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greater chance they would lose the lift and crash. They had to come up with a plan that would allow them to get in, come to a hover, retrieve the bodies, and get out in as short a time as possible.
    It took five to six hours of skull session before they believed they had a workable plan put together. The CRO went to the JOC to call out to the Rangers and the High Angle Team with instructions. This was going to be a very difficult mission, with a very narrow margin for error.

Day 7: July 4
    Following standard procedure, the retrieval effort for Murphy’s and Dietz’s bodies would not begin until after dark. The preparations meant the mission couldn’t go on the night of July 3, so at 2047Z the two Pave Hawks lifted from Bagram and headed back into the mountains of Kunar.
    The JOC had been in close communication with the High Angle Rescue Team and had passed along all the necessary instructions for the extraction, as well as stressing the time-sensitive nature of the operation. The quicker it was executed, the better. As Spanky flew top cover, Skinny swooped in toward the ravine. The PJs had the bodies prepped and ready at the LZ. Code-named Firebird HLZ, it was basically just a small clearing in the 40- to 50-foot-tall trees on the steep mountainside.
    Even before reaching the LZ, the crew was already lowering the aircraft’s hoist, with a Stokes litter at the end of it. They timed the lowering and the approach so that the hoist was at full extension the moment the helicopter came to a hover.
    The PJs on the ground were ready and waiting. As soon as the Stokes litter came down, they unhooked it and loaded both bodies into it. It had been decided that doing so would both reduce the weight the aircraft would have to fly with and reduce the time involved in loading the bodies. As soon as the remains were secured on the litter, the PJs hooked it back up to the hoist and signaled to Skinny that he was good to go. Skinny pulled off from the mountainside and started back to Bagram.
    The helicopter had been in an actual hover for only about 1 minute and 15 seconds.
    As the Pave Hawks flew away from the mountain and back toward Bagram, the crew raised the hoist and brought the bodies of the two SEALs aboard. One of the crew had thought to bring two American flags, which were draped over the bodies once they were secured inside the helicopter.
    Once on the ground at Bagram, the helicopters were met by SOF personnel, including the CRO. The CRO helped carry both bodies, now in flag-draped body bags, to the Bagram morgue. It was the least he could do for two more brothers. However, there was still one left. Matthew Axelson still had to be found.
    Shortly after returning to the JOC, the CRO was approached by a man he didn’t recognize. The man told him that the president wanted to know whether the body of Murphy or Dietz had been mutilated in any way. Doubtless the thought of the mutilated bodies of Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu in 1993 was on the president’s mind at the time.
    The CRO was rather nonplussed at the question; he still had one more missing SEAL to find. He replied, “The injuries were consistent with normal combat operations.” The man went to the phone nearby in the JOC and made a phone call, relaying the CRO’s words. The CRO forgot about it and got back to work.

Day 13: July 10
    The Rangers had been scouring the mountains for over a week. The heat and altitude had taken their toll, with more than one Ranger having to be medevaced as a heat casualty, and many more needing to use IVs to recover the fluids they had lost hiking over the mountains with full combat loads. One had been knocked unconscious by a branch broken off by a descending resupply bundle. No matter how bad the conditions were, and how worn out the men were, they kept up the search. That was the mission, and they’d stay until the mission was accomplished.
    Having