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Lone Survivor Timeline

By Spencer Hawks

  • Birth

    Birth
    Marcus Lutrell is born on November 7th in Houston, Texas. He is the younger of his parents two children, and has an older brother named Morgan.
  • Period: to

    Life and Career of Marcus Luttrell

  • Training

    Training
    Luttrell begins training for the special forces at the age of 14 under the command of Billy Sheldton. The training is agonizing and brutal, and many other classmates drop out.

  • Enlistment

    Enlistment
    On March 2nd, 1999, Luttrell enlists in the United States Navy. He later passed boot camp and went on to join the BUD/S class 226.

  • Graduation

    Graduation
    Luttrell graduates BUD/S training and receives his SEAL trident. He was forced to receive the trident later than the rest of class 226 because of a femur injury he had during an obstacle course.

  • Deployment

    Deployment
    Luttrell is deployed for the first time with SEAL team 5 in Afganistan. His mission is to search for WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction) that Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq, was beleived to be hiding in the Afgan desert.

  • Operation Red Wings

    Operation Red Wings
    Luttrell is selected to be part of Operation Red Wings, which was designed to disrupt anti-Coalition militia forces hiding on the sides of the Sawtalo Sar mountain. Their target was a man wo had been conducting multiple bombings of US forces. (His name is not disclosed in the book)

  • Engagement of Taliban

    Lutrell and the other 3 members of SEAL team 10 engage a force of well over 100 Taliban. SEALs Danny Dietz, Mike Axleson, and Michael Murphy are killed in the fighting, leaving Luttrell the only man of the team still living.

  • Helicopter Crash

    Helicopter Crash
    An MH-47 Chinook helicopter is sent to recover Luttrell from the battlefield. Sadly, it is hit by an RPG and all 16 special forces members aboard are killed in the explosion.

  • Injury

    Luttrell is redeployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. However, his knee is blown out during a firefight and he is forced to return to base.

  • Discharge

    Following his injury in Iraq, Luttrell is given a medical discharge from the Navy. Less than a month later, "Lone Survivor" is published and becomes a national bestseller.