The Only Thing Worth Dying For (23 page)

The bridge over the Arghandab River as seen looking southwest from the Alamo over the rooftops of Shawali Kowt.(
ODA 574 archives
)

Lieutenant Colonel Mike Kingsley gave the order to send the first daylight rescue mission in the war from J-Bad, Pakistan, on December 5, despite the unknowns at Shawali Kowt.(
USAF/TSgt. Scott Reed
)

Dual-hatted Lieutenant Colonel Hadley was both the air mission commander for the rescue efforts and lead trauma physician on Knife 03.(
USAF/ TSgt. Scott Reed
)

Captain Paul Alexander, copilot on Knife 04. (
AFSOC archives
)

Captain Steve Gregg, pilot and aircraft commander of Knife 03.(
AFSOC archives
)

Staff Sergeant Scott Diekman, the tail gunner on Knife 03.(
AFSOC archives
)

Knife 03 and Knife 04, low level and broad daylight over Afghanistan, early December.(
USAF/ TSgt. Scott Reed
)

The CCTs and PJs surround Hadley after the mission at Camp Rhino on December 5.(
Hadley family archives
)

Cubby and Allard with the Alamo in the background on December 7.(
Wojciehowski family archives
)

Karzai walking in the desert of Uruzgan Province on December 3. Two days later, he would narrowly escape death and be named the interim leader of Afghanistan.(
ODA 574 archives
)

Karzai being sworn in as interim leader on December 22, 2001, in Kabul.(
Hadley family archives
)

Captain Amerine’s mentor, Dennis Holloway—shown here outside of Kuwait City on January 18, 1991, during Operation Desert Storm— walked him through the Trees of the Dead at Gabriel Field when Amerine was still a cadet at West Point.(
Holloway family archives
)

The Trees of the Dead, Gabriel Field, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, 2008.(
Bruce Watts
)

“I’m told there are small
jirgas
[councils] taking place across the tribal belt,” said Karzai. “All the way to Kandahar, tribal leaders are discussing which side to take.”