Free Burma Rangers (2020) - full transcript

- This is Northwest Mosul.

- These are people
fleeing from ISIS.

- My family, my teammates,
we are in Northwest Mosul.

To help in a conflict situation.

Iraqi Army is there fighting ISIS.

Three streets over,

ISIS is killing everybody
across the main highway.

Against a far wall,
there were living people.

Everybody's thinking the same thing.

You go near that little girl, you're dead.

Taking a step will very
likely cost you everything.



Within the last 24 years,

everything we've done culminates here,

right in one place.

Because I'm trying to save this little girl.

Whoever wants to go, go.

Jesus helped me.

- Eubank formed
the group 20 years ago

but expanded his teams to operate

in places like Sudan and Iraq.

- While
hundreds of thousands fled,

an American and his family moved in.

- To help victims that are caught on

the front lines of the war on terror.

- His wife and three children



have joined him on all his
missions to war torn areas.

The family is taking a break
this week in Washington state.

- We'll be in the country

for at least a month, maybe more.

- But all
plan to go back to Iraq.

- Your story's moving
viewers around the world.

- The Eubank family ...

it seems crazy what are they doing.

- Well as a reporter from the outside,
I agree.

But as I spent time with them
on the front lines,

it felt surprisingly normal.

- One definition of adventure is

you don't know what's gonna happen.

You don't know.

Everywhere, every person
in the world has something

good and wonderful that we can love,

learn from and build up.

And stand together against evil.

And help people who are oppressed.

I want that story to be told.

I was born in Texas.

Always a Texan.

But I grew up as a
missionary kid in Thailand.

As a missionary kid, I remember thinking,

I think I'm more of a soldier.

I'm more of that action guy.

I'm not sure if I'll be a missionary.

And I went to Texas A&M University,

where I was in the the Corps of Cadets.

I then became a US Army officer
as scout platoon leader,

and then 2nd Ranger Battalion,

and then after that 1st
Special Forces Group.

But after ten years,

I felt God had something
else for me to do.

And so, I decided to
get out of the military.

Serve as a missionary.

And in the middle of that, I met Karen.

- When we first met I was amazed.

No, I wasn't amazed .

- And I asked her out and she said no.

But she agreed later to go climbing.

And I took her on some technically climbs

in Washington State.

And she summited, which is not easy.

I said, "God let me marry
this woman, I'll do anything."

- Climbing was something
I'd never done before.

And he was strong and committed

and had the goal of us all summiting.

And I had no idea even
what that meant, summiting.

- We did it.

- We're on the summit of Mt. Rainier,

by the grace of God and good friends.

Awesome!

Free Burma!

- Rangers!

Going back down he asked me,

"Do you wanna do this again?"

And I was a bit resistant, 'cause again,

I wasn't sure about a
relationship at that point.

- In March 1993, I got a call
from my dad, a missionary.

- An ethnic general inside of Burma,

came and contacted me and said,

"We've heard about your son,

he's a soldier, were
soldiers, and we want help."

- And says "Dave you gotta pray,
are you gonna come or not?"

And I said, I prayed
right on the spot, yes.

And I turned to Karen and
said I'm going to Burma.

Will you come with me?

Will you marry me?

- I felt in my heart,

say no and let it go,

or you say yes and you get in.

- Its not often that we think of a

combination of a missionary and a soldier.

And that became a conflict.

But he has to listen
to what God tells him.

And now you can kiss the bride.

- Karen and I got married.

And starting our mission on into Burma,

that was our honeymoon.

- Over fifty years of
civil war have left Burma

one of the poorest countries in the world.

The military dictatorship
attacks its own people.

Pro-democracy Burmese and ethnic groups

try to protect their people,

and resist the attacks of the Burma Army.

- The country is about 60%
Burman majority people,

who live in the central
plains of Burma, mostly.

But then in the mountains,
there are the ethnic people,

which make up about 40% of Burma.

Back in 1997, I saw people running across

the border of Burma to Thailand.

It was 10,000 people on a road,

just running for their lives.

- We heard there might even
be a genocide going on.

And it was the government's
policy to keep it isolated.

And yet we knew we had to go and respond.

- My wife and I prayed.

I loaded the truck up with
four backpacks of medicine,

and like a 100 bucks in my pocket,

and I drove to the border.

And thought well, I'll
help one person at least,

and they'll be glad and I'll be glad,

and I'll have no other plan. Just go.

Go to the sound of guns.

Go to the sound of need.

And trust God to show you
how you can be useful.

- I'm going forward down the road.

And there was people fleeing,

and they're carrying all
their worldly possessions.

Basket on their back with
pots and pans and food.

Kids on their shoulders,
kids in their arms.

And behind them you hear,
"Boom Boom Bam Bam Bam Bam".

As their villages burned behind them.

And out of the jungle
steps a man from Burma.

He's wearing full fatigues
with hand grenades, M16, earring.

- And he said, "Hello, my name is, Eliya."

I'm a medic.

- And I said, "You look like a
pirate, like a pirate angel."

An answer to prayer.

