Original subtitles

All right, gentlemen...

Right here is Black Rock Mountain, men.

Fifteen to twenty minutes ago,

Alpha Coy, became engaged by 5O to 100 fighters,

up, around, and on the vicinity of Black Rock mountain.

They're also taking some indirect fires from this location.

They hope to have them, uh, backstopped by Bravo Coy

and compress the enemy between the two of 'em,

setting the conditions for us to come in

and do our air assault.

What's our plan for this evening?

Basically, we're rolling in with the attack of the Command Element

in order to secure a, uh, high-traffic region

for the, uh... the Taliban.

So you'll be with Command Element in a Black Hawk

and I'll be up with the Joe's in a Chinook, yeah?

Absolutely. Yeah, you get the better spot, though.

Beck Becks. I actually have an L-10-11 going out.

Upper foresight is good.

Internals are incomplete.

30 mag, all cooling.

- You can go ahead, over. - Roger, work it off.

Arrow 2-5, I have contact on all friendlies.

We have good situational awareness.

Arrow's clear.

- Plug it in. - Yep, Roger.

Truckade... her movement's the tree line.

- Got anybody in there? - I'm looking, sir.

Right there, clock him, hold on a second.

Oh, shit, right.

Arrow 2-5, we have multiple enemies

in trees, engaging west of road.

Ah, we're getting shot at.

- Roger... - Oh, shit, their in...

That's affirmative. We are taking fire

from the west side...

And, Hard Rock, this is Arrow,

we need permission to engage the tree line,

where the RPG came from.

Roger, you're clear to engage.

Uh, fucking light that tree line up, hit it.

Roger.

- Just to the left. Hit it. - Roger.

Okay, make sure that-Okay, looking good.

- Oh, shit. - Hit it, hit it.

- RPG right over there. - Right, hit it!

We have multiple RPGs coming from that side

at the aircraft, I copy.

Right, hit it.

Hit it again.

Hit it again.

Good man, good man.

We neutralized the one RPG site.

Roger, that's good, copy.

- Come up the road. - Up the road, Roger.

Up the road, up the road to the left... to the left.

- Right there in that building. - Arrow 2-5, are you seeing

- or we're taking more contact? - Okay.

Roger, we're engaged.

Oh my god, I got a bucket.

Oh, shit...

On, shit.

2-5, 2-5, one of our vehicles got hit.

We lost the line of...

Standby, we're missing friendlies.

We're trying to get him out of there.

There was a huge, huge air assault operation.

This was involving the first and 5-0-8,

the parachute infantry regiment, an entire regiment.

It was involving 7th Special Forces Group,

more than 15 different air assets.

It was a huge operation,

and it was going to be going on for weeks and weeks and weeks,

and within that first hour,

one of the Chinooks had been shot down

by a Taliban Surface-to-Air missile.

They had to try to secure this huge,

flaming crash site,

and they didn't know if there were any survivors.

What happened when you touched down?

We had heard that there had been a Chinook

that was shot down, but I just focused

on my job of shooting video

and trying to get the story.

1-3-6, over.

Air Humvee.

Roger, we heard there was a downed aircraft. Can we confirm that?

Is anybody looking to our North route?

I'd linked up with the Commander,

Lieutenant Colonel Brian Menace.

And we were moving to clear a compound

so he'd have a secure location

because they needed to control 15 aircraft

that were racked and stacked in the sky.

This had now become a combat search-and-rescue mission

in addition to the ongoing offensive operation.

Spread out.

- Moo. - I need to get by you.

Do you speak English?

Hey, he does.

Hey, get him over here now.

Get him over here now. Get him out here.

Come on.

Let me see it. Here, all right.

Yeah, these guys check out. They're friendlies.

Thank you.

Who the fuck is our...

- All right, you guys ready? - Yeah.

Which contact...

- That one right there. - Okay.

Up, up, right there. Hit it.

Roger.

Take that, fucker. Here we go.

- Coming up left. - Roger.

We nailed the shit out of that one.

[Quadel Hey, limbo, what are we hearing?

Thank you.

I think what's important to remember

with this huge operation is that...

and it was an operation that still went on

for weeks and weeks thereafter.

And there were many battles that still followed

and towns that these troops had to clear, and...

but the important thing that... that can't get lost in this

is that seven souls were lost.

The five crew of the flipper

and our coalition partners,

a Brit and a Canadian...

and that it... it made no difference

that... that it was internationals

or that they might be reporters...

that we had Americans that were willing to risk their lives

and go after and make sure to recover the fallen.

They had to count the bodies of the fallen.

And when I tracked down Sergeant Greg Strickland,

whose little six-man platoon...

he had gone in there and had counted five bodies.

And he thought, okay, well, I found the crew.

And he was ordered over the radio

to go back in and count the bodies again

because the reporters are missing.

And he told me on camera that he went back in there

to look for the reporters,

and he said he... that... to look for me.

