The After-Action Report

The After-Action Report

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The After-Action Report
The After-Action Report
Marcus Luttrell comes clean about Lone Survivor

Marcus Luttrell comes clean about Lone Survivor

Who ordered what the author of the #1 best-seller called "an assignment?"

Seth Hettena's avatar
Seth Hettena
Dec 05, 2024
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The After-Action Report
The After-Action Report
Marcus Luttrell comes clean about Lone Survivor
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Marcus Luttrell on the Team Never Quit podcast, Nov. 6, 2024.

Update: After this story was published, I heard back from the lawyer who represented Marcus Luttrell on his book and movie deals, who provided a different version of events of how Lone Survivor came to be. I’ve appended his comments at the end of the article.

There was always something off about Lone Survivor.

From the outset, people started calling out the lies, half-truths, and exaggerations in Marcus Luttrell’s best-selling account of the disastrous 2005 mission that claimed the lives of 11 SEALs and eight Army aviators.

Now, the retired Navy SEAL has revealed that even the story of how the book came to be was a lie.

When Lone Survivor was published in 2007, Luttrell insisted it had been his idea, and his superiors gave him their blessing.

Over time, however, he told a different story.

In Service, Luttrell’s follow-up book to Lone Survivor, he revealed that his bosses at Naval Special Warfare Command “decided” he should tel…

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