- He picked four guys out and

they came and picked up
the backpacks of medicine.

And we all went together, and
started treating patients.

And we could organize quickly

because there's only a
handful of us. And we could just go.

- And I held IV bags and
we were the helpers to him.

Gunshot by Burma soldiers.

Successful removal of the bullet by Eliya.

We treated over a
thousand people that week.

Eliya did.

When we first started,

it was just a few people together.

As we did these relief missions,

more and more ethnic
people began to join us.

And we became a 10 - 20 person group.

After a few years, different
ethnic leaders came to us

and said, "We really like your teams."

"Can you make teams for us like that?"

"If we give you people to
train, will you train them?"

We prayed, and said, "Okay we will."

We wanted freedom.

We're in Burma.

And Rangers had meant a lot to me

when I was an U.S. Army Ranger.

And I said, "Okay, we just call
us the Free Burma Rangers."

As we've grown, people
have come from the outside

to help as volunteers.

To support the teams in the field.

What it's about is loving people.

It's saying here's everything
I have, it's yours.

How can we serve you?

And give them immediate and
best medical care we can give.

All the food and supplies we can give.

And to do it bravely and boldly.

And become a family.

- An IDP is an Internally
Displaced Person.

We're at an IDP site.

And they've had to flee because
their homes been burned.

The Burma Army is just over there.

And if you look at how they're living,

it's not much.

- It's important to document and
archive what's happening.

So that people can see with their own eyes

and make their own decisions.

That's really happening.

The Armenian Massacre has
been denied by many people.

Many people denied the Jews were

getting killed in World War II.

But once people saw with their
own eyes, the photographs,

the film of what's happened,
they're like, oh, that's real.

- As we went on these relief missions,

Monkey started filming all the abuses,

all the situations we saw
in the jungle.

- And the people who did it.

They got away with it.

Just evil.

We walked over and we prayed for

the people that had been killed.

Dear God, thank you for this lady,

thank you for these people,

thank you for having them in heaven.

And we said, "We can't
make any of this right,

"but I know God doesn't
like it and we're with you.

"We'll help you the best we can."

So, all we could do is
pray for the family,

write the story up and send it out.

To anybody on our list who cares.

Churches, U.S. State
Department, Foreign Governments.

I hope someone does something with it.

Do you think to change your
country is easy or hard?

- Hard.

Do you think the enemy is
serious or not so serious?

- Serious.

Never give up, never surrender.

After 24 years, we have
trained over 4,500 teams,

to get them ready to help
in a conflict situation.

They can be a man or woman, young or old.

And people can be from any religion.

They just have to come because
they love their people.

And they have to have courage,

which means they cannot run
if the people cannot run.

And we move with the resistance.

We use Free Burma Rangers t-shirts

but look pretty much like them.

But we don't have a
program to arm our teams.

We're not pacifists, but if
they are gonna be armed,

they arm themselves.

- We'll set up the route.

And then we'll go village by village.

Our mission will be comprised of

setting up a medical clinic,
doing a kids program,

and then sometimes a team will go off

and do a recon of Burma
Army at the same time.

- In Burma, on
missions, you're walking.

- I think the early days,

I felt like I could do that,

I could hike with the backpack.

But when the kids came along,

definitely became more challenging.

Early on, Dave and I had decided,

that we were going to
keep our kids with us.

You know it took a little
bit of conversation.

But I knew we wanted to
stay together as a family.

And I knew I wanted to support his vision.

But it was often day to
day, I thought this was

the craziest thing in the world to do.

- Go Ranger, go Ranger.

- The risks were challenging.

The health risks were always
out there for little kids.

Whether it's what you eat,
whether it's what bit you.

- This is the skin
of a python that we ate.

- Whether it's what you fall off of.

- What does a baby tiger say?

- Roar!

- Yikes.

- I learned early on
not to play with fear.

In a very uncontrolled situation.

- You're gonna jump over a
log so just hold on, okay?

- Burma is wild.

We would ride our horses
through the jungles.

Or we would swim in the
waterfalls, in the rivers.

Had numerous amounts of pets.

Workouts with the rangers in the morning.

- So, when I was growing up,
I always loved the water.

My dad really encouraged that.

- If I could live anywhere in
the world, where would I live?

Burma.

- My kids have thousands
of aunts and uncles.

In Burma, in Iraq, all over the place.

Day in, day out, through
and in up the mountains.

Just rolling just like the ethnic people.

It's not like my kids are the only ones.

You look at any ethnic
group in the mountains.

That's just normal life.

- You do your work, and I want
you to solve your problems.

- Did you do anything wrong?

- Raising kids in Burma
was an amazing experience.

- You say.

- The war in Burma is the longest running

civil war in the world.

My old brother!

And it continues even to right now.

- I think that there is a sense
of the spiritual connection.

When you know that you have
an inconfidence or insecurity

about where you are and what you're doing.

Doesn't matter how bad it is.

If you run we'll run with you.

But we're not gonna be gone.

If you're having a problem

we are staying with you
no matter what happens.

- All of us could be these people.

They didn't choose to come here,

they were forced to come here.

