Hunting ISIS (2018): Season 1, Episode 4 - The Battle for Mosul - full transcript
The long-anticipated siege of Mosul finally begins on the city's eastern limits. ISIS intensifies their tactics, meaning mounting casualties for the medics and an increasing emotional toll on Pete. In the U.S., PJ and Levi's famil...
- Anything that I can do
to stop ISIS,
that's what I'm gonna do.
[explosion]
TV announcer:
24-year-old Levi Shirley
has died in the war
against terrorism.
- Levi went
long before his time.
I loved the kid to death.
- Falling back into the realm
of hard drugs,
that's what I'm afraid of.
- There's nothing I wouldn't do
to get back over there.
Reporter: The Iraqi military
is planning a showdown
with ISIS in Mosul.
- Mosul will be something
like my worst fears.
Imagine Stalingrad with GoPros.
Incoming?
- ISIS,
one of the most dangerous
terrorist groups on earth.
They've brutally conquered
territories
all across the Middle East
and spread fear
across the globe.
Their goal is to create
a worldwide Islamic State,
and they will do anything
to achieve it.
Against the advice
of the U.S. military,
some Americans
are fighting back.
- In the truck!
In the truck!
- This isn't just their war.
It's everybody's problem.
- Hold him!
Somebody grab him!
- Some of us were not able
to sit back
and watch this happen
on the news.
We're men of action,
not men of words over here.
- This is their story.
[honk honk]
- Overseas to the biggest
offensive against ISIS yet.
Just after dawn,
Iraqi tanks rolled into battle,
the offensive
officially underway
to retake Mosul from ISIS.
- There's an armored column
moving way up that road,
and the whole way up there,
they've been hitting I.E.D.s
and shooting tank rounds,
and there's been
small arms fire.
[speaking Arabic]
How far up is that column?
- Probably like 2K.
- So we have followed
an armored column,
and then we stopped
and let the armor go ahead.
So right now,
they're fighting in here.
We've seen quite a few I.E.D.s
go off.
- ISIS isn't stupid.
They're led by
foreign military commanders.
They know how to set
up a defense.
We're fighting an enemy
who's well entrenched.
This is army versus army.
- Let's go.
[speaking Italian]
- Nash just said on the radio
they have five
V.B.I.E.D.s ready
and have snipers ready
to counter-attack.
[speaking Italian]
- We're in
a decently exposed spot
surrounded by orchards
that are completely not clear
and a village
that is partially clear.
- Watch for any vehicles
coming down that field, okay?
We got nothing that can stop it.
- Everybody got that?
[speaking Italian]
- Hey, Pete, we got a pickup
truck heading towards us.
Hey, we got a pickup truck
coming this way.
- I'm gonna spin around.
I'm moving the truck.
- All right.
- Where?
- Over there.
[cheering]
- Okay, so this is good
because now we're gonna be
in the rear of the column
with zero armor support.
- I'm gonna go condition zero.
Nobody freak out.
- Oh, shit. Mortar.
- More.
- Hey, up to the left.
We got 'em. 300 meters.
This is gonna be
every single street.
ISIS is gonna
have it planned out.
Shit! Big bombs
straight ahead of us.
Get someone on the left side.
Now it's V.B.I.E.D.s, suicide
vests, snipers, heavy arms,
and a heavily defended
street-by-street fight.
[siren]
I got a single gunshot wound.
Excuse me. Mortar.
I got multiple.
Jorge, I need
compression bandages!
- We're kind of
in a vulnerable spot
because there's so many
avenues of approach,
so many places where someone
could come in here.
War is how you find yourself.
You find what you're made of.
I like when the stakes are high.
I don't wear armor
because it boosts the morale
of these soldiers,
and they see this westerner
is out there with them,
so I shouldn't be scared either.
- We moved up so we could set up
a more forward
casualty collection point.
There's a lot more fighting,
a lot more casualties.
Hold him!
Somebody grab him!
Stop standing there!
[speaking Italian]
[explosion]
- ISIS puts spike strips
in the road
so Humvee gets stuck,
and then
they would set off an I.E.D.
Guys get out of the rear
vehicles.
They start taking contact,
and step on an I.E.D.
at the beginning of the street.
The people are trapped
and create a nice little
death vacuum in the middle.
It's just massive.
- That first day, it was one of
the heaviest days we ever had.
- Yeah, yeah, a little.
- I gotta roll him over
for a sec.
[all talking at once]
- We started at 7 A.M.,
finished at midnight.
[siren]
- Nine human beings
came in Humvee parts.
- Okay.
- That we had to put
in body bags.
The smells that went with them.
Trying to separate who was who,
figure out which body part
went to which body.
Picking up a human head.
Lots of people in the body bags.
Derek said this is the shit
nightmares are made of.
He was right.
Because it is.
