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[Light piano music]
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(Master Sergeant Matthew Williams) So, it was very early morning. You know,
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and the mission was just to, basically,
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kill, capture high-value HAIG commander
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that was located up in Shok Valley with
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an undetermined amount of fighters.
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Made the flight in. Once we got there,
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helicopters came to hover. We were
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expecting to land in this river bottom,
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and they just kind of kept hovering. So,
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we were, kind of looked at the crew chief,
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and he was, just told us to go. Then we
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looked down. It was like it was about a
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10-foot dropoff, unfortunately. It was
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just rocky and a lot more treacherous
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than we thought, which was, you know, not a
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great way to start the day.
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[Music]
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So, I remember specifically at that point
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those of us in our element that was out
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on the riverbed, basically,
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we immediately just found cover
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behind some rocks. It was kind of
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quiet, and then, all of a sudden, it just,
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everything kind of exploded all at once.
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Machine-gun fire, some RPGs started going
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off, and then started returning fire up
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towards the village. That's kind of when
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things started getting a little haywire.
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[Light piano music]
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Once we got up there, we saw immediately
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that, you know, that Dylan was shot and then
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Luis was shot. Everybody else was kind of
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hunkered down, had decent cover, but not
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the best cover. Scott and I kind of, with
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the captain, kind of looked around tried to
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figure out exactly what we wanted to do,
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how we were gonna get the wounded guys
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out of there, and then, you know, see what
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made sense from that point. I went down,
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about halfway down, called a couple more
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of our guys and and asked them to bring
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more commandos up, so we can basically
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make a kind of a chain to help pass
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these casualties down 'cause they were going to be
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on litters.
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[Light piano music]
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I went up, I went back up to kind of see,
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assess that situation and then really
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figure out, okay, like how we're gonna
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handle this. And Scott was ambulatory, so,
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I mean, he could walk. He'd already had a
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tourniquet put on his upper left arm,
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here, was shot, so I was basically able
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just to, kind of, get him up on his feet
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and then helped him kind of climb down. I
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passed him, I gave him to Seth and asked
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that to take him there's like a little
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house down kind of towards almost at the
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river bottom.
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[Light piano music]
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And that's where John was. His leg, he'd
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been shot in the leg. It basically was
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amputated, so he wasn't able to move, and
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then Ron still had Dylan and Luis to
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deal with who, neither them could move,
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either. Luis was shot in the ankle, and
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then Dylan in the hip.
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[Light Piano Music]
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So, I went back down about halfway again, trying to
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establish a way, like a corridor, I could
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move these guys through. I knew we
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couldn't go up the same way that I'd
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gone the other times just because it had
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been getting pretty heavy fire.
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So we, there was, like, kind of a cliff
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face that went around to, like, a little
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outcropping. So, basically, I saw if we
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could scale across that we could get
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onto this outcropping and then we'd be able
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to come up from behind where those
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other guys were.
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[Light Piano Music]
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Once we got linked up with everybody,
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Seth kind of pushed forward with his,
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his sniper rifle, and was helping to
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provide cover. Dave and them had already
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found a route down and were helping to move
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casualties, so we just continued to pull
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everybody else off that was up there,
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made sure we had all of our gear, and
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then made our way down.
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[Light Piano Music]
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We basically had to hold our ground the
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best we could so the the medevac birds
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were comfortable enough flying in to
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exfil those casualties and then, you
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know, then go from there; so, and they were
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taking fire the whole entire time, so
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they were awesome pilots. But they came
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in and and really, I mean, they saved the
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day really, helping those guys get out of there.
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[Light Piano Music]
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But I think that day, one of the
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worst predicaments that I've been in
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in my life at that point. The experience
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from that has helped me, I think, through
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my whole entire career just remain
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level-headed and focus on what needs to
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happen as opposed to what is happening.
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My current team leader always jokes that
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my heart rate never gets above 50.
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He's always wondering, like, why do I
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never get excited. Well, there's really
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nothing to get excited about right now.
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(Kate Williams) I'm very proud of him, and I've always
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thought that he can do anything and
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deserves anything that comes to him. But
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this award is really obviously a step
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above everything else. I was extremely
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proud of the Silver Star.
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(Master Sergeant Matthew Williams) I think it's an honor for, it's an honor for me to receive
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it on on behalf of the Special Forces Regiment,
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really, and, kind of, hopefully, you know,
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represent the regiment in a, in a
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positive manner. And really kind of
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help get the story out about, you know,
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what it is that, that we're actually
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doing, and what Green Berets are
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actually capable of.