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"lone survivor" one of the chinooks was hovering to offload special forces. that's when a rocket propelled grenade was fired night. all special operation forces on board, eight s.e.a.l.s and four army night stalkers were killed. >> it hit hard. we lost all souls onboard. >> marcus latrell likely wouldn't have made it if it weren't for mohammed gulab. he ended up in his village for four days, being moved between different houses and even a cave to prevent him from being captured. he was finally rescued by u.s. forces who had been scouring the mountains. >> they'd been looking for you. >> right. for as long as i'd been missing. they were beat to hell. >> what was that feeling when you saw the first american in the village? >> well, ways out of it pretty hard. i mean, my head was down. they were carrying me. i just remember lifting my head up barely because he was screaming my name. marcus, is that you? i was like yeah, right here, bro. >> marcus latrell, the lone survivor, was finally going home
>> matt was badly wounded but latrell, the team medic, said there was nothing he could do. >> an rpg hit behind him and blew him on top of me. i just remember how loud it was and how wide it went. when i pushed him off of me it blew me one way blew him another. i never saw him again for the rest of my life. >> marcus latrell says he isn't sure how many hours they'd been fighting. but as darkness fell he was all alone. >> how did you get through that night? >> it was rough. that was the longest night of my life. because the sun got down, it was dark, it was pitch black. you know, i'd fall and knock myself out. i'd come to, i'd keep crawling. that's what i kept doing. >> the next day he was desperate, still pursued by enemy fighters he'd been shot twice in his legs. he had three cracked vertebrae and was bleeding profusely. but he says his biggest concern was finding water to drink. >> people wouldn't consider thirst as being a big deal.
he was like okay okay okay. i lowered my weapon. and i pulled a grenade. and pulled the pin. i was saying, i'll kill all of us. >> you were prepared to blow yourself up along with everybody else? >> yes. i wasn't going to get taken. >> why do you think you didn't kill him? >> i can't tell you. i don't know why. >> luckily for latrell, mohammed gulab, who lived in a nearby village, was not a member of the taliban. >> he gave me water and rolled me over. he had seen where i'd been shot. ways bleeding real bad. three other guys plus him picked me up and started carrying me down to the village. >> s.e.a.l. commanders didn't know what had happened to marcus latrell and his three teammates. petty officer danny dietz was dead, petty officer matt axelton had been gravely wounded and was separated from latrell. lieutenant mike murphy had been killed after making a satellite phone call for help. retired vice admiral joe mcguire told us how much he add myers murphy for making that call. they were in a life and death
i remember that as well. a much more moving day for me and one that's more defining is the 28th of june, 2005, when that helicopter was shot down and three of my men were killed on the ground. >> 19 men lost their lives. vice admiral joe mcguire was head of s.e.a.l. training at time. >> you would have to go back to world war ii to have had one day where we experienced that many casualties at one time. >> mcguire says the entire s.e.a.l. community was devastated. it's a community marcus latrell and his twin brother decided they wanted to be part of when they were still teen agers. >> he had it in his head this is what we're going to do. it's going to be great, man. we can jump out of airplanes, shoot guns and blow stuff up. we get to scuba dive and there's an 80% chance we're going to die. i was like sign me up, man. >> marcus latrell became an s.e.a.l. at the age of 25 and says receiving the special force insignia was the proudest accomplishment of his life. >> do you remember when you got the try dent put on your sleeves?
with the names of all of his brothers that had died in that operation. and marcus would sit in that house in that moment, in that experience, in that gun fight. he was almost living inside of it when i first met him. >> marcus latrell has suffered both emotionally and physically, but his family and friends say he's getting better. he has a service dog, mr. rigby, who never leaves his side. he's also gone the married. he and his wife melanie have two children. latrell has also had time to piece together what happened to him when he was badly wounded on the mountain in afghanistan, including details of gulab's role in saving his life. now, eight years later, the two men have become close friends, and gulab occasionally flies from afghanistan to latrell's family's ranch in texas to visit. >> i love you. [ speaking foreign language ] >> he says i love you, too. that's why i'm here. i came for you, he says, my brother.
