'12 Strong': When The Afghan War Looked Like A Quick, Stirring Victory
Enlarge this image toggle caption Maxim Marmur /AP Maxim Marmur /AP
When Army Capt. Mark Nutsch and 11 fellow Green Berets jumped off their helicopter into the swirling dust of northern Afghanistan in October 2001, their Afghan partner informed them they would be battling the Taliban — on horseback.
"In that situation, they're certainly not going to give you their very best horses," Nutsch said dryly.
Fortunately for Nutsch, this wasn't his first rodeo. Literally. He's from Kansas. He grew up on horses — and yes, competing in rodeos.
Not everyone had his experience. Chief Warrant Officer Bob Pennington, weighing in at 225 pounds, plus 50 pounds of gear, was given a small, cranky horse that was accustomed to much smaller Afghan riders.
"Oh my God. I crushed him. I mean, I absolutely crushed him," Pennington said of his steed. "He was so aggravated with me, he reached back several times to try to bite my leg. He did once. He basically tried to pull me off."
Many Americans may be weary of the war in Afghanistan. But the producer of 12 Strong, Jerry Bruckheimer, has been making military-themed blockbusters for decades (Top Gun, Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor) and is betting big on this true story from the first days of the battle back in 2001.
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The movie, which opens Friday, is based on the exploits of Nutsch, Pennington and other Green Berets dropped into Afghanistan barely a month after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Nutsch and Pennington are helping to promote the Warner Bros. film, based on the 2009 book Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton.
The mission was unconventional warfare in the extreme.
A few tiny units, just a couple of hundred American troops and CIA operatives, linked up with Afghan rebels and coordinated with U.S. air power to take on the Taliban. At the time, the Taliban controlled more than 90 percent of Afghanistan and hosted Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist group that carried out the Sept. 11 attacks.
"You had basically 19th century warfare, horseback, mixed with 20th century weaponry, AK-47s, rocket launchers, with our 21st century technology, global positioning devices and satellite radio," Nutsch said of his operation. "So we just had to figure out how to blend all that together."
Their partner was a legendary — and notorious — Afghan warlord, Abdul Rashid Dostum. He's been a key player in Afghanistan since the early 1990s, often accused of brutal tactics on the battlefield and widespread corruption off it.
He has been a vice president since 2014, though he fled to Turkey last year amid yet another controversy.
But in 2001, he commanded one of the few forces that could confront the Taliban.
"We called them Afghan minutemen, walking or riding their horses from hundreds of miles away," Nutsch said. "We raised an army of over 2,500 horsemen and 500 infantry — 3,000 militia that our small team worked with."
Within weeks, they drove the Taliban out of Mazar-e-Sharif, the largest and most important city in the north. Soon, the Taliban fell like dominoes and lost every major city, including the capital Kabul.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Bebeto Matthews/AP Bebeto Matthews/AP
It all appeared deceptively easy at the time.
But driving the Taliban out of Afghan cities was one thing; defeating them decisively and ending the war has proved maddeningly elusive.
The U.S. troop presence peaked at more than 100,000 in the early years of former President Barack Obama's administration, and a U.S. force of about 14,000 remains there today in a conflict widely regarded as a stalemate.
Still, the story of the horse soldiers remains a powerful tale. First came the book in 2009. And next to where the World Trade Center towers once stood in New York City, a statue of a soldier on a horse pays tribute to these fighters.
Nutsch can revel in his big-screen portrayal by the chiseled Chris Hemsworth, star of the Thor movies, even if his family isn't impressed.
"My kids think it's quite humorous that Chris Hemsworth is portraying me in this film," he said.
All this makes for a stirring, patriotic movie — as long as you conveniently end it around December 2001 and don't dwell on the grinding 16 years of warfare that have followed.
The film focuses entirely on this initial success. Nutsch and Pennington say the filmmakers got the spirit of those early days right.
But it is Hollywood. In the movie, Pennington is wounded for dramatic effect. In real life, he wasn't injured, though he still suffers back pain from all the horse riding.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Bob Pennington Courtesy of Bob Pennington
Nutsch went back to Afghanistan several times: once to provide the military with a case study of his 2001 mission, and later as a civilian to assist schools and medical clinics in the northern part of the country.
