12 Strong Page #4

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- No, no.

All right, I'll bite.

Why three?

The Russians have been here before, right?

They've done this.

And they wrote about it.

They said the snow

was shutting down

all the mountain passes

by mid-November.

Every year, without fail.

Now, if the Russians are

talking about a bad winter,

it's usually worth

paying attention to, isn't it?

After three weeks,

we will not get into Mazar.

That snow will hit, the Taliban will

dig in, and my men won't come home.

Your air support comes

from B-52s at 35,000 feet.

How do you think you're gonna

get close enough to be accurate

without parking a bomb

in your lap?

I'll have to get

out of the way, sir.

The extra three weeks

is cushion for your f***-ups.

There won't be any f***-ups.

Three weeks is all we need.

Pretty confident for a guy

who's never done this before.

Never been to war.

I don't see that

as a disadvantage, sir.

Well, maybe you should

explain that.

We're teaming up with a warlord

that we know nothing about.

We're not gonna be able to tell

our enemies from our allies.

Every step we take is gonna be on a

minefield from a hundred different wars.

And no one's ever called in a

smart bomb airstrike from a B-52.

So anyone who tells you

they've done this before

or has experience in this

is lying, sir.

There's no playbook here. We're

gonna have to write it ourselves.

I briefed five potential

captains for this mission.

About a hundred years of military

experience between them.

But you're the only one

that sees it the way it is.

I choose you.

You and 11 men.

Task Force Dagger.

I would be remiss

if I did not say to you,

even in success

the odds of you coming home...

They're 100%, sir,

with all due respect.

See, I kind of made

a promise, too.

You know better

than that, Nelson.

- What'd she get you to?

- Christmas.

Hmm.

It's a hell of a thing

we do, isn't it?

How do you love your family

and leave them to go to war?

You're wheels up at 2200.

Dismissed.

No, no. Knock that off. Go.

Captain.

The most important thing a man can

take into combat is a reason why.

This is from the towers.

You carry that with you.

Five weeks ago,

19 men attacked our country.

The 12 of you will be the

first ones to fight back.

Go win this thing.

Thank you, sir.

Yeah!

Son of a b*tch.

We're the first ones in!

Yeah, it's kind of like

the Apollo program.

You know what they sent

into space first, right?

- What?

- A monkey.

Great.

But, listen, brother.

If it's six weeks,

it's six weeks, okay?

We can't rush this.

We're in harm's way

no matter what the weather.

If your only goal

is trying to keep us alive,

we're dead men for sure.

I ain't losing one man

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