06/29/2025
20 years ago, on June 28, 2005, a four-man team of U.S. Navy SEALs was inserted into the remote mountains of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan as part of Operation Red Wings.
Their mission was to surveil a Taliban-aligned militia leader, Ahmad Shah, who had been orchestrating attacks against U.S. and Afghan targets in the region.
The SEAL team, Lt. Michael P. Murphy, Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz, Petty Officer Second Class Matthew Axelson, and Petty Officer Second Class Marcus Luttrell, was soon discovered by local goatherds, compromising their position.
A large force of insurgents (well over 30 fighters) quickly ambushed them on the steep slopes of the Hindu Kush.
In the intense two-hour firefight that followed, the heavily outnumbered SEALs fought bravely, reportedly killing around 35 Taliban insurgents even as they were overwhelmed.
Despite suffering grave wounds, Lt. Murphy moved into the open under fire to radio for reinforcements, an act of valor for which he would later be awarded the Medal of Honor.
By the end of the battle on the mountain, three of the four SEALs, Murphy, Axelson, and Dietz, had been killed in action.
The lone survivor, Petty Officer Luttrell, was severely injured but managed to escape capture. He was given shelter by sympathetic local villagers until U.S. forces rescued him days later on July 2, 2005.
In response to Murphy’s distress call, a Quick Reaction Force was dispatched by helicopter to aid the embattled team.
As the MH-47 Chinook transport helicopter rushed to the scene, it was struck by a rocket-propelled gr***de fired by insurgents, causing a catastrophic crash and killing all 16 personnel on board.
Among the dead in the helicopter were eight more Navy SEALs and eight Army Special Operations aviators (Night Stalkers).
This brought the total American death toll of Operation Red Wings to 19, making it the single deadliest day for U.S. forces in Afghanistan up to that time and the worst loss of life for Naval Special Warfare since World War II.
The American casualties of that day are solemnly remembered by name. The 11 Navy SEALs killed were:
Lt. Michael P. Murphy (29),
Petty Officer Second Class Matthew G. Axelson (29),
Petty Officer Second Class Danny P. Dietz Jr. (25),
Chief Petty Officer Jacques J. Fontan (36),
Senior Chief Petty Officer Daniel R. Healy (36),
Lt. Cmdr. Erik S. Kristensen (33),
Petty Officer First Class Jeffery A. Lucas (33),
Lt. Michael M. McGreevy Jr. (30),
Petty Officer Second Class James E. Suh (28),
Petty Officer First Class Jeffrey S. Taylor (30),
Petty Officer Second Class Shane E. Patton (22).
The eight Army Night Stalker crew members killed in the helicopter shootdown were:
Staff Sgt. Shamus O. Goare (29),
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Corey J. Goodnature (35),
Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby (21),
Sgt. 1st Class Marcus V. Muralles (33),
Master Sgt. James W. Ponder III (36),
Maj. Stephen C. Reich (34),
Sgt. 1st Class Michael L. Russell (31),
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Chris J. Scherkenbach (40).
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the heroism of the participants was formally recognized. Lt. Murphy’s actions earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor, and Axelson, Dietz, and Luttrell each received the Navy Cross for valor in the battle.
The U.S. military also launched a follow-up operation, Operation Whalers, in August 2005 to hunt down Ahmad Shah’s regrouped fighters.
That subsequent mission succeeded in decisively neutralizing Shah’s militia in Kunar Province. Shah himself survived the second operation but was seriously wounded, and he fled across the border; he was ultimately killed by Pakistani forces in 2008 while attempting to continue his militant activities.
Operation Red Wings remains one of the most notorious and sobering incidents of the Afghan war, illustrating the extreme risks faced by special operations teams and the profound cost of their sacrifice.