[siren]
TV Reporter: 24-year-old
Levi Shirley of Arvada
couldn't fight
with the U.S. Marines.
He made a different decision:
To fight the Islamic State
in Syria
alongside Kurdish forces.
[gunfire]
Levi died on July 14th
in a small town about 23 miles
from the Turkish border.
Levi strengthened our belief
in a future
where we can all live together
across our differences.
[telephone rings]
- Hi, Mrs. Shirley.
This is PJ.
I was a good friend of your son,
and I'm sorry for your loss.
- There were a lot of people
who cared a lot about him,
and everybody's lost someone.
- The world seems so oblivious
to what's going on over there.
I mean, he's a hero
to all of us.
I consider him a brother
of mine, not just a friend.
I mean, not everyone's
son or daughter
is going over there
volunteering and dying.
- I know. I don't understand
why everybody isn't over there.
I don't understand it at all.
- Well, ma'am, because--
- It makes no sense to me.
- Ma'am, we have to keep up
with the Kardashians.
I mean, there's
more important things on TV
than, you know,
like, Americans dying,
fighting the greatest evil
we've seen
since the rise
of the Third Reich.
How many Americans
now have we lost
in the last month, two months?
Three Americans now,
two from Colorado,
from your home state, ma'am.
- That's right. Three.
Are you going back?
- Before this month,
I would have said no.
But I am now debating it
after the loss of your son.
I will be flying out
to meet you guys.
- Yeah. Levi
would really like that.
- I know. I know he would.
It broke my heart
when Levi was killed.
He was like
a little brother to me.
- I'm standing here
with a jarhead
who was working security
and decided
to take five minutes off
so that he could look at,
as he quoted,
"some sweet poon."
It was "Maxim" magazine.
We are here at the upcoming
Taylor Swift concert,
and as you can tell, it's
vacant beyond all recognition.
Back to you in the studio,
Dennis.
- Even now, more than a month
after we heard the news,
it still doesn't feel real.
I think part of the reason
it doesn't feel real yet
is because we haven't actually
gotten his body back.
You know, he's still over there.
- He has sat in a drawer
in a hospital
for five weeks now.
It's beyond disrespectful.
When we first received the word
that Levi had been killed,
we got the advice
from the State Department
to have him taken into Turkey,
and that there was
an English-speaking
funeral home there
where he could be prepared for
a return to the United States.
Well, there actually
happened to be
a parents' group at that point
which had brought me into it.
These are parents
from around the world
who have lost their children
fighting against ISIS
with the YPG.
I told them we're being told
that he should go into Turkey,
and all of them were horrified.
They're like, "Don't,
don't, don't, don't."
Please, please don't."
Not that border
and not that country.
And so the next day, I talked
to the State Department lady,
and I said, we're gonna
find another way.
I was even told
there's an army base
across where they
would have to travel,
and maybe they could help.
And I brought that up to
the State Department lady,
and she said, no, no, no.
That's for military people.
At that point, talks broke down.
I never in my wildest dreams
expected that the roadblock
would be my own government.
They're not regular military,
but so what?
I mean, you know,
those bullets are colorblind
and they're blind to flags
and they're blind
to nationalities.
They're heroes.
- So what do you plan
on doing next?
- I'm gonna finish this beer.
- And then what?
- [laughs]
- I'm actually--
and I just told Mom and Dad.
They're not pleased.
I'm actually debating
going back to Syria.
- Listen very carefully
to what he says.
It's very important.
We don't need any accidental
discharges today.
We don't need anybody
getting shot today.
No fuck-ups.
- Shooters, at this time,
pick up your magazine
and insert it into your weapon.
- Tensions are really high
right now.
Everybody's anxious.
Daesh just stepped up
their attacks.
We're just 30 kilometers away
from a Daesh stronghold
right now.
Place your weapon
from safe to semi.
Shooters, identify your target
and fire one round
into your target.
[gunshots]
Firers, at this time,
place your weapons
from semi to safe.
[gunshot]
One [bleep] round!
One [bleep] round!
Yes, we specifically
emphasized one round.
Take your magazine
out of the weapon.
Cold.
I went back home for Christmas.
Honestly, the first week
I was there, I was done.
I was ready to get back over.
I felt like
I'm supposed to be here
right now for a reason.
Everything here is based off
of helping the local people
defend themselves from ISIS.
So we're gonna train them
on many different types
of military tactics
that a lot of them have
never even heard of before.
Go, go, go, go!
We're teaching them
survival skills.
We're teaching them
how to clear houses.
Things that are gonna save
their lives one day.
We incorporate as many urban
and guerrilla warfare tactics
that the Daesh uses
because they're gonna be
fighting that.
They're gonna be walking into
houses that are booby trapped,
and they need
to be able to identify
all these threats
and eliminate 'em.
- Boom!
