The Ranger Account of Takur Ghar | Josh Walker & Chris Cunningham | Ep. 471
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What was the level of combat experience among the Rangers and SEALs before the Takur Ghar mission?
Okay, got the red smoke. Mother! Smoke! Okay, west of the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now. Give it to me, I need it. Captain Clear High.
I think I have two questions. to kick it off. The first one is we talked about this early on in the section just talking about Anaconda. And I wanted to reinforce this and it was the inexperience of everybody involved on the SEAL site, even though they were at a tier one unit. I'd have been shocked if anybody had actually seen any combat, sustained combat, especially something like this. Does that hold true for the Ranger Regiment as well? As far as real world experience, the people that you were with, were the vast majority of them on their first combat rotation.
I think that was a vast majority of everybody that was even involved in that mission to include uh your GPF that were, you know, not located in the same area but similar, you know, offset for Operation Anacondo during that that time frame. Uh I think that was the first real mission outside of, you know, some of the smaller stuff that was going on throughout the theater. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean we really hadn't done too much s all the way up to that point. Um, you know, the closest we got was when we first landed in Afghanistan, the SEALs took a the General Daly's armor to ribbon to go do a night recce, right? Yeah. As soon as we landed there and That was the closest we ever gotten, we didn't even get outside the wire. The British went and got 'em, so
And I guess the second question, maybe to start it off, I know how this story is told in the SEAL community or w where maybe it holds its station for a lot of people. Where does this story and the Rangers' participation sit in the Ranger regiment world? How is it talked about? What kind of place does it hold in the legacy and lore of Rangers?
You know, I can't I can't speak for ranger regiment. Yeah. But I'm
Anecdotally, even in your experience in your time in or post, how do people talk about it? Is it considered successful? Is it a catastrophe? I mean, there's a catastrophic loss of life, obviously. Is it a massive lessons learned? All of combination of all of those things?
Um well I'm I'm gonna say it was um it was kind of it was a success because we didn't leave anybody up there. Yeah. Um got everybody off the mountain. We lost really good dudes in the process. Um, Rangers and everybody else. Yeah. Um Yeah. I success. I I guess We made it we made it happen and it worked.
Is it a story that is still told and talked about? Do you guys have any idea of that in the modern Ranger World Regiment.
You know, I think it was about four years ago we all went back to Savannah for a reunion, uh Eric Stebner had put together a reunion there at one seven five, I think at the twenty year. And uh some other dudes came, I think some of the guys from the one sixty and some other folks had come in and I c I couldn't tell you who all was there. It was it was so crowded. Uh what we did for the uh regiment at that time was the battalion commander hosted a basically a leadership round table and w the we had the opportunity to tell the story to all, you know, the y y the young NCOs that that are there now and and shared that story with them. And then we had about a one hour question and answer session. Uh and then that night we you know we were still on on station there uh you know in Savannah and so we all went out downtown and you know s some of the Rangers had joined us and things like that.
What kind
of questions did they ask you?
Mm.
Uh it's mainly it was, you know, our leaders that were on the ground there talking about, you know, what we did there and what led up to the mission, but also I guess. Thinking back, you know, it was kinda cool I got to I got I got to meet the guy who essentially does my job now back then. Um, you know, this specialist, sawgunner from same platoon, same squad. It was really cool to be able to actually meet him. sit next to 'em, you know, and just be be a part of a That again essentially. It was cool. It was great.
Can we go back to your question about like the impact that it made on regiment?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What was the level of combat experience among the Rangers and SEALs before the Takur Ghar mission?
0:01–9:03
2
How did the helicopter crash and the immediate aftermath unfold for the QRF on the mountain?
9:03–34:54
3
What challenges did the Rangers face while climbing, dealing with mortar fire, and assaulting the bunker complex?
34:54–57:04
4
How did the team secure the summit, handle casualties, and reflect on the mission’s legacy?
57:04–1:10:45
5
What are the final reflections on the Takur Ghar operation and the casualties?
1:10:45–1:11:23
6
How does the episode transition into the Surefire sponsorship message?
1:11:23–1:34:16
7
How do the veterans discuss processing trauma, legacy, and the impact of combat after leaving the service?
1:34:16–1:57:46
8
What are the veterans’ thoughts on awards, recognition, and preserving the Ranger legacy?
1:57:46–2:20:47
Speakers
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