Or die or be slaves.

So, Lord, help us tell their stories

and ask the right questions.

And bless these guys,
Lord, every one of us.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Keep going.

- Right in the tree line right there.

You can hear the shooting.

So that truck just fled.

There's a mortar.

Guys running down the road.

Burma Army is coming, about 7 kilometers

4.5 miles away, that way.

They're all running away.

- The kids and I don't
go on recon missions.

The missions are for the Rangers.

- Ya they see us here.

We're there with a medic
in case someone gets shot.

But also with cameras, to
film, what now is a fire fight.

Between the Kachin Army.

Trying to hold back the Burma Army

who's in the jungle
across the little creek.

You here that?

That's the flank.

Someones over there.

We're showing the Burma Army.

They've captured 18
people from this village.

Shooting the heck out of us right now.

And, they'd kill us if they can.

Our job is to stand with these people.

Get the news out and survive.

All right, I'll send you,

I don't know what time
I can get it out today.

Depends on what happens here.

But I'll send you a
report and some photos.

That's Denis Gray, AP News.

AP News sent it all over.

BBC used it.

That's what we were able to document.

The news getting out is a success.

But it's just a piece of a large goal.

I think the largest goal
we have is find a way,

not just to solve a
problem or bring justice,

but reconciliation.

- Before I got married, I was
a special education teacher.

And now that I was in these villages,

I was asking myself how can I bring hope?

How can I bring new life to the situation?

Good Afternoon.

Hope is what keeps us going.

So, we will sing songs

and have some drama and some teaching.

Good life for your soul and
good life for your body.

I hope they go away with encouragement.

That people love them.

Like your shirt says "good
life comes from God".

I will pray God gives you a
lot of good life in your heart.

That good will over come evil.

And green, God gives you good things.

Because you can't control
what happens in the future.

The next year it was completely empty.

And how quickly did they have to leave?

Read, it says, a thief steals things,

soldiers fight for our country.

The next day, we met a lady
who came to us and said,

"Please help me bury my
mother and my brother.

"They were killed by the
Burma Army last week.

"Will you help me?"

And we prayed and said yes.

And I ask that you bless her.

And give her in this land peace,

from this day on, in Jesus name, Amen.

While we were in this village,

I'm standing with a pastor.

He suddenly gets a message.

The Burma Army have gone into

the house of two young volunteers.

20 year old volunteers who were
Kachin missionary teachers.

And they'd gone in and
they'd raped these woman

and then beat them to death.

We already had a photo of it.

You can see the woman.

Fingers broken, blood everywhere.

And you see this huge piece
of wood about this long

that thick with blood all over it

where they'd just beaten
these ladies to death.

After they raped them.

I want you to see this photo.

How do you feel?

Anger?

I tell you how I feel.

I wanna kill every Burmese soldier.

That's what I want to do.

Dear God, I am so sorry for those girls,

and their family.

I do want to kill all the Burma Army,

no question in my mind.

Help me know how to --

I don't know how to forgive them.

I only dare to do that
because you commanded it.

I don't even want to forgive them.

I just want to kill them.

But I'll obey you Lord.

So help me to forgive
them and to love them.

So, all we could do is write the story up.

Pray for the family, write
the story and send it out.

And it went all over the world.

It would be really simple if the world

was just like Lord of the Rings.

Here's the humans and
the elves and the dwarves

and the hobbits and we're pretty good.

And there's the evil orcs
and they're all terrible.

And so, the line of evil is here.

And they're all evil and we're all good.

But in real life the line of good and evil

isn't between us and other people.

As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said,
the Russian dissident.

He said, "the line is in our hearts".

Each humans heart.

This is the first battle.

Saw Nay Htoo was a small boy, was
taken by the Burma Army.

And then put in the Burma
Army, fighting his own people.

When he came to us, he didn't say a lot.

Except we knew he escaped
from the Burma Army.

And he came to us and he
said, "you know, I'm so bad.

"I don't know if God
would ever forgive me."

The people that he confessed all this to,

he had attacked.

And nobody killed him.

And people forgave him.

He'd asked to be baptized.

So, we baptized him in
the river at our camp.

Forgiveness is a counter warfare

that has eternal energy to it.

- Originally reported
by the BBC.

The Burma Government has changed
their name to Myanmar,

Claiming reforms, and then a ceasefire.

Yet new footage filmed
by the Free Burma Rangers

proves that the world's longest
running civil war

rages on.

- Reports of
atrocities now documented

by a group determined to
bring the truth to light.

- One camp we filmed was
right after the Burma Army

told the United Nations they
don't use any forced labor.

Well here was at least 60 people captured,

just carrying supplies for the Burma Army.

We sent it out.

The next day the UN representative
showed the commander.

Hey, what are these people?

- Ethnic
separatist are increasingly

under attack by the Burmese Army.

It's a conflict that outside their region

has attracted little attention.

- As I speak there are
new attacks going on.

Against the Karen, against the Kachin.

And over 750,000 Rohingya
chased into Bangladesh.

