Don Bentley: Operation Red Wings
The Jack Carr Channel
Jack Carr
4.9 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 1 October 2021
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today's guest on Danger Close is Don Bentley. Don Bentley is a former U.S. Army Apache helicopter pilot who flew QRF in support of Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan. Launching with only a frequency, call sign and last known location of the four man SEAL reconnaissance element, Don and the QRF flew into harm’s way. One helicopter and the 16 warriors aboard would not make it home.
This is a powerful conversation with someone who has spent years dealing with the emotional aftermath of that mission and has learned to channel those feelings into his writing. Following his time in the Army, Don worked for General Electric before once again stepping up to serve as an FBI Special Agent focused on foreign intelligence cases and as an FBI SWAT Team member.
Today, Don is the New York Times bestselling author of the Matt Drake series. The next book in the series, Hostile Intent, releases on May 3, 2022. He is also continuing the legacy of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan Jr. series. Target Acquired is on shelves now.
You can learn more about Don at donbentleybooks.com and follow him on Twitter @bentleydonb
Presented by SIG Sauer.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Danger Close Podcast, beyond the books with me, Jack Carr. |
| 0:16.9 | Welcome to the Danger Close Podcast, an Ironclad original presented by Six Hour. |
| 0:21.2 | My guest today is Don Bentley. |
| 0:24.1 | Ron is a former US Army Apache helicopter pilot who flew as part of the QRF, the quick reaction |
| 0:30.1 | force for Operation Redwings, the mission that is chronicled in Marcus Latrelle's |
| 0:35.2 | alone survivor and in Peter Berg's movie by the same name. |
| 0:40.0 | This is a perspective that I hadn't heard before and I think it is probably the most emotional |
| 0:47.9 | and powerful podcasts that I've done to date, even though it was recorded |
| 0:52.7 | back in November of 2019. You'll notice that the video cuts out close to the end and switches over |
| 0:59.4 | just to audio, but that's because I set up the camera and didn't quite know what I was doing. |
| 1:06.1 | But I listened to this podcast again and that's something that I haven't done yet. |
| 1:10.3 | Usually I just record and send them off and then they get posted, but this one it had been a while |
| 1:16.0 | and I remember how emotional it was to talk through Operation Redwings and Don Bentley's |
| 1:24.4 | participation in that QRF as a helicopter pilot. I listened to it again and it just blew me away. |
| 1:31.7 | Don, thank you so much for sharing this story. Man, it's a powerful one. Thank you for doing that. |
| 1:39.9 | Don is also an author and he is the author of the Matt Drake series. The second one right here, |
| 1:47.6 | the outside man is available now. The third in the series is coming out this May hostile intent. |
| 1:54.6 | You can go to DonBentleyBooks.com to check out more about what he has going on and then follow him |
| 2:00.6 | on the social channels from there as well. He is also continuing the Jack Ryan Jr. series. |
| 2:07.5 | Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Jr. series. The first one of which Target acquired is out now and there |
| 2:13.0 | are more from Don Bentley on the way. So, Don, thank you so much for your service to the nation and |
| 2:20.0 | thank you so much for spending time with me here on Danger Close. So now, without further ado, Don Bentley. |
... |
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