- We like to simulate I.E.D.s.
He went up, scanned the door.
He went right over it.
He didn't scan the bottom of it
and missed it.
When they kicked in,
they all died.
I'm very honored to be here
training with these guys.
Ahh. He got you.
[speaking Arabic]
- Yes. And it feels good.
I'm happy like this.
[laughs]
Yes! Whoo!
That's so fun!
I do love fighting,
and that'll never change.
But you feel like in the end,
you get more done training.
You gotta see
the bigger picture.
You're there for the people.
It helps them establish
a secure future.
An entire military,
they're focused
primarily on seizing Mosul.
They're gonna take Mosul,
and everybody's on wit's end
about it.
How close it is, it's surreal.
30 kilometers from Mosul
right now.
South, right here,
down this road.
Reporter: A new wave
of air strikes and shelling
has started targeting militants
near Iraq's second largest city.
Reporter: The Iraqi military
now have a foothold
in the east of Mosul.
Reporter: Security forces
conduct house-to-house searches.
ISIL is reportedly
been threatening
and even killing civilians.
- Most people, they don't fully
grasp how brutal this war is.
It's like a gunfight
in a really crowded room.
Reporter: Civilians
continue to flee.
The threat of being caught
in the crossfire is too great.
- No one has any idea
how long it's gonna take
because this is all based on
one X factor that is ISIS.
We've been doing this
for a month,
for a month straight.
A typical day on a frontline
casualty collection point,
you wake up pretty abruptly.
You do your best
to make your morning coffee.
For me, it's a water bottle
with instant coffee
dumped inside of it,
and you shake it and you
drink it as fast as you can.
Then the Iraqi army
start an offensive at 7:30
or 8:00 in the morning.
Finally at 9:00, 10:00,
patients start coming out.
- It usually slows down
early afternoon.
You mill around for a little bit
and wait for the patients.
That's like a typical day.
But that changes.
[explosion]
- Come on, come on,
come on, come on!
- Tourniquet! Tourniquet!
Tourniquet!
I need fluid, fluid, fluid!
Get your fucking hands
on him now!
I need the gauze.
I need the gauze.
Keep him looking up, not down.
Get the second IV line in!
You!
Probody, gauze, now!
Probody, gauze, tourniquet!
Check for other wounds,
please, someone.
We're good. Let's go.
Five mortars came in 200,
300 meters away, the closest.
But in the process,
it ended up hitting a family.
They had two boys.
A 15-year-old and a 13-year-old.
[sobbing]
- The 15-year-old is dead.
The kid that was alive
probably definitely
gonna lose that leg.
Might live.
Maybe.
- The intensity of what
is happening in Mosul
and what they're dealing with,
for him, he feels so responsible
to be the one
that saves these lives.
It's overwhelming.
He calls it
going down the rabbit hole.
And he can't spiral out of it.
- We're a cog in a machine,
and now we're pretty
indispensable.
At the moment,
that's still worth it.
A bunch of guys
left here bleeding
that would have been
absolutely dead
if we weren't here.
Still a good feeling.
[chuckles]
[explosion]
The Iraqi army,
we were told the other day
they held 30% of the city.
They're barely holding it.
- Forward, forward, forward.
[gunfire]
[speaking Italian]
[speaking Arabic]
[explosion]
- As the gunfights happen
and the mortars,
the V.B.I.E.D.s from Daesh,
the air strikes
from the good guys...
A lot of civilians
are just gonna get torn up.
[sobbing]
- How long ago since he cried?
[speaking Arabic]
- SVO2 monitor.
Oxygen, oxygen, oxygen!
Oxygen!
How many human bodies can I see
before I can't feel feelings?
[speaking Arabic]
- All right, cut him open.
Okay, this is intact.
We're gonna lift up the knee.
Come on, come on,
come on, come on.
Let's go!
IV lines now! IV! IV! IV!
Big ones!
[man moans]
- Hey, what's the count so far?
- So those two,
one this morning.
- There was one OF guy,
two civilians.
[coughs]
[cries]
- What is my mind
equipped to handle?
How long can you run
before your mind just snaps?
[screaming and shouting]
These are the traumatic moments
hearing screams day and night.
Pulse is low. Fluids.
Fluids.
What is the psychological term
for what the fuck
I'm going through right now?
- What happened?
- Fareed!
- Hold it right there.
[sigh]
Fuck.
The baby died.
- It broke my heart
when Levi was killed.
I mean, he was like
a little brother to me.
I'm very much looking forward
to meeting Susan Shirley,
his mother.
A little nervous as well.
So, unfortunately,
it's under these circumstances.
Levi's mother has been trying
to get her son's body back
for a month now,
and she's hit a dead end.
I can only imagine what
that would do to my mother.
- You know, I'm really glad
that we're doing this memorial.