This next story is playing
out with the enbattled

Rohingya/Muslim minority in Myanmar.

- Criminal prosecution is warranted

in relation to genocide and war crimes.

- We had no plan to grow.

But step by step more people joined us

and more people helped us.

So we did grow.

Leaders began to establish themselves

for the Free Burma Rangers.

They could pretty much run
it without a lot of our help.

While we were on a mission in Burma.

I got a message by satellite saying,

"Please come and help in Iraq."

We had no idea what would happen next.

Where's Sahale?

- She's in the other room.

- Hey honey, get your pack hun.

Gotta roll baby.

- So, switching gears
and leaving Burma for

other mission opportunities
was real hard for me.

I was settled in Burma
and I had a lot of plans

for what I was going to do.

And I feel god saying,
"Just stay in there Karen.

"This is the path I have for you.

"This is the path I have for you.

"I'm ready to jump out anytime
and do something normal.

"But I really feel like
that is not going to be

"the safe place for you.

"As crazy as it seems this path I have,

"you and Dave, together in
unison, with your family.

"And the plan I have,

being consistent,

is the safest place and the
richest place for you to live."

- We got invited to Kurdistan, Iraq.

ISIS killed the Yazidi's by the thousands.

We're looking to the west at Mosul.

Which is just right there.

Mosul is the second biggest city in Iraq.

It's called Nineveh in the Bible.

It's the place Jonah went.

And this city was one of the

cities taken over by ISIS in 2014.

At that time the Iraqi Army is just

starting to attack Mosul to push ISIS out.

We said, "God do you want us to go to

"Mosul and help the Iraqi's?"

We don't know any Iraqis.

And we just prayed.

An hour after that prayer,

we got a phone call
from a big organization

that said, "We got a lot of food,

"but our security rules
don't allow us to deliver it

"into the fighting areas of East Mosul.

"Would you do it?"

We said, "We just prayed about this.

"Yeah we'll do it."

Iraq, the mechanized
desert country with modern

utilities, and services.

You know in Burma, it's our
home. We know the people.

We know how to work.

We're pretty good at it.

A lot of that's because there's
nothing to compare us to.

We're really not that good,

it's just that we're there.

We don't know the Iraqi Army.

We had no permits to get past checkpoints.

We did not know exactly
where this place was.

But we went.

They normally just stop you,

because you have no
permission to be there.

But they just smiled and waved us through.

This is one of the first vehicles to move

on this road in two years.

There's still IED's all
along the side of the road.

We got to the edge of East Mosul.

We turn, as soon as we started turning

and going across this dirt open expanse.

ISIS opened fire from our front.

Are you filming.

That's a mortar just
landed in front of us.

They're hammering us.

We were like Mr. Bean.

We could've drove right into them.

Iraqi flag, go towards that.

We end up at the Iraqi Army.

And the Iraqi Army Commander said,

"Who are you and how did you get here?"

I said, "God sent us here to help you.

"Everything I have is yours.

"How can we help you?"

General Mustafa is an Iraqi General,

who commanded the 36th Brigade.

I'm describing the Free Burma Rangers.

And how we are very small
but we want to help.

And I'm trying to make a
good impression as well.

And in the end I say,
you know, "Can I pray?"

They said, "Of course."

But then I felt God's voice or thought

get on your knees and pray.

I'm like get on my knees?

I'll look like a Christian nutcase, man.

They don't even know me.

I'm gunna get on my
knees in front of them?

I don't even pray on my
knees at home, you know?

I knew that voice.

I said okay God.

I got on my knees and just prayed for them

and for how we could serve them.

And I got up, the Iraqi General
said, "You're just like us.

"You know you're not God.

"You have a fear and respect of God.

"You know you need God and you honor him.

"So, you can go anywhere
you want in my country."

Wow.

- We brought the things we had been doing

for 20 years in Burma,

to see how it would work there.

- All the food and supplies.

We took it in and delivered it.

And developed a very close
relationship with the Iraqi Army.

That enabled us to do work all over Mosul.

This your family?

- Awesome, we love you!

Muhammed became my driver.

When we were assigned a
Humvee with the Iraqi Army.

He is tough as nails.

And Shaheen, my friend, my interpreter,

came with me from Kurdistan.

Hilarious guy, very sarcastic.

He drank non stop, wild
tiger, and smoked cigarettes.

But never got tired working with us.

We'd be very minimal in
our effect with out them.

The Burma team members we bring.

Are absolutely key because those are

the qualified and skilled
medics and videographers.

But we also have many
international volunteers

people from the U.S. from Europe.

All over the world.

All come to be where
the greatest need was.

And that was at the very front.

I'm 57 now.

I'm not 30 years old.

And my running times are twice as slow

and nothing works as well.

But it was God's plan, just keep going.

- We we're invited to do a kids program

in an area that was still quite dangerous.

- We are in Mosul, on
the outskirts of Mosul.

And we are going to do a kids program

for the kids around this area.

- Hello, Hello, Hello.

God bless you,
in Jesus' name.

- They found a school.

Meaning there were walls around it.

Where it would be a closed
and easily protected venue.

