Outlasting the Enemy in Shok Valley | No Man Left Behind

On October 2nd of 2008, we received the mission to go conduct an operation in the northern province of Nurse T in Afghanistan. The mission was to conduct a raid on a high-value target. The plan was to infiltrate from the bottom of the valley and work our way up to this city that was built into the side of the mountain. With my level of battle experience, there were definitely red flags.

Once we hit the ground, we've got to be ready to fight. I actually start to see women and children, you know, leaving the village. So, I immediately got on the radio and called the detachment and told him, "Hey, you know, heads on a swivel; we're gonna have a gun party." Immediately, the bullets started coming in and the award bouncing off the rocks next to us. The entire valley just erupted in a volley of fire, and there was nowhere to hide.

I had never experienced that level of intensity in an initial draw from an enemy force. Today, you know, these guys are well-disciplined; they had a plan. We've fallen right into the ambush. At this moment, I was starting to feel that we were no longer in control of this. Then I get a radio call from Captain Wall that one of the attachment members had been hit. He said, "Hey, it's Bear; it looks pretty critical."

I'd never felt such excruciating pain in my entire life. At times, you would actually take your hand off the side of the mountain in amazement, look at your hand, and make sure your work was trying to get up another foot because you've got two of your attachment members that are injured. We were either all going to die there together or we were gonna get out of there.

I looked at my uniform, and I just saw the blood run down and just cover the entire left side of my body. My left leg—one guy's leg is amputated, another guy's been shot in the pelvis and the bicep, and another's been shot through his ankle. My triceps are hanging off.

I've been through a lot of adversity in my life; this was just another test. I knew if I could make it through, then I would be able to survive pretty much anything. Even though we know the odds are stacked against us, you've got the confidence that if we do the right things, we can come out of this thing alive.

I have the most gratitude to everyone on my team who pulled together to make sure that I made it down alive. Those I shed blood with will always be my brothers. The bond that you have with those guys is for life. It's a good feeling to know that you got every man out alive and you didn't leave any man behind.