I didn't know I was supposed to be on that...

on that helicopter, on that Chinook.

It was the guys who told me afterwards.

It was a punch to the gut

because it was this realization that...

men put their lives at risk to come after reporters,

to come after people like me,

even though I'm not a service member.

It's not that I have a purpose,

but it's that I have this huge responsibility.

I have a debt to pay back to these guys.

I have to tell their stories.

Did you stay embedded with this group

for the entirety of their mission?

No, I... I was with them for a good week or so

and then it was time for me to dis-embed.

I was trying to get in with the Special Forces Teams in Iraq

and I had a hit date to try to get in there.

And so it was time for me to hitchhike my way to Iraq.

I went to Diyala province,

which is the size of Massachusetts

along the Iranian border,

because that's where I was going to embed

with the Operational Detachment Alpha 0-7-2.

0.D.A 0-7-2 was a so-called rough team...

very austere, out there on the fringe of the empire...

where every day was truly a fight for survival.

Even their Special Forces Commander

called these twelve men hard-charging

and living the Special Forces Dream...

but they'd just lost one of their own,

Rob Pirelli, who I knew from an earlier SF mission.

Tell me... um... tell me about Rob.

Rob was the senior engineer on our team.

He... - Which means what? What does an engineer do?

Well, the engineer is responsible for

anything that we have to build or destroy,

or... he's responsible for movement of all our equipment,

accountability for all our equipment.

Um, basically he's the logistics expert on the team.

So an engineer... - So building stuff and also, like, blowing stuff up?

- Yeah. - Okay, so, but building stuff too

because I think a lot of folks don't understand

- that you guys do all sorts of things. - Right.

When we moved into this outpost,

it was a house, basically in desert,

surrounded by barbed-wire fence.

Within a month, Rob had built the camp.

♪ This ain't no world for the weary eyed

♪ This ain't no game for the foolish child

♪ This ain't no place

♪ Got to fall in line

♪ Gone away... - He did everything from install the protective barriers

to running electricity for the house,

repairing generators.

He was literally working until he went to bed.

He'd wake up in the middle of the night to play some online poker,

go back to sleep, wake up in the morning,

still in his AC-ers and his boots,

ready to work in the morning with a smile on his face.

We thought it appropriate to name the camp after him

since he did so much of that work on his own.

We've been kinda holding off on this one a little bit,

but let's talk about Rob and about that day.

Yeah, it's a difficult subject to talk about,

but any questions you want answered, you want to...

find out about it, I'm more than happy to talk about it.

Bring us-— Let's walk through that day.

We drove out there,

in an area we've never been before.

There was the makings of a small village

and so we stopped.

My gunner, he had told me that he saw somebody on top of the roof,

somebody who was wearing all black.

And he had an AK, and he was running around on top of the roof.

The compound directly to your North,

we have one individual up on the roof.

And he had seen people

maneuvering towards his building,

and he was sporadically firing his weapon

from off the top of the roof.

And they started moving aerial assets over to our location.

My team Sergeant,

he said "I've been shot," you know "Man down, eagle down."

Eagle down!

I directed my medic

to maneuver up to the building where we thought that he was.

And I looked over to my right

and I saw my Senior Charlie at the time, Rob.

He was laying on his back.

I just remember reaching around the corner

and grabbing the strap on his kit,

and pulling him around the corner of the building.

It was crazy because he looked...

other than the fact that he was unconscious,

he looked like nothing was wrong with him.

And then I looked on his helmet,

and there was a... uh, an entry mark on the helmet

basically the round and pierced his helmet.

The individual who shot at Rob and Don,

he was the battalion commander

for all of Al-Qaeda in that area.

So I pulled back the Iraqis

and we used an F16

to do a couple runs on this objective.

- When you heard, what, uh... - I was devastated.

Um, yeah, you know, it hits deep your heart.

I've been able to, uh... to work pretty closely

with Rob's family,

and I'm gonna, uh, build, you know...

with the loss of Rob, be able to build together

and help each other, you know.

They feel a great loss for their son,

and my wife and I, we feel a great loss for... for a friend.

The next big mission that happened

after Staff Sergeant Rob Pirelli was killed

was a mission slated for 9/11 time frame.

The men that I was with were going out

and raiding houses

and going after targets and going after targets

and going after more targets.

- It's a big one, huh? - That's gonna be a big one.

It's gonna be a lot of assets.

It's gonna be going on two-— from 2300 to 1400 the next day.

It's gonna be a lot of stuff going on.

- A lot of bad guys out there? - Hopefully.

Maybe not after we're done.

We've got approximately 24 total vehicles

- going to get this objective. - Okay, Roger.

There were multiple ODAs on this mission,

and I was to be a part of Assault Force 4

in ODA 0-9-4s vehicle.

The men of 0-9-4 were serious gunners

and their motto was "machs gut,"

a saying from a German sniper in World War ♪

Meaning "make it right."

And that's what 0-9-4 was all about,

getting it done.