- You want to check the women, just very,

smile and pray for them.

Give them a good chance to pray
in Jesus name with each one.

Check for suicide vests.

- The whole environment was
very fragile and tenuous.

And these people's lives.

They had really just lost everything.

Even the Iraqi Army had joined in.

I think it was a real break for them.

To be doing something fun, and then--

We could hear explosions going off.

You could see people's
eyebrows kind of going up

and looking around.

It clearly was getting closer.

We need to finish up now.

And we stopped whatever we were doing.

They were not upset.

They were not fazed.

They actually wanted their
stuff be for they could go.

We want our shirt and our bracelet.

Unfortunately, the kids are used to this.

It was new for us.

I thought, thank god that we
were able to share with them

something about good life.

Before they left the door.

It's a much more intense situation

than I ever have been in before.

In the back of my mind,

I'm thinking how far is
that going to take Dave?

- Well Lord, help them
miss with their weapons.

Especially the RPG's.

Thank you, Lord.

- That was a mortar.
- That was a good miss.

Fighting in Iraq was different
than Burma, the scale of it.

Tanks, anti-tanks systems,
aircraft, helicopters.

ISIS was very well armed.

The volume of fire was incredible.

I think probably any given day in Mosul

more shooting happened
than any year in Burma.

In the first few months,

we're with the Iraqi Army
pushing forward to Mosul.

We're right behind the leading element.

We want to document what was happening.

And were taking care of causalities.

And this went on and on and on and on.

Month after month.

And people were fleeing all the time,

just trying to get out.

No matter the obstacles or danger.

We knew we had to help.

Alive!

All right, Dave Eubank,

Free Burma, Free Kurd Rangers,

We're going to a town that ISIS
has held for two years now,

to be part of the group that liberates it.

All in Jesus name.

And thank you for all your
help and support and prayers.

When we were in Mosul.

And the campaign all around Mosul.

The Iraqi Army had
liberated a farming area

with three families.

And as we went down there,

the people were first afraid of us.

And then we told them we
were there to help them.

And the started hugging us.

Hello, God bless you in Jesus name.

God bless you in Jesus name.

This is the first liberated
village we've come to.

What's the name of this place?

I prayed with them.

And they were so happy, I was happy.

And this little three year old
girl's grabbing my pant leg.

America America.

I turned to Monkey and I said,

"Monkey, this is the best day
of this whole operation man.

"We got to be apart of liberating people."

He goes, "Yes".

Family load up in the tractor.

They drive out towards their relatives.

What they don't know
is when ISIS retreated

they laid land mines.

They blew the whole family up.

Right in our sight.

You could see it about 300 yards away.

I see one of my medics
working on this little girl.

I'm praying Jesus, save this girl.

She dies right there.

Same one who had just been hugging my leg.

The same one that was part
of that beautiful day.

Gone.

We evacuated the wounded
the best we could.

And I turned to Monkey.

And I said, "Monkey, that's it man.

"We're gonna hunt down ISIS from now on."

This is why.

The reason we fight ISIS.

Is because of this.

Killed that little kid.

Blew up the family.

People who do that.

You have to kill them until they decide

they're not going to do it.

And we pray for them to surrender.

But when they stand and do that.

Then they have chosen to die.

We are going to share the gospel of Jesus.

We are going to give
food and medical care.

But I can't live with myself.

Letting this happen again
and again and again.

And we're not the answer to the problem.

But we're going to go after
it. And that's justice.

What do you think?
He said,

I think it's right.

Let's ask God.

So, that night I said, "Lord
Jesus, show me the truth

"of what happened today."

Open my Kindle up to the Bible.

And I put my finger.

And it said, "Vengeance
is mine said the Lord,

"I will repay."

Vengeance.

Oh, what I thought was
justice was Vengeance.

Vengeance, looks like justice.

But is driven by hate.

It starts in the same place.

An injustice had been done.

What are you going to do about it.

To get justice requires you to approach

that in just act with
love for the perpetrator

and the person who's hurt, and mercy.

There's a place for punishment too.

But it will be done, and enforcement,

But it will be done in the spirit of love.

Which is very different.

What's the best for both these people?

And I said, "Jesus, forgive me,"

and "I reject vengeance."
And he took it away from me.

And it was a huge crushing wait on me,

but I could not feel it
until it was lifted off.

If I had kept that that
would of warped me.

But I'm light and free.

I don't have to fight anybody.

I don't have to kill anybody.

I don't have to bring any justice.

I just got to obey Jesus.
That's all I got to do.

I'll be his servant, his ambassador.

- That kicks.

- My parents they love us a lot.

And they believe that our upbringing

and what we've done growing up

is the best thing that they can offer us.

- My mom and dad gave
me this amazing life.

He's also very bold.

He would always tell me be
bold in the things of Jesus.

And humble in the things of yourself.

- We'd probably be in a boarding
school without them alone.

He started bucking.

Not being able to do half
of the things that we did.

Or learn half of the
things that we've learned.

Like humility and hospitality.

- Most of the time I just
thank God that I am still alive

and running around and
having fun on this Earth.

