Mark Nutsch captained one of the most successful unconventional warfare campaigns in United States history. Nutsch, a former Green Beret Commander, led a 12-person U.S. Special Forces team on a covert mission in Afghanistan shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the story of his team is brought to life in the movie “12 Strong.”

The film stars actors Chris Hemsworth and Rob Riggle, and a screening of the movie and Q&A with Nutsch took place Friday night in HBC Gifford Auditorium at Syracuse University. The event was organized by University Union in partnership with the Office of Military and Veteran Affairs and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families.

In October 2001, Nutsch and his team went on a mission to capture the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which at the time was a Taliban stronghold. To drive the Taliban out of northern Afghanistan, the team worked with members of the Northern Alliance, an anti-Taliban group.

Armed with modern weapons but forced to ride on horseback, the significantly outnumbered group managed to capture the militarily strategic city in three weeks. Per the movie, military planners expected the feat to take two years to complete.

Through this mission, Nutsch said he realized the importance of relying on peers and of cross-training — understanding others and being capable of performing more than just person-specific tasks. The cross-training, which also involves learning everyone’s strengths and weaknesses, begins months or years before the mission, Nutsch said.

Nutsch also said that while the basis of unconventional warfare hasn’t changed much over the years — advising, providing resources for and working alongside a coalition partner to address security concerns — improvements in technology have impacted how these processes are conducted. New technology enables more command control and situational awareness, so team members can better understand where their forces and partner forces are located.

An audience member asked how Nutsch felt about the changes that were made to the original story as it was turned into a film. Nutsch replied that although he knew some parts of the story would be changed as it was adapted into film, he expected to be more involved in the production and writing process.

Some team members, including himself, he said, reached out independently about being consultants for the movie. As the actual horse soldiers, they wanted to be involved, Nutsch said.

“I had some interesting conversations with Jerry Bruckheimer,” he added, and the audience laughed.

However, the only time they were invited to set was during the first week of the 10-week production schedule. That was because Navid Negahban, who played General Dostum in the movie, really cared about the role and wanted to learn more about the real Dostum, Nutsch said.

A piece of reality that didn’t make it into the movie was that Nutsch’s wife had a high-risk pregnancy when he was in Afghanistan. She gave birth to their daughter at 8 months, and the Special Forces team wives rallied around her in the delivery room, giving word through the military chain of command to Nutsch — while he was coordinating major battle plans. Right before the battle, he used a satellite phone to call his family and found out that his wife and baby were OK and at home, with the rest of the Special Forces wives and his mother.

Even though he said the movie did an “incredible job” portraying the true spirit of the Special Forces team, Nutsch advised the potential filmmakers in the room: “If you’re making a movie off of a true story, I think you ought to talk to the people that actually lived it. How can you tell a story when you don’t know the story to begin with?”

There hasn’t been a film focused on Special Forces since “The Green Berets” starring John Wayne in the 1960s, Nutsch said, so there’s not much known about what Special Forces does or is capable of doing — yet, they’re the largest component of broader special operations capabilities.

Said Nutsch: “I hope (the movie) inspires people on both sides to come out and tell about more of these incredible stories because there are so many incredible stories that are little known.”

Published on April 15, 2018 at 9:37 pm

Contact Sandhya: ssiyer@syr.edu