Marcus Luttrell, known to his fellow soldiers as Southern Boy, always wanted to be a SEAL. As a child, he trained to be a SEAL with Army veteran Billy Shelton, and eventually enlisted in the Navy.
During his service, Luttrell was stationed in Afghanistan and participated in Operation Red Wings, a military strike designed to disrupt a local militia.
However, things didn’t go exactly as planned. During the operation, Luttrell and his squad were spotted. His team members - Danny Dietz, Matthew “Axe” Axelson, and Michael “Yankee” Murphy - were all killed in action.
Though Luttrell escaped, he was certainly shaken. As part of his recovery, he was given a small Labrador puppy. He named the dog DASY, an acronym created by combining the first letter of each of his squadmates’ names, along with his own.
Trouble arose when, in April 2009, four men snuck onto Luttrell’s property and shot DASY. Enraged, Luttrell grabbed two 9 mm Berettas and chased the men across four counties. Eventually, local police apprehended the shooters.
After three years of proceedings, the men were found guilty.
Luttrell’s story was recently adapted into the feature film ‘Lone Survivor’.