- We know that this is a big war.

We knew they were going to where the

explosions were the greatest.

Because that was the point.

That they're going to the conflict.

I remember praying, "Lord,
help them to accomplish

as much as possible."

- I've had doubts come
and go and questions.

I don't want to disobey you Lord,

so, I'm going to ask
you "What should I do?"

"Lord, what do I do?"

No matter what it costs.

In Mosul, at the end of May, ISIS is along

with shooting Iraqi soldiers,

they're shooting civilians.

And there was a fatwa put out
by one of the ISIS groups.

It said, "Better to kill your own family

"than let them escape.

"The highest act of love is to kill

your own wife and children

"than let them fall in the hands of the

"Iraqi's and the infidels."

Wow.

These are people fleeing.

Streaming out.

They said they had to hide from ISIS.

Who try to block them.

And they're making a run for it now.

So, more people are
getting shot as they're

trying to flee ISIS.

Some are ISIS families directly.

Some are just people
who have been under ISIS

and now is their chance to break free.

We were trying to rescue families.

By going into an ISIS controlled
area and taking people out.

Civilians three years, trapped by ISIS.

Every time we busted into a new place,

we see a hole in the wall
and people hiding underneath.

Civilians would come fleeing.

Handing us babies.

We ran into more and more resistance.

And we were stopped on the street

about three or four in the afternoon.

And we got so much fire, we
couldn't push any further.

Hussein went out in the street

and I went out there with him.

Within seconds I'm looking this way,

I heard gunshots this way.

Seven yards away I see three ISIS.

They've been watching us.

Shot me once in the arm.

Two hit my helmet.

Brought my rifle up and started shooting.

And I said, "God help me."

Hussein was shot six times.

- Hand grenade.

- This is my good doctor friend, Obed.

Patching me up.

I'm very fortunate.

What do we gotta do?

Can we find another way?

A lot of us had near misses.

Our vehicles were shot up.

And we're looking at our vehicle,

I open the hood up and I see
transmission shot to pieces.

I ask an Iraqi soldier.

"You think I can drive this thing still?"

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We'll fix that later.

Okay, and I check it and it moves.

And we're looking at,
you know, what we can do.

And we move the casualties out.

And all of a sudden an Iraqi soldier

comes running over the hill.

This little hill.

They just killed a family in the street.

Help, somebody help!

There's a mother shot in the street.

There's a father rolling
around shot in the leg.

ISIS just opens up on three sides.

Bullets are pinging off
the Humvee like crazy.

Bullets just miss me.

I jump in the passenger seat.

Go, go, go, back up.

The vehicle won't go backwards,

because the transmission is too shot.

And ISIS is shooting our vehicle apart.

At that moment Muhammed
is sitting across from me

and he goes, "I'm gonna
get help." And I said no!

Let me call on the radio.

But I can't stop Muhammed.

Muhammed jumps out and
runs through a hail of fire.

Muhammed brings another Humvee.

Drives around the safe side of us.

Shaheen's getting out so
we can get the shot girl

and the father out.

Shaheen's shot in the stomach
and just falls to the ground.

You can hear that cry of the soul.

And I see Muhammed run.

Grab Shaheen and drag him to his Humvee.

And Muhammed gets shot
eight times doing that.

Finally, an Abrams tank
comes up next to us.

From the Iraqis.

And just starts blasting ISIS point blank.

And then an Iraqi soldier and Justin

used the tank as a
shield, and pull us out.

Eight days later I call Shaheen.

I said, "How are you?"

He's like, "I'll be okay, don't let

"them take all your
money to take care of me.

"They're gonna cheat you man. "

I said we'll take care of you.

Two days later he was dead.

Had an infection.

That hurt my heart.

And I just broke down.

I missed him a lot.

Because Shaheen was
not just my translator.

He became like a brother.

Shaheen represents to me,
the best of being human.

We have a man, a Yazidi, who
was persecutor on all sides.

But gave his life, he didn't want to die.

But he put it out there
to help someone else.

To help a little kid and her father, live.

Muhammed's alive.

Muhammed, how are you?

I'm very sad about Shaheen.

I said, "You did your best man.

"How are you?

"Shot eight times."

Shaheen died, he lived.

I don't know why.

I don't know how.

Maybe God help me.

I don't understand.

- All good?

Hey, where are you?

- When I look around it's just despairing.

But I know Jesus has promised things

that are better than the reality you see.

And so we have to live on those promises.

And if you can't rely on that promise,

what is there to rely on?

There's no human answer
that's going to get you

through the next day.

- Well, you have one life,

and you might as well go for it.

Because what are you going to hold on to?

You're going to loose
your life one day anyway.

So, saying yes, is God all the
good things you have for us.

I want them.

And anything useful to do that I can do,

I would like to do it.

So, I'll say yes.

And I want to say no to the
swamp of sin on one side

that gets me bogged down.

And no to the swamp of good things to do,

Christian things to do that
God didn't ask me to do.

That also will bog me down.

And I want to say yes to
that line that God has.

Which I believe has no caution lights.