I'm glad we're doing it
on his birthday, but--
- It's especially hard
that he's not home yet
and that we're still
not actually sure
if we're going to be able
to get him home.
- It's definitely surreal.
I mean, just months ago,
I was hanging out with the kid
like he was a little brother
of mine.
And now here I am
coming to see his family
at a memorial.
- Hey.
- Susan?
- Hey!
- How are you?
- Oh, good. How are you?
- How are you today?
I'm good, I'm good,
good as can be.
- Come on in.
- Thank you, thank you.
It breaks my heart to think about
his mother, his sister, his father.
Levi: If something
ends up happening to me,
I would just want my family
to know that I'm sorry.
No one else is gonna go.
You know what I mean?
So it's like people are...
- God, it's hard to watch him,
though, sometimes.
You just...
You just want to grab him
and pull him out of that shit,
you know.
Levi: Eventually, I'm gonna die
anyway someday.
You know, at least I died
for a good cause.
- It was an honorable thing
to do, I believe,
and I'm very proud of him
for doing it.
- If you have part
of your life ripped away,
there's no closure.
Every time I wake up
in the morning,
things are okay for a second,
and then it sinks in.
You know, he's really
not coming back.
You just have to learn
to live with that.
It's all you can do.
- My brother, my hero.
Levi, I can't describe in words
how much your courage
and your motivation
will mean to me
for the rest of my days.
Your humor, one of a kind.
You were a little brother to me
since we first met
earlier this year.
Today would have been
your birthday.
Today we celebrate
the man you were in life,
an inspiration
to all around you.
Your selflessness
was of epic proportions.
You, my brother, gave your life
so that others may live.
Bad things to bad people
was a common motto of yours.
Well, as mine now.
Thank you for being
a compassionate young man.
Thank you for caring
about those less fortunate
and standing up
for what you know to be right.
Thank you for being my friend.
Rest easy.
- This is pretty bittersweet.
My boy really loved birthdays.
There's no way we're not
giving him a birthday,
and it's full of people
he loved.
And I know he would be enjoying
this birthday very, very much.
And I want to say happy,
happy birthday to my boy,
wherever you are.
And let's just make this
a good celebration for my boy.
Thank you.
[applause]
Thanks for being here.
- I got a call from a woman
named Susan Shirley.
She was at wit's end
'cause she'd been
trying to figure out
how to get her son's body back.
At the time he was killed,
I did not know
that there were Americans
being called to help fight
against ISIS.
It was clear to me
that she needed somebody
to give her some help.
We all made it a mission
to get Levi Shirley's body
back to Colorado.
[chanting in Arabic]
Reporter: The bodies
of two Colorado men
who died fighting ISIS
alongside Kurdish forces
are right now back in the U.S.
Reporter: These families have
been waiting weeks and weeks
to lay their sons to rest.
- On Veterans Day of 2015,
we went out
and had a steak dinner
and we had the best conversation
I'd had in years with him.
You know, sat down and talked
and laughed and joked
and told stories
one veteran to another.
It was really a moment for me,
you know.
And that's the last time
I saw him.
- I don't know that
there's any deeper hole
that you can have in your soul
than to lose a child.
You want to have moments
in your life
where you can look back
and say we did something
really good.
And I'm proud of what we did.
- I think about Levi very often,
and it lays heavy,
very heavy on my heart.
The what if, you know,
the should've,
the could've, the would've.
I'd like to try out at least
a 9 mil or two today.
I'm thinking maybe the Glock 43.
I don't blame myself personally,
but there's a possibility
I could have saved his life.
I've made the decision
to return.
- When he decided to go back,
I tried to stop him
and I tried to bribe him.
It was all for nothing,
because he had made up his mind
that that's what
he was gonna do.
- I did my damnedest
to talk him out of it.
I told him your blood
in the sand over there
ain't gonna change a damn thing.
The only difference between
there and Vietnam is jungle.
Anybody can die.
Nothing tough to that at all.
Living's the bitch.
- First time around,
I spent thousands of dollars
on equipment.
This time around,
I'm showing up with flip-flops
and a backpack.
Most people would do anything
in their power to avoid war.
Whereas, me,
I'm willing to fight and die
for the people who are willing
to do the same for me.
[chanting]
- The Iraqi army has secured
the entire east side of Mosul.
The Iraqi army has chosen
to now attack Mosul
from the other side,
so they're gonna attack
from the south
and push ISIS north.
[singing]
According to our best estimates,
we've treated somewhere between
1,500 and 2,000 people.
At the end of this event,
there's always a body count.
The idea of mission accomplished
for Mosul,
it's a pretty silly idea
because the insurgency's
already started.
[explosion]
Reporter: Today ISIS fighters
attacked the city of Kirkuk
as a diversion.
Reporter: ISIS infiltrated
Kirkuk overnight
and laid siege to neighborhoods
across the city.