At this time, I'm located

just to the east of that mosque we were talking about, over.

Okay, Roger, at this time,

we're gonna start systematically clearing this objective.

Move! Move!

Go, go, go, get in there.

- Let's go, let's go, let's go. - That's it!

Watch your six.

- Hey, that's it! - Sir, we got two.

Let's get out of here.

It's more like the one guy we wanted too.

There were insurgents that had squirted out

from some of these targets and they were hunkering in a palm grove.

The aircraft overhead thought that

they were digging up weapons caches

and things like that.

The next morning, the Green Beret's called in

and used air strikes.

Is that cache right around the area

where they were low-calling and shit too, you think?

Yeah, there's six of them now.

Six?

Yeah.

And he met up with his buddies.

There he is. You spot him?

Okay, Roger, did your call at 4 to 10 seconds now.

He's got it cleared hot.

Agent 3-3 Bubba 0-4.

I have visual on four at this time... men target, over.

Fuck yeah!

4-1-1 Bubba 0-4, good hits and...

- Yeah! - You ready?

It was like a modern day cavalry charge

through this dried-out lake bed

in these deep waddies.

We've got still two up ahead on the left.

What is that?

- They're up. Pick up the speed. - We got it, Chief.

Did you see where he came from?

Negative! I did not see where he came from directly.

I just know from the left side.

We got two up ahead, two on the left.

We got scouts who can fucking shoot.

Shoot! Shoot the...

There was a moment where we were under fire

where I had to make a decision.

Do I stay a journalist or do I cross the line?

Because the gunner, Bubba, up above me with the 50 cal.,

he was out of ammo.

- What? - Get the 50 cal.

I took a breath and said, Okay, Chad, you know, throw me your knife.

I'll open the strap on the ammo can.

I'll put the camera down

because there was nobody else.

I don't think in that moment it made me a combatant.

I don't think I necessarily crossed the line Journalistically.

Had you thought through that moment before?

Or was it one of those things that you just said,

if it comes, it comes and I'll...

There becomes a moment when you might have to check your moral compass

and your gut, and figure out what's the right thing to do.

And in my career, there's been moments where...

is it the reporter thing or is it the human thing?

And I think in times like that,

the human thing needs to win out.

How old are you?

There were four of 'em that we did catch

and we conducted some tests

to determine whether or not they were actually the culprits,

they guys that had fired at us.

After the test results came back,

we knew that they were the four guys that we wanted.

Positive, positive, positive, positive.

So would they be considered snipers or pretty good shots?

I know one of them got the truck.

They had a sniper out there

and they... we did receive fire,

a few, uh, rounds

flew over our head and other vehicle that you were in

got shot up and a round actually pierced the armor there.

During that mission, there had been a lull in the firefight

after the feeding of the ammo and all of that.

I had asked if I could get out of the vehicle

and crawl up on top of the vehicle

to get some... some panoramic shots,

some wide shots outside of the vehicle.

And while I was up there, stuff started happening again.

So I jumped off the roof of the vehicle...

had a very hard landing,

uh, busted my ankle and busted my wrist.

Something was wrong. I knew that I had hurt myself

and hurt myself badly, but...

I tried to fake that I was fine.

I didn't want to get sent home.

I wanted to keep getting the story.

And so I kept faking... trying to fake that I was fine.

It got to the point where

I couldn't go on air assaults anymore.

I couldn't even put weight on the foot.

And, uh, so it was time for me to go home.

Operational Detachment Alpha 0-7-2,

they did their team photo

standing in front of the Pirelli wall.

And it was that team photo

I brought to Rob's dad,

Bob Pirelli.

Above you are three C-1-30s,

approaching the drop zone with over 174

lethal and highly motivated paratroopers on board.

The aircraft are flying in.

Oh! IGOR, guys.

He said how much you built the place up.

Well, when you heard about this, what did you think?

Well, when I heard about it,

I thought it was nice. I mean, I said, you know...

but when I actually saw it, physically saw the design

they had... they had... they had done,

and I really get the sense they... they really did, uh,

officially name the outpost with his name.

And to see the actual drawing on the side of the wall...

And also, I think, not only that,

I think seeing it on a soldier's arm...

One of the soldiers had the insignia done.

- And, um... - Tattooed?

- Tattooed to his arm. - Tattooed to his arm.

That type of love for each other,

we need them because they're him.

You know, they're part of him.

You know, them being around makes a big difference to us.

Well, this is the basement and this is Rob's room.

And that's what I call it, Rob's room,

because I turned around and I decorated for Rob

and all his things.

It's a memorial for Rob.

This here is a picture of Rob's unit,

one of them anyways.

I remember him calling me one time

because I work in constructions

and electrical construction.

And he called me one time

to ask me how to wire something out there.

And they wire differently...

Their schematics are different than our schematics, anyways.

So even if I told him that green was ground,

he says, "The wires over here are orange.

What do I do?" You know.