Pennington went on to serve five tours in Iraq, part of a 30-year military career that included 14 deployments. None compares with the adrenaline rush of that first charge into Afghanistan, he said.
"We looked at this mission and thought, 'This is the Super Bowl, this is the World Series, the National Championship. Man, we can't wait to get in there," he recalled. "We looked it as, 'Hey, we could be here three to five months, three to five years, who knows.'"
Did he ever think the U.S. would still be fighting in Afghanistan today?
"No, no. Not at all. Not this long. We never thought we would be bogged down for this long a period," he said.
Both men have retired from the military, but are still partners. They're preparing to launch the American Freedom Distillery this spring in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Featured products include Horse Soldier Bourbon and T-shirts that read "Make Whiskey, Not War."
Greg Myre is a national security correspondent. Follow him @gregmyre1.
Jerry Bruckheimer has enjoyed lasting success in Hollywood thanks to his blockbuster films, like “Armageddon,” “Top Gun” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” — but it’s American heroes that keep inspiring him.
And the 74-year-old film producer is no stranger to bringing true stories to life. Bruckheimer has relied on storytelling for the big screen to honor the men who’ve tirelessly fought for America, which is seen in his war movies, such as “Black Hawk Down” and “Pearl Harbor.”
Bruckheimer’s latest project is “12 Strong,” which was inspired by the first U.S. Special Forces that were sent to Afghanistan in the weeks after the September 11th terror attack. It’s a tale that was kept under wraps until Doug Stanton’s book “Horse Soldiers” was published in 2009.
“12 Strong” stars Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Pena, as well as comedian/Marine Rob Riggle.
Fox News spoke with Bruckheimer about the captivating soldiers behind “12 Strong,” his passion for the American military and being a proud conservative in Hollywood.
Fox News: What inspired you to tell the story of the horse soldiers?
Bruckheimer: I like to tell stories about individuals who have made a difference in our world, but yet you know nothing about them. This was a classified story that was recently declassified. It made such a difference for our country and the Afghan people.
And I think they should be remembered. And with this movie, they will be remembered. We did it with "Remember the Titans," "Glory Road" and "Black Hawk Down." So this is a terrific, heroic story. And I also like to tell stories that not only entertain an audience but also educate. And I think this movie is a prime example of educating the world about this very interesting mission.
Fox News: Where did your passion for the military come from?
Bruckheimer: I think about their professionalism and how they operate and the fact that they give up so much to protect our shores. And the fact that they have to leave their families, especially the men on this particular mission. Mark [Nutsch], the man Chris Hemsworth plays, he left behind his wife and child and didn’t know if he would ever come back. And they do that because they love our country and they want to protect their families. And I believe these men should be celebrated.
Fox News: In “12 Strong,” how important was it to show Afghan soldiers helping American soldiers especially after the 9/11 tragedy?
Bruckheimer: We were fortunate because we worked with a lot of Afghan refugees. They’re actually in the movie. There’s a whole community of them in New Mexico. And what they said to us after they’ve been working on the movie and read the script, they said, "This is such an important film for the Muslim people and for the Afghani people." So they can see how we can work together against the common foe and rid our country of invaders. And the fact the brotherhood between the two different nations, I think, is very important.
Fox News: What surprised you the most about these soldiers?
Bruckheimer: I think they don’t see themselves as heroes. They see themselves as doing their job. They’re highly intelligent men. Of course, they’re deadly. But still, they are here to support our country and that’s why they joined the military. They’re the common man who rises to extraordinary personal triumphs. And we love that triumphant spirit. I love telling those stories.
Fox News: What was your research process like for this film?
Bruckheimer: Doug Stanton’s book gave us a great rendition of what happened over there. He interviewed those who were actually part of the mission… Plus, we met with the real soldiers. They are portrayed in the movie. We spent a lot of time with them and they were on the set with us. They were there and they said, “Look, this is how it happened.”