This looks like retribution
by ISIS
for the Mosul offensive
where it is losing fighters
and territory.
[speaking Italian]
[gunfire]
to stop ISIS,
that's what I'm gonna do.
[explosion]
TV announcer:
24-year-old Levi Shirley
has died in the war
against terrorism.
- Levi went
long before his time.
I loved the kid to death.
- Falling back into the realm
of hard drugs,
that's what I'm afraid of.
- There's nothing I wouldn't do
to get back over there.
Reporter: The Iraqi military
is planning a showdown
with ISIS in Mosul.
- Mosul will be something
like my worst fears.
Imagine Stalingrad with GoPros.
Incoming?
- ISIS,
one of the most dangerous
terrorist groups on earth.
They've brutally conquered
territories
all across the Middle East
and spread fear
across the globe.
Their goal is to create
a worldwide Islamic State,
and they will do anything
to achieve it.
Against the advice
of the U.S. military,
some Americans
are fighting back.
- In the truck!
In the truck!
- This isn't just their war.
It's everybody's problem.
- Hold him!
Somebody grab him!
- Some of us were not able
to sit back
and watch this happen
on the news.
We're men of action,
not men of words over here.
- This is their story.
[honk honk]
- Overseas to the biggest
offensive against ISIS yet.
Just after dawn,
Iraqi tanks rolled into battle,
the offensive
officially underway
to retake Mosul from ISIS.
- There's an armored column
moving way up that road,
and the whole way up there,
they've been hitting I.E.D.s
and shooting tank rounds,
and there's been
small arms fire.
[speaking Arabic]
How far up is that column?
- Probably like 2K.
- So we have followed
an armored column,
and then we stopped
and let the armor go ahead.
So right now,
they're fighting in here.
We've seen quite a few I.E.D.s
go off.
- ISIS isn't stupid.
They're led by
foreign military commanders.
They know how to set
up a defense.
We're fighting an enemy
who's well entrenched.
This is army versus army.
- Let's go.
[speaking Italian]
- Nash just said on the radio
they have five
V.B.I.E.D.s ready
and have snipers ready
to counter-attack.
[speaking Italian]
- We're in
a decently exposed spot
surrounded by orchards
that are completely not clear
and a village
that is partially clear.
- Watch for any vehicles
coming down that field, okay?
We got nothing that can stop it.
- Everybody got that?
[speaking Italian]
- Hey, Pete, we got a pickup
truck heading towards us.
Hey, we got a pickup truck
coming this way.
- I'm gonna spin around.
I'm moving the truck.
- All right.
- Where?
- Over there.
[cheering]
- Okay, so this is good
because now we're gonna be
in the rear of the column
with zero armor support.
- I'm gonna go condition zero.
Nobody freak out.
- Oh, shit. Mortar.
- More.
- Hey, up to the left.
We got 'em. 300 meters.
This is gonna be
every single street.
ISIS is gonna
have it planned out.
Shit! Big bombs
straight ahead of us.
Get someone on the left side.
Now it's V.B.I.E.D.s, suicide
vests, snipers, heavy arms,
and a heavily defended
street-by-street fight.
[siren]
I got a single gunshot wound.
Excuse me. Mortar.
I got multiple.
Jorge, I need
compression bandages!
- We're kind of
in a vulnerable spot
because there's so many
avenues of approach,
so many places where someone
could come in here.
War is how you find yourself.
You find what you're made of.
I like when the stakes are high.
I don't wear armor
because it boosts the morale
of these soldiers,
and they see this westerner
is out there with them,
so I shouldn't be scared either.
- We moved up so we could set up
a more forward
casualty collection point.
There's a lot more fighting,
a lot more casualties.
Hold him!
Somebody grab him!
Stop standing there!
[speaking Italian]
[explosion]
- ISIS puts spike strips
in the road
so Humvee gets stuck,
and then
they would set off an I.E.D.
Guys get out of the rear
vehicles.
They start taking contact,
and step on an I.E.D.
at the beginning of the street.
The people are trapped
and create a nice little
death vacuum in the middle.
It's just massive.
- That first day, it was one of
the heaviest days we ever had.
- Yeah, yeah, a little.
- I gotta roll him over
for a sec.
[all talking at once]
- We started at 7 A.M.,
finished at midnight.
[siren]
- Nine human beings
came in Humvee parts.
- Okay.
- That we had to put
in body bags.
The smells that went with them.
Trying to separate who was who,
figure out which body part
went to which body.
Picking up a human head.
Lots of people in the body bags.
Derek said this is the shit
nightmares are made of.
He was right.
Because it is.
[siren]
TV Reporter: 24-year-old
Levi Shirley of Arvada
couldn't fight
with the U.S. Marines.
He made a different decision:
To fight the Islamic State
in Syria
alongside Kurdish forces.
