Assigned to replace Eicher as senior flight lead, he was trying to learn as much as he could before hopping into an aircraft and joining the mission. He could relate to the most junior guy and to a general or admiral," Paro said. He and some of his fellow Night Stalkers felt the SEALs plan was too risky. It didnt look like there was any way anybody could have survived, Graham said. Frustrated and angry, Graham followed the order. The League of Wives Memorial will be the first public memorial in the country to recognize military spouses, its planners say. Photo courtesy of Daniel Bell. Brady ran over to where his platoon sergeant, Sgt. Almost every variety of special operations troops in the US military inventory participated in a coordinated effort through some of Afghanistans most dangerous and austere terrain during the search for their brothers both alive and fallen. I could see the grass being blown by the rotor wash and all the remains bags being lined up in a row 16 of them, Rogie recalled. The only SEAL to make it out of the Red Wings incident alive, Navy Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell, went on to write the bestseller "Lone Survivor," which became a major motion picture of the same title last year. They rolled out with a convoy and with some vengeance, and they fought their way up that mountainside, all the way up to the crash site.. For the Night Stalkers of the famed 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the war on terror continued. The 160th SOAR (A) Night stalkers are the only unit in the world to operate this helicopter (Photo: U.S. Army) A source from the Navy's special operations community described the reaction as "Shock and disbelief. Brady persisted with the details. Once on the ground, theyd have to pick up the rope, hook it to themselves, and get hoisted back up. As they were turning around, Graham saw five Black Hawks performing a star-cluster evasion. There was still some smoldering from the crash site, and I could see the glow from the heat through my night vision.. When the ramp lowered, the Night Stalkers on the Chinooks stood tall and proud for their fallen brethren as task force members boarded and began solemnly moving each remains bag to the mortuary affairs building. Steven K. Young, courtesy of DVIDS. Were completely separate commands. Marcus Luttrell, to get out of that thing alive, its a miracle, I mean I dont know how, Brooks said. From left, SGT Carlos Pacheco (3/160 medic, former 3/75), SFC Marcus V. Muralles (Legend 3/160 medic), MAJ Sam Sauer (3/160 flight surgeon), SFC L.E. The commandos would have to descend from a rope fast-rope while the helos hovered high above the trees. Each of the five Black Hawks was loaded with Marines and had flown out thinking they were the QRF for the SR team. archive.org 244 140 comments Best Add a Comment Were completely separate commands. Smith and the others in Turbine 34 watched helplessly as the Chinook full of their fellow aviators their friends crashed into the mountain and erupted in a ball of flames. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The 160th had only lost helicopters during daylight missions at that point theyre called, Combat Engineer: The Unsung Hero of the Battlefield, Troops Who Refused COVID Vaccine Still May Face Discipline, New Statue Will Pay Tribute to Vietnam-Era Military Wives Who Took on the US Government, Heroism & Guts What It Takes To Earn the Navy Cross, From the Silent Service to the Presidency: The Life of Jimmy Carter, Nolan Peterson, Coffee or Dies Ukraine Reporter, Addresses DC, Prosecutors: Marine Threatened To Chop Wife With Machete, Eddie Rickenbacker: Americas Most Decorated World War I Ace, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. They engaged in a fierce firefight, and at some point the task force lost contact with them. He really didn't give a damn.". Finally, 150 U.S. Marines would come in to establish blocking positions for the SEALs assault on Shahs compound. "But he was on the helo," his mother told ABC News, as the family marked the tenth anniversary of Erik's death in Operation Red Wings last weekend. Navy SEAL Lt. Brady had no way of knowing at the time, but it would be the last time anyone at Bagram would ever see three of those four Americans alive. He and Eicher hurried back to the operations center. Pastors from the task force lead the caskets onto the C-17. One of Bradys soldiers in the operations center was asking him a question, but Brady was momentarily frozen with shock. But Reich cut the debate short. I could see the grass being blown by the rotor wash and all the remains bags being lined up in a row 16 of them, Rogie recalled. The SEAL commander broke down and cried at the desperately needed positive news. All the men were anxious, angry, and ready to retrieve their brothers in arms. After refueling, he continued on to Jalalabad and offloaded. He was well-read and intelligent, into music and literature. The