On March 4, 2002, TSgt John Chapman, along with members of SEAL Team Six, took part in Operation Anaconda, whose objective was to crush Taliban and al-Qaeda forces on a large scale.

During the night, the seven-man team was to fly by Chinook helicopter to Takur Ghar Mountain in eastern Afghanistan to set up an observation post. An AC-130 had scanned the area for enemies with thermal imaging shortly before, but spotted nothing and then turned away to support other forces. What followed would come to be known as the “Battle of Takur Ghar”.

The team had already had technical problems on the ground and had to switch helicopters. It was also under pressure from the sun, which was about to come up. Based on that and the gunship’s “enemy clear” report, the squad leader of the recon team decided to land directly on the mountain. By the book, they would have landed at a safe distance and approached the reconnaissance target on foot.

Well-equipped and well-trained insurgents had dug into bunkers under the thick blanket of snow. They fired so heavily on the Chinook as it came in that the electronics failed, a fire broke out briefly and Navy SEAL Neil Roberts fell out of the tailgate in the chaos. After the helicopter made an emergency landing about 10 km away, the soldiers decided to fly back into the danger zone voluntarily to rescue the comrade they had lost.

As soon as the team dismounted, they came under heavy machine gun fire and took up positions. Chapman, however, called in an AC-130 and then fought his way alone through the deep snow to one of the bunkers, where he killed 2 enemies at point-blank range. He and his squad leader then attacked a second bunker, where he was hit and went down. When another team member was shot, the squad leader decided to break contact, leaving Chapman motionless in the darkness.

Despite his life-threatening wounds, he regained consciousness some time later, took up the fight again and shot an enemy who was rushing toward him. He was hit a second time, but still beat another insurgent in hand-to-hand combat. When he heard the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) helicopter at dawn, Chapman broke cover one last time and drew fire onto himself to keep the enemy from getting a lock on the aircraft. Out of ammunition and carrying 16 shrapnel and gunshot wounds, he finally took a hit to the heart and died. His actions were filmed by a CIA drone using thermal imaging, footage that later helped secure the Medal of Honor.

The QRF’s Chinook carried 19 Airborne Rangers, a Tactical Air Controller and 3 Pararescue Jumpers (PJ). While still in the air it came under such intense fire that a door gunner was killed and both pilots were seriously wounded. In a heroic last-moment maneuver, they still managed a relatively safe forced landing under constant RPG and machine gun fire.

The dismounted soldiers also came under direct fire and immediately suffered heavy casualties. Several hundred enemy fighters had entrenched themselves in the mountain range and were drawn in by the noise of battle.


The Rangers fought their way up a 45–70 degree slope through snow 1 meter deep, while heavy machine guns and mortars fired down on them from prepared positions above. The Tactical Air Controller called in airstrikes at close range (Danger Close) again and again. Evacuating the wounded by helicopter was impossible in that volume of enemy fire.

It took hours for the American forces to gain the upper hand, evacuate all the wounded and finally begin the exfiltration around 8 p.m. local time. A total of 7 US soldiers lost their lives in the battle and 12 more were wounded. The Americans also lost 2 Chinooks of an advanced type fitted with ground-penetrating radar. On the other side, around 200 enemy fighters were killed in those hours of fighting.

Navy SEAL Neil Roberts, who fell from the helicopter early on, most likely survived the fall and was executed by insurgents shortly before the team returned. There is no definitive account of exactly how he died.


John A. Chapman was first awarded the Air Force Cross for his actions in the Battle of Takur Ghar. After re-analyzing the CIA drone footage, Air Force Administrative Director Deborah Lee James pushed for an upgrade to the Medal of Honor. The Navy leadership tried to block it, because that would have meant admitting that Chapman was still alive when the team broke contact and that he had been left behind. In August 2018 Chapman was nevertheless awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously and promoted to Master Sergeant.

List of the fallen:

U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU):
PO1 Neil “Fifi” C. Roberts

U.S. Air Force Combat Controller:
TSgt John A. Chapman, born 1965

U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen:
SrA Jason D. Cunningham

U.S. Army 75th Ranger Regiment:
CPL Matthew A. Commons
SGT Bradley S. Crose
SPC Marc A. Anderson

U.S. Army 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne):
SGT Philip “Spytech” Svitak

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