US Army Officer tells the true story behind the famous sequence in the film “Lone Survivor” in which a CH-47 Chinook helicopter is shot down

The movie “Lone Survivor”

Lone Survivor is a 2013 American biographical military action film based on the book by Marcus Luttrell and recounting the failed mission “Operation Red Wings” on June 28, 2005. The film tells the story of a four-man SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team tasked with tracking down Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. The film was written and directed by Peter Berg. The main roles are played by Mark Wahlberg (Marcus Luttrell), Taylor Kitsch (Michael P. “Murph” Murphy), Emile Hirsch (Danny Dietz), Ben Foster (Matthew “Axe” Axelson) and Eric Bana (Erik S. Kristensen).

Although the film is based on true events, it has been found to contain numerous historical inaccuracies.

For example, Luttrell did not witness the shooting down of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter as shown in the film, explains Guy D. McCardle, Jr. (see his space for more interesting content here), an Army officer during OIF I and OIF II (2003–2004), on Quora.

“At approximately 1140Z, two CH-47 Chinooks from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) approached Sawtalo Sar base, the last known SEAL position on the ground during Operation Red Wings. The call signs of these rapid reaction helicopters were Turbine 32 and Turbine 33.

“In the following clip from Lone Survivor, we see the Hollywood version of what happened in those two helicopters as they approached the mountain. Marcus Luttrell cheers as he sees his SEAL comrades (and Night Stalkers) coming to his aid. In reality, Luttrell never saw the helicopters and only learned of the downing of Turbine 33 later, while still in captivity. He thought the Taliban had made the story up and didn’t believe it at first.

Shooting down of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter

“In an attempt to provide assistance to deployed troops, Turbine 33 took the lead and approached a landing zone (LZ) in an open meadow surrounded by scrubby trees, approximately 650 meters from the top of the mountain.”

McCardle continues;

“As they prepared to land on the landing zone, they saw a white trail of smoke rising from the trees below them. The projectile struck the exhaust duct of Turbine 33 and exploded.

“The Chinook rolled over in the air after impact and fell rapidly to the mountain below, where it became a fireball. All 16 men on board, 8 Night Stalkers and 8 SEALs, died.

“Still under heavy ground fire, Turbine 32 turned abruptly (dropping the men in the troop compartment to the deck) and began circling the mountain to search for survivors.

“After examining many sources, I found no evidence that anyone on Turbine 32 ever pointed a gun at the pilot and ordered him to land. That part of the story appears to be pure Hollywood fiction.

“To prevent possible survivors from being accidentally hit, a no-fire zone was established within a radius of 500 meters around the crashed helicopter.”

“The SEALs aboard Turbine 32 were eager to land to assist and/or rescue their brothers on the ground, but the Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF) commander ordered them to return immediately to Jalalabad Air Base.”

Shooting down of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter in the movie “Lone Survivor”

“In the film, we see LCDR Kristensen shouting “RPG!!!” as he sees a projectile hurtling toward the helicopter with a cloud of white smoke behind him. That almost certainly did not happen. The SEALs who observed the shootdown agreed that Turbine 33 was shot down by a MANPAD (man-portable air defense system).”

McCardle concludes:

“Contrary to what you see in the movies, RPGs don’t leave smoke trails like that. Rockets do.”

Photo credit: Lone Survivor Movie