Its green, go man.

As fast as you want to go.

How much faith do you have?

Go!

That's what I want to do.

- We are going down to the front line.

- Going through the city.

Finding people who need help.

- Against the far wall
there were living people.

There was a guy who was shot.

And then there was three little kids

playing among in the dead bodies.

One girl kind of sat
next to her dead mother.

Kept hiding under her dead mom's scarf.

If you take one on the street
you're getting shot at.

If you drive an armored vehicle,

it's going to get blown up.

You go near that you're dead.

How can we help these people?

And I pray.

And this first comes to me,

"greater love that no man than this.

"than he lay down his life for his friends."

And I say, "God do you want me to do that?

"It's for love."

I don't want to do it.

I sent out a message right away.

Saying, "Please pray,
how can we help them?"

People started praying all over the world.

- Dave said we don't know what to do.

It's much more serious than
anything I've ever seen before.

And a guy calls me from Thailand.

One of my Chaplains.

He says, "Dave I saw the
texts and the photos,

"I'm praying for you."

When he said that, I felt this infusion.

I think of God's spirit.

They need help.

I need to be willing to lay
my life down to help them.

So, I called my American friends.

I said, "Can you help
give us smoke to obscure?"

And I'll get the Iraqi's
to bring tanks up.

Yes.

And they just started dropping smoke.

By now the two kids have been out.

Kind of in and out and they're dead.

But that little girl.

The angle is such that ISIS
couldn't quite shoot her.

I ask the Iraqi Commander.

Please come and look.

And he looks and I said,

"Look there's enough
smoke, you could do it."

He goes, okay you get one tank.

Right now take it or leave it.

Okay, we take it.

Who would go with me?

Are you willing to die trying to help

someone that looks impossible to save.

The tank was trying to get in position

to make it over the obstacles.

The Americans are still dropping smoke.

We get prepared.

And as soon as I saw the tank,

I knew it was time to go.

Because I am trying to
save this little girl.

Jesus help me.

Whoever wants to go go.

I felt so terrified.

Terror and commitment.

The smoke starts to dissipate.

And I'm on my phone and
call the battle captain.

Give me more smoke please.

Otherwise, the tank will get blown up.

We'll be dead and the people will be dead.

And they just started dropping smoke.

Right on target.

The Iraqi's kept firing.

And I looked out and I thought

we're risking loosing everything
to save a little girl.

I just said, is this the right time Lord?

Yes, okay.

And I just ran.

And I had her.

I can't believe I'm alive.

There's two more men there.

Alive still.

And we pull the two guys
back, behind the tank.

The tanks taking more fire
and starting to back up now.

At that moment one of the men,
Ephraim, gets shot in the leg.

By ISIS, right through the calf.

I'm holding the girl.

Trying to shield her with my body.

Running, praying.

In Jesus name, God help.

And finally the Humvee comes.

We put everybody in, I get in.

Slam the doors and we drive just 40 yards.

And we're out of the fire.

- Dave called and he said meet me

at the casualty collection point.

We got there, and I'm
not a medical person.

So, I really don't always know what

to do in those situations.

But here was a little
girl sitting by herself.

And as a mom, I definitely
knew what to do then.

So, I just picked her up
and held her really tight.

And then she fell asleep.

It's not done.

There were more people inside
a building ISIS controlled.

This complex.

And after first the rescue.

The people in the building,
one lady who'd been shot,

three days now laying there shot.

No water, just --

Called on the phone to the Iraqi Army.

Said, "I'm still alive.

"There's probably four
or five of us still alive

"among the 150 dead people.

"We're in ISIS building

"but we saw the rescue through the crack.

"It happened 50 yards from us.

"Please come get us."

I was like no way, how are we gonna do it?

We climbed this wall.

And we're in.

We're creeping in quite and

all of a sudden we come to
this big open room about

the size of a basketball court.

The walls we're partially collapsed.

The roof had holes in it.

And there were cans.

About three feet high
as far as you could see.

And I thought, God you've
got to be kidding me.

We got to go quietly through that?

Impossible.

It'll mean they'll know where we are at.

And all of them can come and slaughter us.

This was so bad.

I just felt stripped of everything.

We had no hope and I'm afraid.

I never said this in my whole
life in a situation like this.

And then I thought,
well God is the God that

parted the Red Sea or he's not.

And he's the one that brought the walls of

Jericho down or he's not.

So, I said in Jesus name, "In Jesus name,

"Satan and demons, back off."

Back off.

ISIS you cannot see, hear, or stop us.

And not only hear,
through this whole rescue,

you have no authority and way to stop us.

And I explain that in Jesus name.

If you don't like it talk to Jesus.

That's his command.

That's his authority and we're behind him.

And we went across.

And I felt a growing confidence.

Not in me, but that God was with us.

We got through, and we found
one guy shot in the leg.

He was terrified when we came in.

He thought we were ISIS.

And there was a woman on her
stomach who'd made the call.

Help, and she'd been shot
in the leg three days now.

Shot in the leg.

And then her disabled
son about 13 years old.

