3212 Un-redacted

We learned overnight

that at least three U. S. Special Forces

were killed in an ambush in the African country of Niger.

Officials say a joint U. S. Nigerien patrol

was ambushed by suspected Islamic militants

near the Mali border.

The names

of the American Special Forces soldiers

is being withheld,

subject to next‐of‐kin notifications.

You must not draw

until that clock makes the first chime of the hour.

Once that happens, you may fire at your convenience.

I was sitting here watching TV.

It was like 10:30 at night,

and somebody knocked on the door.

I didn´t know who it was, so I got up

and I went to the door and I opened the door.

And I want to say it was a captain and a master sergeant.

They were in dress blues, and I knew.

I just said, "No, no, no."

I mean, I just knew because they don´t show up

at 10:30 at night unless he´s dead.

"Attached for your review and action,

this US‐AFRICOM´s completed investigation conducted..."

‐ "...pursuant to Army Regulation 15.6..."

‐ "...and to the facts and circumstances surrounding..."

‐ "...the enemy contact event that occurred..."

‐ "...on 4 October 2017..."

‐ "...in Tongo Tongo, Niger."

My first thought was "What the hell happened?"

And it was like I got shot or something.

I mean, it was like my insides just went empty.

I almost fell down.

The master sergeant, he said, "You´re number one on the list.

Number two is Will."

And so I came to Will´s house.

At about 11:30 that night,

two officers showed up,

and, uh, they told me,

"On behalf of a grateful nation, we regret to inform you

that your brother has been killed in action."

And then Will drove all the way to Brunswick,

which is about 90 miles away, to tell Dustin´s mom.

It was the worst day of my life.

Opening that door and seeing Will

and Mandy and my mom and my sister standing there.

And in that instant,

I knew that something was wrong.

But it took me a minute to get it.

It really took me a minute.

All I can say is, "No."

"No."

[ train whistle blowing, bell ringing ]

Tonight, we are getting no details

beyond this statement

that U. S. forces have come under hostile fire

in this area of southwest Niger near the border with Mali.

They are not offering any other details.

We will stay on this story...

I had come home from work and sat down in the living room,

kind of do, you know, the little relaxing kind of thing

and check the news.

And while I was on my phone,

a little news alert popped in

that there was an incident that, um, had just happened in Nigeria

along the Mali border.

And it was like, "Uh‐oh,"

and that got my ‐‐ my, uh, attention

and, uh, I had a real bad feeling.

Karen called me at work.

She said that something had happened in Niger.

And I said, "Okay," and, uh, hung up.

I went to a friend of mine there.

I said, "Hey, my son´s deployed, and we heard about something.

Pray for my son."

And then Karen called me at whatever time it was

to say that she had gotten, uh, the knock on the door.

There´s nothing really to say.

I mean, at that point, it´s shock.

You just...

I don´t really even remember reaction.

I couldn´t leave till the next morning,

and so I spent, uh, just a grief‐filled...

grief‐filled night.

Just ‐‐ just unimaginable...

thoughts.

The three Green Berets who were killed

and the two wounded

were on a patrol with the Niger soldiers

when they were ambushed. It is not clear...

The American soldiers

were part of a Green Beret battalion

called the Bush Hawks, assigned to train

and assist the Nigerien army in fighting terror.

‐ Did the biscuits get in?

Two piece, dirty rice, mac and cheese.

I was at work.

Morning was going normal and somebody turned around

and said, "Debbie, your husband´s here."

And I went, "No, he´s not. He´s in Texas."

Okay.

Somebody else said, "No, Deb, your husband´s here."

I turned around and saw him

and my mother´s health isn´t that good.

So I looked at him and I thought,

"He´s only home if it´s my mother or my son."

And this may sound terrible, but I was thinking,

"God, let it be my mother."

And as I got closer to him,

I could tell by the look on his face,

it wasn´t my mother.

I told him he was lying to me.

That couldn´t be Jeremiah. He was too good.

There had to be a mistake.

My dad called me,

and he was like, "Hey, babe, where you at?"

I said, "Oh, I´m out.

I´m doing some errands for auntie really fast.

What happened?"

He said, "Because the Army people at the house for you."

I said, "What?"

He said, "The Army people at the house for you."

I said, "Okay, I´m coming right now. I´m coming right now."

We get there.

They tell me, um...

that they was in, um, a rapid gunfight.

And as of October 4th,

Sergeant La David Johnson´s whereabouts is unknown.

I asked him, I said, "What you mean ´unknown´

Like, you can´t find him, you don´t know where he at?"

They told me, "No."

After that, I couldn´t eat, I couldn´t sleep,

I couldn´t do anything,

I´m just sitting here wondering about,

"Where is my husband?"

"They gonna find him."

That´s what I´m saying to myself.

They gonna find him. They gonna find him.

Then I get a call saying that, um,

they have an American soldier

and they are willing to do a trade

or something like that.

For who? ‐ They didn´t say for who.

They just said they willing to do a trade.

In my mind, they still didn´t find my husband.

I don´t know what´s going on.

So any little thing that somebody tells me,

I´m thinking, "Could this be my husband?

Could this be my husband?"

‐ If I can go back and figure out

who gave them that first report,

I´d fucking choke the shit out of them.

I mean, it´s just ‐‐

It´s egregious that somebody would share

that unconfirmed report

with them and...

Unconscionable that the family would be given

conflicting statements.

‐ I didn´t hear anything else

until my casualty assistance officer

came to my home October 6th.

And he told me, as of October 6th,

Sergeant Johnson went from missing in action to KIA.

Everybody went bananas.

I was screaming and crying.

My mother‐in‐law was throwing, um, glasses

and screaming and crying.

She falling on the floor, just throwing things.

Aunt Rachel used to always say,

Lord, please take her before you take one of her children