So he figured out... He figured everything out himself, so yeah.

And they all turn around and they say that,

the Pirelli outpost, Rob built most of it

and I'm sure he did.

Rob loved hockey.

Can you tell by the cups and all that he loved the Avalanches?

And these are some of the players that he liked.

We buried him with his hockey stick

and we buried him with his number 18,

his Hockey shirt from Franklin.

And that went with him.

My dad always said, to really get to know Rob

you needed to go to the places he went,

experience what he loved

and see the things he built.

'Hey. 'Hey! Buddy good to see you

- You too, Shawn. - How's everything?

- Uh, it's going, it's going. - Good, good.

- How you doing? - Good, good, good.

Since Sunday, we've...

You guys went to state, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

- That was awesome. Overtime? - Yeah, double overtime.

- That's awesome. - Yeah, it was a great game.

I can imagine. That's the first time.

Yeah, in 33 years.

He came from a hockey town.

He came from a hockey family.

For dad, he was proud of Rob.

You heard that when he announced the games.

He started announcing because of Rob.

You got 6 seconds left, 41.6 seconds left

in the second period. One-one deadlocked,

a great game.

You're treated to one of the best games of the year, here.

And every time that Rob touched the puck,

it was... you hear him yelling, like, "Pirelli's got the puck!

Pirelli! Pirelli's got it! He's gonna score!"

It was... it was... you know, everybody else was like,

"Here comes Speducio, Speducio shoots, shoots, save,"

but when Rob touched the puck,

it was... you felt it, you felt his passion.

Back up to Pirelli, Pirelli on the left side.

Pirelli fighting for the puck on Speducio.

He's looking down the wrong way and...

He's gonna have a break-away!

Will it hit? Oh, no!

Aww, on an open net. He missed an open net.

He made a beautiful move and he misses the net.

He wants Rob to score so badly

because he wants to announce this.

He wants to announce to the world

that, like, Rob just scored.

Everything...

Pirelli, I don't know how he ever missed it,

but regardless...

Dad wanted to see that... that outpost.

That was something that he, um...

I know he talked about every day...

was seeing and trying to get to see the outpost

before it was destroyed

because it was the last thing he built.

It was the last thing he touched.

For our family as a whole...

to be able to see what Rob had built,

it may give us some sort of closure.

It may give us some sort of...

opportunity to say good-bye.

It may give us another opportunity to meet Rob in a way.

Rob's dad had shared with me

that he was talking to his Congressman in Massachusetts

to try to go into the war zone

because he wanted to see the combat outpost...

the house that his son had built.

And there was no way that the Congressman

or anybody in the government was going to let, uh,

somebody go over and do something like that,

or hopefully not.

So he made me promise

that I would try to get back over there

and let him know that his son's outpost was still there,

that his son hadn't been forgotten over there.

The Green Beret's 10th Special Forces Group,

they knew that I was planning to go back

to Iraq with them when they re-deployed for the second year.

They also knew that I was injured

and that I had to come back from the injury

and I would have to prove myself to them on that one, as well.

I was back with the serious gunners of ODA 0-9-4.

The "machs gut" guys who get it done.

- You guys ready? - Yeah!

All right, on you, all right, here we go, dudes.

They invited me to go through their shoot house

with live fire.

Stay in the room!

He-Y, what do you guys got?

We bypassed a pool door on the right in the beginning.

We got a team who's checking it.

Hey, what do you want for direction of movement?

Where we going, sir?

To the left and back that way.

All right, ready? All right! Go.

Hey, remember, it's a shotgun door!

Everybody! Hey!

Hey, everybody... There's a closed door on the right.

Closed door, right!

- Everybody good? - Good.

- Oh, why is that door shut? - We're moving right behind...

We're moving.

All right, let's go... let's go.

Ready? Everybody up? Let's go.

After this training,

I'd been invited to climb Mt. Rainier

with wounded Special Operators.

This would be the final test

to prove that... that the ankle was back

and that I could hack it.

On the rope line in front of me

was blind Navy Seal, Lion Joe,

who if you remember in the American Sniper movie,

he was the one who had been shot in the face on that rooftop...

and a marine recon scout who had also been blinded,

and an army soldier who had lost his legs,

and a ranger who had served in Somalia in the Black Hawk Down mission,

Kenny Thomas.

And at more than 14,000 feet at the top of this volcano...

the lesson that I learned from these Special Operators...

from these wounded warrior Special Operators,

you don't quit.

And it was that moment that I was able to prove to myself

that I was back from the injury

and that it was time to get back to Iraq.

Neither one of you have ever heard this story.

I'm sure we haven't.

The last Christmas that Rob was here,

which was, um, 2006,

we went up to Uncle Ralph's as we always do.

We go up to Uncle Ralph's for Christmas Eve... - Christmas Eve.

And opened all the presents.

We do what we always do.

You and dad left early, and Rob and I stayed.

- Tara, what are you looking at? - Cosette?