weather was turning bad again as they offloaded Marines to assist with security. As the task unit commander for SEAL Team 10, in which Murphy served, Kristensen decided to personally lead an assault force by helicopter to his last known location, where the younger officer had been tasked with finding a militia leader named Ahmad Shah. The mission was to capture or kill Ahmad Shah, a Taliban commander. He asked Graham to repeat, unable to register what he had just heard. Brady told his operations NCO to give him a minute to gather more information to get the next plan of action in place. Photo courtesy of Matt Rogie. As the Night Stalkers slept, the SR team was discovered by a numerically superior force of enemy fighters. A glimmer of metal caught a Rangers eye and he picked up a stainless steel dogtag bearing not a name but the Armys Warrior Ethos: I will always place the mission first. His vibrant personality appeared to live on as a powerful presence as his friends convened for the ninth time since 2005 on Saturday, shouting to be heard over the din of the downpour and laughing louder than the rain. He was such a total goofball," remembered his friend Ismay, who graduated the academy a few years later and whose older brother served as a SEAL with Kristensen. Monitored and controlled by a Joint Terminal Attack Controller at Forward Operating Base Shank via a General Atomics MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, all six were positively confirmed killed by the bomb strike and subsequent attacks by a Lockheed AC-130 gunship and two Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships. They finalized plans and sent the Night Stalkers on their way. The odds of enemy fighters hearing the echo of the dual-rotor helicopter increased every second it remained in a hover. This is my mission.. Standing 6' 4", he is remembered as gregarious and embraced a Jesuit ideal by being a "Man For Others," friends and family said. He told Reich pushing the mission back would allow Shah to continue his terrorist activities, likely leading to the death of locals and U.S. military in the area. Kristensen agreed with Bradys evaluation, and after the SR team radioed that they would be lying down for the day in their hide site, Brady and Kristensen called it a night. Weve got two military-aged males, possibly armed, on the northernmost LZ, the crew reported. 28, 2005 in Afghanistan. The 2007 book "Lone Survivor" was later adapted into a movie of the same name in 2013. A lot of guys really wanted to stay on the mission, recalled Chief Warrant Officer 3 Tim Graham, one of the pilots on Turbine 34. Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, and other Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) personnel loaded onto five Chinooks. Photo courtesy of Matt Rogie. Coffee Or Die Frustrated and angry, Graham followed the order. The MH-47 was escorted by heavily-armored, Army attack helicopters. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. I could see a lot of vehicles with troops armed to the damn teeth, Smith recalled. Bradys maintenance officer woke him and said the SR team was in trouble and the Night Stalkers had orders to spin up and pull the team out. And if we just glamorize war all the time, I think thats a problem. . Some of the Night Stalkers hanging out in the B huts they slept in, enjoying much needed down time. Their war-weary faces were chiseled stone as they watched the task force solemnly load 16 flag-draped interment cases into the C-17. Turbine 33s nose dipped down, and the aircraft slid to the left, appearing to almost recover. Brady had no way of knowing at the time, but it would be the last time anyone at Bagram would ever see three of those four Americans alive. They ascended back into orbit and remained there for an hour until the task force commander ordered them back to Jalalabad. The mission was to capture or kill Ahmad Shah, a Taliban commander. Joshua is married with two children. Before and after his presidency were some of the greatest contributions Jimmy Carter made to the world we know today. Graham and his co-pilot whipped their Chinook around to look for survivors. The Armys elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) is known for having some of the most skilled aviators in the world, who fly the most elite special operators into some of the most austere environments on earth using the most advanced aircraft in the U.S. military inventory. The men of the task force saying their final goodbyes to the fallen before they are flown home to their final resting place. Photo courtesy of Steven Smith. "The complexity of who he is, to me, is bigger than his being a SEAL. Kristensen attended Washington's Gonzaga College High School. Im glad youre here because I am spent, Eicher told him. The plan was for the SEALs to fast-rope onto the ridgeline above the original LZ. Nolan Peterson, a senior editor at Coffee or Die who has lived in Kyiv for