June 28, 2005 Operation Red Wings
Today we remember the 19 American heroes who gave their lives. After their reconnaissance team was compromised in the mountains of Afghanistan, four Navy SEALs fought against overwhelming Taliban forces. LT Michael Murphy knowingly exposed himself to enemy fire to call for help, sacrificing his life in an act of extraordinary valor that earned him the MOH. The rescue operation, which included 8 Navy SEALs and 8 U.S. Army 160th SOAR Night Stalkers, launched immediately, but their Chinook helicopter was struck by an RPG, killing all 16 aboard.
Their courage, and selflessness will never be forgotten. Never forget Operation Red Wings.
@SEC_CRNA I tell people all the time, that are visiting Graceland, do not just walk down the streets. Get an Uber air whatever. You have no idea what kind of area you are in. It is wild down there.
Absolutely garbage. He knew the 1 rule that you could not break and broke it. What's stopping a coach from walking onto another teams practice field with a suitcase full of money and saying come on? I'm on the verge of being done with college sports
Breaking: A judge in district court in Lubbock County, Texas, has granted the injunction requested by Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby. He’s set to be eligible for the 2026 season.
Sorsby cannot play in Texas Tech's first two games, which was the penalty his legal team suggested to the NCAA.
@BigOrangeMack None of the ole wives tales work on me. All I can do is scratch till they bleed. Then the socks make the sores even worse. Why Noah saw fit to bring those spawns of satan onboard the arc I'll never know.
With Afghanistan still fresh in the nation’s memory and D-Day upon us again, I’ve been thinking about a piece of paper that weighs more than most leadership books ever written.
On this day in 1944, the night before the largest amphibious invasion in human history, Eisenhower sat staring into uncertainty. The weather was bad. His intelligence was incomplete. Thousands of ships were moving. Tens of thousands of men were preparing to climb down cargo nets into a black and angry sea. If the invasion failed, history itself would have bent in a different direction.
So Eisenhower wrote a little known note. Not because he expected failure, but because he understood command.
In a few short lines he accepted responsibility for a catastrophe that had not yet happened. No caveats or qualifiers. No carefully crafted language designed to spread blame across a dozen desks.
If the operation failed, it was his fault.
That was it. That was the entire note.
What strikes me is not the courage required to launch D-Day. Everybody understands that part. What strikes me is how completely alien that level of accountability feels today.
Somewhere along the way we built a culture where authority became a right and responsibility became optional. Everybody wants the title, the influence, the prestige. The moment things go wrong, however, the hunt begins for circumstances, systems, misunderstandings, subordinates, budgets, politics, weather, timing, or anyone else willing to stand still long enough to absorb the impact.
Eisenhower understood that command is not a reward, but a burden. The rank exists because somebody must stand at the end of the line and say, “This belongs to me.”
That little note may be one of the most important leadership documents ever written because it captured a truth that every generation eventually has to relearn: the higher you climb, the fewer excuses you are allowed to make.
The men who landed on those beaches carried rifles.
Eisenhower carried all of them.