- Robbie. - Robbie?

When Rob decided he wanted to leave,

we got in the car and left Uncle Ralph's.

We were driving home and it was the moments

that Rob confided in me for the first time.

It was one of those times where he just let it all out.

And he told me that

he wasn't necessarily planning on coming home.

Oh, from Iraq, okay.

So he had an idea in 2006 that he wouldn't be home.

You know Rob.

It doesn't surprise me, but I didn't...

As a mother, he ain't gonna confide in me all that stuff anyways,

but I did not know that.

I can remember the last time...

I dropped at the airport. I saw him that Christmas.

And he says, "You don't have to hug me."

Until this day, I wish I did.

Well, you don't know.

No, you don't. You really don't.

It is what it is.

L'

- All right, Bill. - See you.

Did you have any idea at that point

how you were gonna figure out

how to get there?

No, I knew I was going to do whatever it took.

- Oh, there's somebody I know. - Hey, what's up?

When I re-deployed with them again,

Rob's team was in a completely different location

very far from Combat Outpost Pirelli.

My team we're the elite unit down here in this province.

We're here to bring credibility and legitimacy

the Iraqi Security Forces.

- How do you do that? - Once we get here,

we have to identify a fit partner,

foreign internal defense partner.

And the party that we identified is the an-Nasiriyah SWAT

Special Weapons Attack team.

So we had to select those operators

that we felt would be effective in this area

in order to set the conditions for sustainable security.

Everybody, this on you,

knock out ten push ups...

and then we take a break.

I'm not gonna count for you,

but, you know, if you only do two, that's on you.

You're not getting any stronger.

Okay, so...

They can do multiple sets of that as well.

This rotation in an-Nasiriyah did not get large scale

for on-surge operations.

We're leaving those type of operations up to the Iraqi Security Forces.

So, you know, the IPs are gonna do it, the IA are gonna do it.

I think that's a sign of progress.

I think that's what we should be doing.

'Ready, guys? Yeah! Up!

Keep it UP!

Up!

Ahh.

Oh my god, we're doing an excellent job of teaching jumping jacks.

The excitement and the fun

and you know the things that they signed up...

- The adrenaline stuff? - to do or their kind doing,

is kind of going by the wayside a little bit,

but everybody understands that that is where we should be,

and that's a good thing.

So difference between last year and this year?

Last year we had to walk 500 meters

to go take a shower,

and we were going to the bathroom in a hole that I dug in the ground.

And this year, I have people wash and fold my laundry.

Completely different from last deployment.

Honestly, there's times where this deployment,

I'd say, man, I wish we were back up at, you know, COP Pirelli

because... I mean, I definitely miss Rob every day.

I'd like to go back up.

And it'd just be interesting to see what it's evolved into,

and just kinda go back through some memories

from being out there

and kinda walk those paths again.

When Rob had passed,

my dad, he would go down to the coffee shop

and grab a coffee for himself also for Rob.

He would come down to the cemetery...

and it would be his chance to sit and talk with Rob.

He would park his car.

He would have a pin in his car

where Rob's picture would be.

And he would walk up

to Rob's resting place...

and he would take a pin and poke Rob's coffee.

And as it was dripping out,

he would drink his coffee with Rob.

That was... that was their time together.

My father passed away on September 11th, 2012.

He was really sick and in a hard place,

but he knew it was... okay

because he was gonna see his son again.

We wanted to have him

buried as close as we could to Rob

and we know that's what he would have wanted,

so we made that happen.

Tim, the medic, who had tried to save

his Green Beret brother and help him breathe his last breathes...

wanted to know that the place that Rob had built...

he wanted to know about the changes there,

but the military P.A.O.s had said that my...

my embed was with 10th Special Forces Group

and was not with 1st Special Forces Group,

which was now located

where Combat Outpost Pirelli was in Diyala province.

They denied my request.

So to get there, I'd have to hitchhike

from Special Forces A Team to A Team

more than 300 miles around the war zone.

From an-Nasiriyah it was to Hilla.

From there, went to Baghdad to area four,

which was the secret location

where those serious gunners

of ODA 0-9-4 were going out and doing missions.

- Alex! - What?

- Stay out here. - Who said?

All clear!

Put these guys on the roof.

All right, step in there, Alex.

What was that?

- He's a free worker. - What does he do?

Yes.

The one's too young.

But the other one might be old enough to be him.

Do you have a first name, Hussein?

Robert.

Pull those detainees and go down out of the element.

Have the source take a look at both those jack-asses.

- Okay. Hey, Bob! - Yeah.

I'm gonna need you and Ranger in about 3 minutes.

- Ali Abu... - Bob, you move with...

- Haruz, let's go, brother. - Ranger

Did you actually plot a course in your own mind?

If this didn't work out, you could sense an adjust,

and you knew somewhere else that you could try?

Is that what... Is that sort of how you approached it?

I always hope for the best.