We tried to give an honest account of that. This is Hollywood, and we do have to tell a story in two hours when it reality it took three weeks. But we tried to be as accurate as we could. When we showed it to them, and we showed it to the head of Special Forces, they said we captured the essence of that operation, and that’s the greatest honor for us as filmmakers to get the people really on the ground and more involved to stay we portrayed them right.
Fox News: How have you managed to remain a proud conservative in Hollywood?
Bruckheimer: I think it’s always about your work. I don’t let politics get into my work. I just try to make movies that celebrate the human spirit and entertain. I get along with just about everybody so even though we might have different views on certain things, it doesn’t matter. We’re there for the work.
Fox News: Do you think we’ll see more films that celebrate American patriotism?
Bruckheimer: If it’s a success, yes. We’ll definitely see more. We know it’s a very entertaining movie. We know it’s a compelling, true story. It has a lot of humor. But hopefully we will have a big weekend and we can celebrate... And this story is a compelling, entertaining one. And what’s also very interesting is that women love this film. Especially women with husbands and sons in the military. The film shows the sacrifices they have to make for their children and their spouses.
Fox News: How do the actors feel about sharing this story?
Bruckheimer: I think every one of them were captivated by the real-life men who went on this mission. A lot of them read the script and went, "I can’t believe this is true." Then we gave them the book. And a lot of actors wanted to be in this movie because after reading the book, they were inspired to play these characters on the big screen.
"12 Strong" premieres Friday in theaters.
The most thrilling elements of Nicolai Fuglsig’s based-on-real-events war drama 12 Strong are, in ascending order, Chris Hemsworth, Michael Peña, Michael Shannon and horses. If you have an affinity for any or all of those things, the movie is at least tolerable.
But it’s hard to shake the feeling that 12 Strong–based on Doug Stanton’s 2009 book Horse Soldiers, about U.S. Special Forces troops who traveled to Afghanistan shortly after 9/11 to confront Taliban forces–should add up to more than it does. Hemsworth, stalwart as always, plays Captain Mitch Nelson, who leads a group of men–among them Shannon’s Hal Spencer and Peña’s Sam Diller–to one of the world’s most unforgiving landscapes to fight an enemy about whom they know very little. The big surprise is that they’ll have to do so on horseback, joining a loosely knit alliance of local anti-Taliban warriors. (Their leader, Abdul Rashid Dostum, is played by Homeland‘s Navid Negahban.)
In the best scene, Hemsworth instructs his men, equine neophytes, in the fine art of mounting a horse and making it go forward. Otherwise, the finest moments of 12 Strong belong to either the characteristically intense Shannon or the ever-likable Peña, or both. In the end, the feat these characters pull off is rousing, but 12 Strong never gathers the momentum it needs. The horses are still something to look at, though. If only they had a better movie in which to prance, run and whinny.
This appears in the January 29, 2018 issue of TIME.
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With director Nicolai Fuglsig’s 12 Strong opening this weekend, I recently sat down with Chris Hemsworth and Michael Peña to talk about the incredible true story. If you’re not familiar with the material, the film is based on the best-selling book Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton and recounts how in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, a group of US Special Forces are sent to Afghanistan to score a crucial victory in the early days of the War. While there, they must convince Northern Alliance General Dostum (Navid Negahban) to form an alliance to fight the Taliban, overcome their cultural differences, and fight the enemy with limited resources. Some movies might exaggerate a situation for dramatic effect, but 12 Strong shows how our soldiers actually fought the enemy’s tanks on horseback. Like I said, it’s a pretty crazy true story. 12 Strong also stars Michael Shannon, Trevante Rhodes, Geoff Stults, Thad Luckinbill, Austin Stowell, Ben O’Toole, Austin Hebert, Kenneth Miller, Kenny Sheard, Jack Kesy, Laith Nakli, Fahim Fazli, Yousuf Azami, Said Taghmaoui, Elsa Pataky, William Fichtner, and Rob Riggle.
During the interview Chris Hemsworth and Michael Peña talked about the incredible true story, what they were surprised to learn, how the group achieved such a big military win in only three weeks, and what it’s like working with stunt horses on a movie. Check out what they had to say in the player above and below is the official synopsis, followed by some images from the film.
