were all the bodies recovered from operation red wings
After the broken transmission from the SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team, the position and situation of the SEALs became unknown. Members of SEAL Team 10, U.S. Marines, and aviators of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment were prepared to dispatch a quick reaction force, but command for launch from higher special operations headquarters was delayed for a number of hours. A quick reaction force finally launched, consisting of two MH-47 Special Operations Aircraft of the 160th, two UH-60 conventional Army aviation Black Hawk helicopters, and two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. The two MH-47s took the lead. Upon reaching Sawtalo Sar, the two MH-47s received small arms fire. During an attempt to insert SEALs who were riding in one of the MH-47 helicopters, one of Ahmad Shah's men fired an RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade, which struck the transmission below the rear rotor assembly, causing the aircraft to immediately plummet to the ground, killing all eight 160th Army Special Operations Aviators and crew, and all eight Navy SEALs who were passengers. Both commanders of the 160th, Ground commander LCDR Erik S. Kristensen, of SEAL Team 10, and aviation element commander Major Stephen C. Reich, were killed in the shootdown. Command and control (C2) at this point was lost, and neither visual nor radio contact could be established with the SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team. At this point, which was late in the afternoon, storm clouds were moving in over the region. The aircraft returned to their respective bases, and a massive search began, at first from the ground, and then with aviation assets. The 16 bodies of those killed in the MH-47 shootdown were recovered. After an intensive search, the bodies of Dietz, Murphy, and Axelson were eventually recovered, and Marcus Luttrell was rescued, his survival due in part to the aid of a local Afghan villager in the village of Salar Ban, roughly 0.7 miles (1.1 km) down the northeast gulch of Sawtalo Sar from the location of the ambush.
Operation Red Wings