And right across from
him was a little girl,

about six years old.

And I just prayed, Jesus help her.

Don't worry. We love you
and we're here to help you.

We got to get them out now.

It's gonna probably take us
two hours to carry them out.

Right then I look out in the street

and in the rumble in the street,

three dead people but one person moved.

I can see it was a woman.

I can see she'd been shot through the legs

about 30 yards away.

And she goes like this.

I don't know what she said in Arabic.

But I knew the meaning.

Help me.

And my heart sank.

I just wanted to get out of there.

I thought, no way we can help her.

I said, God just take
her life, have mercy.

Three days shot, no water.

Three days, not shot, no
water, in 100 something degrees

in Iraq, you should be dead.

Maybe in two days.

Three days, no water, shot in the leg.

She's alive?

If we go out to help her,

ISIS will know now we're
right there in front of them.

They'll know, they'll kill us.

They'll kill her.

They'll come right in that
building kill that little kid,

the girl who's shot, the
disabled boy, the other man,

and my entire team.

And the Iraqi's, we'll all die.

What's the point of that?

There's no human way to do this God.

It's not just about
courage, it's impossible.

Just take her God.

Then I thought, God
you're bigger than that.

But I don't know what to do.

So I grab Zuhair's hand
and I just whisper this.

"God help, God help, in Jesus name."

And right when I prayed that,

his eyes go.

Look at that.

And we look above us and there's wiring.

Started pulling the wiring,

I had my knife and I cut it down,

and we made 30 meters of wire.

Which was about how far
she was from us 30 yards.

And he whispered something in
Arabic to that little girl.

Who'd be catatonic the whole time.

She runs out about 15-20 yards.

ISIS takes two shots
but there's a low wall

and they must not have
had a good angle on her.

Probably surprised them.

She throws the wire out and runs back.

And the woman is laying on her back.

And I'm just praying she can do this.

She ties that wire on to
her hand with one arm.

Three days in the sun and shot.

She could have the strength to do that.

I'm just praying Lord, help it hold.

And then we just pull her in like this.

Hang in there.

Hang in there.

Easy, easy, easy.

As we pulled her up to us she said,

"God your great, God your great.

"Thank you, you did not forsake
me when I called on you."

Then she looked at me and said,

"Thank you brother, you didn't leave me."

I came this close to leaving.

Because I didn't have a
solution. I had no idea.

I wanted her to go to heaven.

And so, that's why I
go back to that story.

What's the story?

The power of evil is so great.

We are at our limit of courage,

of ability and it's not enough.

Even on our best days, not enough.

But we call on Jesus name,
and he comes right through us,

and finds a solution and brings good out.

This is Iman.

They both made it.

Thank you for making it
the rest of the way, Jesus. Amen.

Some viewers, if the word Jesus is there,

which it needs to be there.

They'll kind of wince, and go
awe, shoot, they ruined it.

Nutcases.

But somewhere down the road,

when they're in trouble.

They'll remember that.

And when they're drowning they'll go, oh!

I got no rope, I wonder if this will work?

You guys are driving behind ours.

I think the biggest thing that

always surprises me about
Mosul, is we're here.

This is the heart of ISIS.

And, now we're driving around in it.

We come back to visit the people we love.

We helped to rescue.

And we can follow up on the treatment.

We can follow up on their lives.

Whether it's helping
with operations or cost.

Or getting other people to help.

If I had to pick one lesson
from the last 24 years.

The anecdote to evil is love.

The tank was about right here.

Ran across here, behind the tank.

I crossed that line of love.

Where you give up everything
that's precious to you.

My own life, my own wife, my own kids.

I'll never see them again.

Everything I ever hoped for
I put that away for you.

It's right, it's love, it's God.

Once you've given your life out for love,

you just want to be
with this person again.

You, um, are very strong.

I'm so happy to see you.

Can I hold you?

Tell her she's a very brave girl.

Here show me the picture.

The greatest thing we have
in this world is love.

Love helps you overcome your fears.

Go!

- We can see that people do survive.

There is this continuation of life

and whatever we're able to
intersect with in that moment

is what God has for us to do.

Tell him that I pick up
and he is shot again.

This is the medic from
Burma named Slowly.

He is with you.

When they see you alive
they will be very happy.

Sheheen's memorial playground
close where he died in Mosul.

General Mustafa came back.

The same Iraqi Commander said,
"Do you know I was praying

"for God to help and look what he sent?

"An American Christian to help me.

"But I know he sent you.

"And when you go home, tell the American's

"thank you for showing us what
it means to follow Jesus."

- Was it worth it to get into
this wild and crazy life?

Oh, 100%, I wouldn't go back a day.

I am so thankful.

I have had my most profound times.

Where everything is just
right there on the edge.

And yet, God's hand is almost visible.

- The results of the work we've been

doing the last 24 years.

To go where things are difficult.

Help people who are in need.

Has been a deep satisfaction and gratitude

that I'm doing what I was made to do.

We gotta be part of life, of love!

I don't know how to describe that feeling

other than gratitude.

It's gratitude.

Thank you, God.