eight years, spoke at a DC think tank conference on his front-line reporting on Russias invasion. Finally, 150 US Marines would come in to establish blocking positions for the SEALs assault on Shahs compound. Running around in the woods is kind of cool once in awhile, camping is kind of cool once in awhile. RMW0HEG2 - Air Force flight surgeon Patrick Whitney visits the grave site of SFC Marcus V. Muralles, on Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., May 26, 2014. Turbine 33s nose dipped down, and the aircraft slid to the left, appearing to almost recover. The two Apaches had arrived on station, drawing heavy gunfire, but nonetheless giving Turbine 34s crew back in the operations center a good look at the crash site. He said visibility got so bad that he couldnt see the heat glow of the engines from the Chinook in front of him. The commandos would have to descend from a rope fast-rope while the helos hovered high above the trees. But militants were waiting in ambush and shot down an Army MH-47E Chinook chopper as Kristensen and his men were preparing to fast-rope to the ground, killing all 16 aboard. On battlefields throughout history, the combat engineer has proven time and again to be a decisive factor in victory and defeat. The members of the task force said their final goodbyes. Doc's platoon was alerted . As Brady climbed into Turbine 33 and started strapping in, Reich tapped his shoulder and asked what the plan was. Steven Smith, the flight engineer in the rear of Turbine 34, saw a smoke trail emerge from the tree line directly toward Turbine 33. As Brady approached the Chinook hed be flying, he noticed the tail number: 1-4-6. Walking toward the flight line, the SEAL commander quipped, What made you want to fly such ugly helicopters?, Theyre not much to look at, but they get the job done, Brady fired back. One of the SEALs even drew his pistol and attempted unsuccessfully to force the Chinook to land so they could try to save their friends. Our plan of action is for you to get us to the high ground as close to the troops in contact as you can, and were going to fight our way downhill, Brady recalled Kristensen saying. We argued for what seemed like 10 minutes but was actually about 30 seconds, Brady recalled. "Before he left, I tried to convince him not to go," she said. Instance of. "From a loyalty standpoint, he said he trained those guys and he was going.". A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from 1-228th Aviation Regiment conducting hoist operations. They are famous for the roles they played in both the Battle of Mogadishu and the mission to kill Usama Bin Laden but are revered throughout the special operations community for acts of valor that often never see the light of day due to the classified nature of their work. In his book, Brooks wrote, I got my first real look at Afghanistan from the side of the mountain after offloading from a helicopter onto the Sawalto Sar, a mountain in Afghanistans Kunar Province. Back at Jalalabad, the commanders decided they had no choice but to wait for better weather and try again the next night. Its extremely rare to have something that high-profile as your first mission, I recognize that, Brooks said. Many of the men suffered scorched hands from gripping the rope through gloves for such a long descent. The SEALs did their best to hide the rope and keep their presence on the ridgeline hidden from enemy fighters. After several tense moments of struggling to bring in the rope, they decided to cut it loose. Not wanting to leave their brothers, the SEAL team commander hatched a plan with the Night Stalkers to insert higher up on the ridgeline and fight their way down to the crash site so Turbine 34 could fly back to Jalalabad, pick up as many SEALs as he could, and fly back to reinforce the eight SEALs. Showing Editorial results for operation redwing. As a pilot in the 160th, Brady was the air mission commander for the operation. Robert Thaler, courtesy of DVIDS. Share This: Rangers, Special Forces, and PJs were already moving up the mountain toward the crash site. It wasnt an ideal insertion, but the Night Stalkers had accomplished their mission. Brady told his operations NCO to give him a minute to gather more information to get the next plan of action in place. Children of varying ages ran around the coffins, playing and yelling, not yet old enough to understand the sacrifices these warriors made. With that, they retired to their rooms to rest for phase two of the operation the following night. Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell was the only survivor from the initial four-man SEAL reconnaissance element. The fallen Night Stalkers of the 160th SOAR included: Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature, Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach. Erik Kristensen in the command operations center. Graham made a stop at a Forward Arming and Refueling Point (FARP) just outside of Jalalabad. The new mission, dubbed Operation Red Wings II, was to recover the fallen heroes and the lone survivor Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell. Back in the operations center, leaders were busy trying to figure out the SEALs last known location and calculating how many soldiers each helicopter could fly with. Some of the fallen members of Turbine 33 prior to being flown out. They ascended and flew back to Jalalabad to link up with another group of SEALs and stand by as a quick-reaction force (QRF) in case the SR team was compromised. The C-17 closed its ramp and taxied down the runway and took flight. Since the SEALs werent sure where exactly the compromised team was located, Kristensen believed inserting at a position of tactical advantage was the best option. For his actions, Kristensen, who was on his first major combat deployment in Afghanistan, earned the Bronze Star with "V" (Valor) device. The Chinooks took off toward the mountains once again, but as they climbed in elevation, severe weather rolled in. Good, Brady recalled Reich saying. This was a desolate part of the Hindu Kush, and at night, you wouldnt really expect to see much, Brady told Coffee or Die. Eddie Rickenbacker, the ace of aces, may have broken the record for aerial victories in World War I, but that was hardly the most remarkable part of his extraordinary life. "Next year, I'm giving him up," Sam Kristensen said, half joking, of future tributes for her son. It can go from 100 degrees to 50 in an hour, Brooks said. "Leave No Man Behind" begins with Brooks' decision to enlist and his life as a young Ranger, the good and the bad. It just didnt look good.. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. Photo by Mark C. Olsen, courtesy of DVIDS. The back of the aircraft contained the flag-draped coffins of 16 great Americans: the fallen Night Stalkers and SEALs from Turbine 33. The Korengal and Shuryak valleysthe geographic region of Operation Red Wingsare sparsely populated and could not support an enemy force of 200 people. After covering his landing, Brooks book goes through a nearly hour-by-hour recounting of the rescue and recovery mission that lasted almost two full days. Turbine 34 started taking heavy gunfire from unseen fighters below. I could see a lot of vehicles with troops armed to the damn teeth, Smith recalled. The remaining Night Stalkers prepared for a rescue operation. They only attended one memorial dinner in San Diego last week to mark the tenth anniversary of the Red Wings tragedy and turned down other invites to ceremonies. Photo courtesy of DVIDS. Operation Red Wings. As the cases were being loaded, a SEAL ran up to the new SEAL commander and placed a written note in his hand. In one passage, he wrote, At any moment, I expected the crack of a rifle. The order was given to again abort the mission and return to base. Operation Red Wings (often incorrectly referred to as Operation Redwing or Operation Red Wing ), [13] informally referred to as the Battle of Abbas Ghar, was a joint military operation conducted by the United States in the Pech District of Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Photo by Cpl. Graham watched from Turbine 34 as Turbine 33s ramp lowered and the crewman walked onto it to observe the landing zone below. Then the realization hit: He was now in charge. Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, Long Island, also was killed in action and received a posthumous Medal of Honor from President George W. Bush. ", "Erik was probably the furthest from what you would have thought of a Navy SEAL. As with the specifics of the planning of this phase, 2/3 played no direct role in command and control, as this was the "SOF supported" portion of the operation. Hes a person all those Jesuits wanted us to be, said Ismay, a fellow Gonzaga graduate. When the crew chief tried to pull the rope up, they found it was entangled below. There were no survivors. I felt like I was in the wrong place, I was doing the wrong things and I could do more, Brooks said. As the next night approached, the task force went to work, planning another insertion onto the deadly ridgeline. I find it all really strange, all the hero talk. It was a matter of seniority. Many of the men suffered scorched hands from gripping the rope through gloves for such a long descent. The rescue operation, known as Operation Red Wings II, continued for weeks. 