MARK FORESTER DIED TRYING TO RECOVER A COMRADE
This is the last photo of SF Medic Calvin Harrison (left) and Combat Controller Mark Forester (right). A few hours later the two would be caught in a heavy firefight, and Forester would fall trying to recover Harrison.
On September 29, 2010, Combat Controller Mike Forester joined a US Special Forces operation to support an assault on a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan. Together with 4 American and 8 Afghan soldiers, Forester rode at the head of a mounted patrol so that any ambush could be engaged early.
As soon as the special forces reached the village the insurgents held, they came under heavy machine gun and sniper fire. Forester exposed himself to enemy fire without hesitating and began calling air support onto the enemy positions. When the insurgent fire grew more accurate, the team was forced to fall back across open ground into an Afghan compound. Crossing it, they came into the sights of a sniper, who cut down one of the Afghan soldiers moments later. Only Forester’s fast and precise airstrikes silenced the sniper, and the rest of the team reached the compound safely. There the combat controller helped secure the housing complex and then joined the main element as it moved to flank the enemy positions.
When a US soldier was fatally hit during the flanking maneuver, Forester stepped into the line of fire, engaged the enemy shooter and then put together a squad to recover the fallen man. He kept leading his teammates against the enemy until, after several hours of fighting, Calvin Harrison went down as well. Trying to fight his way through to his fallen comrade, Forester was hit too and died of his wounds on the battlefield.
A brotherhood nobody else understands.
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