Marcus Luttrell

Marcus Luttrell (born November 7, 1975) is a former Petty Officer First Class and United States Navy SEAL. He received the Navy Cross for his actions in 2005 facing Taliban fighters during Operation Redwing. Born in Houston, Texas and raised in Willis, Texas, Luttrell joined the United States Navy in March 1999. He began Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training with Class 226 in Coronado, California. He graduated with Class 228 after suffering a fractured femur early in his training. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2005. Prior to Afghanistan, Luttrell had been part of SEAL Team 5 and participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom doing various operations there. Luttrell's New York Times bestselling book, Lone Survivor, tells the story of Operation Redwing and the navy SEAL Team 10 who were assigned to a mission to kill or capture Ahmad Shah (nom de guerre Mohammad Ismail), a high-ranking Taliban leader responsible for killings in eastern Afghanistan and the Hindu-Kush mountains. Luttrell was the only survivor of the SEAL team. In his next book, Service: A Navy SEAL at War, Luttrell recounts his experiences in Iraq as a member of SEAL Team 5 and offers new insights into his miraculous rescue during Operation Redwing.