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May 1, 2011
“One minute,” yelled the commander over the thumping helicopter rotor blades as they thrashed through the night air.
The SEAL team operators flipped down night-vision goggles, popped safety catches on their weapons, and flashed thumbs-up to one another. Fifty feet from the ground, a metallic cracking sound burst from the helicopter’s tail section, reminiscent of an aging piano cord giving up its long fight. The pilot wrenched the stick in a violent attempt to prevent the craft from rolling sideways as the tail swung in a wild circle. The helicopter impacted the top of a twelve-foot cement wall surrounding the compound. Navy SEALs spilled on top of one another as the craft teetered onto its side and slid to a stop. Unfazed, the operators burst from the damaged craft and ra