2023 Getty Images. The task force commander denied the request and ordered Turbine 34 back to Jalalabad. Smith said everyone on the Chinook was angry. The rescue operation, known as Operation Red Wings II, continued for weeks. They ascended back into orbit and remained there for an hour until the task force commander ordered them back to Jalalabad. "Erik leaned to the left. Walking toward the flight line, the SEAL commander quipped, What made you want to fly such ugly helicopters?, Theyre not much to look at, but they get the job done, Brady fired back. He rowed crew, played lacrosse and majored in English and French at the Naval Academy and got a master's degree at progressive St. John's College in Annapolis. "That was the one part of the movie that I enjoyed. The Afghanistan mountains and forest from the valley where soldiers searched for the remains of the three SEALs who were killed in action. Smith and the others in Turbine 34 watched helplessly as the Chinook full of their fellow aviators their friends crashed into the mountain and erupted in a ball of flames. Rogie met Eicher on the flight line when he landed after returning from the mission. The loss weighed heavy on the men. He was a bit of a chucklehead. I don't know if I want to do this the rest of my life. Bradys maintenance officer woke him and said the SR team was in trouble and the Night Stalkers had orders to spin up and pull the team out. WARNING: NSFW footage of dead Navy SEALS and gore. Kristensen was the one who organized a rescue mission after a SEAL reconnaissance team's leader, Lt. Michael Murphy, called for help well into a firefight in Kunar province's soaring mountains. When we landed, we just saw a row of Night Stalkers and Rangers and SEALs for as far as I could see, lined up and ready to help transport the remains off and take them to the mortuary affairs section, Brady recalled. The back of the aircraft contained the flag-draped coffins of 16 great Americans: the fallen Night Stalkers and SEALs from Turbine 33. That's who Erik really was," said Jason Redman, who served in SEAL Team 10 as an officer with Kristensen at the time of the Operation Red Wings disaster and had once been in Murphy's platoon. When the ramp lowered, the Night Stalkers on the Chinooks stood tall and proud for their fallen brethren as task force members boarded and began solemnly moving each remains bag to the mortuary affairs building. The Night Stalkers again loaded their Chinooks with Rangers and SEALs and took off toward the mountains. Kristensen once told Roth, "I don't know about this whole SEAL thing. They engaged in a fierce firefight, and at some point the task force lost contact with them. Search for jobs related to Operation red wings news coverage or hire on the world's largest freelancing marketplace with 22m+ jobs. As he watched the two Chinooks taxiing onto the runway, he locked eyes with Russell, his platoon sergeant. The pilots descended to the point where the Chinooks front rotor was just a few feet away from the mountainside with tall trees all around the aircraft. Turbine 34 started taking heavy gunfire from unseen fighters below. Erik Kristensen and the fallen of Turbine 33 did not. The plan was for the SEALs to fast-rope onto the ridgeline above the original LZ. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. The extreme height of the trees made the full length of rope approximately 90 feet necessary. The Naval Special Warfare (NSW) community will forever remember June 28, 2005, and our special operators' heroic efforts and sacrifices. Brady rushed to the operations center where Chief Warrant Officer 4 Chris Eicher was telling the task force commander that they should wait until dark before sending the QRF because going in during daylight would subject them to more danger. Tasked with inserting the SEAL special reconnaissance (SR) team deep into enemy territory in unforgiving terrain, Brady knew the SEALs Lt. Michael Murphy, Petty Officer 2nd Class Danny Dietz, Petty Officer 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Axelson had a difficult mission ahead. Hoisting a man at that altitude on that kind of terrain at night is a dangerous operation. As he watched the two Chinooks taxiing onto the runway, he locked eyes with Russell, his platoon sergeant. In unpublished photos taken by an Army photographer of the crash site, blackened tree stumps poke up from the flattened slope. When Turbine 33 was shot down, they received orders to fly back along with Turbine 34 and the Apache gunships until the next phase of the mission was developed. My eyes were fixed in the distance, scanning, sweeping back and forth. The majority of his book focuses on his first deployment out of Ranger training. Once on the ground, theyd have to pick up the rope, hook it to themselves, and get hoisted back up. Brooks said he felt inspired to record his first-hand account of the mission to rescue Luttrell because most war stories are about the fighting and the glorious victory of battle, but I think this kind of tells another side of war that kind of really doesnt get much attention., This was ugly, this was an ugly event, Brooks added. That mission, as fate would have it, would see Brooks and his unit tasked with rescuing Luttrell and recovering the 11 Navy SEALs and eight Army Nightstalkers killed in the special operations mission in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. It's free to sign up and bid on jobs. Graham watched from Turbine 34 as Turbine 33s ramp