History Main / LoneSurvivor

For the 2007 book, go [[Literature/LoneSurvivor here]].
For the 2012 video game, go [[VideoGame/LoneSurvivor here]].

[[redirect:Literature/LoneSurvivor]]

The RealLife story of Marcus Luttrel, and the death of [=SEAL=] Team 10.

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!!This work contains examples of:

* {{Badass}}: The [=SEALs=] are.
* BedouinRescueService: Pashtun, in this case.
* BeingGoodSucks: Luttrel directly attributes the everything-went-to-hell events of the novel to the team's decision to let some goatherders live.
* BlatantLies: That's right, the [[HeroicBuild seven-foot tall]], mortally wounded Texan with the satanic-looking tattoo who fell into your village directly after that horrific gunfight, wearing a uniform with a [[RobLiefeld Liefeldian]] number of pockets, carrying an [[CoolGun M1A]] and enough computer technology to launch the space shuttle is from...wait for it...''Doctors Without Borders''. It's implied that the villagers knew Luttrel was full of shit but let it slide since they'd already decided to save him anyway.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Luttrel has no idea why the villagers are so hell-bent on defending him against the Taliban, and simply comes to accept that their motivations as different from his own, without really understanding. His explanations in the text are actually post-facto intelligence from cultural experts.
* CombatPragmatist: Well, this is RealLife.
* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: Zigzagged, but ultimately played straight. Luttrel's account of the indignities of [=BUDS=] just makes it that much cooler in the end.
* EverythingsBigInTexas: Has Luttrel mentioned he's from Texas today? Because he's from Texas.
* FriendlySniper: Well, they are friendly to each other, anyway.
* HeroicBSOD: Luttrel has one. {{Justified}} since he's just seen his three teammates die in a hail of gunfire, he's been shot, battered and blown up, and now he's stuffed in a hole while his enemies scour the countryside for him and he's slowly dying of thirst. Since the ordeal he's suffered from [=PTSD=] and insomnia.
* HeroicSacrifice: LT Michael Murphy was awarded the Medal of Honor for the action described in the book. Posthumously.
* HonorBeforeReason: It's kind of the Pashtun [[PlanetOfHats Hat]]. See TheOtherWiki entry on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashtunwali Pashtunwali]].
* IGaveMyWord: Closely related to SacredHospitality. Once the village offered Luttrel asylum, they were honor-bound to defend him to the last man. As Luttrel points out, the members of the Taliban that sought to kill him were likely Pashtun themselves, possibly originally from that very village, and relatives of his protectors.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Four men held off AN ARMY. [[ItGotWorse For a while]].
* ItGotWorse
* MightyWhitey: Averted. The rural, and supposedly unsophisticated village, is already supplied with a full-fledged doctor and plenty capable of defending itself. Luttrel's considerable martial and medical skills are entirely redundant.
* MoreDakka: The Taliban bring it, in the form of long lost Kalashnikovs and cold-war era artillery.
* {{Ninja}}: If the [=SEAL=]s aren't, nobody is.
* NotSoDifferent: Despite the rampant ValuesDissonance, the Navy [=SEAL=] is impressed by the villager's honor, courage and commitment. That's a pretty big deal.
* NoWomansLand: The only women who appear in the story are Luttrel's mother and the widows of [=SEAL=] Team 10. If he ever saw a Pashtun woman, he doesn't mention it.
* PetTheDog: Subverted, when the "dog" isn't interested. The [=SEAL=]s try to offer an Afghan boy an MRE, but the boy [[{{Foreshadowing}} just glares at them]] and ignores the offering.
* SacredHospitality: Most cultures of the Middle East take hospitality very seriously, but the Pashtun take it UpToEleven.
* ValuesDissonance: Luttrel is a very conservative Christian from the American South, and has effectively no common ground with the also very conservative Muslim Pashtun. Still, he admires their courage and commitment to ''their'' idea of honor, and when describes the [[StayInTheKitchen the Pashtun attitude towards women]], and admits that while their extreme views "may not work for downtown Dallas," it seemed to work well enough for them.

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* HeroicBSOD: Luttrel has one. [[{{Understatement}} Kind of]] {{justified}} since he's just seen his three teammates die in a hail of gunfire, he's been shot, battered and blown up, and now he's stuffed in a hole while his enemies scour the countryside for him and he's slowly dying of thirst. Since the ordeal he's suffered from [=PTSD=] and insomnia.

* ValuesDissonance: Luttrel is a [[{{Understatement}} rather conservative]] Christian from the American South, and has effectively no common ground with the [[{{Understatement}} rather conservative]] Muslim Pashtun. Still, he admires their courage and commitment to ''their'' idea of honor, and when describes the [[StayInTheKitchen the Pashtun attitude towards women]], and admits that while their extreme views "may not work for downtown Dallas," it seemed to work well enough for them.

* IGaveMyWord: Closely related to SacredHospitality. Once the village offered Luttrel asylum, they were honor-bound to defend him to the last man. As Luttrel points out, the members of the Taliban that sought to kill him were likely Pashtun themselves, possibly originally from that very village, and relatives of his protectors.
* ItGotWorse

* PetTheDog: Subverted, when the "dog" isn't interested. The [=SEAL=]s try to offer an Afghani boy an MRE, but the boy [[{{Foreshadowing}} just glares at them]] and ignores the offering.

* HeroicSacrifice

* SacredHospitality
* IGaveMyWord

* Badass: The [=SEALs=] are.

* TearJerker

* Badass: The SEALs are.

* BeingGoodSucks

* BlatantLies: That's right, the [[HeroicBuild seven-foot tall]], mortally wounded Texan with the satanic-looking tattoo who fell into your village directly after that horrific gunfight, wearing a uniform with a [[RobLiefeld Liefeldian]] number of pockets, carrying an [[CoolGun M1A4]] and enough computer technology to launch the space shuttle is from...wait for it...''Doctors Without Borders''. It's implied that the villagers knew Luttrel was full of shit but let it slide since they'd already decided to save him anyway.

* BlatantLies: That's right, the seven-foot tall, mortally wounded Texan with the satanic-looking tattoo who fell into your village directly after that horrific gunfight, wearing a uniform with a [[RobLiefeld Liefeldian]] number of pockets, carrying an [=M1A4=] and enough computer technology to launch the space shuttle is from...wait for it...''Doctors Without Borders''. It's implied that the villagers knew Luttrel was full of shit but let it slide since they'd already decided to save him anyway.

* HeroicBSOD: Luttrel has one. [[{{Understatement}} Kind of]] {{justified}} since he's just seen his three teammates die in a hail of gunfire, he's been shot, battered and blown up, and now he's stuffed in a hole while his enemies scour the countryside for him and he's slowly dying of thirst.

* BlatantLies: That's right, the seven-foot tall, mortally wounded Texan with the satanic-looking tattoo who fell into your village directly after that horrific gunfight, wearing a uniform with a [[RobLiefeld Liefeldian]] number of pockets, carrying an M1A4 and enough computer technology to launch the space shuttle is from...wait for it...''Doctors Without Borders''. It's implied that the villagers knew Luttrel was full of shit but let it slide since they'd already decided to save him anyway.

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