Um, expect the worst and plan accordingly.

And I always hope that logic will prevail

and people will... will...

will... will maybe have a soft spot get what it is that I was doing,

but, uh, no.

From there, it was to Camp Taji.

What's the deal with this bad guy?

Oh, we got a warrant for his arrest.

It's a Baghdad warrant.

He was an AQI member.

Mostly what he's wanted for

is the murder of other Iraqi members,

mostly another clan.

His tribe is very large with I.E.D.s in this area.

What's your name? You're the RTO?

- Yeah, Roger. - And I'm Alex.

Okay, I'm gonna be on your hipper behind you, okay?

Okay.

An Arrow 2-5, go ahead, it's traffic.

We at this time, we are supporting Jaguar

on guard.

- Check the friendlies, please. - Checking the friendlies.

We have six Humvees on the road.

It's about a six vehicle convoy, over.

Okay.

Okay, will do.

The compound that is directly above them

to the southeast is a hostile compound.

They can declare that area, copy.

All right, go.

Go, 90, 90, last man. Last man.

Get out of the hallway.

Medic check.

Hit it with your light. Will it open?

Go! Go! Go!

Sir, these are his cousins.

Round 'em up. Take 'em outside.

The first house we went to, the target house,

was the target's house, his family's house.

He was not at that house.

We're just searching the house... Hmhmm.

Because this guy is a high-level leader.

We're looking for documents, notebooks,

anything that can lead to the next guys.

We call it a cascading target.

Normally with high-level terrorists,

they're like code 1-0-4.

It's like the highest level of crime

in the Iraqi judicial system.

And so this guy was wanted on a code 1-0-4 warrant.

Why is he a bad guy? Why do we go after this guy?

Very basic broad strokes.

Yeah, he runs a terrorist organization.

Which does what?

The big thing he's pushing for now is I.E.D.s

And the I.E.D. threat has kinda started up a little again,

- more recently. - Yeah, I hear in the last

two weeks, we've had three strikes.

And that coincides with being released from prison.

So... - He had been detained and then got released

and back out on the streets?

Yup.

- Checking for movement. - Copy.

You got two of 'em staying in the courtyard, there.

- Yeah, I think that's him. - Copy.

- Are there three? - Okay, now there are three of them

running in.

One is... Oh, one's a kid.

- Copy. - There's another one.

Four, five... they have all gone

into the door of the host building

and continuing to watch.

Yeah, make sure you get ahold of those guys

in that area up there.

Roger, that's a good, copy.

GO, go, go!

Go to the left! To the left.

- Where'd everyone go? - Clear!

GO; Go!

Okay.

He says he doesn't know.

His brother was there.

We have his brother,

a major ARCOM in the I.A.s

We got the story of where he was at.

They try to lie to 'em,

but it's a lot easier for the I.A.s

because they speak the language.

Three minutes ago, we heard one individual

talk to another individual.

That they took the hill coming toward the other individual.

Search that tree line.

Searching.

I got alight or something down there.

Get right there.

That's him.

We are tracking enemy personnel in that area.

Look around for the friendlies, please.

They are continuing west from there.

All right, he's running.

Let's watch him for a second.

Close to friendlies! He is 360 meters,

and he's hunkered down.

I follow. Go, go.

Okay, well, one, two, three, four.

- Thank you. - You're welcome.

So far, it looks like he's hunkered down.

- I'm checking for movement. - Copy.

If we get a good shot here, let's stop and look.

Sir, fire some flares.

See if you can stir him up.

Flares.

There it was.

Okay, we got several movers. Ah, those look like animals.

Hey, there he is. He's up and forward.

There he is.

Came out of the tree line and ran into that compound.

COPY-

GO; Go!

We ended up finding him at his cousin's house,

which was still on the family's land,

but again the family's land is about two kilometers wide

in every direction.

That's why we traveled so many canals and so much land.

- You guys be safe tonight. - Roger, that's a good, copy,

and we appreciate the word.

Like always, it's great working with you guys.

I managed to get myself to Diyala province,

to Bakuba... what had become this massive Forward Operating Base

Warhorse.

Within Warhorse, had been the Special Forces

Headquarters Compound.

I just boldly walked up and knocked on their door

at the Special Forces Compound

and said, "Hey, I'm Alex Quade.

I spent time with the... with the teams that were here last year.

Want to let me in?" And, no.

No, they did not want to let me in.

So that's when it was... okay, plan B.

I'll embed with the conventional units that are here.

And I will try to hopscotch my way

from conventional unit to conventional unit

and just try to geographically get closer.

Did you have a time limit

that you knew you were working within

to try to get to Combat Outpost Pirelli.

No, I was my own person. I was a freelancer.

I was at my own expense

and unattached with no support

and no camera crew and no nothing.

So I had all the time in the world

and that worked to my advantage,

as did being underestimated.

What exactly are we doing today?

We... are going to look for some caches today

in one of our villages.

Uh, we got some Intel the other day.