[gunfire]
Levi died on July 14th
in a small town about 23 miles
from the Turkish border.
Levi strengthened our belief
in a future
where we can all live together
across our differences.
[telephone rings]
- Hi, Mrs. Shirley.
This is PJ.
I was a good friend of your son,
and I'm sorry for your loss.
- There were a lot of people
who cared a lot about him,
and everybody's lost someone.
- The world seems so oblivious
to what's going on over there.
I mean, he's a hero
to all of us.
I consider him a brother
of mine, not just a friend.
I mean, not everyone's
son or daughter
is going over there
volunteering and dying.
- I know. I don't understand
why everybody isn't over there.
I don't understand it at all.
- Well, ma'am, because--
- It makes no sense to me.
- Ma'am, we have to keep up
with the Kardashians.
I mean, there's
more important things on TV
than, you know,
like, Americans dying,
fighting the greatest evil
we've seen
since the rise
of the Third Reich.
How many Americans
now have we lost
in the last month, two months?
Three Americans now,
two from Colorado,
from your home state, ma'am.
- That's right. Three.
Are you going back?
- Before this month,
I would have said no.
But I am now debating it
after the loss of your son.
I will be flying out
to meet you guys.
- Yeah. Levi
would really like that.
- I know. I know he would.
It broke my heart
when Levi was killed.
He was like
a little brother to me.
- I'm standing here
with a jarhead
who was working security
and decided
to take five minutes off
so that he could look at,
as he quoted,
"some sweet poon."
It was "Maxim" magazine.
We are here at the upcoming
Taylor Swift concert,
and as you can tell, it's
vacant beyond all recognition.
Back to you in the studio,
Dennis.
- Even now, more than a month
after we heard the news,
it still doesn't feel real.
I think part of the reason
it doesn't feel real yet
is because we haven't actually
gotten his body back.
You know, he's still over there.
- He has sat in a drawer
in a hospital
for five weeks now.
It's beyond disrespectful.
When we first received the word
that Levi had been killed,
we got the advice
from the State Department
to have him taken into Turkey,
and that there was
an English-speaking
funeral home there
where he could be prepared for
a return to the United States.
Well, there actually
happened to be
a parents' group at that point
which had brought me into it.
These are parents
from around the world
who have lost their children
fighting against ISIS
with the YPG.
I told them we're being told
that he should go into Turkey,
and all of them were horrified.
They're like, "Don't,
don't, don't, don't."
Please, please don't."
Not that border
and not that country.
And so the next day, I talked
to the State Department lady,
and I said, we're gonna
find another way.
I was even told
there's an army base
across where they
would have to travel,
and maybe they could help.
And I brought that up to
the State Department lady,
and she said, no, no, no.
That's for military people.
At that point, talks broke down.
I never in my wildest dreams
expected that the roadblock
would be my own government.
They're not regular military,
but so what?
I mean, you know,
those bullets are colorblind
and they're blind to flags
and they're blind
to nationalities.
They're heroes.
- So what do you plan
on doing next?
- I'm gonna finish this beer.
- And then what?
- [laughs]
- I'm actually--
and I just told Mom and Dad.
They're not pleased.
I'm actually debating
going back to Syria.
- Listen very carefully
to what he says.
It's very important.
We don't need any accidental
discharges today.
We don't need anybody
getting shot today.
No fuck-ups.
- Shooters, at this time,
pick up your magazine
and insert it into your weapon.
- Tensions are really high
right now.
Everybody's anxious.
Daesh just stepped up
their attacks.
We're just 30 kilometers away
from a Daesh stronghold
right now.
Place your weapon
from safe to semi.
Shooters, identify your target
and fire one round
into your target.
[gunshots]
Firers, at this time,
place your weapons
from semi to safe.
[gunshot]
One [bleep] round!
One [bleep] round!
Yes, we specifically
emphasized one round.
Take your magazine
out of the weapon.
Cold.
I went back home for Christmas.
Honestly, the first week
I was there, I was done.
I was ready to get back over.
I felt like
I'm supposed to be here
right now for a reason.
Everything here is based off
of helping the local people
defend themselves from ISIS.
So we're gonna train them
on many different types
of military tactics
that a lot of them have
never even heard of before.
Go, go, go, go!
We're teaching them
survival skills.
We're teaching them
how to clear houses.
Things that are gonna save
their lives one day.
We incorporate as many urban
and guerrilla warfare tactics
that the Daesh uses
because they're gonna be
fighting that.
They're gonna be walking into
houses that are booby trapped,
and they need
to be able to identify
all these threats
and eliminate 'em.
- Boom!
- We like to simulate I.E.D.s.
He went up, scanned the door.
He went right over it.
He didn't scan the bottom of it
and missed it.
When they kicked in,
they all died.