i was willing to kill anybody or anything or do whatever i had to do to get water. >> he says when he finally found water he didn't get to drink for long. he was suddenly surrounded by a small group of afghan men. >> and i found a waterfall. and i managed to get to the top of it, took my gloves off, washed my face, leaned into the water fountain and got two since out of it before one guy was screaming at me again and two guys were gunning around me. i had my gun safety off. >> you had a grenade, too. >> when he was walk towards me i pulled the pin out and said if you try anything i'll kill us. i don't care. i've had enough. >> he'd had enough. it was the second time in the mission marcus latrell had to decide were the men in front of him civilians or enemy fighters. he didn't know that an american rescue operation had already been mount and had gone terribly wrong. we'll have both those stories when we come back. shortly the breaking news out of a hospital complex in reno, nevada after a gunman goes into a medical office and opens fire. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open.
"lone survivor" which opens later this month. based on a book marcus latrell wrote. it's a hollywood movie, not a documentary. but latrell and former s.e.a.l.s consulted on the film, and latrell says it captures the intensity of the battle. the enemy fire was continuous. ak-47s, rock el opinion propelled grenades. latrell says when the rounds started coming in from all sides it broke the s.e.a.l.s' position. >> that shelf that i had made crumbled and fell apart and just it was like somebody opened up a trap door underneath me. i just fell. i started tumbling. then i hit mikey and i busted him off his little perch he was on. we started pinballing in those trees. >> you're tumbling down the mountain. >> yes, sir. i landed on my back and broke my back. mikey landed on his face and crushed his face. >> latrell says the four s.e.a.l.s continued to fire on the advancing fighters but
everybody did. >> a couple times you said looking back on it you wished you had made a different decision, you wished you'd killed them. do you still believe that? >> sure. got my friends back? i mean, who knows what the outcome would have been. yes. i wish i would have is the tines your question. >> latrell says it was only about an hour after they freed the goat herders that the first enemy fighters appeared. they were on a ridge on this mountainside above where the s.e.a.l.s had dug in. >> we had to break out our shovels and use our boots and actually build these little shelves to stand in when we were done we'd lean back against the mountain like this. first guy i saw had an rpg over each shoulder and ak-47. then there was about 30 or 40 guys in line with him. >> had they seen you? >> not yet. my rifle was right here. i traded it and rolled my head up like this and i shot him in the head. the game was on right then.
because they were noncombatants and they were unarmed. >> retired vice admiral joe mcguire says the only options the s.e.a.l.s really had were to take the goat herders captive and try to get evacuated by helicopter or let them go. >> you don't shoot innocent people. you don't shoot unarmed people. unless of course they pose a threat. >> even if those goat herders are going to run down to the village and compromise your location? >> that's correct. you don't kill innocent people. >> latrell told us the unit discussed what to do and were divided. in the past he's been criticized for saying they took a vote, something that's not supposed to happen in s.e.a.l. teams because it's up to the team leader to make a decision. >> what did mike finally decide to do? >> cut them loose. >> what was the feeling you had when you let them go? >> i got that sinking feeling in my stomach. i'm like, this is bad. everybody did. >> a couple times you said looking back on it you wished you had made a different decision, you wished you'd killed them.
the 28th of june, 2005, when that helicopter was shot down and three of my men were killed on the ground. >> 19 men lost their lives. vice admiral joe mcguire was head of s.e.a.l. training at time. >> you would have to go back to world war ii to have had one day where we experienced that many casualties at one time. >> mcguire says the entire s.e.a.l. community was devastated. it's a community marcus latrell and his twin brother decided they wanted to be part of when they were still teenagers. >> he had it in his head this is what we're going to do. it's going to be great, man. we can jump out of airplanes, shoot guns and blow stuff up. we get to scuba dive and there's an 80% chance we're going to die. i was like sign me up, man. >> marcus latrell became an s.e.a.l. at the age of 25 and says receiving the special force insignia was the proudest accomplishment of his life. >> do you remember when you got the tri dent put on yourselves?