There's some possible cache's out in R.A.O.

So we're gonna jointly with the E.R.U.

go out there and see if we can find these things.

So this is pretty much where we're at nowadays.

Doing operations... everything we do.

So we expect to find in these caches?

Well, everybody else has been finding them,

- so I hope you find them too. - Yeah?

If we don't, we're not gonna look too good.

We call it trash village.

It's a whole town, lives in nothing but trash.

Everything's gonna build character.

Well, this is a whole lot of character building today.

Down by the truck?

Bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye.

I managed to get myself within the vicinity.

Combat Outpost Pirelli had ended up urban sprawl.

A Forward Operating Base was growing up around it,

called Cobra.

And they didn't even realize all that much

that there was this secret

Special Forces A team house in there.

I managed to get myself embedded with the cavalry unit

that was there, co-located where Combat Outpost Pirelli was.

And that cavalry unit was from Alaska, the arctic wolves.

They had just that week received a coffee maker.

We just got a coffee pot two weeks ago.

We're getting re-adapted to the caffeine.

It's gonna be a good clay.

See the major over there?

- He's running the show. - Hm-hmm.

We're just his little followers right now,

putting the Iraqi army first.

Most of these guys... the soldiers...

personally know the farmers in here.

So even to come in here and clear palm groves

it's a social call.

You know, they come in here and talk to their friends.

We try to enforce, you know,

the fact that they need to clear this,

but they're like, "Oh, no, it's my brother, it's my friend.

He's good."

- He might be good, but... - It's a happy morning gathering.

That's all it... It's a social call.

Get a few mandarins while you're at it.

Where do you got to go hunting for oranges and stuff?

- Yeah, I found a terrorist. - You did.

- It was right there. - They were growing on trees.

You pretty much cut 'em out at the root.

A terrorist...

Has anybody found anything yet?

Any caches? Any signs of...

- No, sir. - Okay.

- Just let me check. - You're gonna go see it in the future?

Somebody just hit one.

Get inside the palm grove!

That's a lot of fucking contact.

Hey was that a striker?

And just like that...

Just like that it changed in an instant,

and we're coming under fire in the palm grove.

I am less than half a mile away from Combat Outpost Pirelli

and fulfilling my promise to Rob's A team

and his gold-star family.

I'd come all this way and this...

this might keep me from completing that mission?

Hey! So we're moving back to the vehicles!

- I'll follow you. - We're moving back to the vehicles now.

We have... Hey, we up, Mo.

It's jumped to the south marked position.

Hey, Gunners be advised, we're moving out of the palm grove.

Hey, spread out, you guys.

Keep eyes for fucking trip wires.

Sorry about that.

Hey, keep eyes to the north also!

Holy fuck.

They are here.

- Right there, you see the smoke? - Yeah.

- It was in the palm grove. - Yeah, it was in the palm grove.

Shit!

Hey, let's have this vehicle move with us.

All right? Improved cover.

We'll say back off or these guys up front...

You guys up front...

It's the way it rolls, now.

Ooh, there's a smoke, right there.

We're moving the strikers down here for cover, all right?

I'm on your left hip, Baily.

We got two.

There had been an I.U.D. that was...

we figured out was made out of 155,

which is an artillery round

and they'd wrapped it in C-4

and added 30 pounds of munitions

to turn it into a wall above an I.E.D.

One Iraqi civilian was killed and five were injured.

- Do you consider that a big one? - About as big as they get.

They'll want to shake your teeth.

This is the way we drove in to get...

to drive to get to the palm grove.

I'm pretty sure it was meant for one of us.

They knew we're here.

That's why I think that it was command detonated

because pressure plated... we would have hit it

- by rolling over it. - So command detonated

- would mean like a trigger? - There was a trigger made.

- Somebody watching and trigger manning. - Exactly.

Our strikers had been going back and forth

over this area just 20 minutes earlier.

So these soldiers, they figured that, well...

our... the jammers that were on the strikers

must have been working to interfere with the signal

that the trigger man for this I.E.D. must have been putting out.

Once we got back to Cobra, the FOB that had grown up

around Combat Outpost Pirelli,

the cavalry unit that I'd been with that day

and for the last few days on these types of missions,

they came to me and they said,

they thought that I'd earned my spurs,

since were a cavalry unit.

And yet they had no spurs to give out there.

One of the guys reached into his ruck and pulled out a Ka-bar... a knife.

He said, well, it's blunt, but...

these are your spurs.

With that, I had a Ka-bar now in my back pocket and it was time.

A 160th SOAR-— Special Operations Aviation Regiment bird

was coming to pick me up

and their L.Z... their Landing Zone...

was inside Combat Outpost Pirelli.

So even though the Special Forces A-Team there

didn't want to let me in,

they had to if they wanted to get rid of me.

We made it to the door and knocked on the door.

There was no hello. There was no nothing.

