12 Strong Feature Trailer

Feature Trailer for 12 Strong.

The True Story of the Army's Special Forces "Green Berets", who within weeks responded to the 9-11 attack. Green Berets and AFSOC took over the country and allowed other Special Forces and the rest of the conventional military to begin the real war.

The movie is based on a true story and here is the actual true story:

After the terror attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, official combat operations started on Oct. 7, 2001 in the form of airstrikes and Tomahawk missile strikes against suspected al-Qaeda training sites near Kandahar, Kabul, and Herat. On Nov. 16, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced “we have had limited number of American forces on the ground for weeks.” He was talking about the Horse Soldiers, U.S. Special Forces attempting to secure Northern Afghanistan with the Afghan Northern Alliance.

The elite troops were there to connect with and advise the Northern Alliance fighters who had been fighting the Taliban government since 1996. When the Americans arrived the Alliance fighters were ready to avenge Massoud. The only way to get around the country was on horseback. For some of the American commandos, it was their first time on a horse.  “It was like riding a bobcat,” Lt. Col. Max Bowers (Ret.) told CNN.Sgt. 1st Class Joe Jung, the team’s medic and sniper, was thrown from his horse, broke his back, and continued with the mission. “I would not allow myself to be the weak link,” Jung said. “It’s not in my nature, and it’s not in any Green Beret’s nature.” Bowers carried a piece of the World Trade Center during the entire mission and months later, buried it with full military honors at Mazar-e Sharif.

The commandos’ horses were trained by the Northern Alliance warriors to run toward gunfire. Charges pitting Alliance forces against the Taliban were much like those centuries ago, but the fighters used AK-47s instead of sabers.During the Battle of Mazar-e Sharif, Jung treated Taliban fighters. The special forces let one go, allowing him to tell other Taliban fighters he was treated humanely and they would be too. This led to mass surrender after the battle.

It took two months for the Allied forces to defeat the Taliban government.

This is one of those stories that I am sure not many people know about. Time and time again we become aware of these incredible untold stories, especially from war, that only come to light because of movies. Without these movies we would not about the amazing heroic acts of soldiers that keep us safe. There are many many stories that people now know about thanks to films like Hacksaw Ridge, American Sniper, Lone Survivor, Zero Dark Thirty, etc.

I am quite a sucker for these films. I can only imagine what these soldiers went through and it adds to the intesity knowing that it is based on a true story. Now, we will have to see how close they stay to the true story or if they turn into a Hollywood film. It will also be interesting to see how it differs from the previous slew of war movies we have seen about this same war.