Marcus Luttrell

Some Lesser Known Facts About Marcus Luttrell

• Marcus Luttrell is a former member of the United States Navy SEALs, philanthropist, author, and businessperson. He gained recognition for being the sole survivor among the Navy SEALs involved in Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan in 2005. Marcus wrote a book titled “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10,” which inspired the release of the Hollywood film “Lone Survivor” in 2013.

• While giving an interview, Luttrell said that at the age of 14, he and his twin brother Morgan initiated their preparation to enlist in the US special forces. Furthermore, he shared that they received guidance and training from a retired US Army special forces operative named Billy Sheldon, who used to live in their locality. Luttrell recalled their first meeting with Billy and said,
  

  He was a bull of a man, with rippling muscles, fair skin, and not carrying one ounce of fat. To my eyes he looked like he could have choke slammed a rhino. I made my hesitant request. And he just looked me up and down and said, “Right here. Four, tomorrow afternoon.” Then he shut the door in my face.”

• Marcus Luttrell joined the US Navy’s training camp at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Chicago, Illinois, in March 1999.

• Later, he reported at the Naval Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes, Illinois, where he trained as a Hospital Corpsman.

  

• Marcus participated in the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) program in 1999, aiming to become a US Navy SEAL. However, due to a fractured femur and subsequent medical treatment, he completed the training with Class 228 on 21 April 2000 instead of the original Class 226 he initially joined.

• After that, he went to the United States Army Airborne School, popularly known as Jump School, in Fort Moore, Georgia. There, he received basic training to become a paratrooper (military parachutist).

• Later, he completed a 26-week course called SEAL Qualification Training (SQT).

• On 2 February 2001, after successfully finishing SQT, Luttrell was given the Naval Enlisted Classification (NEC) 5326 Combatant Swimmer (SEAL) badge.

• In January 2002, he received the Insignia for Naval Special Warfare, which is also known as the SEAL team trident badge.

  

• He later went to Fort Bragg in North Carolina and underwent six months of advanced medical training, both conventional and unconventional.

• Marcus Luttrell went on his first foreign mission to Iraq on 14 April 2003 when the US-led NATO forces invaded Iraq. He was part of SEAL Team 5 and their mission was to find and seize the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) belonging to the Iraqi military. Once Saddam Hussein’s regime was overthrown, Luttrell’s team was assigned the job of dealing with the remaining Iraqi forces and insurgents.

  

• In 2005, Marcus went on his second overseas mission to Afghanistan. There, he joined SEAL Team 10 as part of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One (SDVT-1).

• SVDT-1 was assigned a mission in June 2005 to gather intelligence and apprehend or eliminate Ahmad Shah, a high-ranking Taliban leader suspected to be in hiding within Afghanistan’s Kunar Province.

  

• On 28 June 2005, a team of four SEAL members, including Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz, Petty Officer Second Class Matthew Axelson, and Petty Officer Second Class Marcus Luttrell, was sent to the mountains near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

  

• Their mission was jeopardized when a group of local goat herders found them. As per Marcus, his team had to make a difficult choice whether to kill the herders and continue the mission or let them go and give up. They chose to release the herders and proceed with the mission. Soon after releasing the herders, Marcus and his team were attacked by a large group of Taliban fighters, which led to the demise of Murphy, Dietz, and Axelson.

  

• Marcus Luttrell survived the ambush despite sustaining severe injuries. He was later saved by an Afghan man named Mohammad Gulab Khan, residing in Salar Ban village, Kunar Province. Gulab took Marcus to his home and provided him refuge for several days. He also persuaded fellow villagers to assist in shielding Marcus from the relentless pursuit of the Taliban. To elude the Taliban, Gulab continuously relocated to different areas. As per sources, Gulab decided to assist Marcus because his village had a strong bond with the US forces. In the past, the US had given Gulab’s village provisions like food, water, safety, and education.

• Later, Gulab made his way to the closest US Army base and disclosed all the details. Subsequently, the US Army assembled a group of Army Rangers and Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers to carry out a search and rescue operation.

• On 2 July 2005, the US Army and the ANA launched a search and rescue operation to find Marcus; however, rescuing him proved challenging as the Taliban forces attempted an assault on the troops. Following a fierce gunfight, the Taliban retreated, and Marcus was successfully saved. He was subsequently transported to a military hospital, where doctors treated his injured back, shrapnel wounds, and multiple fractures.

  

• In 2006, having recuperated from the injuries he sustained in Afghanistan, Luttrell was once more deployed to Iraq as a member of SEAL Team 5. There, he served in combat alongside the renowned Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle in Ramadi.

  

• While serving in Iraq, Luttrell once again sustained injuries during an operation that caused severe damage to his knees and spinal cord, ultimately leading to his discharge from service in 2007.

• In the same year, Marcus received a Navy Cross for participating in Operation Red Wings from President George Bush.

  

• Jeri Exner, the owner of Jeri’s Springer Front End, constructed a personalized Harley Davidson on 25 January 2008 and named it “Lone Survivor” as a homage to Marcus Luttrell.

  

• The Board for the Correction of Naval Records approved his medical retirement in 2009.

• With the intent of supporting war veterans experiencing various types of physical as well as mental ailments such as PTSD, Marcus founded the Lone Survivor Foundation in Houston, Texas, in 2010. The foundation later partnered with The Boot Campaign to serve the veterans of the US Armed Forces.

• Later, he set up Team Never Quit and established the TNQ Foundation to offer assistance to retired members of the US Armed Forces. Furthermore, he founded an online store that sells a variety of products. Under the TNQ foundation, Luttrell along with his brother Morgan hosts podcasts.

• In 2012, Marcus co-authored his second book Service: A Navy SEAL at War.

• In the film Lone Survivor (2013), Luttrell had numerous uncredited cameo appearances. The film is an adaptation of his book titled Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10.

• In 2016, he made an on-screen appearance as himself in the zombie comedy film Range 15.

  

• Marcus Luttrell is a Donald Trump supporter and delivered a speech endorsing Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2016. Marcus actively campaigned for President Trump during the 2020 US Presidential elections.

  

• Luttrell also guest-starred in an episode of Season 9 of the A&E Networks TV series Duck Dynasty.

• In Season 9, Episode 4 of the American automotive show Overhaulin, he made an appearance, and during that episode, they customized a 1967 Mustang as a tribute to Marcus’ service as a Navy SEAL.

• Marcus recounted in his book, Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10, that during his upbringing in Texas, he had an encounter where he wrestled an alligator.

• Marcus Luttrell drinks liquor occasionally.

  

• He has a strong passion for dogs and owns two pet dogs, a Labrador named Mr. Rigby, and a Pomeranian named Tina.