Exclusive: TIME Uncovers Details of the Rescue of a Surviving Member of a Team of Navy SEALs in Afghanistan

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New York – TIME uncovers details of the rescue of a surviving member of a team of Navy SEALs in Afghanistan which includes an exclusive account of how an Afghan herdsman rescued the wounded commando, TIME’s Tim McGirk reports.

Though the military has not released the name of the SEAL (the U.S. military seldom gives out the names of its special-operations personnel), TIME pieced together his story on the basis of briefings with U.S. military officials in Afghanistan plus an exclusive account of how Gulab, an Afghan herdsman, rescued the wounded commando. What emerges is the tale of a courageous U.S. fighter facing impossible odds in unfamiliar terrain, stalked by the enemy and stripped of everything but his gun and his will to survive. But it is also a story of mercy and fraternity, showing that even in the war-scorched landscape of the Afghan mountains, little shoots of humanity sometimes have a chance to grow, writes McGirk.

A crackle in the brush. That’s the sound the Afghan herder recalls hearing as he walked alone through a pine forest last month. When he looked up, he saw an American commando, his legs and shoulder bloodied. The commando pointed his gun at the Afghan, writes McGirk. “Maybe he thought I was a Taliban,” says the shepherd, Gulab. “I remembered hearing that if an American sticks up his thumb, it is a friendly gesture. So that’s what I did.” To make sure the message was clear, Gulab lifted his tunic to show the American he wasn’t hiding a weapon. He then propped up the wounded commando, and together the pair hobbled down the steep mountain trail to Sabari-Minah, a cluster of adobe-and-wood homes—crossing, for the time being, to safety, reports TIME.

What Gulab did not know is that the commando he encountered was part of a team of Navy SEALs that had been missing for four days after being ambushed by Taliban insurgents during a reconnaissance mission in northeastern Afghanistan, reports TIME.

The full story will be on TIME.com Sunday at 6pm.

# # # Contact: Ty Trippet, TIME 212-522-3640 or Jennifer Zawadzinski, TIME, 212-522-9046