Combat Story (Ep 46): Tony Brooks | 2nd Ranger Battalion | Operation Red Wings Recovery | Author Leave No Man Behind
Combat Story
Ryan Fugit
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 16 October 2021
⏱️ 112 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we hear the Combat Story of Tony Brooks, a former Army Ranger with 2nd Ranger Battalion who fought in Afghanistan early in the war and in Ramadi, Iraq.
Tony’s first mission was significant, being tasked with the recovery of downed chinook helicopter, Turbine 33 and The Lone Survivor, Marcus Luttrell in the mountains of Afghanistan.
His book, Leave No Man Behind, is all about this experience as the primary search and rescue element that catalogues the mission from hitting the ground, recovering bodies, and hunting for every last man to bring them home.
In this episode, we also touch on the impact of a legendary man, soldier, Ranger, and American - Pat Tillman - who had a tremendous influence on Tony (and myself for that matter).
After the military, Tony went on to become a licensed chiropractor. He married the woman he refers to in the book as ‘the Unicorn’ who he met as a private while stationed at Fort Lewis.
I hope you enjoy his Combat Story, and the mission to bring everyone home, as much as I did.
#rangers #specialoperations #operationredwings #veteran #veterans #combatstory #tonybrooks #2ndrangerbattalion #rangerbatt #rltw
Find Tony Online:
Book Leave No Man Behind https://www.amazon.com/Leave-Man-Behind-Unrelenting-Afghanistan/dp/1635767350
Website https://www.drtonybrooksauthor.com/
Instagram @drtonybrooks https://www.instagram.com/drtonybrooks/
Facebook Dr Tony Brooks https://www.facebook.com/DrTonyBrooks/
Find Ryan Online:
Follow on Instagram @combat_stories https://www.instagram.com/combatstory
Follow on Facebook @combatstoryofficial https://fb.me/combatstoryofficial
Send us messages at https://m.me/combatstoryofficial
Email [email protected]
Learn more about Ryan www.combatstory.com/aboutus
Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle
Show Notes
0:00 - Intro
0:53 - Guest bio
1:40 - Interview begins
2:06 - Pat Tillman - One of the greatest Americans of our generation
10:35 - Finding Purpose
13:19 - Why go to the Rangers?
17:00 - The Unicorn and the long play
20:00 - Parents played it neutral
23:50 - First time in Afghanistan
30:33 - Context for Operation Red Wings
37:15 - How did you feel going into your first mission?
40:07 - Fast roping onto target
49:25 - First objective - get to the crash site
58:20 - Recovering body parts
59:22 - Finding a wedding ring that meant so much more
1:06:27 - Next mission post-crash site recovery
1:13:50 - A screech you’ve never heard before
1:17:06 - Next mission is BDA
1:24:04 - My first experience of war was “sh*@”
1:26:28 - Finding Marcus Luttrell
1:32:13 - How close was the movie scenery (Lone Survivor) to reality
1:39:14 - Hilarious story of one of those “guys” in the unit
1:46:15 - What did you carry with you into combat?
1:47:31 - Would you go back and do it all again?
1:48:30 - How does Tony think about recent events in Afghanistan?
1:50:45 - Listener comments
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Yeah, so after completing the recovery of the crew of Turban 33, we were still unaware |
| 0:09.4 | of where the four-man Navy SEAL reconnaissance team was, and you know, coming into the mission, |
| 0:14.7 | we didn't really know what happened to those guys, so after the helicopter recovery, |
| 0:19.3 | we were going to see if we assumed they were there, but they weren't. So our next job |
| 0:25.4 | was to figure out where they were, and we had about three or four hours left daylight. Our |
| 0:30.5 | job then was, okay, well, let's go find those guys. Welcome to Combat Story. I'm Ryan Fugid, |
| 0:36.8 | and I serve Warzone Tourers as an Army Attack Helicopter Pilot and CIA Officer over a 15-year |
| 0:41.7 | career. I'm fascinated by the experiences of the elite in combat. On this show, I interview |
| 0:47.2 | some of the best to understand what combat felt like on their front lines. This is Combat Story. |
| 0:53.6 | Today, we hear the combat story of Tony Brooks, a former Army Ranger with second-ranger battalion |
| 0:58.3 | who fought in Afghanistan early in the war and in Ramadi, Iraq. Tony's first mission was significant, |
| 1:04.4 | being tasked with the recovery of Downshinok helicopter Turban 33 and the Loan Survivor Marcus |
| 1:09.9 | Latrell in the mountains of Afghanistan. His book, Leave No Man Behind, is all about this experience |
| 1:16.4 | as the primary search and rescue element that catalogues the mission from hitting the ground, |
| 1:20.8 | recovering the bodies, and hunting for every last man to bring them home. In this episode, |
| 1:26.0 | we also touch on the impact of a legendary man, soldier, ranger, and American Pat Tillman, |
| 1:31.2 | who had a tremendous influence on Tony and myself for that matter. I hope you enjoy his combat |
| 1:36.2 | story and the mission to bring everyone home as much as I did. Tony, thanks for taking the time to |
| 1:41.2 | share your story today. Yeah, thanks for having me. Looking forward to it. So I was mentioned just |
| 1:45.5 | before we hit record here that I wanted to start off with a question that I was really surprised. |
| 1:51.5 | I have not talked to anybody about in 40 interviews. And your book, Leave No Man Behind, as you can see, |
| 1:58.6 | behind your your shoulder there, brought this up. And I thought it would be a great way to kick off |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ryan Fugit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Ryan Fugit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.