‘This is what we have to do. …It’s part of the job.’

As its rear wheels touched the ground, bullets ripped through the Chinook helicopter. Army door gunners on both sides responded with their M-60 machine guns while nearby explosions from rockets fired by escorting Apache AH-64 gun ships above rocked the Chinook.

Engulfed in the fury, Chief Warrant Officer Sean Laycox was determined to land his Chinook and insert Special Forces soldiers near a village where several high-value Taliban leaders were meeting.