For Nate Self, Battlefield Hero, Trauma Takes a Toll describes what one Army Ranger went through to earn the Silver Star — and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder:
Their opportunity arrived in March 2002, after the Army kicked off ‘Operation Anaconda,’ a large-scale attack designed to trap al Qaeda fighters who had fled to the mountains.A team of Navy SEALs tried to land atop Takur Ghar, a snow-capped peak they hoped to use as an observation post. But their helicopter came under heavy fire. As it sped away, one of the SEALs slipped and fell to the ground. A second helicopter, sent to retrieve him, was also attacked. One of its six men was shot and killed. The others scrambled down the mountain to safety, without rescuing the fallen SEAL.
Around 3 a.m. on March 4, Mr. Self was told to pull together a 23-man rescue team that headed out in two helicopters. But because of a communications glitch, he and his men were never told that previous helicopters sent to the mountain had come under fire. They had no idea what they were in for.
As the helicopter carrying Mr. Self and 12 others landed, the enemy attacked. The next few moments were a blur of bullets, sparks and blood. Within seconds, four of his soldiers were dead. One was shot in the head. Another lay face down in the snow.
Badly outgunned, Mr. Self and his remaining men took cover behind a boulder. His leg was bleeding from a shrapnel wound. As bullets whizzed past his head and rocket-propelled grenades exploded around him, he thought of his wife and 4-month-old baby. ‘What would happen if I died here and my wife and son were left alone,’ he recalls thinking.
The thought flitted through his mind and disappeared. He began to plot a counterattack. With good shooting and help from circling Air Force planes, his men took control of the battle. The second helicopter, carrying other members of Mr. Self’s team, diverted to a safer landing area. Those Rangers then hiked four hours through knee-deep snow to help their embattled comrades.
Mr. Self and his men found the fallen SEAL, who had been killed with a shot to the head, and located the body of a dead U.S. serviceman from the first failed rescue attempt.
Around 11:30 a.m., five hours after they landed on the mountain, Senior Airman Jason Cunningham, one of the medics on the mission, was badly wounded. Hoping to stabilize the area so a helicopter could evacuate the wounded, Mr. Self and his men continued fighting. They were close enough to see the faces of some of the enemy fighters they killed.
By early afternoon, Mr. Self believed the area was safe enough to bring in a helicopter. But senior officers, monitoring the battle via surveillance planes, overruled him. They didn’t want to send another helicopter until nightfall. Mr. Self and his men spent hours surrounded by their fallen comrades, who were ‘lying and bleeding in the snow,’ he recalls.
Around 6 p.m., as darkness descended, Airman Cunningham, 26, died. The evacuation helicopters arrived two hours later.
In all, seven U.S. servicemen were killed in that day’s battle on the mountain.