a herniated disc and suffered from excruciating back pain during the mission. 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. 12 Strong (2018) - IMDb Almost immediately after the bombs exploded, the horses swept across the objectivethe enemy was so shell-shocked. They put the prisoners back on the truck. 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. Dostums lieutenants would call him in Turkey and tell him how difficult life had become. -The Fayetteville Observer, In addition to ODA 595, three other teams were selected. Theyd heard rumors that he was 80 years old, that he didnt have use of his right arm. The trapped Taliban volunteers, it seems, remain hungry for martyrdom. His father is old. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. Green Berets work in secrecy, so only their first names can be used: Theres Andy, the slow-talking weapons expert who is never without his grenade launcher; back home, he keeps the guns in his collections loaded so they are ready when I am. Both he and Paul, a quiet, bespectacled warrant officer, have been in the unit 11 years. The moments of shockIs this really happening? Today the government of President Ghani has welcomed the fighters ofHekmatyar from exile in Pakistan and is looking to bring the Taliban into the government. Then, here is Dostum, says Will, a guy trained in tanks whos using tactics developed in Genghis Khans time.. I screened the war drama 12 Strong with a group of military spouse bloggers recently in Hollywood. How Accurate is 12 Strong? The True Story of the Real Horse Soldiers vs Commandeering whole villages, women in burkas with not even eyes showing, the stoning of a woman only for being caught in adultery, and the execution of a mother for daring to teach her daughters to read. As portrayed by actor Chris Hemsworth in the major motion picture, 12 Strong, Mark Nutsch (aka Mitch Nelson in the film) shares lessons learned in the now-declassified saga of a U.S. Special Forces team that overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to help achieve a historic military victory. We roll past weathered villages unchanged in two millennia. Dostums men had finally flooded them out by sluicing frigid water into the subterranean room. The Battle of Bescham wwas fought on 23 October 2001 at the Taliban-occupied village of Bescham during the Invasion of Afghanistan. When I look at the terrible conditions and the predicament that Walker is in, I have to ask him if this is what he expected. In 2014, General Dostum became Vice President of Afghanistan. Once the plane got there, it circled about six times, Paul says. In between conflict there was time to celebrate. Dostums men load RPGs and check their ammo drums. Later, one is shown penning a goodbye letter to his family. Mitch Nelson | Historica Wiki | Fandom A few yards before the turnoff to Khvajeh Do Kuh, he gestures to a place where 180 of his men died fighting the Taliban. How do you love your family and leave them to go to war? 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. -BUILD Series. Some were angry then, some had been through enough wars to see what was coming. Various close ups of American Specia. Power is not given to anyone forever. you die. We were focused on calling in an air strike to take out this truck that had rumbled into view, and now RPG rounds are flying over our heads. When noon comes and goes, I expect the order to fire. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, on the decision to make the movie: Remarkably enough, there have been very few films made about the Armys Special Forces. The risk they were taking was indeed that great. If there is no enemy, then bureaucracy is the enemy, he says. -SOFREP, In the movie, Chris Hemsworth's character's wife is not pregnant. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. In real life, they learned of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center over the truck's radio on their way back to the base.