I'm very honored to be here
training with these guys.
Ahh. He got you.
[speaking Arabic]
- Yes. And it feels good.
I'm happy like this.
[laughs]
Yes! Whoo!
That's so fun!
I do love fighting,
and that'll never change.
But you feel like in the end,
you get more done training.
You gotta see
the bigger picture.
You're there for the people.
It helps them establish
a secure future.
An entire military,
they're focused
primarily on seizing Mosul.
They're gonna take Mosul,
and everybody's on wit's end
about it.
How close it is, it's surreal.
30 kilometers from Mosul
right now.
South, right here,
down this road.
Reporter: A new wave
of air strikes and shelling
has started targeting militants
near Iraq's second largest city.
Reporter: The Iraqi military
now have a foothold
in the east of Mosul.
Reporter: Security forces
conduct house-to-house searches.
ISIL is reportedly
been threatening
and even killing civilians.
- Most people, they don't fully
grasp how brutal this war is.
It's like a gunfight
in a really crowded room.
Reporter: Civilians
continue to flee.
The threat of being caught
in the crossfire is too great.
- No one has any idea
how long it's gonna take
because this is all based on
one X factor that is ISIS.
We've been doing this
for a month,
for a month straight.
A typical day on a frontline
casualty collection point,
you wake up pretty abruptly.
You do your best
to make your morning coffee.
For me, it's a water bottle
with instant coffee
dumped inside of it,
and you shake it and you
drink it as fast as you can.
Then the Iraqi army
start an offensive at 7:30
or 8:00 in the morning.
Finally at 9:00, 10:00,
patients start coming out.
- It usually slows down
early afternoon.
You mill around for a little bit
and wait for the patients.
That's like a typical day.
But that changes.
[explosion]
- Come on, come on,
come on, come on!
- Tourniquet! Tourniquet!
Tourniquet!
I need fluid, fluid, fluid!
Get your fucking hands
on him now!
I need the gauze.
I need the gauze.
Keep him looking up, not down.
Get the second IV line in!
You!
Probody, gauze, now!
Probody, gauze, tourniquet!
Check for other wounds,
please, someone.
We're good. Let's go.
Five mortars came in 200,
300 meters away, the closest.
But in the process,
it ended up hitting a family.
They had two boys.
A 15-year-old and a 13-year-old.
[sobbing]
- The 15-year-old is dead.
The kid that was alive
probably definitely
gonna lose that leg.
Might live.
Maybe.
- The intensity of what
is happening in Mosul
and what they're dealing with,
for him, he feels so responsible
to be the one
that saves these lives.
It's overwhelming.
He calls it
going down the rabbit hole.
And he can't spiral out of it.
- We're a cog in a machine,
and now we're pretty
indispensable.
At the moment,
that's still worth it.
A bunch of guys
left here bleeding
that would have been
absolutely dead
if we weren't here.
Still a good feeling.
[chuckles]
[explosion]
The Iraqi army,
we were told the other day
they held 30% of the city.
They're barely holding it.
- Forward, forward, forward.
[gunfire]
[speaking Italian]
[speaking Arabic]
[explosion]
- As the gunfights happen
and the mortars,
the V.B.I.E.D.s from Daesh,
the air strikes
from the good guys...
A lot of civilians
are just gonna get torn up.
[sobbing]
- How long ago since he cried?
[speaking Arabic]
- SVO2 monitor.
Oxygen, oxygen, oxygen!
Oxygen!
How many human bodies can I see
before I can't feel feelings?
[speaking Arabic]
- All right, cut him open.
Okay, this is intact.
We're gonna lift up the knee.
Come on, come on,
come on, come on.
Let's go!
IV lines now! IV! IV! IV!
Big ones!
[man moans]
- Hey, what's the count so far?
- So those two,
one this morning.
- There was one OF guy,
two civilians.
[coughs]
[cries]
- What is my mind
equipped to handle?
How long can you run
before your mind just snaps?
[screaming and shouting]
These are the traumatic moments
hearing screams day and night.
Pulse is low. Fluids.
Fluids.
What is the psychological term
for what the fuck
I'm going through right now?
- What happened?
- Fareed!
- Hold it right there.
[sigh]
Fuck.
The baby died.
- It broke my heart
when Levi was killed.
I mean, he was like
a little brother to me.
I'm very much looking forward
to meeting Susan Shirley,
his mother.
A little nervous as well.
So, unfortunately,
it's under these circumstances.
Levi's mother has been trying
to get her son's body back
for a month now,
and she's hit a dead end.
I can only imagine what
that would do to my mother.
- You know, I'm really glad
that we're doing this memorial.
I'm glad we're doing it
on his birthday, but--
- It's especially hard
that he's not home yet
and that we're still
not actually sure
if we're going to be able
to get him home.
- It's definitely surreal.