They let me in so that I could have my 15 minutes

as I waited for the bird that was going to take me back to Baghdad

and I looked around to see the changes.

It was good to see that what Rob had built

was still there.

That this rough team house... alone on the fringe

of the empire, as their Special Forces Commander

Major Derrick Jones had called it...

that it was still a safe house

being used by Special Forces Teams

in an area that had been an Al-Qaeda sanctuary

near the Iranian border,

where every day was a fight for survival.

It was still here because Rob and his ODA 0-7-2

had built it and fortified it.

I may have only been on the ground

inside Combat Outpost Pirelli for maybe 15 minutes,

maybe 20...

but I'd done what they'd asked

and I was able to let them know

that Rob's wall... the T-wall with the symbol

that says Combat Outpost Pirelli... was still there.

Did you ever think to yourself

what are the odds... of this working out?

Pretty low to non-existent, right?

There was no way in hell that I was not gonna get this clone,

that I was not going to complete this mission

for Rob's family, for Rob's teammates,

because none of these guys quit

and I wasn't gonna quit either.

Sunrise or sunset, do you think?

I think it's a sunset.

He would be on the phone talking with

and then all of a sudden, he'd have to go up on the roof

- and do god knows... so this is... - Keep watch.

Yeah, this must be what he had to go through. - They took turns...

- Yeah. - being up there.

What he must've had to go through.

Oh my gosh.

- "Keep door closed." - This is Sparta.

Get out of town.

Well, look at that.

For me, it's hard to imagine

that my son had... had helped build this.

It's... because he did build things,

but this is...

it's a lot bigger than what I thought.

Look at all the clothing hanging up.

We've never, until this moment,

gotten to see their house,

and it's the one that Rob built.

That's huge for us.

- It just makes it so he's real... - Right.

And he really made an impact.

The things that he did were important and he mattered.

But he didn't do it for himself.

- He did it for others. - Yeah.

This represents him in a way

because... he built this for his team.

That's who he was.

That's unbelievable.

You know, if we were watching it with him,

he'd probably just sit back and we'd be like, "You did that?"

"You did that?" and he'd be like, "Yup, I did it.

I guess like it doesn't surprise me in a way.

I could see Rob doing this

and not complaining about it whatsoever.

- Right, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. - Just doing it.

Not having a problem with it.

I just miss Rob.

♪ Breathe... don't speak

♪ You're fading out

♪ Don't... close your eyes

♪ We're almost there now

♪ We're almost there

♪ We are ghosts in our homes

♪ Singing songs all alone

♪ But we've fought to be free and this pain isn't me

♪ We are ghosts now in our home

♪ We are ghosts all our own

♪ In this valley we call home

♪ We will fight to be free

♪ Come unchained from our grief

♪ We are ghosts now in our home

♪ These friends remain

♪ But this place just feels so strange

♪ My eyes... betray

♪ I don't want to leave

♪ But I can't stay

♪ We are ghosts in our home

♪ Singing songs all alone

♪ But we've fought to be free

♪ And this pain isn't me

♪ We are ghosts now in our home

♪ We are ghosts on our own

♪ In this valley we call home

♪ We will fight to be free Come unchained from our grief

♪ We are ghosts now in our home

I'

♪ I've been so... in love

♪ And love will find

♪ Its way home

♪ And I've been told...

♪ That love

♪ Will find...

My name's Rob and I'm 14.

' All right! - 'Good.

It's early now.

My second day of school.

There's mother and Shawn in the carriage.

This lady just crossed the street without looking.

Robbie's so concerned about that.

♪ We are ghosts now in our home

♪ We are ghosts on our own

♪ In this valley we call home

♪ We will fight to be free Come unchained from our grief

♪ We are ghosts now in our home

L'

♪ Well, I shipped out with a job to do

♪ Headed to desert sands

♪ To build a wall

♪ And draw a line

♪ And that wall, that wall still stands

♪ They cut me down with the bullet fire

♪ Cut down by hands of man

♪ My body lay for all to see

♪ But that wall, that wall still stands

♪ It still stands

♪ It still stands

♪ You might scorch the land

♪ You might kill a man

♪ But that wall, that wall still stands

♪ Well, the ones who stand behind me now

♪ They don't know who I am

♪ But what matters most

♪ When danger's close

♪ Is that wall, that still stand?

♪ It still stands

♪ Oh, it still stands

♪ You might scorch the land

♪ Or you might kill a man

♪ But that wall, that wall still stands

♪ Now every wall one day will fall

♪ When steel and wood turn to sand

♪ But what I believed was good

♪ Still holds its ground

♪ And that wall, that wall still stands

♪ It still stands

♪ Oh, it still stands

♪ You might scorch the land

♪ You might kill the man

♪ But that wall

♪ That wall

♪ Yeah, it still stands

♪ You might scorch the land

♪ You might kill the man

♪ But that wall, that wall still stands

♪ Yeah, that wall, that wall still stands

♪ Yeah, that wall, that wall still stands