Over the radio, Walton could hear the pilots talking about the weather. The clouds were closing in again. The cloud depth had dropped five hundred feet in the last ten minutes.
“You have like ten to fifteen minutes to get out of there or we are not going to get you out,” the helicopter battalion’s commander said. He was flying above.
It had been a huge relief when Walton finally got back to the landing zone. But now the stress was returning. Back at the end of the valley, Apaches, F-15s, and A-10s were pounding the village. Rhyner had a list of the targets and the goal was to bomb them until the helicopters cleared the valley.
With the helicopters inbound, Walton made sure the Afghan captain, Mateen, was ready.
“Do you have accountability of your troops?”
“Yup. We have them all. We’re good,” the Afghan said through an interpreter.
But Walton wasn’t convinced. Mateen had answered too fast and there was no way Walton was going to leave a commando in this valley.
“You count every motherfucker,” he shouted. “We’re not leaving anyone behind. Every single fucking commando, wounded or not, better be accounted for because we’re not leaving because that is your biggest worry.”
Everybody was bleeding and exhausted. Their nerves were frayed. Walton’s bell was run by the rounds. Howard’s eardrums were blown out after shooting the Carl G repeatedly. Commanders had considered leaving the team in place to coordinate air strikes. But they discarded that idea after reports that more than a hundred fighters were moving toward Walton and his men.
Searching the area around the landing zone, Walton knew they didn’t have time to get on the high ground to defend themselves. Rhyner had already put in multiple nine-lines to continue bombing. Walton would have happily stayed in the valley for two days in order to bomb them. But his ride was en route and they had nine minutes to go, or the birds would leave them behind.
Just before the helicopters arrived, everybody let loose with their rifles and machine guns in all directions. Nobody shot back.
When the Chinook landed, it was time to leave.