I mean, just months ago,
I was hanging out with the kid
like he was a little brother
of mine.
And now here I am
coming to see his family
at a memorial.
- Hey.
- Susan?
- Hey!
- How are you?
- Oh, good. How are you?
- How are you today?
I'm good, I'm good,
good as can be.
- Come on in.
- Thank you, thank you.
It breaks my heart to think about
his mother, his sister, his father.
Levi: If something
ends up happening to me,
I would just want my family
to know that I'm sorry.
No one else is gonna go.
You know what I mean?
So it's like people are...
- God, it's hard to watch him,
though, sometimes.
You just...
You just want to grab him
and pull him out of that shit,
you know.
Levi: Eventually, I'm gonna die
anyway someday.
You know, at least I died
for a good cause.
- It was an honorable thing
to do, I believe,
and I'm very proud of him
for doing it.
- If you have part
of your life ripped away,
there's no closure.
Every time I wake up
in the morning,
things are okay for a second,
and then it sinks in.
You know, he's really
not coming back.
You just have to learn
to live with that.
It's all you can do.
- My brother, my hero.
Levi, I can't describe in words
how much your courage
and your motivation
will mean to me
for the rest of my days.
Your humor, one of a kind.
You were a little brother to me
since we first met
earlier this year.
Today would have been
your birthday.
Today we celebrate
the man you were in life,
an inspiration
to all around you.
Your selflessness
was of epic proportions.
You, my brother, gave your life
so that others may live.
Bad things to bad people
was a common motto of yours.
Well, as mine now.
Thank you for being
a compassionate young man.
Thank you for caring
about those less fortunate
and standing up
for what you know to be right.
Thank you for being my friend.
Rest easy.
- This is pretty bittersweet.
My boy really loved birthdays.
There's no way we're not
giving him a birthday,
and it's full of people
he loved.
And I know he would be enjoying
this birthday very, very much.
And I want to say happy,
happy birthday to my boy,
wherever you are.
And let's just make this
a good celebration for my boy.
Thank you.
[applause]
Thanks for being here.
- I got a call from a woman
named Susan Shirley.
She was at wit's end
'cause she'd been
trying to figure out
how to get her son's body back.
At the time he was killed,
I did not know
that there were Americans
being called to help fight
against ISIS.
It was clear to me
that she needed somebody
to give her some help.
We all made it a mission
to get Levi Shirley's body
back to Colorado.
[chanting in Arabic]
Reporter: The bodies
of two Colorado men
who died fighting ISIS
alongside Kurdish forces
are right now back in the U.S.
Reporter: These families have
been waiting weeks and weeks
to lay their sons to rest.
- On Veterans Day of 2015,
we went out
and had a steak dinner
and we had the best conversation
I'd had in years with him.
You know, sat down and talked
and laughed and joked
and told stories
one veteran to another.
It was really a moment for me,
you know.
And that's the last time
I saw him.
- I don't know that
there's any deeper hole
that you can have in your soul
than to lose a child.
You want to have moments
in your life
where you can look back
and say we did something
really good.
And I'm proud of what we did.
- I think about Levi very often,
and it lays heavy,
very heavy on my heart.
The what if, you know,
the should've,
the could've, the would've.
I'd like to try out at least
a 9 mil or two today.
I'm thinking maybe the Glock 43.
I don't blame myself personally,
but there's a possibility
I could have saved his life.
I've made the decision
to return.
- When he decided to go back,
I tried to stop him
and I tried to bribe him.
It was all for nothing,
because he had made up his mind
that that's what
he was gonna do.
- I did my damnedest
to talk him out of it.
I told him your blood
in the sand over there
ain't gonna change a damn thing.
The only difference between
there and Vietnam is jungle.
Anybody can die.
Nothing tough to that at all.
Living's the bitch.
- First time around,
I spent thousands of dollars
on equipment.
This time around,
I'm showing up with flip-flops
and a backpack.
Most people would do anything
in their power to avoid war.
Whereas, me,
I'm willing to fight and die
for the people who are willing
to do the same for me.
[chanting]
- The Iraqi army has secured
the entire east side of Mosul.
The Iraqi army has chosen
to now attack Mosul
from the other side,
so they're gonna attack
from the south
and push ISIS north.
[singing]
According to our best estimates,
we've treated somewhere between
1,500 and 2,000 people.
At the end of this event,
there's always a body count.
The idea of mission accomplished
for Mosul,
it's a pretty silly idea
because the insurgency's
already started.
[explosion]
Reporter: Today ISIS fighters
attacked the city of Kirkuk
as a diversion.
Reporter: ISIS infiltrated
Kirkuk overnight
and laid siege to neighborhoods
across the city.
This looks like retribution
by ISIS
for the Mosul offensive
where it is losing fighters
and territory.
[speaking Italian]
[gunfire]