"Lone Survivor" is from Huntsville, Texas

Houston Chronicle:

War forces terrible decisions on young men. No one knows that better than Marcus Luttrell.

In June 2005, on a barren mountain high in the Taliban-infested Hindu Kush, Luttrell and three fellow Navy SEALs came together to talk. Their mission — to locate and possibly take out an important Taliban leader hiding in the Afghan village below — had just been compromised. Three goatherds, one a boy of about 14, had blundered onto their position. Sitting against a log under the watchful eyes of their captors, the Afghans clearly weren't happy to see the Americans. On the other hand, they were unarmed, technically civilians.

As about 100 goats milled about, Petty Officers Matthew Axelson, Danny Dietz and Luttrell, and their commander, Lt. Michael Murphy, discussed what to do. Having tried and failed earlier to make radio contact with their home base, they were on their own.

As they saw it, they had two options: kill the Afghans, or let them go and hope for the best. They let them go.

It's a decision Luttrell bitterly regrets.

Within hours, more than 100 Taliban fighters descended on the SEAL team. In the terrible gun battle that followed, Murphy, Axelson and Dietz died. A few miles away, a Taliban grenade brought down a rescue helicopter on its way to help the trapped men, killing all 16 aboard. It was the worst day in the 40-year history of the Navy SEALs.

Luttrell, who was born in Houston and raised on a small ranch outside Huntsville, recounts the harrowing events of that day and the days that followed in Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10. Co-written with novelist and biographer Patrick Robinson, the just-released book includes one of the most gripping and heartbreaking descriptions of heroism in combat to come out of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. On Sunday, Lone Survivor debuted at No. 6 on the New York Times best seller list.

The book is also an astonishing survival tale. Luttrell, half-dead, was taken in by Afghan villagers, many of whom probably had family ties to the Taliban. Having discussed the matter, they decided to grant the injured man lokhay warkawal, the protection of the village. They would be honor-bound, under this strict Pashtun tribal law, to protect Luttrell and not give him up.

"One of the lessons I learned was that there are good people everywhere," Luttrell said. "That village, Sabray, saved my life."

Luttrell, who received his Navy discharge early last month and has moved back to Walker County, discussed Lone Survivor recently over lunch in downtown Houston. His 6-foot-5, 230-pound frame squeezed into his only civilian suit, he wasn't enjoying himself. He admits he hates doing interviews. In the book, he expresses frequent disdain for the "liberal media" and "liberals" in general, whom he blames for imposing naive rules of engagement that jeopardize American lives, and for second-guessing difficult, split-second decisions soldiers in combat must make. While polite, ending sentences with a military-style "sir," he's intense and terse.

...

There is much more.

With that last quoted paragraph Luttrell shows he is intelligent and aware of who really supports him and his mission. Liberals have done their worst to undermine our war efforts against a wicked enemy and we should never forget that or ever trust them with national security decisions.