harris: the family of master sergeant wheeler who died, they freed 70 people being held by their savages. he died doing that. what do you mean there are no boots on the ground. these are special operations forces. they are the most talented in terms of boots on the ground. they weren t on the front lines of that hostage rescue, who knows what might have happened. everyone in special forces is saying i didn t realize counterinsurgency were front lines. the combat these men are in is 360 degrees and it s on target. julie: i m not sure what the mission is. what are these people doing there. we are putting men on ought ground in syria on the ground
death of master sergeant wheeler in that raid on the isis prison. that, in fact, u.s. forces are carry out missions, boots on the ground, involved in combat. and the indications are now that that is going to increase. the way the united states officials have described it is they re going to try to double down, redouble the efforts that have been working in the counter isis effort. again, bringing americans closer to combat. ron allen with breaking news. thank you very much. twint go to turkey. that s where richard engel is. nbc chief correspondent. this may seem not to be a change in u.s. policy against isis but the fact is that there never had been in recent times american, membersst arms forces working out of syria. the white house is going to call it a shift going to call it an enhancement. but it is certainly a change.
identity or any information about that soldier. we have since been told that the american who was kid is master sergeant joshua wheeler. master sergeant wheeler was 39 years old. which to us civilians probably sounds old for a frontline soldier involved in direct combat but apparently that is not all that unusual for very experienced high level special operations forces. they can tend to be older than you might expect because it has taken them that much time and experience to rise 0 to such an elite level of the u.s. military. in addition it s almost unbelievable 0 say but what we know about master sergeant wheeler s military record is also fairly typical of those incredibly elite forces like delta force which is that the number of deployments he had to iraq and afghanistan is measured in the double digits. the pentagon says he had been deployed to iraq and afghanistan 14 times. which is almost impossible to wrap your head around. i mean not just imagining the demands put on a soldier
also, as soon as we got word of the raid, we were told right away that one american had been killed in action during the raid. they didn t at first release the identity or any information about that soldier. we have since been told that the american who was kid is master sergeant joshua wheeler. master sergeant wheeler was 39 years old. which to us civilians probably sounds old for a frontline soldier involved in direct combat but apparently that is not all that unusual for very experienced high level special operations forces. they can tend to be older than you might expect because it has taken them that much time and experience to rise 0 to such an elite level of the u.s. military. in addition it s almost unbelievable 0 say but what we know about master sergeant wheeler s military record is also fairly typical of those incredibly elite forces like delta force which is that the number of deployments he had to iraq and afghanistan is measured in the double digits. the pentagon says he
they were holding all those hostages, that facility is now gone, leveled. also, as soon as we got word of the raid, we were told right away that one american had been killed in action during the raid. they didn t at first release the identity or any information about that soldier. we have since been told that the american who was kid is master sergeant joshua wheeler. master sergeant wheeler was 39 years old. which to us civilians probably sounds old for a frontline soldier involved in direct combat but apparently that is not all that unusual for very experienced high level special operations forces. they can tend to be older than you might expect because it has taken them that much time and experience to rise 0 to such an elite level of the u.s. military. in addition it s almost unbelievable 0 say but what we know about master sergeant wheeler s military record is also fairly typical of those incredibly elite forces like delta force which is that the number of deployments he had to ir