Neil C. Roberts

In the early morning hours of March 4, 2002, a U.S. Army MH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying a SEAL reconnaissance team was ambushed as it approached Takur Ghar — a 10,000-foot mountain peak in the Shahikot Valley of Afghanistan. Enemy fighters hit the aircraft with rocket-propelled grenades. As the helicopter lurched and banked to escape, Petty Officer First Class Neil C. Roberts fell from the ramp into the snow below.

He was alive when he hit the ground. Enemy fighters were seconds away.

The helicopter, badly damaged and unable to return immediately, flew to a safe distance to assess the damage. Roberts was alone on the mountain.

What happened next is what this entire section is about.

The team went back. Twice. The first rescue attempt was the one that put John Chapman on that mountain — the one where Chapman led the assault, was shot, was left for dead, got up, and kept fighting for over an hour. Chapman died on Takur Ghar trying to reach the area where Roberts had fallen.

Neil Roberts was killed by enemy fighters shortly after the fall. The battle that followed his death — the battle to recover him, to hold that ground, to get everyone out — cost the lives of seven American servicemen. It is known as the Battle of Roberts Ridge.

Petty Officer Roberts was 32 years old. He was from Woodland, California. He is survived by his wife Tiffany and their son Nathan, who was born after his father’s death.

He was awarded the Silver Star posthumously.

Roberts Ridge. The mountain has his name now. That is the only thing the institution got right.