lowered and the crewman walked onto it to observe the landing zone below. He asked the AC-130 crew for one final report on the four potential landing zones the Night Stalkers had identified for the mission. The JSOC troops, along with their newly arrived reinforcements, went to work recovering those killed in action as well as sensitive equipment that could not fall into enemy hands. Flight line view of U.S. Army UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters. Photo by Spc. He served as a surface warfare officer at sea before finally making it through BUD/S at 26, considered an "old man" and just under the wire of the SEALs' age cut-off. The Night Stalkers again loaded their Chinooks with Rangers and SEALs and took off toward the mountains. Back at Jalalabad, the commanders decided they had no choice but to wait for better weather and try again the next night. Photo courtesy of Matt Rogie. Night-vision goggles, weapons and helmets from both sites were recovered over the next two years from Taliban fighters killed in firefights and found in arms caches in the Korengal Valley. To cope with the catastrophic loss, she long ago befriended other moms who lost children inside the Pentagon on 9/11 and in Operation Red Wings, and a few years ago began volunteering to be an "Arlington Lady," a liaison to families of the fallen during Navy funerals at Arlington National Cemetery near their home on Capitol Hill. military operation during the War in Afghanistan. Jarret Roth, a Naval Academy buddy, said Kristensen was excited about joining his girlfriend in Paris in 2006 after his Afghanistan deployment for an Olmsted Foundation Scholarship to attend the Institute for Political Studies and was thinking beyond his time in the SEAL teams. Disappointed, Brady followed the order and got off the aircraft. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? They finalized plans and . Thats when Staff Sgt. "With my experience with TWA 800, I knew what an aircraft crash does to people. Photo courtesy of Matt Rogie. To me at the moment, it was just another mission, we didnt recognize the importance of it until years later.. Photo courtesy of Steven Smith. A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from 1-228th Aviation Regiment conducting hoist operations. There was still some smoldering from the crash site, and I could see the glow from the heat through my night vision.. Receiving the transmission, Brady couldnt believe it. The three-phase plan called for inserting a four-man SR team the first night, then inserting the second element of, This was a desolate part of the Hindu Kush, and at night, you wouldnt really expect to see much, Brady told, . The Night Stalkers would then circle back and pick up the remaining SEALs who offloaded at Jalalabad. Photo courtesy of Matt Rogie. Luttrell wrote of his own experience surviving through Operation Red Wings, a 2005 special operations mission in Afghanistan to stop Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. Graham reported the situation back to Bagram. At the Bagram operations center, Major Stephen Reich approached Brady urgently, asking why he didnt follow abort criteria and fly back with the SR team after the AC-130 had to leave the airspace. In January 2003, Brooks quit college and within a few months, he joined the Army. Marines in the area knew it was an extremely dangerous place filled with Taliban fighters. Receiving the transmission, Brady couldnt believe it. The Night Stalkers job was to insert the SEALs on a ridgeline where the terrain left few options for landing zones. Increasing the size of the enemy that . A California Marine remains in the brig, accused of threatening to chop up his wife with a machete. (Dr. Tony Books photo/Released) Luttrell wrote of his own experience surviving through Operation Red Wings, a 2005 special operations mission in Afghanistan to stop Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. The C-17 sat on the runway with the ramp down, waiting to receive the 16 interment cases containing the fallen warriors. Join our brand new verified AMN Telegram channel and get important news uncensored. The Armys elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) is known for having some of the most skilled aviators in the world, who fly the most elite special operators into some of the most austere environments on earth using the most advanced aircraft in the US military inventory. 8 to 12 estimated Taliban walked up the mountain and capitalised on every poor decision the seals made. When you hear all four directions, everyone gets pretty tense, Brady said. One of the SEALs even drew his pistol and attempted unsuccessfully to force the Chinook to land so they could try to save their friends. Operation Red Wings was a pyrrhic victory U.S. victory. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Matt Rogie arrived in Bagram just before the Night Stalkers came back after dropping off the recovery force.